Aaron Taylor-Johnson is arguably one of the fittest stars out there and his physical transformation for his role as Kraven is proof of his impressive fitness level.
Having been named the most handsome man alive earlier in 2024, the actor has already established himself as a Hollywood heartthrob. With a rigorous workout routine and strict diet, he has achieved a chiselled physique, boasting impressive strength, agility, and endurance. His dedication to fitness has enabled him to embody the iconic Marvel character with conviction and intensity.
In a recent interaction, the actor opened up about the hard work it took to get in shape for this R-rated origin story.
To capture the aggressive, physical nature of Kraven’s character, Taylor-Johnson spent months building up almost 35 pounds of muscle with personal trainer David Kingsbury and nutritionist Nate Schmidt. “In the comics, Kraven is absolutely ginormous,” says Taylor-Johnson. “His abs and arms are literally part of his costume. His physical appearance is what the fans will expect to see when the character from the comic books comes to life on screen. One aspect of my job is to ask, how do we make this character believable? The transformation of my body was a crucial part of the costume.”
However, bulking up was no small feat. “It takes years to build muscle in the way that we were doing,” Taylor-Johnson says. “We only had six months.”
After that, Taylor-Johnson began transforming his mass into highly defined muscle, and continued his workouts as shooting began, using a mobile gym that traveled from location to location. “We had a huge truck that I filled with gym equipment,” says Kingsbury. “We did weight training four or five times a week—upper body, lower body, upper body, lower body split.
“It’s very counterintuitive, the weight training side of things,” Kingsbury continues. “It’s fairly low volume, so we’re not doing that many sets of every exercise. We’re not necessarily doing very many exercises per session, either. It creates a bit of anxiety in you, because you think, ‘shouldn’t we be training today?’ But overtraining creates excessive muscle damage. It’s the stimulating reps that create muscle growth.”
Kraven the Hunter is the action-packed, R-rated, standalone story of how one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Directed by J.C. Chandor, the film also stars Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott and Russell Crowe.
Sony Pictures Entertainment India releases ‘Kraven The Hunter’ on January 1st, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Only in cinemas.