History of the MC2: Kaine

 

I’m working on making a complete timeline of events covering the History of the MC2, spanning the nebulous 15 year stretch of time after the Main Marvel Universe (or Universe-616) split off and became the MC2 (or Universe-982) and before the next-generation of heroes began to debut starting with J2 #1, A-Next #1 and What If #105. For this instalment, I’d like to take a look at the world-worn, well-travelled man called Kaine.

 

A reference to Kaine’s activities prior to his appearances during the infamous Clone Saga appears in Spider-Girl #44 when Peter provides Mayday with a heavily edited and censored version of some of the significant events. Notably, this issue also features flashbacks to Ben Reilly with Peter and a heavily pregnant Mary Jane.

 

Near as I can tell, Kaine’s next earliest appearance chronologically was depicted in Spider-Girl #49 where he notes that he first met Alison Mongrain ‘over a decade’ prior accidentally while investigating Norman Osborn who had murdered Ben Reilly, who Kaine considered a brother. During this investigation Kaine learned that Osborn was using the Scriers to secretly funnel money to Mongrain. Kaine encountered Mongrain immediately after the visit from the Scriers where they took back the infant May Parker and left the woman unconscious with explosives set to kill her. Saving her life, Kaine learned from Alison the plot to fake May’s death and kidnap the child and disgusted, left Mongrain floundering in the bay.  This gives us a clear picture of Kaine’s motive for seeking out Osborn and how he learned of what had happened to Peter and Mary Jane’s baby.

 

Seemingly immediately after reaching the shore, Kaine phoned Mary Jane to tell her ‘Your baby’s alive’ followed by an explanation including that Norman Osborn’s was responsible. Not wanting the child harmed as a result of a confrontation, Kaine asked Mary Jane not to tell Peter until she was safe in his arms (Spider-Girl #48).

 

Next, we briefly see Kaine’s encounter with the Scrier’s in Spider-Girl #49 in a single panel flashback. This is presumably the very same encounter in the south of France at La Maison DeJunae from ‘a little over sixteen years ago’ seen in more detail in Amazing Spider-Girl #25, where we see Kaine has tracked down the Brotherhood of Scriers. After making short work of them, he rescues baby May from Philippe DeJunae, unknowingly being manipulated by Norman Osborn who had already cloned the infant and held one of them in a lab at Castle Osborn in the Swiss Alps.

 

 

We see Kaine return May to Mary Jane and assure her she there are tests she can perform to confirm she’s not being tricked. Kaine states he is doing this as part of the debt he owes to Ben Reilly, indicating his intention to punish the man responsible: Norman Osborn. Kaine’s revenge ultimately does not come to pass as Osborn dies literally by his own hand when his pumpkin bomb explodes during his final battle with Spider-Man (Spider-Girl #48-#49).

At some unknown point or at various points in his past, Kaine was chased by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents across five continents, learning to recognize their moves as a result. (Amazing Spider-Girl #10) I’m placing this here purely because it’s around the only confirmed time we known he crossed into other countries and continents. It’s by no means a definitive placement, merely representative.

 

At some point ‘years earlier’ than the flashbacks seen in Darkdevil #2, Kaine turned to the arcane to prevent his clone degeneration, mastering skills which summoned the living spirit of vengeance, Zarathos. In exchange for halting his degeneration, Kaine served as the demon’s servant for a time.

 

After years of constant agony, Kaine’s nerve endings simply stopped functioning, apparently meaning he no longer felt anything (Spider-Girl #14). This and his prior degeneration may be connected to Kaine’s use of a metallic body suit (first seen chronologically in flashbacks from Darkdevil #1)

 

Kaine acted as a ‘Guardian Angel’ to the young son of Ben Reilly, watching over him as he grew up. When the boy began to suffer from the fatal clone degeneration he must have inherited from his father, Kaine took the boy to his hidden lab and placed him in suspended animation within a ‘Resuscitation Tube’ for months, visiting often during this time and telling him of his father and his true family history (Darkdevil #1).

 

*Ben Reilly’s son, known as Reilly Tyne, is said to be ‘barely thirteen’ when he first formally meets Kaine. For various reasons, this does not seem to fit with the established timeline. At some point I intent to dedicate an entire post to the topic, but for now let’s focus on Kaine*

 

Around this time Kaine worked as an enforcer for Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime when the District Attorney had collected enough evidence to finally put Fisk away for life. Confronting him, Daredevil found himself in battle with Kaine. With nothing to lose, Fisk ordered his men to open fire on Daredevil despite Kaine being in their way. In a heroic final act, Daredevil died shielding Kaine from a barrage of bullets with his own body, saying that even a monster like Kaine deserved better. Moved by the hero’s sacrifice for him, Kaine took the body of the Man Without Fear to his laboratory where he tried in vain to reanimate his corpse.

 

 Realizing that science could not help him, Kaine turned to sorcery, again summoning Zarathos and this time begged him to revive the fallen hero in exchange for his own life and soul. Uninterested, Zarathos ignored Kaine’s protests and instead took possession of the boy still in suspended animation, physically ageing him into an adult and giving him a demonic appearance. Fortunately, the spirit of deceased Daredevil stood against Zarathos and eventually drove the demon from the boy’s body (Darkdevil #2).

 

With Zarathos banished, the boy was left seemingly stuck in a demonic adult body and blamed Kaine, who ‘skulked away’. Fortunately, the boy had also been imbued with the spirit of Matt Murdock, and soon mastered his new demonic abilities including appearing as a mortal man in his twenties, took a job at Nelson’s law firm as an intern under the name Reilly Tyne and became the heroic vigilante known as Darkdevil, though still harbouring resentment toward Kaine (Darkdevil #3).

 

Kaine returns to New York from parts unknown ‘after all these years’ to ‘check up on a family matter’ so it appears he has not set foot in the city for some time prior to Spider-Girl #12 or at least others are not aware of him doing so.

 

Based on these comments throughout various MC2 titles, we can piece together the order of events prior to Kaine’s return in the MC2’s present day. Here is what we have:

 

·         Kaine, seeking vengeance on Osborn, saves Alison only to leave her for dead upon learning her part in May’s kidnapping

 

·         Kaine contacts Mary Jane and tells her May is alive but insists she not tell Peter until May is safely returned to her parents

 

·         Placing May in the care of Philippe DeJunae, protected by hired members of the Scriers, Kaine rescues May from DeJunae, unaware events have been orchestrated by Osborn

 

·         Kaine reunites May with her mother Mary Jane, determined to find Osborn

 

·         Kaine mastered arcane skills in order to summon the spirit of vengeance Zarathos, working as the demon’s servant for a time in exchange for staving off his clone degeneration

 

·         Many years later, the son of Ben Reilly and Elizabeth Tyne is found near-death by Kaine, who places him in a Resuscitation Tube to stave off his clone degeneration

 

·         Kaine works as an enforcer for the Kingpin

 

·         When the District Attorney has collected enough evidence to send Wilson Fisk to jail for life, Daredevil is killed saving Kaine from Fisk's gunmen

 

·         Kaine attempts to revive Daredevil using science but fails, and so resorts again to the arcane

 

·         Kaine summons Zarathos and pleads with the demon to restore Daredevil to life in exchange for his own

 

·         Zarathos instead possesses and alters the body of Reilly and Tyne's son

 

·         Daredevil's spirit battles Zarathos for the boy's soul and body, eventually driving the demon out

 

·         The boy eventually masters his demonic abilities and studies law, gaining a job at Foggy Nelson's law firm under the name Reilly Tyne while also operating as the masked hero Darkdevil in Murdock's honour

 

 

I believe that’s all we have regarding the History of the MC2’s Kaine, but it’s always possible I’ve missed a detail somewhere along the line. If you find something I haven’t noted, please let me know in the comments.

 

Until I play a pivotal role in the lives of various major MC2 characters for years to come, I remain

 

frogoat