The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree

 

Maybe I’ll grow tired of doing these MC2 Family Trees one day, but right now I’m enjoying them. So, here’s another vaguely connected tie-in for Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off film Kraven the Hunter, this one taking a run at the MC2-centric family of one Alexsei Sytsevich aka The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree.

 

*Before we dive right in, the usual rules: 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 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. Got it? Excellent! *

 

A recap, cribbing from myself: Though unnamed at the time, Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich made his debut as The Rhino in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #41 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr in 1966. There he is seen rampaging all the way to New York on his way to capture John Jameson before being defeated by Spider-Man and placed in a state corrections hospital. Escaping shortly afterwards, Rhino attempts to complete his original mission but is again defeated after Spider-Man uses a special acid webbing created by Curt Connors (aka The Lizard) to dissolve the Rhino’s armour (Amazing Spider-Man #42-43).

 

It is also in Amazing Spider-Man #43 that we get glimpses of Rhino’s origin where we learn he was ‘a hired hood—a muscle man’ working for professional spies. He was considered so unintelligent he would not betray his employers even after they subjected him to months of experiments and treatments, culminating in gifting him enhanced strength. Finally, he was covered in a molecular adhesive protective ‘second skin’ and truly became the Rhino. However, not only had Rhino received increased strength, but also increased intelligence…at least enough to realize he did not need to follow his employers’ orders anymore and went solo.

 

It is interesting to note that the Rhino has had his suit destroyed on various occasions, the first being his above-mentioned encounter with Spider-Man, but despite this through the first few decades of his existence he inevitably found his way into a new and sometimes improved second skin thanks to various super-geniuses. All this would come to an end when Rhino grew tired of being trapped in his latest suit after it had once again become permanently bonded to him following a shuttle explosion (apparently off-panel in Incredible Hulk #159 implied in Thing #24 and confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10).This became the Rhino’s motivation going forward, driving him to find a cure for his condition as noted above in the Thing #24.

 

In Amazing Spider-Man #280, having joined Beetle’s Sinister Syndicate, Rhino debuts a new design, his ‘1^st armor hide’ additions to his suit. We also learn that after turning himself over to Project: PEGASUS, Rhino had given up because ‘they couldn’t do much’ and instead opted to return to crime to fund a series of illegal operations in hopes of removing him from his suit and making him ‘human’ once more. As an aside, this is my all-time favourite Rhino design, and its courtesy of the fantastic Ron Frenz once again. I even had the Toy Biz action figure as a kid!

 

 Much later, Rhino betrays his Sinister Syndicate team mates for a deal with the Kingpin after the doctor attempting to cure him was killed by the team. Despite the Kingpin’s promise of a cure, he instead planned to retain the Rhino as muscle. When Rhino kidnapped one of the scientists in the Kingpin’s employ, he was finally freed from his suit. Unfortunately, the Kingpin threatened the scientist’s family and Rhino reached out to Justin Hammer for a new and improved Rhino suit once more, one he could once again remove this time (Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4).

A mention in the sequel mini-series’ Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #1 refers to Rhino’s desire to ‘gather enough money to enable his family to escape Eastern Europe’. This segues nicely into Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where Rhino has managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexa to live in America. It is mentioned that Rhino could not yet afford to also bring his father, sister and brother-in-law. When Alexa’s locket (a gift from her mother) is stolen, Rhino takes it back from the thieves and steals money from them also, intending to us it for his family. However, upon learning he had stolen, his mother kicked him out of their apartment and disowned him. It’s worth pointing out that Alexa is the only named member of the family at this point, and all Official Handbooks have spelt her name ‘Alexia’ which might be an example of transliteration, anglicisation or perhaps a sly reference to Rhino’s real first name which, ironically, was revealed years after his niece’s.

 

Rhino’s real name was first revealed in 2003’s Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 4: Spider-Man (and not the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004 as I initially incorrectly claimed) as Alexsei Mikhailovich Sytsevich. Previously, he used the alias Alex O’Hirn (the surname being an anagram) while posing as a baseball player in Incredible Hulk #435, a pseudonym that other adaptations have also used, including the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. The use of Rhino’s real name in this MC2 narrative illustrates how later details, characters, and story elements from the Main Marvel Universe have been incorporated into the MC2 after the point of divergence.

 

The aforementioned Hulk 2004 profile for Rhino doesn’t list his mother’s name but the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 9 published in 2009 gives her the name ‘Miriam’ and I can find no earlier source, but I’ve elected to include it in the Sytsevich Family Tree regardless. Let me know if you have seen it mentioned some place prior! Alexsei mentions his mother on a few occasions following Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28, such as Green Goblin #2 and Amazing Spider-Man #409 which strongly suggests the two reconciled.

 

Never seen or named, Alexsei’s father’s name has been identified as ‘Mikhail’ by Marvel Fandom wiki contributor MarvelBoy2002. He points out that Russian patronymic naming convention custom means Alexsei’s middle name ‘Mikhailovich’ would traditionally be derived from the father’s own name with the ending ‘-ovich’ essentially denoting ‘son of,’ making Mikhail Sytsevich the patriarch of the family. This doesn’t appear to be officially confirmed by Mavel anywhere, but I’m choosing to adopt it here because I feel it makes logical sense and it’s some good deductive reasoning.

 

In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Family #3, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna bring a sick baby May Parker to a hospital emergency room. There they encounter Aleksei Sytsevich who is seeking medical attention for his aunt Yulya Sytsevich. Peter mentions hearing that Aleksei had finally managed to surgically remove his Rhino suit. Aleksei struggles with the registration process and becomes agitated until Mary Jane offers to help with the paperwork, which his aunt accepts. Aleksei recognizes Peter as the Daily Bugle photographer and invites him to get a coffee. Aleksei mentions his was once hired to threaten Peter, a direct reference to Spectacular Spider-Man #190.

 

Meanwhile, Anna and Mary Jane help fill out the forms for Yulya who tells them that Aleksei sacrificed a lot to bring his family over from Russia, which is most likely a reference to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where we see he has only managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexia, with intentions of bringing the rest of his family to the United States once he has more money. Aleksei and Peter discuss the expenses of paying for medical treatment and they bond over their common lack of money, both working job to job. Aleksei mentions some of the ‘bad bosses’ he’s worked for including the Beetle, the Leader and Doctor Octopus, the last of which may be a reference to Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-#18 by MC2 alumni Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.

 

Peter explains Spider-Man does what he does because of the loss of a family member and Aleksei relates to this, mentioning how his aunt Yulya lost her beloved Borya who was ‘taken away in the night and never seen again’. Aleksei explains that he joined Russian gangsters to protect his family, using the money he was paid to support them, and how this eventually led to him being turned into the Rhino and finally earning enough to migrate his family to America. Though Peter believes Spider-Man and Rhino are destined to meet again as enemies, Peter and Aleksei found common ground and part ways on good terms.

 

I have omitted a few characters from this MC2 Family Tree for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the sake of completeness:

•   Aleksei retires from crime after he meets and eventually marries a waitress named Oksana making her Oksana Sytsevich (Amazing Spider-Man #617). She is killed by an unidentified new villainous Rhino, prompting Aleksei to return to his old life after avenging her (Amazing Spider-Man #625).

•       By extension, a clone of Oksana appeared during the ‘Clone Conspiracy’ storyline after first appearing in the Free Comic Book Day Captain America 2016 promotional comic before later also perishing.

•      Oksana has a niece named Tanya that Rhino looks out for and helps rescue in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2-#3.

 

This look at the Sytsevich Family Tree, coupled with the previous Kravinoff Family Tree has provided me some new insight into the nature of Russian naming customs, given me an opportunity to read a wide smattering of comics I hadn’t before and as always, an excuse to consult the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. As always, a special thanks to arias-98105!

 

Until I learn that Aleksei is a fan of Archimedes’ assertion about straight lines, I remain

 

frogoat

The Kravinoff Family Tree

 

Because I’m always on the prowl for another topic I can tangentially relate to the MC2, in the sights for today’s post is the elusive target of the Spider-Man-related Sony movie, Kraven the Hunter. Let’s look at the Kravinoff Family Tree from the perspective of the MC2.

 

*Before we dive right in, the usual rules: 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 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. And yes, I’m totally cheating this time around but it’s my blog and I can do what I like! Got it? Excellent! *

 

Spider-Man’s first ever published costumed foe, The Chameleon was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #1, The Chameleon was a master of disguise who used his abilities as a Soviet Spy before committing to a life of crime after his defeat at the hands of the novice web-head. Initially depicted as relying solely on his talents and costume changes, Chameleon would acquire more sophisticated equipment to aid in his schemes and eventually underwent a procedure involving a serum that allowed him to change his facial appearance at will (Amazing Spider-Man #307). 

 

Here’s where we get to the complicated connections of the Kravinoff Family! Kraven the Hunter first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #15 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, being called upon by the Chameleon to defeat  Spider-Man. 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.

 

As noted above, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol.1) #6 is the first mention of Sergei’s parents, named Nikolai and Anna Makarova. Just as ‘Sergei’s real name in this first Handbook would be retained aside from the surname ‘Kravin’, the names of his parents would also be reused in later stories. Sergei recalls that his family were forced to flee and abandon their high social status during the Russian Revolution, leaving his father a broken man and his mother went insane and killed herself after being interned in an asylum (Amazing Spider-Man #294).

 

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.

 

Playing a part in a plot masterminded by the now deceased Harry Osborn which involved faking the return of Peter Parker’s parents Richard and Mary Parker (who were in fact robotic simulacra), the Chameleon finds himself pursued by a relentless and enraged Spider-Man. Leading him to the Kravinoff Estate, Chameleon takes on the form of his former friend and mentor Kraven, recalling how the two boys grew up together in Russia and honed their respective skills as Sergei Kravinoff and Dmitri Smerdyakov. Breaking down, Dmitri recollects the buried truth of their shared past: Sergei had been a cruel master to the servant boy Dmitri and the Kravinoff’s had left him behind when they fled the Russian Revolution, leaving Smerdyakov to find his own way to America. Realising his adoration for Kraven stemmed from his misplaced desire to prove himself worthy of the Hunter’s respect, the Chameleon attempts to end his own life but is stopped by Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man #375, #389).

 

In Spider-Man #47 Howard Mackie, Tom Lyle and Scott Hanna introduce another member of the Kravinoff Family, when Jason Phillip Macendale aka the second major Hobgoblin treks through the Ural Mountains of Russia to reach the ancestral ‘Kravinov Estate’ seeking Vladimir Kravinoff, the son of Kraven the Hunter. Macendale wants to trade Sergei’s journal for the Elixir that granted Kraven his enhanced abilities. After a tense escalation of hostilities, Vladimir eventually agrees, subjecting Macendale to an experimental version of the Elixir intended to ensure the effects are permanent. Secretly Vlad and his advisor Gregor ensure only a minimal distilled dose of the new Elixir is administered, planning to kill him if he survives. A quirk of his physiology allows Jason to not only survive the process but also gain enhanced abilities, and he gratefully hands over Kraven’s journal before making his escape. Motivated by this turn of events, Vladimir has the Elixir modified using notes in the journal and emerges with newfound strength and power and assumes the title of the Grim Hunter, setting off for New York to kill Spider-Man. However, Vladimir is eventually defeated by Spider-Man and after Gregor steps in to protect him, the two men are webbed up for the police (Spider-Man #47-#50).

 

Using his wealth to avoid criminal charges, Vladimir quickly resumes his plan of revenge against Spider-Man, but mistakenly targets the Scarlet Spider aka Ben Reilly at first before tracking down the correct quarry, Peter Parker, to his home. However, the man called Kaine -in an effort to protect Mary Jane- battles and slays the Grim Hunter before he can exact his revenge (Spider-Man #53-#55, Web of Spider-Man #120-#121).

 

Let’s take a break from the Kravinoff clan to look at Calypso. A Haitian Voodoo priestess and a long-time lover of Kraven’s, Calypso was 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 in revenge for 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.

 

It's in Spider-Man #4 that we learn Calypso sacrificed her own sister to gain more power. But who is her sister? A Haitian Voodoo priestess introduced in the pages of Daredevil #243 by writer Ann Nocenti and penciller Louis Williams, Mambo encountered Daredevil when she dispatched ‘The Nameless One,’ a powerful zombie bound to her control to target one of her former followers who’d fled to New York. When Calypso appears in Daredevil #310 she is in control of ‘The Nameless One’ and mentions that she took possession of him upon her sister’s death, firmly establishing Mambo and Calypso as siblings. Mambo’s full name was revealed as ‘Mambo Ezili’ in Calypso’s profile in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2. Mambo or Manbo is the term for a female priestess in the Haitian Vodou or Voodoo religion.

Alright, nearly there! Spectacular Spider-Man #243 by J.M. DeMatteis and Luke Ross ends with the Chameleon aka Dimitri Smerdyakov encountering a figure claiming to be Sergei Kravinoff. Believing this to be a hallucination, the figure reveals to Dimitri what his mind had buried by trauma; that Sergei was his half-brother, the result of a union between Sergei’s father and Dimitri’s mother, a servant named Sonya Smerdyakov. Accepting the truth, Dimitri reclaims the name Kravinoff for himself (Spectacular Spider-Man #244).

This figure with a striking resemblance to the original Kraven the Hunter encounters a recently resurrected Calypso in Spectacular Spider-Man #249 and shortly afterwards he reveals to her that like Vladimir he is another son of Sergei Kravinoff (Spectacular Spider-Man #250). During a battle with Spider-Man, this Kraven introduces himself as ‘Alyosha Kravinov. nephew of Dmitri. Half-brother of Vladimir’. Alyosha also presents what appears to be the mask of the Chameleon, implying he had killed his uncle. (Spectacular Spider-Man #251).

 

He goes on to tell the captive Spider-Man that he was born and raised in the heart of the African jungle twenty-one years ago, not knowing ‘civilisation’ unlike his father hand half-brother, being taught via tutors and never really knowing his father (Spectacular Spider-Man #252). After breaking free of the control of Calypso’s vengeful attack which drove Alyosha and Spider-Man to mindlessly battle to the death, Alyosha seemingly makes peace with the Kraven’s former lover, only to apparently murder her shortly after the webslinger departs (Spectacular Spider-Man #253).

 

With all that death and trauma detailed, we have reached the part of the Kravinoff Family Tree where I link it to the MC2 Universe…kind of. 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!’ 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!

 

While obviously Gazelle hasn’t appeared in print anywhere, I do have a few notes to contribute. Gazelle’s billing as the daughter of Kraven the Hunter and Calypso brings up the question of the character’s age. As a rule of thumb, the MC2’s present day is roughly 15-16 years in-universe ahead of the Marvel Comics published in 1998, but Sergei died some time prior to that, about an estimated three years earlier from the perspective of the characters. This would suggest that Moonshadow would have to have been conceived prior to this, making her at minimum 17-18 years old if she were to appear in the MC2. However, there is the alternative possibility that Calypso either didn’t die (again) or didn’t stay dead and the parental ‘Kraven the Hunter’ in question was Alyosha instead, making Gazelle younger, though that itself presents very unsavoury issues…

 

Finally, you may have noticed that Gazelle’s surname is spelled ‘Kravenoff’. While this may seem inconsistent, it is somewhat in keeping with the history of the Kraven clan’s surname in publication. As noted above, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #6 initially established ‘Kravin’, and the profile notes a British journalist misspelled his name as ‘Kraven’. Next, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #7 gave us ‘Kravinoff’. The following year in the seminal ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt’, Sergei’s surname is spelt ‘Kravinov’ in his internal monologue and ‘Kravinoff’ on his tombstone. Notably, when we meet Vladimir in Russia, his ancestral home is referred to as the ‘Kravinov Estate’ and again ‘Kravinoff’ is used interchangeably. We have a good explanation in Sergei’s profile from Spider-Man: Grim Hunt – The Kraven Saga: clarifying his real name as ‘Sergei Kravinoff (originally spelled “Kravinov” using Russian alphabet)’ and mentioning he anglicised his name to ‘Kraven’ during his travels. This nicely combines many of the variations of Sergei’s surname and allows us to add ‘Kravenoff’ to the list without further concern.

 

Bonus fact: Many of the Kravinoff Family, particularly those handled by J.M. DeMatteis share names with characters created by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. On his own blog DeMatteis admits to being a fan, having read and being influenced by Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamozov in high school. The latter novel, for example, includes characters named Dmitri, Alyosha and the surname Smerdyakov along with a manservant named Gregory.

 

I have omitted a few characters from this MC2 Family Tree for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the sake of completeness:

 

•         Nedrocci ‘Ned’ Tannengarden from the infamous Spider-Man: Get Kraven mini-series first appeared in 2002, past our cut-off point so he is not included in this MC2-centric Family Tree. Thank God.
•          Ana Kravinoff, the third in the family to assume the title Kraven the Hunter, didn’t appear until 2008, after the infamous continuity crushing One More Day and is thus omitted.
•          The same is true of Ana’s mother Sasha Kravinoff, who being Sergei’s wife would also have been the mother of his legitimate son Vladimir. Curiously, she was listed as dead in his handbook profiles prior to her debut.
•          Similarly, Sasha’s unidentified siblings and parents, Aleksandra Nikolaevna and Mikhail Aleksei Nikolaevich, who debuted in 2010.
•          The decades-spanning flashback team-up mini-series X-Men/Spider-Man introduced Xraven, an enhanced clone created by Mr. Sinister with the powers of the original X-Men
•          After being unwillingly revived by Sasha and left unable to die, Sergei eventually has the High Evolutionary produce 87 clones and all but one died, leaving ‘The Last Son of Kraven’ to kill and essentially replace his father.

 

I think after all that generational trauma, mental illness and death, I’ll have to do something lighter next time! A massive thank you to arias-98105, the dedicated and hard-working folks who have produced the various Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe and the contributors over on the Marvel Appendix. Marvel, please let Moonshadow reach the comic page someday, preferably when you let Defalco and Frenz write Spider-Girl again. And see if J.M. DeMatteis wants to join in!

 

Until the Kravinoff Family goes to therapy, I remain

 

frogoat