Calypso is a nameless
voodoo priestess who was born and raised in
Haiti. She was a
psychopathic woman who was associated with
Kraven the Hunter. She seemed to enjoy driving Kraven into fits of rage and furthering his hatred of
Spider-Man, which ultimately led to his
suicide in the "
Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline. When artist
Todd McFarlane started writing the new
Spider-Man comic in 1990, his opening five-issue story arc "
Torment" featured Calypso as the main antagonist, whom McFarlane transformed into a dangerous threat for Spider-Man. The explanation for her supernatural powers was the sacrifice of her younger sister. She used her abilities to hold
Lizard in her grasp and the two nearly succeeded in murdering Spider-Man. Ultimately, the webslinger defeats them both and Calypso is apparently killed. She resurfaces abducting Haitian refugees, turning some into zombie slaves and selling the rest back to her homeland's government. Her actions bring her into conflict with
Daredevil and his
Infinity War doppelganger Hellspawn. Calypso briefly enthralls Daredevil, but he breaks free of her control and she seemingly dies yet again when the spirits of those she turned into zombies overwhelm her. Cheating death once more, she flees to New Orleans where her obsession with
necromancy leads her to the resting place of
Simon Garth, a self-aware zombie. Reviving Garth, Calypso tests his abilities and pits him against Hellspawn though he eventually breaks free of her control and wanders off, leaving one of his Amulets of Damballah with Calypso. Calypso subsequently breaks into the
Vault and attempts to make the incarcerated Lizard her servant again, but he resists and mauls her. However, she transfers her spirit into the Amulet of Damballah and later possesses
Glory Grant. Despite interference from Spider-Man, Garth, and
Shotgun, she exhumes her own corpse and revives herself using the Amulet. Commanding a squad of savages, Calypso later attacks Spider-Man and
Alyosha Kravinoff, the son of the original Kraven the Hunter. Desiring revenge for losing Sergei, she uses her powers to drive Spider-Man and Alyosha into fighting each other. Spider-Man and Alyosha fight off her spell and share a handshake. Alyosha says that he will hold Calypso at his mansion so she can tell him about his long-lost father. In actuality, Alyosha kills Calypso. ==Powers and abilities==