Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s most iconic villains. Green Goblin, Venom, Doctor Octopus and Carnage are just a few of the names that make up the vast gallery of memorable enemies in the Friendly Neighborhood. And most certainly Kraven is not among them. However, despite being part of the second division of the Cabeça de Teia’s opponents, the Hunter is in evidence both in movies and in video games.
Sony had already announced that the character would star in his own film in the same universe as Venom and Moebius, and now we see that he will also be the great threat that Peter Parker and Miles Morales will have to face in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5.
Precisely because he is not part of this pantheon of memorable Spider-Man enemies, a good part of the public does not know who Kraven the Hunter is, much less why Sony and Marvel are betting so much on the villain to the point of putting him so in the spotlight. that way. And it is this lack of knowledge that can make the apex predator a big surprise for many people.
Honor and nobility lost
Kraven the Hunter is the nickname given to Sergei Kravinoff, a former Russian aristocrat whose family fell out of favor after the Communist Revolution and who finds in the art of hunting an honor he believed he had lost.
He still appears in the early days of Spider-Man in the comics, in Amazing Spider-Man #15 (1964). In this way, you can consider him a classic enemy of the hero, although he never reached the same prominence as figures like the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, for example. And, from the beginning, he appears as this hunter in search of his final prey – the Web Head himself.
The relationship of this ancient Russian nobleman with the world of hunting is not so obvious. After losing his nobility, Sergei goes to spend some time in Africa and it is in Kenya that he discovers his talent as a hunter. At first, he does this using basic tools like bows and spears, but it doesn’t take long before he decides to go into battle with beasts with clean hands.
Thus, he gets excited about the new hobby and sees in practice the honor he thought he had lost with the fall of his family. By turning this into a somewhat extreme lifestyle, he participates in a voodoo ritual in which he learns potions and elixirs that give him superhuman abilities — in addition to extending his lifespan — and that help him when it comes to going to bed. hunting.
These new powers are part of every hero’s or villain’s basic kit, giving Kraven an enhanced physique with super strength, speed, and even heightened senses like a cat’s. With this mystical doping, he becomes such a skilled hunter that, in a short time, no beast is able to offer him a challenge – which makes him bored. That’s when the opportunity arises to face the perfect prey: Spider-Man.
A worthy challenge
It is from this point that the paths of the hero and the villain cross. In practice, the two have the same skill level, but Peter Parker’s wit (and Kraven’s arrogance) has always given Spider-Man the upper hand.
The point is that the various defeats only served to fuel the hunter’s obsession with the Friend of the Neighborhood. With each new failure, he was more certain that the Wall Climber was indeed the opponent he had always been looking for.
And it wasn’t for lack of trying. Over the years, there were many clashes between the two characters and Kraven even resorted to group activities to try to overcome the Spider, but always without success. So much so that he was part of the first formation of the Sinister Six alongside Doctor Octopus, Electro, Mystery, Sandman and Vulture. And even the evil club couldn’t handle young Parker.
It is from these successive failures that the greatest story involving Kraven the Hunter begins. In Kraven’s Last Huntthe villain’s obsession and the effect of years of potions and elixirs begin to affect his sanity to the point where he decides to launch his last card not only to defeat Spider-Man, but also to prove himself superior to the hero.
The story created by the duo JM DeMatteis and Mike Zeck in 1987 is one of the greatest classics of Spider and Marvel itself because of its dark tone. In short, Kraven defeats Parker and buries him alive. Then he takes on the Spider-Man suit and spends weeks acting like the hero. In his sick head, the idea was to show the world (and Parker himself) that Sergei Kravinoff is better than his opponent. By transforming into Spidey, he finally subdued his most formidable opponent. Concluding his mission, therefore, Kraven takes his own life.
It’s a very impactful story, but one that Marvel chronology soon made a point of undoing. That’s because, shortly afterwards, Kraven was resurrected and returned to make life hell not only for Spider-Man, but also for other related characters, such as Venom, and also expanded the villain’s family.
Already in 2019, the saga The Last Son of Kraven decided to bow to the classic and killed the hunter again. Only this time it was for good, showing how Sergei recognized his last living son as honorable enough to carry on his legacy. So, like the crazy man of ideas he’s been showing for ages, he dressed up as Spider-Man so that the new Kraven the Hunter (who is identical to the old one) could kill him.
Kraven in other media
Although we have said that Kraven the Hunter is not on the same level as other more iconic Spidey villains, the truth is that he is present in practically all animations released by Marvel over the last six decades.
Since the time of the publisher’s discouraged drawings, in 1966, Kraven was already showing up. And it’s curious to note how each of these drawings treats the character’s look.
After all, Kraven’s original design isn’t very respectable. With leopard leggings, sneakers and a lion jacket that is yet another samba school allegory, the villain’s pursuit of honor has always been the butt of jokes. So, while the older designs were pretty faithful to this quirky style, the more modern versions have tried to update the concept — even though they never gave up on animal print. Drawings like The spectacular Spider Man evolved the concept and made the character undergo a mutation and become a real feline.
In terms of history, cartoons never got much further than bread and butter. The vast majority of Kraven’s appearances put him in this role of the hunter in search of his prey and who always used tricks to corner Spider-Man to, in the end, be defeated once again. It’s okay that he also never did anything different from that in the comics, but it’s curious how the darker tone of Kraven’s Last Hunt never inspired an animation.
Furthermore, fans of Spidey in video games will also remember that the hunter also appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. In this case, he was just one of the villains that Peter Parker found in New York and not the big threat as we will see in the PS5 title. Still, what stands out the most is how Beenox’s game tried to escape the classic design and brought the character with less flashy attire.
What to expect from Kraven in movies and video games
Kraven’s arrival in two media as powerful and popular as cinema and games is a good upgrade in his history. It’s a chance for a different audience to learn not only about his obsession, but also about his family tragedy and his own journey into madness.
Kraven the Hunter, a film promised by Sony for October 2023, should precisely address the story of Sergei and his transformation into the Kraven that we know from the comics. So, based on the little information released and the lineup itself, we should see the protagonist — lived by Aaron Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) — dealing with his father’s (Russell Crowe) toxic relationship while also facing friction with his half-brother Dmitri (Fred Hechinger), who is none other than the villainous Chameleon.
The film also cast actress Ariana DeBose (sublime love love) to play Calypso, who is Sergei’s romantic interest and the one responsible for performing the ritual that gives Kraven his heightened senses. Thus, we can expect that her transformation into the villain we know will actually happen.
Already in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the thing seems to be more straightforward. Instead of building the figure of the hunter, Kraven will already be presented as this lunatic in search of a new challenge. That’s why he goes to New York, especially after the deeds of Peter Parker and Miles Morales become notorious – as well as the large number of villains roaming the city. For him, they are all prey waiting for the perfect hunter. It remains to be seen whether the game and film will deliver on that.
