The Return of Kraven
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| “The Return of Kraven” | |
|---|---|
| Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode | |
 Kraven the Hunter |
|
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 45 |
| Written by | Meg McLaughlin |
| Production no. | 315 |
| Original airdate | February 22, 1997 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Black Cat" | "Partners" |
| Spider-Man (1994 animated series) Episode List | |
The Return of Kraven is the fourth episode of the fourth season of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
[edit] Plot
Peter Parker is seen sitting in a giant table, talking to Felicia Hardy and her mother, Anastasia, asking them why they wanted him here. Felicia tells Peter that she and her mom are preparing their budget for next year's youth science program and they need his input. But right in the middle of their conversation, alarms throughout the building go off. All three of them look at a video camera and Peter is shocked to see the one braking in is Sergei Kravinoff. Peter rushes off and changes into Spider-Man and confronts Kraven. Kravinoff throws a table at Spider-Man and then Kravinoff defeats Spider-Man by wrapping him up in a rope. Kravinoff then leaves through a window.
Spider-Man teams up with The Black Cat and as they are swinging in the skies of New York, they hear a scream not to far away. They rush to the scene at an incomplete warehouse site where Spider-Man arrives there first after a construction worker has run away from an unknown creature. But when Spider-Man tries to confront the creature, he runs into Sergei Kravinoff and the two do battle but Kraven begins beating down on Spider-Man until The Black Cat comes in, helping Spider-Man give him the upper hand against Kraven. But the villain then goes into a forklift and pins Spider-Man to a pipe. Kraven knocks out Spider-Man with more jungle dust, promising him if the superhero gets into his way again, he will destroy him. Then Kraven escapes.
Time goes by as there have been attacks reported about a monster who tried to attack the citizens. This public tension attracts the attention of Debra Whitman, who is trying to find some proof about the creature, with the help of her boyfriend, Flash Thompson. Debra and Flash travel into the sewers and finds a trace of DNA and a few strands of hair from the monster. Spider-Man travels to African Jungle Exhibit, believing he could track down Kraven the Hunter there, because the last time when Sergei Kravinoff was Kraven, he was hiding out in the Exhibit. Debra Whitman and Flash Thompson travel to the African Jungle Exhibit as well to snoop around for more clues. Debra and Flash are attacked by a creature, so Spider-Man arrives and knocks the creature in some grass. Kraven then pops out with Spider-Man assuming that Kraven is that creature but before they can do battle, Kraven knocks out Spider-Man with jungle dust again. Debra and Flash watch in horror to see Kraven about to kill Spider-Man until The Black Cat arrives and knocks out Kraven saving Spider-Man. Kraven escapes but before he eventually leaves, Spider-Man asks him why he's doing this. Kraven answers that this hunt isn't his passion - it is his tragedy. After Kraven had left, The Cat asks what Debra and Flash are doing here. Debra explains she and Flash are trying to track down the whereabouts about the creature who is terrorizing New York. Debra gives pieces of DNA from the creature she and Flash have gotten so far. They all then agree to search up on this creature's DNA.
Later Spider-Man confronts Kraven at Prospect Park and wraps him up in super-strong webbing made just for Kraven himself. Now that he has Kraven right where he wants him, the superhero asks the hunter why he is doing all this as the monster. Kraven tells Spider-Man he is strongly mistaken and he is not the monster - but he did create it and it destroyed Dr. Mariah Crawford. Then the Black Cat arrives, telling him that she, Debra Whitman, Flash Thompson and Dr. Curt Connors have looked up on the creature's DNA and it's female, and the monster is Dr. Mariah Crawford. Then Kraven tells them that while he and Dr. Crawford were still in Africa, Crawford was infected by a disease and the doctors told Sergei Kravinoff she couldn't be saved. But Kravinoff used the drug that Crawford used on him while he was hurt, which turned him into Kraven the Hunter. However, her cure was miraculous but when they returned to New York, Crawford became a Beastial-like monster and was loose in New York. Kravinoff thought the only way to stop her was if he became Kraven again. After Kraven explained everything, the three of them agreed to team up to stop Crawford, and Dr. Conners creates a formula to cure her.
When Dr. Crawford's monstrous form arrives at Prospect Park and begins hunting around, Spider-Man, The Black Cat and Kraven all restrain her in a surprise attack and give her the formula, which only gets her right in the middle between human and her monstrous form. Kraven and Crawford are happy to see each other again but Kraven asks Spider-Man and Black Cat if there is a serum which can cure her all the way. Spider-Man guesses the only person who can come up with that answer is Dr. Mariah Crawford herself. But Crawford refuses to become completely human again and wants to stay in her current form with Kraven. Then Kraven and Mariah leave.
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Daniel Barnes – Spider-Man / Peter Parker
- Jennifer Hale – The Black Cat / Felicia Hardy
- Gregg Berger – Kraven the Hunter / Sergei Kravinoff
- Gary Imhoff – Harry Osborn
- Linda Gary – May Parker
- Nina Talbot – Anastasia Hardy
- Matthew Laborteaux – Flash Thompson
- Susan Beaubian – Dr. Mariah Crawford/Calypso
- Liz Georges – Debra Whitman
[edit] Trivia
- This has been reviewed to have been the best and darkest episode of Season 4, due to Spider-Man's shining against The Black Cat and other disappointing emotions, such as Kraven's blaming himself for the monster's creation, created in Dr. Mariah Crawford.
- This episode is the last performance of Aunt May by Linda Gary, due to Gary's brain tumor death that happened not to long after her last recording. Gary was replaced by Julie Bennett in the role of Aunt May, starting from "The Return of the Green Goblin" to Aunt May's last appearance in the show, "The Return of Hydro-Man: Part Two."
