The Amazing Spider-Man has entered a new era, with Spider-Man having to deal with foes new and old. Rhino on a rampage through the streets of Manhattan lead Spider-Man into a mystery involving his old foe Hobgoblin, working with new villain Hellgate, and into a trap that doses the hero with a powerful hallucinogen in The Amazing Spider-Man #2. Spider-Man keeps soldiering on with his investigation despite definitely not being in the right mind, which leads him to the last place that someone having a bad trip should go — the Ravencroft Institute. Ravencroft Institute serves an important place in the Marvel Universe, mirroring that of its counterpart in DC Comics: Arkham Asylum.
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While Ravencroft isn’t as storied as the much more well-known Arkham Asylum, it’s still an extremely important part of the mythos of Spider-Man and several other characters. Marvel has often lifted ideas for Ravencroft whole cloth from the history of Arkham, all to give the mental institution just the right feel. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Ravencroft is a love letter to Arkham Asylum, and Spider-Man may have made a huge mistake coming there for answers.
Ravencroft Has a Twisted History
The Ravencroft Institute first appeared in 1980’s Marvel Preview #21, and over the years its origin has been added to multiple times. In the 15th century, the land that Ravencroft Institute would be on was home to a cannibal cult that worshiped the symbiote god Knull, cursing the grounds there. The cult would attack anyone who came onto their land, but eventually settlers in the area would take over, and place the first holding cell on the land in the 17th century. It would hold Cortland Kasady, an ancestor of Carnage, who had been driven insane by the cult. Cortland escaped and killed his wife Molly Ravencroft. The land would play host to the battle that killed Steven Rogers, the ancestor of Cap, in the Revolutionary War. The 19th century saw the land become very busy, with a Shuma Gorath cult rising there, a visit from the Headless Horseman (a host of Ghost Rider’s Spirit of Vengeance), becoming ground zero for an invasion of the Tyrannoids, and was the base of a Skrull attempt to replace Teddy Roosevelt. At the end of the 19th century, Dr. Jonas Ravencroft, a descendant of Molly, would open a maximum security mental institution there, and the Ravencroft Institute was born.
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Of course, things were never going to be smooth sailing, especially since Ravencroft hired Nathaniel Essex, the clone known as Mister Sinister, and Claudia Russell, the ancestor of the Werewolf by Night, to work there. Wolverine was imprisoned there for a time when he was thought to be the “Knickerbocker Killer”, and he was confronted by an orderly named Victor Creed, now known as Sabretooth. Russell became a werewolf on the grounds, and Essex said she left the Institute, but really vivisected her. Strange happenings became the order of the day at Ravencroft, with inmates like Cyber, Al Capone, Loki, the Master of the World (a caveman named Eshu who would one day battle Alpha Flight and become the lord of Weirdworld), and the Skin Walker all being residents of Ravencroft. Weapon Plus experimented on vampires there, leading to a group of vampires making their home there. It was the birthplace of Cletus Kasady, the future Carnage. Dr. Ashley Kafka was made the director in the present day, where she tried to cure the man known as Vermin of his myriad issues after his transformation. Since then, it’s been a home to many mentally ill villains, and has been rebuilt and destroyed numerous times.
Ravencroft Is a Place of Ill Omen
Rhino’s attack in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 led to him being sent to Ravencroft, where they could study what caused him to lose it after doing so well for so long. Spider-Man, after learning about the compound that made him hallucinate with help from Norman Osborn, heads into the Institute to talk to Rhino, trying to learn more about the chemical would be in his apartment. Of course, things go badly, with Rhino the target of Itsy Bitsy, partly because this is a superhero comic and partly because this is Ravencroft Institute.
Ravencroft’s environs have been home to events that have cursed it. From cults of ancient gods like Knull and Shuma Gorath to werewolves to a vampire group born of Dracula, Ravencroft has been home to some of the most terrible things imaginable. Nothing good ever happens at Ravencroft.
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