In 2018, Sony Pictures announced the development of a Kraven the Hunter film as part of the Sony's Spider-Man Universe with Richard Wenk writing and eyeing Antoine Fuqua to direct. In 2020, the studio hired J. C. Chandor to direct and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to rewrite the script. In May 2021, it was confirmed that Aaron Taylor-Johnson will portray the character and the film is scheduled to be released on January 13, 2023.

Jon Watts, director of Homecoming and its sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), expressed interest in featuring Kraven in a potential third Spider-Man film set within the MCU; Watts pitched a film pitting Peter Parker / Spider-Man against Kraven to Spider-Man star Tom Holland, but this idea was abandoned in favor of the story of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

By August 2020, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had re-written the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for Morbius. At that time, J. C. Chandor entered talks to direct the film, while Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad were set as producers. Amy Pascal also serves as a producer. Chandor was confirmed as director in May 2021, when Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast to star as Kraven.

Sony had previously approached actors such as Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, John David Washington, and Adam Driver for the role, but Sony executives moved quickly to cast Taylor-Johnson after they were "blow[n] away" by early footage of him in the film Bullet Train (2022). Taylor-Johnson began negotiations shortly after an initial phone call with Chandor and Tolmach. By July, Jodie Turner-Smith was reportedly in talks to portray Kraven's love interest, Calypso. That October, Holland said he and Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in the film.

Taylor-Johnson signed on to portray Kraven in multiple films.

Michael J. Zeck (born September 6, 1949), is a comics artist. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics on such series as Captain America, Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, Master of Kung-Fu, and The Punisher as well as the "Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline in the Spider-Man titles.

In 1977, Zeck started working for Marvel Comics on Master of Kung Fu with writer Doug Moench. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Moench and Zeck's work on Master of Kung-Fu sixth on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels". Zeck later worked on Captain America and drew covers for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

Zeck illustrated the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars limited series in 1984. For this series, he designed a new black-and-white costume temporarily worn by Spider-Man. The plot that developed as a result of Spider-Man's acquisition of the costume led to the creation of the Spider-Man villain known as Venom.

In 1986, Zeck collaborated with writer Steven Grant on a Punisher miniseries which was later collected as The Punisher: Circle Of Blood and an original hardcover graphic novel of the character three years later.

Zeck illustrated the 1987 Spider-Man storyline "Kraven's Last Hunt", written by his former Captain America collaborator J. M. DeMatteis, which is considered to be one of the quintessential stories in Spider-Man's history, as well as the definitive Kraven the Hunter storyline.

DeMatteis remarked, "Because Mike nailed the plot elements so perfectly in his pencils—every action, every emotion, was there, clear as a bell — I didn't have to worry about belaboring those elements in the captions or dialogue. I was free to do those interior monologues that were so important to the story. If any other artist had drawn “Kraven's Last Hunt” ... it wouldn't have been the same story."