Warning: Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #33!Just over 35 years after the events of Kraven’s Last Hunt, Spider-Man has finally gotten his revenge by hunting Kraven the Hunter. Spider-Man has turned to the dark side after getting the sins of the Green Goblin sucked into him, thanks to Kraven himself. Kraven wanted a formidable hunt on his tail, and he got more than he bargained for.
Kraven truly may have had his last hunt as of The Amazing Spider-Man #33 by Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Marcio Menyz, and VC’s Joe Caramagna. It begins with Spider-Man injecting Kraven with a drug-induced toxin out of a syringe, similar to when Kraven shot him with a tranquilizer gun three decades ago. In due time, it proves to be the perfect instrument for Spider-Man’s payback scheme as the predator toys with his prey the entire issue. The story is in many ways a reversal of Kraven’s Last Hunt, the classic 1987 storyline from writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Mike Zeck.
Kraven’s Last Hunt Becomes Spider-Man’s Last Hunt
Fear and paranoia set in for the cloned son of Kraven the Hunter as he monologues to himself, “I am the gazelle. Hobbled by my father’s sins.” The fight rages on until Spider-Man traps him in a sewer, where Kraven learns that the purpose of the serum is to attract Vermin, who also made an appearance in Kraven’s Last Hunt. Spider-Man watches as Vermin mauls Kraven into unconsciousness. It’s then that the newly Goblin-fied Spidey makes his move. He drags Kraven to his own burial site, placing him in a closed casket with a shotgun in case he wants to “skip to the end,” alluding to the end of Kraven’s Last Hunt, when the titular hunter turns a shotgun on himself. Spider-Man then returns a favor from 35 years ago by burying him alive.
Spider-Man Finally Gets His Payback
Anyone who has read Kraven’s Last Hunt will recognize how The Amazing Spider-Man #33 is laced with several references and callbacks to the classic story. In the storytelling context, one can view all of these callbacks as showcasing just how much thought Peter has put into his vengeance plot, if not then just how diabolical his Green Goblin form has become already. Keep in mind that this chase takes place mere moments after Peter is injected with the personality and evil energy of the Green Goblin. He didn’t have much prep time or long-term planning to put into this night.
Either the essence of the Green Goblin is wicked enough to come up with all of this on the spot or Peter had truly been thinking about all of this longer than he’s led on. He does mention in this issue that wearing the black suit allows him to act on repressed impulses. Furthermore, he expresses in dialogue just how badly he once hated and feared Kraven for burying him alive so long ago. There’s a good chance that Peter has thought about the worst things he could do to Kraven in the past, but never acted on them because he’s too friendly of a neighborhood Spider-Man.
It’s also hard to ignore the implications of Spider-Man’s “skip to the end” line. Save for the mortifying context of its predecessor’s ending, it could also be a foreshadowing of Peter’s fate. The hunter of Kraven’s Last Hunt had to die for that hunt to truly end. Will this story’s hunter, Spider-Man, have to die, maybe even kill himself, as the only means to rid himself of the Goblin?
The Amazing Spider-Man #33 is on sale now.
