Moonshadow: Kraven's Daughter

 

With Sony and Insomniac Games’ release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Playstation 5, I thought now was the most opportune time to take a quick look at something the game touches on itself: the Kravinoff Family. No, today we won’t be doing a Family Tree, but instead we’ll be talking about a character who didn’t make it to the printed page: Kraven’s daughter in the MC2. Let me explain.

 

Among the many unused ideas and concepts conceived by Ron Frenz, shared on his own Facebook page is ‘Gazelle Kravenoff’ aka Moonshadow, and I quote Ron here ‘The daughter of Kraven the Hunter and Calypso!’

 

Now a quick history for everyone! Kraven the Hunter first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #15, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Kraven’s real name ‘Sergei Kravinoff’ was apparently first revealed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #7 from 1986, though it should be noted that the initial 1983 volume of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #6 gave Kraven’s real name as ‘Sergei Kravin’ and makes what I believe is the first reference to his Russian heritage and parents, the latter of which are strangely absent from the Deluxe Edition’s list of known relatives.

 

Writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod gave the world Kraven’s definitive depiction in the critically acclaimed 1987 story Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt published in six parts across all three Spider-Man titles at the time in Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294 and Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132. The story simultaneously elevated Kraven’s status among Spider-Man’s rogues gallery by having the hunter bury the hero alive and assume his identity and remains impactful for its psychological explorations of both men ultimately culminating in Kraven ending his own life.

 

As for Calypso, she’s a Haitian Voodoo priestess and lover of Kraven’s, created by writer Denny O’Neil and penciller Alan Weiss. First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #209, Calypso would later gain notoriety in the Torment storyline when she enthralled The Lizard aka Curt Connors and forced him to commit murder in a plot to kill Spider-Man following Kraven’s death (Spider-Man #1-5). While she has always been known as Calypso, the character’s full name was first revealed as ‘Calypso Ezili’ in 1991’s Gamer’s Handbook of the Marvel Universe Volume 7. Ezili is a variant spelling for a member of the Vodou or Voodoo pantheon of spirits.

 

We don’t have many additional details for Gazelle’s character, and Ron himself mentions during an interview for the podcast Make Mine Mayday Episode 43 he didn’t even pitch the concept to Spider-Girl co-creator Tom Defalco. What’s noteworthy is her alternative name, Moonshadow, which is a direct reference to Kraven’s Last Hunt writer J.M. DeMatteis’ creator-owned series of the same name, itself a reference to the song by singer/songwriter Cat Stevens. Talk about fearful symmetry!

 

That’s all I have for you all today. If there’s an opportunity to delve further into the Kravinoff Family Tree, I’d jump at the chance so just let me know! Perhaps Gazelle aka Moonshadow will see print someday? A very big ‘thank you’ to arias-98105, Ron Frenz, the Make Mine Mayday podcast and the Marvel Appendix without which this post wouldn’t have been possible.

 

Until I dig myself out of a grave after being buried for two weeks, I remain

 

frogoat

The Connors Family Tree

 

With Sony and Insomniac about to release Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Playstation 5, I thought I might take the opportunity to revisit a related character set to appear in the video game; today I want to look at The Lizard and the Connors Family Tree.

 

For the purposes of these family trees, I accept that MC2 characters share their published history (up to a point) with their 616/Main Marvel Universe counterparts. I make exceptions for any retcons implemented after the point the MC2 diverges from the 616 and in cases where it's explicitly or implicitly different (Aunt May really died) or when a writer later introduces a previously unheard of relative (the Lang family and the Pym family) who is never mentioned, seen or heard of in the MC2. With the last exception, I would add them to the family tree in later updates should they be mentioned in MC2 material at any point.

 

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor Curtis ‘Curt’ Connors first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #6. There we learn Curt was a surgeon who lost his right arm during ‘the War’ and since then had studied reptile life, becoming a world’s leading authority. Developing a serum based on lizard’s ability to grow lost extremities, Curt ingested it as the first human test subject. Initially his lost limb is regrown, but the serum has the unintended side-effect of transforming Connors into The Lizard.

 

As Spider-Man, Peter Parker uses his scientific acumen to develop an antidote that reverts The Lizard back to human form as Connors again. Spider-Man keeps Connors transformation a secret and as photographer Peter Parker convinces Jameson the reports of a man-sized Lizard are a hoax (Amazing Spider-Man #6).

 

It’s also in Amazing Spider-Man #6 that we meet Curt’s young son William ‘Billy’ Connors and Mrs Connors, who goes unnamed until Amazing Spider-Man #44 where we first learn her name is Martha. If you haven’t guessed by now, the Lizard antidote doesn’t last and Connors would often transform in times of great stress or shock such as when he first encountered Morbius who was in battle with the Six-Armed Spider-Man. This is one of many occasions where an apparent cure is not permanent, this one utilizing an enzyme from Morbius to remove Spider-Man’s extra limbs and revert the Lizard back to Connors (Amazing Spider-Man #101-#102).

After his return following the events of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars where Connors was again transformed into The Lizard, Martha was unable to cope and took Billy away. While separated from his wife and son, Connors managed to control his transformation into The Lizard, realizing it was an aspect of himself. Reconciling the two personalities granted Connors enough control of The Lizard to save his family without killing their kidnapper, The Owl, though Martha still needed time to consider their situation (Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #127).  

 

This positive turn of events would be short lived as Curt found himself adversely affected by the events of Inferno and was unable to prevent another transformation into The Lizard. Soon after, the Voodoo priestess Calypso used her abilities to drive Connors as The Lizard into a bestial state bereft of any humanity leading to six people being slaughtered. Fully under the sway of Calypso, The Lizard is sent to attack Spider-Man before she poisons him as an act of revenge for the death of her lover Kraven the Hunter. Calypso eventually brings the building down on the three of them, though all three survive (Spider-Man #1-#5).

 

Curt remains missing following his torment under Calypso, and we learn he was fully aware during the experience. Still trapped in form of The Lizard, Connors metabolism was altered by Calypso’s magic causing him to change from warm to cold blooded at random, leaving him in a state of confusion, despair, and rage as he wandered the sewers. Discovering a secret lab left behind by Doctor Octopus, Connor’s human mind conceived a method that might scientifically recreate and reverse the magical effect that had controlled him, allowing him to be rid of his reptilian persona forever. However, this required untainted DNA, leading The Lizard to seemingly attack Billy Connors to obtain a sample of his blood. Traumatised and wishing to kill The Lizard for the suffering their family has suffered through the years, Billy follows Spider-Man. Fortunately Curt’s plan works, repressing the Lizard persona, and he tells his son he wants to be the father Billy deserved all along (Amazing Spider-Man #365).

 

On trial for the crimes of The Lizard, Curt Connors voluntarily commits himself to the State for incarceration in The Vault, requesting a laboratory be set up there so he may pay his debt to society using his scientific knowledge to do meaningful work (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #27).

 

Curtis Connors undergoes integration therapy with Dr Kafka which allowed The Lizard persona to find common ground. This connection is severed when Calypso breaks into The Vault to free her ‘pet’, forcing Connors to once more transform into The Lizard and immediately kill the witch. Leaving a trail of bodies, The Lizard heads to its home in the Florida Everglades. Meanwhile, a bounty hunter named Warrant kidnaps Billy Connors to use in his mission to capture or kill The Lizard. With Spider-Man attempting to rescue Billy and save The Lizard, the battle ends with the savage reptile sinking in quicksand and apparently dying (Web of Spider-Man #109-#111).

 

In the final panel of Amazing Spider-Man Super special #1 we glimpse a reptilian figure emerge from the Florida Everglades. Next, in Spider-Man Super Special #1, the creature heads north by burrowing beneath the earth, drawn by an instinctive psychic pull. Reaching Delaware, the creature kills and feeds on campers and we see a very different looking Lizard. Emerging in New Jersey, this bestial Lizard creature makes short work of a SWAT team before continuing its journey north (Venom Super Special #1) seemingly drawn to the new chemical signature of Cary Armstrong, a man revived, regenerated, and empowered by Dr Noah Purl who used a similar process to his former partner Curt Connor’s Lizard formula to save the man (Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1). The monstrous Lizard attacks again, targeting Purl but prevented from killing him by the intervention of the Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) before being lured into a trap and captured with the help of Armstrong (Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1).

 

Without explanation, Connors returns as a specialist for the ailing Peter Parker (Sensational Spider-Man #7) but is unable to identify the cause of his friend’s decline -being unaware Peter was formerly Spider-Man and was at the time believed to be a degenerating clone- and cannot offer Mary Jane any guarantee of his recovery (Amazing Spider-Man #414) though he manages to stabilize Peter’s blood pressure and heart rate following a seizure, he doesn’t know if he will survive the night (Spider-Man #71). Peter seemingly dies only to revive shortly afterwards with his powers returning, though not before Connors has departed the hospital. Shortly afterwards, the monstrous finned Lizard reappears, and battles Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man. Called back to his patient, Curt Connors is pleased at Peter’s recovery only for the fight with Spider-Man and the Lizard to interrupt the pair and causing Connors to flee. Peter attempts to assist Reilly, informing Ben after the creature escapes that it wasn’t Curt Connors (Spectacular Spider-Man #237).

 

Curt returns to his home in Florida and reminisces about his past. It is here we learn that Connors is obsessive-compulsive, and he pushed himself through grade school, college and medical school, graduating top of his class. Drafted into the service, Curt performed emergency surgery on the battlefield until shrapnel from a phosphorus grenade shredded his right arm. Caught up in his work, he failed to properly care for his arm, and it became gangrenous and required amputation. Unable to continue as a surgeon, Connors turned to herpetology with a focus on the regenerative ability of retiles. Eventually his study resulted in his horrific transformation into The Lizard (Spectacular Spider-Man #238).

We also learn that after a rocky period, Martha had been patient and understanding, encouraging Curt to get counselling for his anxiety, for which he was taking anti-anxiety medication. A few months prior, Connors had taken on a new lab assistant, Aldo who worked with him to isolate the unique fluids that would trigger the R-complex to remove every last trace of The Lizard persona from his physiology. Developing a new formula led to poor results until Aldo suggested they needed to try it on Connors or The Lizard’s own altered DNA. Curt realized his anxiety medication may be an unaccounted variable, but soon after he found Aldo near death after testing the new serum on a segment of The Lizard’s severed tail. The serum caused an entire humanoid Lizard creature to grow from the tail completely devoid of humanity driven only by brutal primal instincts. In the present, this Lizardman attacked the Connors, and Curt triggered his transformation into the Lizard, who made short work of the creature before battling Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man (Spectacular Spider-Man #238).

 

Fighting Spider-Man, The Lizard mentally commands various reptiles to attack him and Connor’s own son, Billy. Feeling humanity had failed as a dominant species, polluting, and killing the planet, The Lizard wished for reptiles to assert their place. With The Lizard pinned beneath a log amid rising waters, Connors manages to transform back and free himself, saving his son in the process (Spectacular Spider-Man #239).

 

Finally, in our last pre-MC2 published story we have Spider-Man Unlimited #19, wherein Connors is on a lecture tour but the Lizard is exerting some influence over him, using a version of the original Lizard formula to turn addicts into his thralls and planning to save the planet from humans by turning humans into lizards by using a new formula in the water supply. This plot is stopped by Spider-Man with help from Martha Connors who appeals to her husband’s humanity, realizing The Lizard is manifesting Curt’s own depression and anger at what destruction mankind has inflicted upon one another. During this story we also learn Curt (possibly under the influence of The Lizard persona) had tested the formula on his own son Billy, who had been acting out and engaging in petty crime. The story concludes with Connors choosing to go away for treatment for his issues and the family seemingly reconciled for a somewhat happy ending.

 

This brings us to Amazing Spider-Man Family #1 and the first of the (sadly cut short) Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man series of short stories. This story takes place at some point after the infant May Parker is rescued and returned to Peter and Mary Jane Parker by Kaine and prior to Peter’s final battle with the Green Goblin.

 

After having had a few ‘gloriously normal’ weeks as a family, Peter and Mary Jane leave May with Anna Watson to meet Dr Connors and his wife Martha for dinner. However, Curt hasn’t returned from Empire State University and isn’t answering calls. Martha reveals that she and their son Billy have been unwell with symptoms that led Curt to suspect their drinking water in Florida was compromised. With Billy appearing very unwell, Peter and Mary Jane head to Empire State University to check on Dr Connors.

 

Mary Jane and Peter discover Curt’s Empire State University laboratory has been smashed up and find his notes for a formula to purify the water in the Everglades, however the process could threaten the reptiles there. Believing this conflict between his family and the environment may have driven Curt over the edge, and with Mary Jane’s blessing Peter sets out to find Connor’s as Spider-Man.

 

Finding Connors has transformed into The Lizard, Spider-Man battles various reptiles to reach the doctor’s alter ego. The Lizard reveals he is trying to protect his reptilian family from Connor’s water treatment plan until Spider-Man tells him that Connors intentionally called forth the Lizard because he didn’t want to use a formula that would only save one of his families at the cost of the other. Apparently accepting Curt saw the reptiles as family too, the Lizard reverted back to Connors. Dr Connors returned to the drawing board, determined to find a mutually beneficial solution to the problem, once more hiring Peter as a lab assistant to help in this endeavour.

 

That’s it for The Lizard in the MC2, though it’s worth noting with this story taking place nearly 15 years in the past, we don’t know the ultimate fate of Dr Curt Connors and his scaly other half. Another odd note is Martha Connors acting as though she’s meeting Mary Jane for the first time, despite having met more than once prior to this occasion in the Main Marvel Universe. But we can give her a pass here as she states she and Billy haven’t been very well.

I have omitted a few characters from this Family Tree as they don’t appear in stories published prior to the likely divergence point for the MC2 or for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the sake of completeness:

 

·         An unidentified sister of Martha’s (according to X-Men: First Class #2 and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe) though Curt refers to Billy’s aunt seen in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #11 as ‘sis’ in #12 and calls him her ‘brother’ in #13. She appears to have a husband and children, all unidentified.

·         Doctor Vincent Stegron, aka Stegron, the Dinosaur Man who used a version of Connors’ formula combined with dinosaur DNA to become a dinosaur-hybrid (Marvel Team-Up #19).

·         The Iguana, mutated by Connors’ Enervator device and accidentally gained the memories of Connors in the process. Your option may vary as to whether he counts as a relative of the Connors, I’ve chosen to omit the character (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #32). If you like Iguana, check out The Amazing Spider-Man video game, where he actually gets some love.

·         Melati Kusuma aka Komodo, a woman who lost both her legs in an accident and while interning under Curt Connors, stole and modified his formula for her own DNA (Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1, Avengers: The Initiative #1).

 

Hopefully I haven’t missed or forgotten anything but if I have, please let me know! While the Lizard’s Tale is often repetitive, I find the slow and gradual changes and developments that happened at times interesting enough, if only some of it hadn’t been ignored, forgotten, or undone by future events. A huge thanks as always to arias-98105 for valuable assistance.

 

Until I find a real, permanent antidote to cure Curtis Connors, I remain

 

frogoat