Reality TV star Kraven the Hunter had seen it all
in the Australian outback. Battling crocodiles, box with kangaroos, and hunting
wild game with his bare hands had gained him a cult following; but as his agents
put it, defeating the masked Spider-Man would put him on the map. Traveling
to New York with his girlfriend, Tabidi, and production crew, Kraven promised
a horde of reporters that he wouldn't just catch Spider-Man, he would kill him.
Visiting P.S. 163 in Queens, Kraven examined the site of a recent battle between
Spider-Man and a goblin monster, trying to pick up Spider-Man's scent. Unknown
to Kraven, Spider-Man was right under his nose the whole time, in his secret
identity as a student Peter Parker. Later, Kraven learned that Spider-Man was
spotted riding atop a limo on the New Jersey turnpike. Kraven and his production
crew followed Spider-Man to a Hammer Industries laboratory where Spider-Man
was battling Doctor Octopus.
After Spider-Man defeated Doc Ock, Kraven challenged the exhausted Spider-Man,
who wanted nothing to do with him. Kraven lunged at Spider-Man, throwing everything
he had at him, but Spider-Man just dodged it all and eventually knocked Kraven
out with a single punch. The police then arrested the humiliated Kraven and
his production crew for public endangerment.
Because of his arrest, Kraven was deported and his show was cancelled. Even
Tabidi left him. Obsessed with revenge, Kraven took illegal genetic enhancements
and began a media tour, renewing his challenge to Spider-Man. When the Ultimates
sought to arrest him for genetic tampering, Kraven tried to flee but Hawkeye
shot him in the calf an arrow. Placed in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Kraven was housed
in the same cell block as fellow Spider-Man enemies Norman
Osborn, Doctor Octopus, Electro,
and the Sandman, escaping alongside them and hiding out in Wilson Fisk's summer
house in the Hamptons.
While the Ultimates raided Kraven's production company, the escapees took advantage
of this to kidnap Spider-Man, whom Kraven saw unmasked. Enraged that a mere
teen had humiliated him, Kraven attacked the bound Spider-Man, but his partners
restrained him. Osborn tricked Spider-Man into joining them in an attack on
the White House, but the Ultimates intervened and Spider-Man turned on Osborn.
Knocked clear into the Oval Office, Spider-Man was stalked by vengeful Kraven,
whom Thor downed with a lightning bolt. Captured again, a desperate Kraven tried
to claim that Doc Ock or Osborn had been using mind control on him.
