Deadpool vs. Kraven!...will be seen in part today.

Back in 1997, Deadpool encountered Kraven the Hunter in Joe Kelly and Pete Woods's classic Deadpool #11; when trapped in the past, Pool Forest Gump's his way through Stan Lee and John Romita's 1967 classic Amazing Spider-Man #47! It's a particularly, go out of its way to be funny issue, but that was a conscious choice by Kelly since the next one began "The Drowning Man" storyline, where a visit to the Field of Dreams cornfield ends amazingly wrongly for Pool, and that's before T-Ray just demolishes him.

Anyway, we're not checking out any of those today; but another book with a Deadpool/Kraven match-up, that's a little less renowned. Possibly for a reason...from 2010, Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #4, written by Paul Tobin, pencils by Ronan Cliquet, inks by Amilton Santos.

This stretch of Marvel Adventures had more issue-to-issue continuity than the previous series of one-and-done stories; as well as a different team roster. Traditional Avengers Cap, Thor, and Iron Man were still there, as was Spider-Man; then classic members Vision and Black Widow, and newbies Nova and...the Invisible Woman? An ongoing plot thread is that Sue joined the team at Reed's suggestion, ostensibly to expand her horizons and have room to breathe apart from the FF...although Reed had another, ulterior motive in mind as well. (It's also somewhat overcomplicated, involving Namor the Sub-Mariner and a double-agent within the Avengers!)

At the start of this series, the Avengers lobby for and get sanctioned to operate worldwide, but here Kraven tries to use that to his advantage to coerce the team into helping him, as a licensed bounty hunter, round up his quarry: Deadpool! Who is never referred to by that name, and is actually somewhat underused here: it feels like the ongoing storyline eats up a little too much space for the "villains of the week" B-plot. I also suspect Tobin mostly just needed a character that could evade Kraven long enough for the Avengers to show up; while Kraven increasingly endangers bystanders trying to bag Pool.

Cap seemingly caves and accedes to Kraven's extortion, in order to maintain the Avengers' peacekeeper status; but may be doing so just to keep tabs on Kraven. And he does, arresting and decking him in the end; after Wade Wilson is stopped by the Vision. Not a great showing for Pool, then; but it does manage to keep him kid-friendly. Which has to take some work...