I’ve never understood the appeal of
trophy hunting. Oh yes, how amazing, you used a high-powered rifle, a machine
designed to kill with the minimum amount of effort possible, to kill a lion, a
creature that would rip you to pieces if you tried using virtually any other weapon
against it. How impressive. <SARCASM> The one trophy hunter I sort of get
is the subject of this next post, Kraven the Hunter. This crazy Russian royal hunts
things like Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my) and kills them with his bare hands.
And his magically/chemically enhanced strength and reflexes… but mostly his bare
hands! Let’s get to it.
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| Honestly, the only thing holding this look back from greatness are the paw print spotted leggings. |
Kraven was born Sergei Kravinoff, an
immigrant from the Russian aristocracy. His father was a duke or whatever the equivalent
was in Russian that fled their homeland during the February Revolution and the
execution of Tsar Nicholas II. The life of a wealthy aristocrat being denied
him, due to that pesky communist revolt, Sergei spent his early life traveling
around the world, working as a mercenary. While in Kenya, he got a taste for
hunting. Not too shocking, given how rich folks seem to love it. What was
unusual was that Sergei quickly grew bored with killing animals with guns or
even bows, switching to knives and later his bare hands and teeth. His ability to
hunt was then increased by taking an herbal potion from a voodoo witch doctor
named Calypso (whom he was also romantically involved with for a time). Her potion
gave Sergei strength, speed and senses on par with a big cat. It also made him
live longer, which is a special bonus. With these incredible powers, he mostly
just hunted animals in a manner similar to our early simian ancestors. Hey, they’re
his superpowers, he can use them how he wants.
Over the years, even hunting Lions,
Tigers, and Bears (oh my) with his bare hands started to bore him. Huh, guess
he has something in common with Atticus Finch. … Read To Kill a Mockingbird
if that reference is over your head. His boredom ended thanks in part to
Dimitri Smerdyakov. Oh, don’t recognize that name? It’s the real name of the
Chameleon, the master of disguise enemy of Spider-Man, and Sergei’s own
half-brother. Dimitri needed some back up taking care of this pesky neighborhood
Spider-Man. Getting the chance to not only hunt the most dangerous game, but
the equivalent of an apex predator filled Sergei with a rush he’d never felt
before. Sergei, just ask Zaroff how hunting something smarter than a big cat can
and will bite you in the ass. What? If you don’t get it, read the Most
Dangerous Game, it’s on the public domain now. I’m just pulling classic
literature references out left and right today.
The brothers faced off against
Spider-Man in Central Park, which the Chameleon disguised as Sergei to
disorientate Spider-Man and allow the superior hunter to ambush Spider-Man.
Despite the two of them working together and using a poison dart to weaken
Spider-Man, the Web Head was able to defeat them both and see them arrested. While
this first encounter infuriated Sergei, it formed an obsession in him, and he swore
to never stop the hunt until he finally killed Spider-Man. Random thought, but
it seems amazing to me that the expert hunter and tracker has never thought to
try and follow Spider-Man to his home and attack him when he’s asleep or
something. Don’t give me that look, Sergei might want a “fair” fight with
Spider-Man, but the dudes not above grabbing someone in their sleep to force a
confrontation.
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| I think Sergei Kravenoff and Gaston have the same interrior decorator. |
He was one of the founding members
of the Sinister Six, joining Doc Ock’s little cabal in an attempt to kill
Spider-Man. While the group in concept was smart, the execution of their plan
was somewhat moronic. What? You get six of Spider-Man’s most dangerous enemies
together, and you fight him one at a time? The only one that could possibly
benefit is Doc Ock, who obviously would attack last, so he got to fight an
exhausted Spider-Man. Anyway, Sergei attacked Spider-Man in Central Park with a
trio of tigers while the hero frantically searched for his kidnapped Aunt May,
and Betty Brant. Betty being Gwen Stacey/Mary Jane Watson before either
character was introduced. Spider-Man over powered Kraven and his big cats,
forcing the villain to give him his clue to the ladies’ location.
Kraven battled Spider-Man several
times over the years, but was routinely defeated. Sergei began to grow frustrated
as the years wore on, knowing that despite his potion keeping him younger and
fitter than he should be, he was still slowing down due to his advancing age.
Sure, fifty is still pretty young (relatively speaking), but I doubt there’d be
a fifty-year-old in history that could wrestle Lions, Tigers, and Bears (oh my).
He decided to perform one final hunt to defeat Spider-Man. He used a poison
dart on Spider-Man, knocking him out and putting him in a coma. He then buried
Spider-Man on his estate. After that, he donned a fake Spider-Man costume and
impersonated him. In his Spider-Guise, he hunted down a mutant villain called
Vermin, an enemy that Spider-Man had never been able to beat on his own. Spidey
needed Cap’s assist to stop him before. Kraven captured Vermin and put him in a
cage. Spider-Man emerged from his grave about two weeks later. Kraven told
Spider-Man why he’d done all of this, released Vermin and bit Spider-Man
farewell. Peter went after Vermin, and Sergei recorded a full confession of all
of his crimes and then committed suicide.
This wasn’t the end of Kraven,
obviously. He was actually resurrected by a dark ritual performed by his wife
and children. Somehow, though, their ritual had a weird side effect that made
Sergei unkillable, except by the hands of Spider-Man. So, while he might have
let go of his grudge in death, it returned with vengeance in his new life. He’s
continued to menace Spider-Man to this day.
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| Other than having me question if a laser spearhead is in anyway better than a metal one, this is probably his best look thus far. |
Kraven the Hunter is a skilled
hunter and fierce hand to hand combatant. He’s on par with an Olympic athlete
in terms of strength, speed, and dexterity even without enhancement. He also
has a working knowledge of pressure points, using precise strikes to nerves to
great effect. His own skill and power are improved by his potion, pushing his
physical strength, speed, and senses to Wolverine levels. He’s also more
durable than average, and can rapidly heal from most injuries. Not on a healing
factor level, but much faster than normal. The potion has also greatly slowed
his age, while he’s chronologically (in universe) in his fifties physically
speaking he’s closer to his mid-thirties. He also has an almost encyclopedic
knowledge of poisons and tranquilizers, which he uses to enhance his fighting
prowess.
Kraven has appeared in several
Spider-Man series outside of the comics. While certain aspects of him are tweaked
from incarnation to incarnation, all versions retain his obsession with killing
Spider-Man as he views the Wall-Crawler as his ultimate prey. Personally, I’m
shocked he never decided to try hunting Black Panther full time, just sayin’.
He’s a recurring antagonist in Spider-Man:
The Animated Series. He’s introduced in “Kraven the Hunter.” In this episode,
Peter is going to interview a scientist named Mariah Crawford, only to find her
at her office being attacked by a crazy man in a lion vest. After scaring the
wild man off as his alter ego, Crawford explained to Spider-Man that was Sergei
Kravinoff, her ex-lover. He’d been seriously injured protecting her from hyenas.
To save his life, she used a “wonder drug” given to her by a colleague. It
healed his wounds, and gave him superpowers but sort of drove him insane. Or
more accurately turned his mind into something more similar to a predatory
beast. Mariah came to America to create a cure for him. With Peter running
interference on her unstable ex, Mariah was able to develop a serum that restored
Kraven’s mind. They returned to Africa together. He returns in “Duel of
Hunters.” In it, Spider-Man’s mutation had gone into overdrive, turning him into
the horrid Man-Spider. Dr. Crawford returned to cure Spider-Man, as she owed
him at least that much, and force Kraven to help. Kraven was able to Track down
Man-Spider, but was sidetracked by an attack by the Punisher, whom had also
been hunting Man-Spider. They team up and are able to subdue Spider-Man long
enough to return him to normal. He returned one final time in “The Return of
Kraven.” In it, Mariah had turned into a horrid monster after Kraven gave her
the miracle drug to cure her of a plague. He and Spider-Man are able to restore
Mariah’s mind, and the two depart together. This is easily the happiest story
to involve Kraven, EVER.
Kraven the Hunter appeared in the
second season of Spectacular Spider-Man. He’s introduce in “Destructive
Testing” as a famous hunter that had come to New York to battle Spider-Man. Spidey
is challenged by Sergei’s hand to hand fighting skills, but he’s able to
disable his opponent. Sergei, unwilling to believe that he truly lost, believes
that Spider-Man only won because of his powers. He enlisted the help of
Professor Miles Warren, whom used a formula based on Curt Connors Lizard Formula
to turn Sergei Kravenoff into a monstrous cat creature with a black lion’s
mane. Changing his name to Kraven the Hunter, he battles Spider-Man again. He
overpowers and outraces Spider-Man throughout their fight, but is stopped by
Peter’s webbing. He returns in “Reinforcements,” as a member of the new Sinister
Six.
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| The one version to have a happy ending. Well... happy enough. |
A retooled version appears in the Ultimate
Spider-Man series. This version, unlike other, uses high-tech old school
tools. Think laser-knives, and energy shields instead of his hands, or more mundane
knives and shields. He’s also more of Spider-Man’s ally White Tiger’s enemy in
his initial appearance, as he had killed her father years before to steal their
family amulet and get white tiger powers. He uses a magic drum to drive White
Tiger into a fury, in an attempt to kill her while she’s enraged. She and
Spider-Man are able to take him down. He returns in “Return of the Sinister Six,”
“The Savage Spider-Man” “Contest of Champions” “Hydra Attacks” “Double Agent
Venom” “The New Sinister Six” and “Graduation Day.” It should be note that his
desire to kill and steal White Tiger’s powers is dropped after that first episode,
as White Tiger and the rest of Spider-Man’s initial team are largely dropped in
favor of an all Spider-Man themed team in later seasons. They had this same issue
with their version of Scorpion, whom was reworked into a rival/enemy of Iron Fist,
only to have the character seemingly drop a decades long grudge after only an
encounter or two with Spider-Man. Weird.
They’ve tried to put Kraven into
several movies, but production issues seem to be Kraven’s greatest enemy. There
were plans to have him appear in the Amazing Spider-Man spin off The
Sinister Six, and the third film, but those plans were shelved when the
series was cancelled. His name is referenced in the new Morbius trailer,
in the form of Kraven Pastries and the Kraven National Ballet. He’s got a film
upcoming in Sony’s Spider-Verse movies, and has been hinted at possibly
appearing in the third MCU Spider-Man film.
Like Rhino, Scorpion, Lizard and
Mysterio, he has appeared in nearly every Spider-Man game in one form or
another.
Kraven the Hunter is a fun Spider-Man
villain. He’s strong, fast, and another of Spider-Man’s visually distinctive
enemies. Say what you like about early Spider-Man comics, (the writing hasn’t
aged well), but Steven Ditko was a master at making visually amazing
characters. Kraven also gets points for being one of Spider-Man’s more honorable
foes. Sure, he will repeatedly pick fights with someone that has zero interest
in fighting him, but when Sergei promises, say, to release all of his captives
if beaten, you never have to worry about him pulling a double cross. And, like
I said at the beginning, I kind of get his style of hunting. Instead of using
the largely “auto win” button of a gun, he truly pits his strength against that
of his prey. If I could wrestle a Lion and kill it, you bet I’d display it in
my living room. Though I would never do that, as I am an animal lover and largely
pacifistic. Just sayin’. I do hope that Kraven get’s his film soon, especially since
he makes significantly more sense to me as a star of a movie than Michael Morbius,
just sayin. What? Just pit Kraven off against some fellow hunter or big corporate
type like Osborn or Kingpin, boom, done, likeable anti-hero/villain story. And that's all I have to say about that. Have a good night, everybody.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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