Thunder

This story continues from Web of Spider-Man #32...

With the Vermin his prisoner in an electrified cage, Kraven the Hunter thinks about his mother's descent into madness. In his frenzied mind, he has come to believe his mother was stolen from him by the "spider" that has been haunting him his entire life. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Spider-Man who is furious that his old foe buried him alive and usurped his life for two weeks. He strikes Kraven across the face, drawing blood, and his foe only smiles. When Spider-Man tells Kraven how much he is going to hurt Kraven, the villain holds his hands up and tells Spider-Man to strike freely, explaining that he has already won. Pulling off his replica Spider-Man costume, Kraven explains that since he "killed" Spider-Man he as now "become" his most persistent foes. As Kraven continues to strip nude, Spider-Man points out that he didn't actually die. Kraven understands this, saying he could have killed the wall-crawler if he wanted. Putting on his traditional Kraven garb. He then tells Spider-Man to follow him, assuring him that there are no traps waiting for him. The whole time this discussion is occurring, the Vermin tries to break out of his electrified cage, but to no avail.

Spider-Man follows Kraven down into the basement of his mansion where various trophies are kept, including the cage which holds the Vermin. Kraven tells Spider-Man that the man-rat is the "cannibal killer" that has been reported about in the news. The mad hunter then gloats over the fact that he was able to kill this vicious killer, something that both Spider-Man and Captain America failed to do. He then tosses a torch into Vermin's cage, the flames frightening him. Vermin becomes even more afraid when he sees Spider-Man. However, the wall-crawler means the tortured creature no harm and uses his webbing to pull the torch out of the cave. Seeing Kraven grinning at him, Spider-Man becomes enraged and tells Kraven to put an end to this madness. Instead, the hunter leaps onto a trophy of an elephant and gives out a triumphant animalistic cry. Spider-Man flips the elephant over sending Kraven crashing to the ground.

When the Hunter gets back on his feet, Kraven reaches out to touch Spider-Man, but the hero swats Kraven's hand away. Amused, Kraven releases Vermin and tells Spider-Man to battle the pitiful creature for his amusement, but the hero refuses. As a result, Kraven taunts the Vermin enough to enrage the man-rat and it attacks Spider-Man instead. Spider-Man tries evading Vermin's slashing attacks, trying to talk sense into the creature, explain Kraven's manipulations, but Vermin believes he is lying. Spider-Man's temper is quickly lost when Vermin manages to slash open the wall-crawlers arm. Furious, he beats into the Vermin trying to explain how Kraven shot him and buried him alive. Realizing what he has done, Spider-Man stops himself and can't bring himself to escalate things any further. Vermin, however, has no such compunctions and lashes into the hero again. However, before the creature can land the killing blow, Kraven whips the creature back and then pins its hand to the wall with a knife. Kraven then tells Vermin that his point has been made and he is free to go. Vermin becomes frightened, pulls the knife out of his hand and scurries away. Weakly, Spider-Man begs Kraven to go after Vermin as he will kill again. However, Kraven decides that he must "help" Spider-Man and carries him back upstairs.

There, Kraven tells Spider-Man that he is free to go, that he knows the wall-crawler will not rest while Vermin is on the loose. Spider-Man is reluctant to leave Kraven to hunt and ruin someone else's life. However, Kraven assures him that after tonight, he will hunt no more. Considering this, Spider-Man warns Kraven that he will be back and leaps out into the storm to hunt down Vermin. As Spider-Man goes, Kraven offers him a silent farewell. Looking at an old family photo, Kraven thinks about how his family fled Russia and how he earned his honor in the jungles. How after years of elusively searching for happiness, Kraven now feels he has finally achieved it. With nothing left to live for, Kraven takes his rifle and places the barrel in his mouth, and pulls the trigger. The recoil from the blast sends Kraven's dead body cartwheeling backward into an open coffin, his blood splatters the framed family photo.

This story concludes in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #132...

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Kraven the Hunter, Vermin

Continuity Notes

• Spider-Man and Captain America last fought the Vermin in Marvel Team-Up #128.

• Although Kraven dies here, he is later resurrected by his family in Amazing Spider-Man #635.