Sergei Kravinoff

## Kraven the Hunter

**Sergei N. Kravinoff**, also known as "**Kraven the Hunter**", is both a fictional character and antagonist of the *MDC's* *Spider-Shock* series created by Steve Ditko and Dwayne McDuffie. He is a Russian big games hunter and mercenary.

Infected by a cancer that sealed his fate, Kraven long sought to perpetuate his ancestor's traditions by seeking a glorious death at the hands of a worthy opponent, thus leading him to his one last Great Hunt in New Dakota City.

Sergei ruthlessly hunted down and killed many famous supervillains and heroes alike, until he finally met his match in Venom itself. Sergei dueled the terrifying alien in a memorable duel that ultimately led to his demise.

"*Long have I dreamt of a perfect death, drenched in fire and blood! Will you give it to me?!*"

—Kraven the Hunter, as he faces off against Venom.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Jim Pirri (English), Hiroshi Iwasaki (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Croatian), Not Known (Danish), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Filipino), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hong Kong), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Ukrainian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Canadian French), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish), Not Known (Spain-Spanish)

### Appearance

Kraven is a behemoth of a man, towering over the average human and having a bulky, muscular build. He sports a black/grey beard, as well as black hair with a man bun in the back. Kraven wears what you may expect a traditional hunter to wear, with a couple of changes. He wears no shirt, exposing his muscles, covered by a black and yellow tactical vest. At the top of said vest, there is a huge collar made out of brown animal fur.

Kraven also has multiple animal skulls he wears, such as one on his waist, right arm, and more. He also has multiple pieces of animal skin and fur stitched into his clothes. And finally, he has a necklace showing predator fangs (maybe a tiger or lion).

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Green
* Age: Not Known (Deceased)
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Kraven is a ruthless, yet cunning hunter, typically trying to find the worthiest of prey. After discovering his cancer however, he wished not to die as a sick man, but as a man who wished to die at the hands of an equal. He cared very little about the people he hurt, even those who desired not to participate in his hunts, such as Martin Li, Kirk Langstrom or Curt Connors.

He believed that among many of the villains and heroes of New Dakota, he would find his equal and nearly did, when Spider-Man, under the influence of Venom, attempted to strangle him to death. He was, however, denied this, thanks to Miles Morales. Despite this, Kraven was not yet ready to surrender and would finally take joy in the fact that, following his encounter with Venom, he found the equal he sought for so long, dying happy.

Kraven takes great pride in holding the title of the world greatest hunter. This led him to push himself to peak of human physical limits and skills. After accomplishing number of challenges, he truly starves for a worthy challenge. He even displayed an incredible amount of patience, as noted when he spent hours waiting for a alleged worthy challenger to detect him. When facing Spider-Man, Kraven shows enough empathy to sense the raw aggression of the Symbiote and is even enthralled by the possibility of finally finding a worthy fighter to defeat him.

Kraven has also shown himself to be a deeply spiritual man, as he still prayed every time before a hunt, as his mother had taught him to do so. As his age starts to catch up with him and he begins struggling with a terminal illness, Kraven also begins to display deep insecurities. Because Kraven's own followers view him as some kind of quasi-deity, Kraven is desperate to not die on a sickbed. Kraven desperately wants to be slain in battle by an opponent whom Kraven deems worthy of killing him.

He fears that this terminal illness will weaken him and this will lead to an opponent, whom he deems inferior to him, being the one to slay him. Additionally, Kraven even thanks Venom for the fight the two had, showing a level of respect towards strong enemies that are capable to best him. When facing Venom, Kraven became ecstatic at finally facing an opponent who will give him the glorious death he craved.

His enthusiasm about getting what he wanted was noted when Kraven went on to proclaim that the battle between the two will be Kraven's final hunt, but this will the creature's first hunt.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Hunters
	+ Grizzly

### Family

* Dmitri Smerdyakov (paternal half-brother)
* Zartan the Terminator (younger brother)
* Sasha Kravinoff (wife)
* Vladimir Kravinoff (son)
* Nedrocci Kravinoff (son)
* Ana Kravinoff (daughter)

### Enemies

* Spy-D
* Static
* Spider-Man
* Black Cat
* Scorpion (Deceased)
* Mister Negative
* Tombstone
* Venom
* Vulture (Deceased)
* Shocker (Deceased)
* Electro (Deceased)
* Sandman

## Abilities and Powers

In addition to his already peak-human physical abilities, Kraven also takes unidentified potions which have greatly enhance his physical power. He is able to easily go toe-to-toe with battle hardened superhumans such as the Scorpion and overpower them through brute strength alone. For unexplained reasons, Kraven also displayed a complete resistance to Scorpion's toxin. Whether this was through the potions or him taking an antidote prior to his brief struggle with Scorpion was never specified.

Kraven is a master of combat, utilizing knives, spears, and the sword and shield, all used to deadly effect when facing opponents. His also a fearsome martial artist, outmatching all opponents in technique. With his enhanced abilities and decades honed combat skill, Kraven subdued Scorpion with little effort, consistently held his ground against Spider-Man and posed a formidable challenge to Venom.

Kraven has proven himself to be a capable organizer and leader, coordinating his hunters with deadly efficacy. Kraven is also a skilled tactician, formulating complex strategies and utilizing quick thinking in the heat of battle to adapt to his adversary. Kraven also extensively researches his "prey" before battling them to understand them better and provide himself with an advantage in battle. While he is a very dangerous and cunning opponent, Kraven was suffering from cancer prior to his death, as Peter found several chemotherapy drugs among his possessions.

## History

### Past

#### Early Life

Sergei Kravinoff grew up in Volgograd, Russia. He and his paternal half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov, the man who would become the Chameleon through the Russian government's Proyekt Khameleon, spent much of their youth hunting together, though Sergei showed dislike for him.

As time itself had gone on, Sergei was an immensely skilled hunter that gained his own followers of immensely skilled hunters that were unquestionable and completely loyal to him. His hunting skill only more improved after he drank a potion that gave him inhuman strength, endurance and hunting abilities.

Eventually, Kraven was diagnosed with late stage, inoperable & terminal cancer. Rather than let illness claim him, Sergei sought to rather die how he had always lived: as a hunter. He began searching in fervor for the most powerful prey; an opponent capable of overpowering and killing him in battle on his own terms, a death he believed was "worthy of him": animal or otherwise.

Six months prior to the events of the series, Kraven investigates where to hunt for prey next, longing for an equal. Kraven hunted and killed the last skilled hunter after which he lamented the lack of suitable prey until one of his Hunters suggested New Dakota City due to the plethora of superpowered beings there.

## Events

### Non-Canon

#### Targets and victims

* William Baker (**Sandman**) – *Eluded capture*
* MacDonald Gargan (**Scorpion**) – *Stabbed to death with his own stinger*
* Martin Li (**Mister Negative**) – *Captured but eventually saved by Spy-D*
* Felicia Hardy (**Black Cat**) – *Eluded capture*
* Alonzo Lincoln (**Tombstone**) – *Captured but eventually saved by Spider-Man and Harry Osborn*
* Curtis Connors (**Lizard**) – *Captured but eventually saved by Spider-Man*
* Adrian Toomes (**Vulture**) – *Eliminated*
* Maxwell Dillon (**Electro**) – *Eliminated*
* Herman Schultz (**Shocker**) – *Stabbed to death with Kraven's blade*
* Dmitri Smerdyakov (**Chameleon**) – *Eluded capture*
* Ivan Kravinoff (**Zartan**) – *Eluded capture*
* Miles Morales (**Spy-D**) – *Captured but eventually saved by Spider-Man*
* Peter Parker (**Spider-Man**) – *Fatally stabbed by Kraven's blade but saved by Harry's symbiote*
* **Venom** – *Kraven's final opponent and killer*

## External links

* Kraven *Wikipedia*
* Kraven *Marvel Animated Universe Wiki*
* Kraven *Marvel Animated Universe Wiki*
* Kraven *Marvel Database*
* Kraven *Marvel's Spider-Man Wiki*
* Kraven *Spider-Man Wiki*
* Kraven *Villains Wiki*

## Notes & Trivia

* The only ones he succeeded in killing were iconic members of the Sinister Six in the comics, like himself.
* Kraven appears to be a devout Orthodox Christian.
* Kraven once managed to cross the borders of Wakanda undetected and hunt in the isolationist African nation.
* He did not target Mysterio due to the fact he could pose no physical threat to him without his technology.
* Kraven never considered to launch a frontal assault on The Raft even though many supervillains were still being held there, likely because he wanted to keep the element of surprise. He favored hunting his preys rather separately; facing several super powered villains at the same time would have played against him.
* On the other hand, those who were out of The Raft when the Great Hunt began found themselves hunted down and killed one after the other. This fate is notably shared by Electro, Vulture, Scorpion and Shocker.