Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt is a 2023 limited series for Spider-Man and sequel to the famous 1987 storyline Kraven's Last Hunt.
Set during The Clone Saga when Peter had temporarily lost his powers and was living in Portland with a pregnant Mary Jane, the former Spider-Man is struggling to adapt to a peaceful life as a teacher's assistant after years of placing his life in danger and fighting supervillains. Things are made worse when Gregor, a friend of Kraven who is seeking revenge for his death, comes hunting for Peter who must now face his personal demons if he wishes to protect his wife and the life they are building together.
Tropes:
- Advertised Extra: Despite appearing on the cover and being marketed as part of the comic, Kraven only appears briefly in flashbacks.
- The Ageless: Aja is revealed to have lived for more than 150 years thanks to the teachings of the Balu-Aye and the Yansan-An ritual.
- Ascended Extra: Gregor was just a background character that acted as an aide to Vladimir Kravinoff (The Grim Hunter) in the latter's appearances pre-Clone Saga and until his death in the early days of that storyline. Here he takes center stage.
- Badass Normal: Peter is this in the story since he lacks his powers, but retains the years of experience in fighting criminals and the healthy physique.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: The Yansan-An ritual seemingly does this, with the person being buried alive for two weeks in a deep coma where they face their deepest fears and personal demons. Peter later has a form of this where he confronts his feeling that being Spider-Man got his loved ones killed and his deep fear that some sort of monster called the Spider lives within him. However he comes to realise that the Spider is nothing more than a symptom of Kraven's madness that Peter worried was true and doesn't really exist.
- Brought Down to Badass: Deconstructed. While he might lack all of his powers, Peter is still a skilled fighter in very good physical condition since he spent years fighting hardened criminals and supervillains. However he isn't able to beat Gregor, who used the same herbs as Kraven to increase his already impressive physical abilities, until Aja gives him a Spider-Man suit made from vibranium and after Gregor has been worn out from fighting Aja.
- Continuity Nod:
- Gregor naturally mentions the events of Kraven's Last Hunt and Vladimir's death at the hand of Kaine.
- Peter mentions how he lost his powers at GRID Labs.
- Create Your Own Villain: Aja friendship and mistaken belief that she could help Kraven results in her accidentally driving him mad, leaving with her son and becoming the hunter he's famous for being.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: In issue #4, Aja-Orisha remembers her time in 1921 America, where she was a free African woman drawing the attention of the white elite, while the African-American citizens filled serving positions.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Yansan-An ritual is supposed to put someone into a deep coma for two weeks where they are buried and in a dream confront their personal demons, the intent being that they will eventually accept these demons and emerge stronger. Kraven however was only in the coma for four days and seemingly driven mad, with Aja being left unsure whether his demons were simply too strong for him to overcome or if he was too weak to even confront them.
- Happily Married: Downplayed since Peter's current issues are making things difficult and Mary Jane feels lonely in Portland, but the two are genuinely in love and supportive of each other. Which is why she was able to coax Peter out of his drug fuelled rage caused by Gregor.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Aja sacrifices herself to save Mary Jane from Gregor, dying as a result which causes her son to realise how he's wasted his life by following a madman.
- Immortality Bisexuality: Aja is The Ageless who has lived for over a century and mentions in her flashbacks that she has had both male and female lovers before falling in love with Gregor's father.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Averted. Aja-Orisha is long-lived and basically immortal, and gives birth to a normal baby boy whose father is a normal African-American man in 1921.
- Interquel:
- It's set a few years after Kraven's Last Hunt but before the Cosmic Retcon of One More Day, as Peter and Mary Jane are still married in this story.
- Since Peter lost his powers and he is living in Portland with Mary Jane, it is also set during the '90s Clone Saga before the couple returns to New York following Ben Reilly's stealing of the Spider-Skeleton.
- Interrupted Suicide: Gregor attempts to kill himself the same as Kraven did after accidentally killing Aja, but Peter stops him since despite what happened he regrets not having been able to stop Kraven.
- Long Bus Trip: Gregor hasn't been seen since 1997, despite at one point swearing revenge on Spider-Man for Kraven's death. This comic reveals that he did indeed attempt to get his revenge.
- Origins Episode: While not the main focus, this comic finally provides details on how Sergei Kravinoff went from a former aristocrat to the hunter he is famous for being, while also fleshing out his ally Gregor. It turns out that Sergei befriended Gregor's, whose real name is Takhar, mother, a Wakandan mystic named Aja Orisha who was made The Ageless due to a special ritual. Sergei became a Parental Substitute to Takhar, whose father died before his birth, and Aja believed she could guide Sergei away from his inner darkness and help him become a good man. She therefore let him take part in the Yansan-An ritual, which would help him confront and accept his personal demons. Instead this seemingly drove him mad and he eventually left with Takhar, who after seeing what the ritual did to Sergei rejected his mother and took the name Gregor.
- Parental Substitute: It turns out that Kraven was this to Gregor as a child, and despite his narration having him describe Kraven as simply a friend Gregor does call himself a Kravinoff at one point.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Gregor and Aja-Orisha's eyes glow with a red glimmer whenever their faces are shadowed.
- Revision: Originally Gregor was portrayed as simply a friend and servant of Kraven, who helped raise his son Vladimir who Gregor came to see as his own child. This comic reveals that Kraven was Gregor's Parental Substitute who he had known since Gregor was a child, and when he was fifteen Gregor left his mother to be with Kraven. It also reveals that Kraven didn't simply drug Peter in Kraven's Last Hunt, but actually put him through some form of the Yansan-An ritual in order to drive Peter mad.
- Sequel: Although not a direct sequel, since Peter is powerless during the story, the mini-series is set after Spider-Man: The Final Adventure.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Peter starts to wonder if his nightmares and visions are the result of him retiring, with Mary Jane comparing it to superhero PTSD. Peter agrees that it's possible, as he's been in life threatening situations since he was 15 years old and is only now stopping long enough for all of it to hit him. In truth, these visions were caused be Gregor.
