10 Incredibly Bloody Comic Book Deaths

8. Kraven€™'s Suicide

Marvel Comics

Longtime B-rate Spider-Man villain Sergei Kravinoff, aka Kraven the Hunter, was one of the few characters in comic book history to ever score a decisive victory over the Web Slinger when he shot Spidey with a tranquilizer and buried him alive in the epic €œKraven€™'s Last Hunt€ storyline. Through sheer force of will, Spider-Man pulls himself from the grave and confronts Kraven, but before he can get his revenge, the hero leaves Kravinoff in order to subdue another villain, Vermin.

During this time, Kraven reflects on his life and the fact that after years of trying, he finally succeeded in beating Spider-Man. While looking at a picture of his family, Kraven inserts a shotgun in his mouth and pulls the trigger, splattering blood and brain matter all over his photo and a casket that his dead body falls into.

There might be more gruesome deaths in comics, but something as blood-soaked as Kraven€™'s death scene was absolutely unheard of for a Spider-Man comic until €œKraven'€™s Last Hunt€ was published. Additionally, the character€™'s demise was an extraordinarily controversial moment for Marvel, as many critics thought the storyline glorified suicide.

Despite this, €œKraven'€™s Last Hunt€ is considered by many to be one of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever published. And a scene quite this bloody has not been attempted in a Spidey comic since.

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Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.