Sergei Kravinoff was the only son of Russian aristocrats who emigrated to the United Kingdom after the Russian Revolution. Orphaned soon after, Kravinoff learned to survive by his wits and cunning. By late adolescence, he had traveled extensively, usually as a stowaway aboard cargo ships and trains, and lived at one time in nearly every major city in Europe and Asia. Finding employment in a safari to equatorial Africa as a young man, Kravinoff discovered his natural talent for hunting. He soon left the safari to live on his own in the African veldt. He acquired great hunting skills by the time he reached adulthood and soon amassed considerably wealth as a game hunter. He remained in Africa for almost a decade, during which time he met a witch doctor in the Belgian Congo who had concoted an herbal potion that enhanced physical prowess. Kraven stole it and augmented his speed, strength, and agility. Kraven used his heightened abilities to hunt game more efficiently and entered in a partnership with the man who would later call himself the Chameleon in order to export the animal skins and ivory that he acquired.

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