Marvel's Apex Predator - Kraven The Hunter Supervillain Showcase

Описание: Ahead of his appearance in Marvel Spider-Man 2 on the PS5, let's look at one of Spider-Man's most savage supervillain's first adventures in the 616 universe, chronicling his first battles with famous superheroes like The Amazing Spider-Man, The Invincible Iron Man and Daredevil, The Man Without Fear!
Also featuring the conniving Chameleon!

00:00 intro. Everybody knows all about Kraven's Last Hunt so I wanted to showcase some of his lesser known stories, but I couldn't leave leave out the one that started it all so first we take a look at...

01:06 The Amazing Spider-Man issue 15, Kraven's first appearance as he takes on the champion of the concrete jungle, Spider-Man!

07:52 Tales of Suspense issue 58, Kraven bites off more than he can chew when he comes face to face with the armoured Avenger Iron Man!

10:08 Daredevil issue 104, the hunter is hired to put the fear in old Hornhead and his dazzling dame, the Black Widow!

14:58 My thoughts on Kravinoff and his legacy...
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Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Dimitri Symostivych Kravinoff) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #15 (August 1964) as an adversary to the superhero Spider-Man, he has since endured as one of the web-slinger's most formidable foes, and is part of the collective of adversaries that make up Spider-Man's rogues' gallery. Kraven has also come into conflict with other heroes, such as Black Panther and Tigra. He is the half-brother of the Chameleon and one of the founding members of the Sinister Six.

In Kraven's first appearance, he refers to Spider-Man as the most dangerous game, a direct reference to the 1924 short story of the same name, in which General Zaroff, a Russian big-game hunter (and a primary inspiration for the character), hunts people as sport.

Kraven is typically portrayed as a renowned big-game hunter whose goal in life is to beat Spider-Man to prove himself as the world's greatest hunter. Though he is often overconfident in his own abilities, which he likes to boast about, he possesses a great sense of honor, and treats his adversaries as equals until proven otherwise. Because of this, Kraven has sometimes been depicted as an antihero and has teamed up with other heroes, including Spider-Man, the Avengers of 1959, and Squirrel Girl, in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015–2019).

The character is widely regarded as one of Spider-Man's most formidable enemies, and has gained considerable attention from storylines such as 1987's "Kraven's Last Hunt," 2010's "Grim Hunt", 2015–2019's "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl's Friend Kraven", and 2019's "Hunted". In 2009, Kraven was ranked as IGN's 53rd-greatest comic book villain of all time.[1] The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man media adaptations over the years including animated series and video games. Aaron Taylor-Johnson will star as the character in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) live-action film Kraven the Hunter (2024).

The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #15 (August 1964), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.[2] Though he would occasionally appear in other characters' titles, he was most frequently used as a Spider-Man foe. He is killed off in the acclaimed 1987 storyline by J. M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, and Bob McLeod, "Kraven's Last Hunt". Although generally considered to be the definitive Kraven the Hunter story, the story originally had a completely different character in Kraven's role. Writer DeMatteis recounted:

As I was getting ready to work on the story, I was sitting in my office and looking through a Marvel Universe Handbook and came across the entry for Kraven the Hunter. To this day, I don't know if this was something that was established in continuity, or if whoever was writing the Handbook entry made it up, but they mentioned that Kraven was Russian. For me, a total Dostoyevsky fanatic, the idea that Kraven was Russian and had the same tortured, Russian soul that the great Dostoyevsky characters had, unlocked this door in my head and suddenly I had a new understanding of this character. I thought about Kraven and the forces that had driven him to be who and what he was. This was a character I had never had any interest in whatsoever. I always thought he was one of the stupidest Spider-Man villains ever, but suddenly I had this whole new take on the character.[3]

Despite Kraven the Hunter being one of Spider-Man's most long-standing arch-enemies, DeMatteis claims that none of Marvel's editorial staff objected to the proposal to have him killed in the story.[3] Kraven later returns as a ghost in the graphic novel The Amazing Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter, also by DeMatteis, Zeck, and McLeod. DeMatteis also wrote "Kraven's First Hunt" for The Sensational Spider-Man Annual '96, a retelling of The Amazing Spider-Man #15 which incorporated several DeMatteis retcons, such as that Kraven was abusive towards the Chameleon.