The Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane has housed and “rehabilitated” some of Marvel’s most maniacal, murderous and downright psychopathic! Get an inside look at the Institute’s dark past, with some of its most important comic chapters. The case files are open!
Try this event’s Reading List! The earliest version of Ravencroft first appeared in SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) #1, when Carnage was wheeled in for treatment. In perhaps an unsettling sign of things to come, Carnage easily escaped after killing his doctors and guards. Before his departure, Carnage also befriended Shriek, an insane criminal who shared his love for destruction and death.
Ravencroft was a fixture of ‘90s Spider-Man comics, especially during THE CLONE SAGA (try the Reading List). That story kicked into high gear in “Power and Responsibility;” which ran through WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) #117, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #394, SPIDER-MAN (1990) #51, and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) #217. The enigmatic Judas Traveller used Ravencroft as his testing ground to push Spider-Man to his limits.
In WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) #126 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #403, Traveller put Spider-Man on trial at Ravencroft with Carnage as the prosecutor and the inmates as jurors. Traveller served as the judge, and even allowed Carnage to discover Spider-Man’s secret identity during the ordeal. However, Traveller also ensured that Carnage didn’t remember that detail when he put things back to the way they were beforehand.
Years later, Ravencroft played a big part in VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT (2009) #3-6, as Moon Knight’s adversary, Raul Bushman, was taken in as a patient. By this time, Ravencroft’s focus was expanded to include non-powered criminals and killers who were considered among the worst of the worst. Paradoxically, these “normal” inmates made Ravencroft even more dangerous than it was before.
Doctor Ashley Kafka was a fixture at Ravencroft and one of Spider-Man’s reliable allies until her untimely death in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN (2013) #4 at the hands of Massacre. During this era, Doctor Octopus was in control of Peter Parker’s body. And even Doc Ock was repulsed by Kafka’s murder.