Here’s a question for you: How well-travelled is the
mercenary degenerating clone called Kaine? Today I’m going to look at
just one of Kaine’s many trips abroad, albeit an important one; Chasing
Baby May. Initially this was going to be more Mayday focused (and a
future post may even use that approach) but I thought this might provide an
interesting alternate perspective. We are going to be jumping around initially
just to establish and compare certain events. Special thanks to arias-98105
and Spideydude for their help with this one!
First, some background. As I covered in History
of the MC2: Mayday, a grifter
named Alison Mongrain is hired by Norman Osborn to
carry out part of his plan to kidnap the newborn child of Peter and Mary
Jane. Disguised as a member of the hospital staff, Alison swapped
out baby May with a recent stillborn baby, leaving Mary
Jane to believe her baby had died at birth. Shortly afterwards, Alison met
with Norman Osborn who paid Alison a ‘sizeable bonus’
to take an ‘expensive vacation’ through Europe with the
newborn May (Spider-Girl #48, Amazing
Spider-Girl #25).
Presuming MC2 history is the same or similar to the Main
Marvel Universe, Kaine at this point is imprisoned after having
turned himself over to the authorities as seen in Spider-Man: Redemption #4.
Following this, Kaine is only seen in brief cameos (rocking dreadlocks,
no less) in the Main Marvel Universe including a flashback appearance in
the Thunderbolts Annual ’97 where he is part of a failed attempted
breakout orchestrated by the titular team to cover their true plans.
Apparently following this failed attempt Kaine successfully
escaped prison as he was next seen in Amazing Spider-Man #434-#435
having tracked down Alison Mongrain a little too late to prevent
Osborn’s treacherous strike using his Scriers. Kaine does however
launch his own attack on the Scriers shortly after while they are still on the Greek
island of Euboea in the Aegean Sea. Later, Alison meets up with Joe
‘Robbie’ Robertson and together they return to New York to warn Mary
Jane ‘May’ is still alive, referring instead to Peter’s
elderly and seemingly deceased aunt. Alison dies delivering this message
(Amazing Spider-Man #441). But that’s how things played out in the Main
Marvel Universe…
In the MC2,
things went differently. On an extended tour of the Mediterranean with
the infant May, Alison (who always disliked
children) initially had no love for the baby, but grew to love May through
the months they spent together (Spider-Girl #49). Meanwhile, it seems Kaine
was following leads from ‘a New York hospital to the Caribbean’
though the reason for this detour is not chronicled (Amazing Spider-Girl #25).
Perhaps worthy of a closer look in another post someday.
The Brotherhood of Scriers arrive to
collect the child for Norman Osborn. Alison asks
if she can accompany them as she has grown attached to the child, but the Scriers remind
her not to question Mr. Osborn. The Scriers leave Mongrain with Norman’s compliments
and her ‘final payment’ which turns out to be counterfeit bills and knockout
gas. Kaine, being familiar with Osborn and
the Scriers methods, rescued Mongrain just as
the yacht exploded, hoping to learn what role she had played for Norman Osborn.
Upon learning that Alison had kidnapped May and
helped convince Peter and Mary Jane she was
dead, Kaine leaves Mongrain floundering in
the bay with no care whether she lived or died (Spider-Girl #49).
Meanwhile, Mary Jane receives a phone call from the
man called Kaine. Having located Mongrain’s yacht, Kaine begins
by telling Mary Jane ‘Your baby’s alive!’ and then goes
on to provide a longer explanation, but insists that Mary Jane not
tell Peter until the child is safe in her arms. Mary
Jane hated keeping secrets from Peter but did not
wish for Peter to endanger their baby’s life by confronting Norman
Osborn (Spider-Girl #48).
Unbeknownst to Kaine, Norman Osborn cloned
the baby and ‘genetically tinkered’ with both to ensure they would eventually
manifest spider-powers. Later, Norman placed one of the babies
(May) into the care of his good friend Philippe DeJunae (Amazing
Spider-Girl #29).
Kaine’s months-long mission across the globe leads
him to La Maison DeJunae in the south of France where
he comes into conflict with the Brotherhood of Scriers. After
defeating the group of Scriers, Kaine makes short
work of their leader before taking possession of baby May from Monsieur
Philippe DeJunae. Unbeknownst to Kaine, Norman had
orchestrated the encounter to ensure Kaine would return May to
her parents and allow him to continue his Project:Changeling experiments
on the second baby, which Osborn intended to put into effect
within a year or two if his scheme proceeded as planned (Amazing Spider-Girl
#25).
Back over in the Main Marvel Universe, Kaine’s
efforts against Osborn’s forces were far less successful and he is
apparently thwarted off-panel as revealed by a Scrier in Sensational
Spider-Man #32.
Fortunately, MC2 Kaine returned May to Mary
Jane and encouraged her to take the necessary DNA tests to prove the
baby wasn’t part of some twisted trick. Kaine also vowed to
avoid future confrontations with Peter, and admitted he was doing
all of this as part of a debt he owed Ben Reilly. Mary Jane realized
that Kaine hadn’t finished his mission and intended to find
and punish the man responsible: Norman Osborn (Spider-Girl
#48-#49).
It’s unclear why Kaine never succeeded in his mission
to locate Norman Osborn and make him pay, especially as we know
that here’s actually a large stretch of time that occurs between panels here
that only becomes apparent later, as Spider-Man doesn’t
immediately track down Norman Osborn for their fateful final
battle. Kaine’s whereabouts shortly after returning young May are
unclear as his next known appearance after this time period takes place several
years later.
Hopefully this alternative look at some of the events surrounding
May’s kidnapping has shed some light on things. I’m sure there are more
facets to delve into in future articles, but we’ll leave it there for now.
Until I run out of angles to explore, I remain
frogoat
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