Sergei Kravinoff (Earth-21399)

"I have found dignity; not in the cities, but in the jungle. I have found honor; not in the civilized, but in the wild. I have found morality, found meaning... in the '''hunt."

- Kraven the Hunter

Early Life
Sergei Kravinoff (Cyrillic: Сергей Кравинов) was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to a pair of Russian aristocrats whose families fled Russia during the communist revolution. He was raised on a private game reserve owned by the Kravinoff family, and was fascinated with the wildlife around him, even resolving to become a conservationist.

However, Kraven's father interpreted this interest as him rejecting the family's royal heritage and legacy. Kraven was abused throughout his childhood, his father insisting that he had no worth, all the while Kraven's mother slowly descended into madness as a result of his father's abuse.

Seeking an escape, Kraven eventually ran away into the wild and learned to live off the land with one of the native tribes. After gaining the tribe's trust, the village healer, a voodoo priestess named Calypso Ezili, endowed Kraven with a herbal concoction that enhanced his physical abilities to the peak of human potential. Over time, Kraven and Calypso became lovers.

Mercenary Work
He eventually returned to civilization and made his living as a tracker and trapper of animals, in part motivated by a desire to prove to his father that Kraven could still achieve greatness. The business agreed with Kraven, and he soon started hunting for sport, becoming one of the most successful hunters on Earth. But as Kraven's success grew, so did his boredom and depression. Since hunting wild animals was no longer a challenge for him, he changed his focus to hunting the most dangerous game: humans.

Hunting Spider-Man
Kraven spearheaded the first wave of elite mercenaries hired by the Kingpin to take down Spider-Man. He believed that the hunting of this superior human specimen would bring him new purpose.

However, Kraven's failure to capture Spider-Man convinced Kingpin that superhuman assassins were required to take down a superhuman. Kraven was insulted by this proposition, and he became fixated with proving himself the greatest hunter on Earth by killing Spider-Man.