Aaron Taylor-Johnson thought he was “done” with comic book movies before signing up for Kraven the Hunter.

The British actor shot to fame playing a wannabe superhero in 2010’s Kick-Ass, an adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic book, and then portrayed actual superhero Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015.

During a profile interview for Esquire, the 33-year-old admitted he thought he was over that phase of his acting career – until Kraven the Hunter, in which he plays the titular antagonist, came along.

“I mean, quite honestly, I thought I’d actually been done with these sorts of movies,” he candidly stated.

The Nowhere Boy star wasn’t completely sold on the project until he started reading the comic books. Once he signed on for the part, he threw himself into the physical preparation to convincingly play the consistently shirtless hunter-warrior, who has animalistic powers. For example, he weighed 200 pounds (90.7 kilograms) at the height of his superhero prep and learned to run on all fours.

To get into the mindset of his character, Taylor-Johnson stalked deer with a hunter to understand “the emotional turmoil and the sense of guilt” that come with killing an animal, studied the work of late wildlife photographer Peter Beard, and spent time with conservationist Damian Aspinall.

Explaining the reasoning behind his extensive prep, Taylor-Johnson said, “When you say stuff like ‘I’m the greatest hunter of all time,’ you’ve got to know deep within your being that it’s coming from a place of reality and depth, and feels like it’s possible and plausible.”

He added, “You can’t step into this role, you can’t step into what this franchise is, with a f**king half-a*sed, Let’s see how it goes attitude.”

Kraven the Hunter’s October release has been postponed and it will now hit cinemas in 2024.

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