Kraven is the half brother of the Chameleon.

Sergei Kravinoff was born in Stalingrad. As Kraven, he was a maniacal big game hunter who sought to defeat Spider-Man to prove that he was the greatest hunter in the world. Unlike other hunters, he typically disdained the use of guns or bow and arrows preferring to take down large dangerous animals with his bare hands even though he often made elaborate preparations to weaken a quarry before hand. He also used a mystical serum to give him similar strength to Spider-Man, but even without the serum he was a threat to the wall-crawler. Spider-Man proved a frustrating quarry because Kraven continually underestimated the superhero's resourcefulness.
 

In the  story "Kraven's Last Hunt", by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck,  Kraven's anger toward his inability to defeat the superhero destroyed his sanity. With that, he hatched a scheme that actually defeated Spider-Man, and seemingly and uncharacteristically shot him dead. Considering his enemy effectively dead, Kraven buried him. After this, Kraven donned a copy of Spider-Man's costume and sought to prove that he was superior at his enemy's activities. This culminated with his successful singlehanded capture of a minor super villain, Vermin, whom Spider-Man needed the help of Captain America to defeat. After that triumph, Spider-Man revived from the tranquilizer dart he was actually shot with and dug his way out of the grave. Kraven greeted him and explained that he had made his point about defeating his enemy. Then he released Vermin and told Spider-Man to pursue him. At this point, having no further purpose, Kraven committed suicide while Spider-Man captured the villain on his own.

Kraven's allegiances and relatives in life were, for the most part, revealed only after his death. The Chameleon was the person who initially gave Kraven the idea of hunting Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #15. After Kraven died, the Chameleon was revealed to be Dmitri Smerdyakov, Kraven's half-brother, personal servant, and the victim of Kraven's abuse, and yet, according to Smerdyakov, the two were best friends nonetheless. Kraven's lover, the voodoo priestess Calypso, manipulated the Lizard against the wall-crawler in the first issues of Todd McFarlane's best-selling Spider-Man series. It was later revealed in a story arc concerning Ka-Zar that Kraven was trained as a hunter largely by a mysterious man named Gregor, a mercenary who battled the Jungle Man.

Kraven has two sons take up his role. There was a third son as well, Ned Tannengarden, who tried to kill Alyosha, but was murdered by the Chameleon (who believed himself to be the original Kraven at that point).


Vladimir Kravinoff
Vladimir Kravinoff, mutant, took up the name "The Grim Hunter" and decided to hunt down Spider-Man and several of his foes. He only had one battle with Spider-Man, and his methods were nearly the same as his father's. He was briefly involved with the Hobgoblin, even giving that incarnation (Jason Macendale) his father's super strength formula. When he got out of jail, he decided to track Spider-Man down again, only to fight the Scarlet Spider instead. Kaine, a clone of Spider-Man arrived, and after a confrontation, Vladimir was killed by the insane duplicate.


Alyosha Kravinoff
Main article: Alyosha Kravinoff
Some time after the death of Vladimir, his half brother, Alyosha Kravinoff (or "Al Kraven"), became the newest Kraven. During his tenure as the Hunter, he was manipulated by Calypso and killed her before joining The Sandman's reformed Sinister Six. After the team dissolved following the Sandman's betrayal of Venom, the symbiote began hunting down his former team mates, wounding both Sandman and Electro. He was surprised that Kraven was able to hold out the longest against him, but ultimately defeated and almost disemboweled the hunter, who was saved by Spider-Man at the cost of Venom's escape. Shortly after, he retired from the supervillain scene, and decided to become a Hollywood star and semi-superhero. Alyosha is a mutant and retained his superhuman powers after the M-Day. He was prominently featured in the Beyond! miniseries.

Al Kraven (Alyosha Kravinoff), Kraven II has the same abilities and skills of his father, with the addition of an ability to control animals which has never been fully explained (possibly a mutation). He has a greater education than his father or brother, and is relatively sane compared to the rest of his family, though still prone to personality lapses where he may turn from a cool and calm gentleman to a raging animal in seconds. He has also revealed to Spider-Man during in a conversation in a bar that his mother was a mutant like him.

There is reason to believe that this character is named for one of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov: Kraven's ally the Chameleon was born Dmitri Smerdyakov. Dmitri and Smerdyakov are two of the Karamazov brothers, and it is unlikely that the occurrence of all three names in the mythos surrounding Kraven is simply coincidental.


Kraven in other media
Kraven's first on-screen appearance actually pre-dates Spider-Man's own show (on which he never appeared), appearing in 1966 on one of the Iron Man episodes of The Marvel Superheroes Show, entitled "Cliffs of Doom".

Although never identified as Kraven, a character with remarkable similarities to him appeared on an episode of the live-action Incredible Hulk series, entitled "The Snare". The story was similarly based on The Most Dangerous Game as Kraven himself was in the comics.

Amazing Spider-Man 15 Cover

Amazing Spider-Man 34 Cover

Amazing Spider-Man #47 Cover


Kazar vs Kraven the Hunter comic cover

Amazing Spider-Man 294 Cover