Kraven the Hunter

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*Looking for another article with the name Kraven the Hunter? Check out the Kraven the Hunter disambiguation page.*
**Kraven the Hunter** is a highly skilled hunter with enhanced senses and strength given to him by a serum. He has met Spider-Man as both friend and foe.

## History

### Early life

Sergei Kravinoff was born into Russian nobility. As an adult, he traveled to Africa and became a big game hunter. But when big game hunting became illegal, he became a safari guide. When Dr. Mariah Crawford came to Africa searching for her lost colleague, James Reeves, Kravinoff was her guide. During this time, Kravinoff and Mariah fell in love. When Kravinoff and Mariah finally found Dr. Reeves they discovered that Reeves became more primal from taking a wonder drug that could heal any wound. Reeves then gave Mariah the serum and went into the jungle. As Mariah followed him, she was attacked by hyenas. Sergei then came to her rescue and fought off the hyenas. However, Kravinoff was seriously injured. Against Reeves's warning of the serum's side effects, Mariah gave Kravinoff the serum. The serum made Kravinoff heal extremely fast. It also made Kravinoff faster and stronger, increased his senses to the same levels of wild animals, and made him more primal and aggressive and he started to hunt like a wild animal. The serum changed Kravinoff so much that he even took the name Kraven the Hunter.

### Later life

#### Tracking Mariah Crawford

Sometime later, Mariah came to New York City and began working for the Hardy Foundation to find a cure for Kraven. However, Kraven was able to track her down and was ready to force her to return to Africa with him. However, Spider-Man arrived and saved her. Spider-Man then took Mariah to Joseph Robertson's apartment to hide her there because Joseph was out of town on business. However, Robertson returned home early and believing that Robbie was Kraven, Mariah snuck out the window. Only minutes later, Kraven burst into Robbie's home and demanded to know where Mariah was. Kraven then took Robbie hostage and and used him as leverage to get Spider-Man to find Mariah and bring her to him.

For several hours, Spider-Man searched the city with no luck in finding Mariah. However, Spider-Man spotted a sign for the Central Park Zoo and deduced that that must be where Kraven was. As Spider-Man arrived at the zoo, he fell into traps set by Kraven, who then confronted Spider-Man himself. Kraven was able to get the upper hand. However, Mariah ran in to the zoo and accidentally set off one of Kraven's traps and fell into the lion cage. Kraven then rushed into the cage and was able to fight off the lions. However, Kraven was severely injured during the fight. Mariah and Spider-Man then rushed in and Mariah gave Kraven the cure. The cure restores Kraven to his old self and he reunites with Mariah and they leave New York City.

#### Helping Spider-Man

After Spider-Man transformed into a giant spider monster, Mariah Crawford contacted Sergei to come to New York City to find Spider-Man. As Kraven arrived, he was met at the airport by Dr. Crawford. Mariah then told Kraven that she was able to create a cure for Spider-Man's mutation and that he must hunt him down so that she could administer the cure to him. Sergei then reassured Mariah that even though he no longer had super strength granted to him by the serum James Reeves created, he was still an excellent hunter.

Later that night, Punisher tracked down Man-Spider and prepared to kill him. However, Kraven arrived just in time to stop Punisher. As they fought Man-Spider was able to get away. After a brief fight Punisher was able to trap Kraven in a net and get away. As Punisher left, Kraven broke through the net and freed himself. As Kraven looked around on the rooftop, he found some of Man-Spider's webbing and picked up the scent of gunpowder coming from it.

As Kraven tracked Man-Spider to his lair, he freed Punisher who earlier that night had been captured by Man-Spider. Kraven then suggested that they work together to which Punisher agreed. As they searched for Man-Spider, Punisher spotted a camera hanging by webbing. Kraven warned Punisher not to touch it but Punisher ignored Kraven's warnings and grabbed the camera. As the web vibrated, it alerted Man-Spider to their presence and the creature attacked Kraven and Punisher. As Kraven and Punisher fought Man-Spider, Punisher grabbed a gun from his jacket and fired a bolt of electricity from the gun which surrounded Man-Spider. With the creature trapped, Punisher reached into his pocket and pulled out a grenade and threatened to blow up Man-Spider. However, before Punisher could do this Mariah Crawford walked in and told Punisher that Spider-Man was the victim of a disease the same way that his family were victims. This convinced Punisher not to kill Man-Spider and Mariah gave Man-Spider an antidote which turned him back into a human. After Spider-Man turned back into a human, Punisher began to walk off. As Kraven caught up to him, he told Punisher that Spider-Man was innocent of the charges of abducting Michael Morbius from the hospital. As Punisher looked around, he saw a sign that said World Trade Center parking garage and asked Kraven how he knew that that is where Man-Spider was hiding. Kraven then revealed that Man-Spider's webbing still had the scent of gunpowder from an explosion that occurred years before in the World Trade Center parking garage and that scent is how he tracked him. With Spider-Man cured, Kraven returned to Africa.

## Non-canon history

In Spider-Man: Chase for the Blue Tiger, a billionaire named Knox had captured a rare blue tiger and Kraven learned of this. Kraven then contacted Chameleon and asked him for help capturing the blue tiger. Kraven wanted the blue tiger to hunt on his private estate. Kraven and Chameleon were able to capture the rare blue tiger but Spider-Man stopped them.

In the comic book Totally Kids, Kraven the Hunter teamed up with several of Spider-Man's enemies to defeat Spider-Man. However, Spider-Man was able to get away.

## Powers

Kraven is an expert hunter.

The formula that he took also increased his reflexes, strength, speed, and senses. The serum made Kraven so strong that he could fight lions with his bare hands. It also made him as fast as a cheetah and enhanced his sense of smell to such levels that Kraven could track his prey just by their scent. Kraven's agility was also increased and rivaled that of Spider-Man's.

Kraven is also proficient in using various types of weapons.

## In the comics

Most of Kraven's comic book backstory was kept intact in Spider-Man: The Animated Series with only slight changes.

In the comics, Kraven was naturally evil. However, in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Kraven was a good person who became more aggressive after taking the serum that gave him his powers.

In the comics, Kraven was also the half-brother of the Chameleon. However, in the series Kraven and the Chameleon have no relation.

In 1959, Kraven was recruited by Nick Fury, who at the time was working for the C.I.A., into a black-ops team called the Avengers. The other members of the Avengers included Kraven’s then girlfriend, Namora, Blonde Phantom, Ulysses Bloodstone, Dum Dum Dugan, Dominic Fortune, Sabretooth, and Silver Sable. In one mission Kraven and the Avengers traveled to Sweden and stopped the Red Skull from re-creating the Super Soldier Serum. The Avengers went on several other missions but later disbanded.

In the comics, Kraven was also one of the founding members of the Sinister Six.

Kraven later committed suicide and his son, Vladamir, became the new Kraven the Hunter. However, he was later resurrected.

## Appearances

* Kraven the Hunter
* Mutants' Revenge (Photo on a Daily Bugle newspaper)
* Morbius
* Duel of the Hunters

## Trivia

* Kraven's appearance slightly changes between his first appearance and his second appearance. In season one Kraven's hair is solid black. Starting in season two through the rest of his appearances Kraven has blue highlights in his hair.