Kaine's Costume

 

Kaine is one of those characters I could probably talk about a lot more. Specifically, I find his MC2 incarnation fascinating for various reasons. Today I wanted to take a look at something I’ve always found under utilized in his original Main Marvel Universe and only touched upon lightly in the MC2: Kaine’s weird costume during the Clone Saga.

I’ll let writer and editor Glen Greenberg explain Kaine’s suit in his own words from the brilliant Life of Reilly Part 9 (which can be found here and here):  

And here's a few things you probably didn't know about Kaine. First, that weird costume of his was actually a life-support outfit that stabilized the debilitating effects of his cellular degeneration. Kaine lived in constant pain, and that would only get worse as time went on, but the outfit slowed down the degeneration and prolonged his life. That's why Kaine wore the costume in most of his modern-day appearances, and why he didn't have it in the LOST YEARS limited series, which took place years earlier.

 

Glen continues:

 

Ironically enough, as Mark Bernardo - even to this day - has never failed to point out, NONE of the Spider-writers ever managed to work any of this information into the actual stories! Mark and I both felt that these were some of the most interesting aspects about Kaine - but as it turned out, the people in our little group would be the only ones who ever knew about them!

So, the writers had a logical explanation worked out for why Kaine was wearing the suit during the present-day parts of the Clone Saga and not the flashbacks seen years earlier in the Lost Years mini-series, this information apparently never made it’s way into the stories that were published at the time.

 

Now in both the Main Marvel Universe and the MC2-niverse we see Kaine on the loose shortly after the infant Mayday Parker is kidnapped by agents of Norman Osborn, leading to him pursuing Alison Mongrain and becoming directly involved in the events that follow. One area where things differ is after his apparent escape from prison in the Main Marvel Universe, Kaine is still somehow rocking his life-support suit that slows his clone degeneration. How he got access to it is unclear and makes little sense (Amazing Spider-Man #435).  Meanwhile what we see in the MC2 around the same time seems somewhat more likely: Kaine is wearing plain civilian clothes which evoke his attire during the events of Spider-Man: The Lost Years, the kind of thing he would have easy access to while on the run from authorities and trying to remain incognito (Spider-Girl #48-#49 and Amazing Spider-Girl #25).

It's only later on in the MC2’s history, during the time a young Reilly Tyne and later the body of the deceased Matt Murdock aka Daredevil are brought to Kaine’s secret laboratory, that we see Kaine rocking a new shiny metallic suit or armour (as seen in flashbacks from Darkdevil #1-#3). This is appears to be the same design in which he made his MC2 debut in Spider-Girl #12 and would continue to wear for the next few issues until his imprisonment at the end of Spider-Girl #17. Subsequently Kaine is shown in prison without this metallic suit and upon his release, only returning to it when he reappeared in the pages of Spider-Girl once more with Spider-Girl #45-#47, #48-49. From this point on, Kaine is seen alternating between either civilian clothing, his metallic suit, or a combination of the two. This brings us to the next point.

 

Kaine no longer seems to require his regeneration suit, a fact made clear in the Darkdevil mini-series not just through his prison stay without any special suit, but in the aforementioned flashbacks. Specifically, one which mentions Kaine mastered ‘arcane skills’ years earlier to prevent his degeneration. This apparently involved acting as a servant to the living spirit of vengeance known as Zarathos, and a mention by the spirit implies Kaine still suffers physical torment. However, Kaine notes in Spider-Girl #14 that after years of constant agony, his nerve endings simply stopped functioning, suggesting he can no longer feel anything.

 

This raises the question of why Kaine wears the metallic suit at all if he doesn’t have to rely on one to stave off his cellular degeneration and no longer seems to experience pain? We don’t have a definitive answer, but I have a theory that’s quite straightforward and deceptively simple: If Kaine can’t feel pain and has already been ravaged for years prior by his imperfectly cloned cells degenerating, he’s far more vulnerable to severe injury. Kaine has experienced severe physical trauma throughout his years and would probably have died years ago had he not used arcane methods to cheat death. Kaine remains mortal and is now at an advanced physical age, hence why he often relies on his metallic suit for protection: should he sustain a life-threatening injury, he would not even feel it and may not realize until it is too late.

 

Kaine wears the metallic suit less as time goes on, eventually wearing civilian clothing exclusively in his later appearances in Amazing Spider-Girl and beyond. While it does humanise him, it also leaves him vulnerable. Perhaps that is by choice? Anyway, let me know what you think or if you have any alternative suggestions. Kaine is such a great character and ripe with such potential for future stories should the MC2 ever make comeback.

 

Until I figure out Kaine’s whole Caribbean detour thing, I remain

 

frogoat

Kaine's Journey

 

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