Clones in the MC2 (Part 2)

Welcome back to the second part of this deep dive into the history of Clones in the MC2. In part one, we took a look at the original Clone Saga from the 1970’s along with the various stories that developed afterwards, such as the Carrion Saga and a story that revealed the clones weren’t really clones to begin with. With that out of the way, let’s pick up where we left off.

As published, the 90’s Clone Saga is sprawling and difficult to keep track of, with its various status quo changes and retcons. In an effort to make this post easier to compress and hopefully intelligible, I will be referring to events in retrospect, as they stood after the Clone Saga concluded, presenting them as they pertain to the MC2.

 

If you are wondering how there can be another Clone Saga without any clones, lets address that issue first. In Web of Spider-Man #125, we learn that ‘Joyce Delaney’ had never existed, with Daydreamer having transformed the Gwen clone into what she believed her to be, this change wore off over time and her memories returned. She would also go on to marry a clone of Miles Warren known as Warren Miles who later died as a result of clone degeneration.

 

 

As for the contradictions in the journal of Professor Miles Warren, it is later revealed in Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1 that Miles Warren was a former assistant of the High Evolutionary who was banished after his unauthorised experiment resulted in a savage humanoid ‘Jackal-Man’. Warren had gained a cult following among some of the High Evolutionary’s evolved New Men who believed he would provide them perfect human bodies so they could live among humanity, despite his early experiments with a genetic virus (a precursor to the later Carrion virus) leaving its victims in a state of living death. Remaining nearby his New Men cult in Transia, Miles met his wife Monica and had two children but remained consumed by his research. When Monica eventually left with the children, Warren’s jealous ‘son’ the ‘Jackal-Man’ caused their deaths in a car accident (Alpha Flight #114, Web of Spider-Man #125, Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1). The High Evolutionary discovered his former assistant had managed to successfully clone human beings and so fabricated the journal of Professor Miles Warren, desiring to prevent others from discovering his own contributions or continuing research into cloning, something the High Evolutionary considered antithetical to his own goal of accelerating evolution (Spider-Man #56, Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1, Spider-Man: Dead Man’s Hand).   

 

 

 

   

  

 

 

 

As revealed in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal, after the death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121, Norman Osborn had survived the impalement upon his own glider 7 years prior (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #122). Having built up a criminal empire and information network, seizing control of the Cabal of Scrier to further his revenge plot against Peter Parker, Norman sent a Scrier to aid Miles Warren in furthering his cloning experiments with the resources he secretly provided. The Scrier also extorted Miles’ new assistant, Seward Trainer who had been stealing Warren’s notes and data on his experiments to further his own career.

 

 

Now let us talk about the absolute MC2 icon that is Kaine. First appearing in Web of Spider-Man #119, Kaine was the first clone of Peter Parker that Professor Miles Warren created. However, Kaine would soon show signs of cellular degeneration because of a flaw in the cloning process and was promptly rejected by his ‘father’ for this imperfection (Spider-Man #60). Escaping before Miles could kill him, Kaine secretly remained close by the Professor’s lab, the only home he knew. Kaine witnessed his ‘brother’ clone became the ‘favored son’ as Warren prepared the ‘Spider-Clone.’ Kaine vowed to ensure his ‘brother’ could live the life he could never have (Spider-Man #61).

 

 

 

 

Using Seward Trainer to tamper with the results, Scrier ensured Osborn’s plan to convince the real Jackal (who had sent a clone to die in his place during the climactic events in Amazing Spider-Man #149) upon testing both Spider-Men that the clone was the original and vice versa. After the Jackal had induced a death-like state in the ‘Spider-Clone’, and Peter had disposed of his body, the ‘Spider-Clone’ would awaken and realise he was a clone, soon after going on to assume a new identity and travel the world (Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal).

 

 

Obviously, this ‘Spider-Clone’ first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #149 and was first seen using the name ‘Ben Reilly’ in Spider-Man #51, having assumed the identity in the flashback story from Spectacular Spider-Man #223 when he first left New York; ‘Ben for Ben Parker and ‘Reilly’ for May Parker’s maiden name. Just as the Jackal was convinced Peter was the clone, so too was Kaine. Kaine made it his goal to pursue and torment Ben Reilly as he wandered the world, believing he was the ‘real’ Parker and wanting to keep him away from his clone ‘brother’ living a relatively normal life in New York, even framing him for murder in Salt Lake City (Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1- #3, Spider-Man #61).

 

 

 

During this time Ben was befriended by Dr. Seward Trainer (who was acting on orders from the Scrier) with Trainer aiding Reilly to obtain paying work. While Ben was in Salt Lake City, he met and fell in love with a woman who used the name Janine Godbe. The couple eventually confided details of their tragic pasts with one another; Janine (real name Elizabeth Tyne) on the run after she had killed her father for years of abuse, and Ben, the clone of Spider-Man now framed for the murder of a police officer. The two travelled together for a time until Kaine forced Janine to fake her death as part of his campaign against Reilly (Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1-3, Spider-Man: Redemption #1-#4).

 

 

 

 

 Prompted to return to New York City when he learned Aunt May had been hospitalised, Ben soon encountered Peter. Despite initially clashing, the two men became as close as brothers, with Ben soon adopting the identity of the Scarlet Spider to fight crime beginning in Web of Spider-Man #118. Mary Jane reveals she is pregnant with her and Peter’s child and the happy couple begin their new journey toward parenthood together (Spectacular Spider-Man #220, Amazing Spider-Man #398).

  

 

 

 As a side effect of his imperfect cloning, in addition to his scarred appearance, Kaine suffered an extreme version of Peter’s Spider-Sense in the form of precognitive flashes. Having visions of someone killing Mary Jane and her and Peter’s unborn baby, Kaine began killing villains in an attempt to prevent this from occurring. He killed the Grim Hunter aka Vladimir Kravinoff and Doctor Octopus aka Otto Octavius and nearly murdered others including Mysterio aka Quentin Beck and Electro aka Max Dillon ( Spider-Man #55, Spectacular Spider-Man #221, Spider-Man: Funeral For an Octopus #1-#3).

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the Jackal, having emerged from five years in a cellular regeneration tank which ‘re-structured’ him into a humanoid-jackal form far stronger and faster than before, planted doubt in the minds of Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider as to which of them (if either) was the original Peter Parker. Kaine accidentally releases a Third Peter Parker from The Jackal’s destroyed laboratory in the Catskill Mountains (Spectacular Spider-Man #222).

 

Many things happen over the next few months. Aunt May passes away, shortly after revealing she knew Peter’s superhero identity, Peter is arrested for the Salt Lake City murders (Amazing Spider-Man #400), the third Peter Parker is revealed to have a far more malleable physical form, a genetically engineered ‘Spidercide’ (Web of Spider-Man #124, Amazing Spider-Man #401, Spider-Man #58, Spectacular Spider-Man #224, Spider-Man Unlimited #9, Spider-Man: The Jackal Files), Kaine reluctantly confesses to the murders to save Peter, and Seward Trainer’s tests and equipment reveal Peter Parker to be a clone and Ben the original (Web of Spider-Man #126, Amazing Spider-Man #403, Spider-Man #60, Spectacular Spider-Man #226).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For an unfathomable reason, the Jackal switches motivations and reveals a plan to kill all of humanity and replace them with clones, setting off a version of his Carrion Virus on a small town in a trial run. A psychologically shattered Peter Parker is briefly manipulated into working for the Jackal, who directs him to bring the ‘Joyce Delaney’ clone of Gwen Stacy to the Daily Bugle. Spidercide encounters the Scrier who cures him of his degeneration factor, convincing him to betray the Jackal by sending Jackal’s latest notes to him. Kaine is convinced by Mary Jane to help Ben Reilly, only to be fatally stabbed by Spidercide while preventing the Jackal’s own death, prompting the Jackal to places Kaine in a regeneration pod. Spidercide ultimately appears to die falling from the top of the Daily Bugle building while attempting to again kill the Jackal. Yes, the one spider-clone who can morph into any form including a liquid is written out by a fall to the ground! The Jackal would soon follow him in his fate after a confrontation with the vengeful ‘Gwen’ clone, who was angry about her deceased degenerated clone husband, ended with the Jackal plummeting to his death. With the Jackal dead, and with Peter and Ben having dealt with his ‘Maximum Clonage’ bomb, ‘Gwen’ slips away to places unknown, Peter and Mary Jane reunite and Ben and Peter are left wondering who should take on the name of Spider-Man (New Warriors #61, Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha, Web of Spider-Man #127, Amazing Spider-Man #404, Spider-Man #61, Spectacular Spider-Man #227, Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Omega).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we’ve exceeded the recommended maximum clonage, the sheer volume of actual clones thankfully drops significantly. From here on out, just the abbreviated highlights: Ben becomes a member of the New Warriors (New Warriors #62), battles a seemingly mutated version of the Lizard (Amazing Spider-Man Super Special #1, Spider-Man Super Special #1, Venom Super Special #1, Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1, Web of Spider-Man Super Special #1) and fights the revitalized Vulture (Spider-Man Unlimited #10). More importantly though, both Peter and Ben come to their own conclusions regarding their status following a battle with the being known as D’Spayre, choosing to keep on as Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider respectively (Web of Spider-Man #128, Amazing Spider-Man #405, Spider-Man #62).

 

Following another mental breakdown, this time apparently triggered by a post-hypnotic suggestion seeded by the Jackal years prior, one which led Peter to target his own wife Mary Jane (Spectacular Spider-Man #228, Web of Spider-Man #129), who shortly afterwards suffers pregnancy complications caused by trace radiation, Ben and Peter battle the new Doctor Octopus and ultimately Peter decides to hang up the webs and retire as Spider-Man to focus on his greater responsibilities as a husband and father (Amazing Spider-Man #406, Spider-Man #63, Spectacular Spider-Man #229).

 

 

 

 

 

Peter and Mary Jane pack up and move to Portland to start afresh but Peter is drawn into a conflict which leaves him without his spider-powers (Spider-Man: The Parker Years #1, Spider-Man: The Final Adventure #1-#4). Meanwhile, Ben’s superheroic moniker the Scarlet Spider becomes tarnished following various conflicts with the likes of the new Doctor Octopus (Carolyn Trainer) and a cybernetic version of his namesake who causes mass destruction and ultimately results in Seward Trainer being left in a cyberspace-induced coma (Web of Scarlet Spider #1-#2, Amazing Scarlet Spider #1-#2, Scarlet Spider #1-#2, Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1-#2). Around this time, Ben learns the secret truth about Miles Warren’s ties to the High Evolutionary during which  Kaine’s body goes missing from the regeneration pod (Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1).

 

 

 

 

 

Ben dyes his hair blond after a chance encounter with Mary Jane’s aunt Anna Watson and designs a new suit as the sensational Spider-Man (Spectacular Spider-Man #0). Sometime later, with the return of Kaine during a battle with the Rhino and the discovery of skeleton in a Spider-Man costume at the smokestack where Peter disposed of the clone’s body back in Amazing Spider-Man #151, Peter and Mary Jane return to New York (Spectacular Spider-Man #231, Sensational Spider-Man #2, Amazing Spider-Man #409, Spider-Man #66).

 

Ben briefly becomes ‘Spider-Carnage’ after being bonded with the Carnage Symbiote and the Spider-Skeleton is revealed to be another clone of Peter Parker Following the trail of a recently awakened Seward Trainer leads the Parker Brothers to a company named Multivex Corporation which is revealed to be a subsidiary of Osborn Industries with a mystery figure in a high-tech life support suit known as Gaunt lurking behind the scenes. The Molten Man is drawn into the mystery by his step-sister Liz Osborn to investigate money being filtered to Multivex from Osborn Industries, meeting up with Peter and Spider-Man in the process and the trio come face to masked face with Gaunt and the press ganged Seward Trainer. From the shadows, the mastermind behind the plot, Norman Osborn is angered to lose Multivex in a massive fire despite it deterring  Peter and Ben’s investigation (Sensational Spider-Man #3-#5, Amazing Spider-Man #410-#412, Spider-Man #67-#68, Spectacular Spider-Man #233-#234).

 

 

Around this time, the events of Spider-Man: Redemption take place. Having arranged for Ben Reilly’s lost lover Elizabeth Tyne (aka Janine Godbe) to return to New York, revealing her death was faked and reconnect with Ben, Kaine orchestrated events to cause psychological turmoil to his clone brother in an attempt to make him truly understand his own pain, not just physically but emotionally from his rejection by his ‘father’ Miles Warren. In the end, Tyne is imprisoned for the killing of her father (albeit in self-defence) while Kaine finds redemption and turns himself over to the police for his crimes (Spider-Man: Redemption #1-#4).

 

The powerless Peter Parker begins having inexplicable spasms before collapsing and being admitted to hospital, being attended by a none other than Doctor Curt Connors, though he is also unable to help Peter’s declining health as his heart monitor flatlines and he appears to die. Fortunately, Peter revives shortly afterwards with his spider-powers restored just in time to assist Ben against the new Lizard (Spider-Man #69-#71, Spectacular Spider-Man #235-#237, Sensational Spider-Man #7, Amazing Spider-Man #414).

 

We’re in the endgame now, folks! Peter asks Ben to be their unborn baby May’s godfather, Scrier is revealed to be not an individual but part of an entire organization (Amazing Spider-Man #417). Ben and Peter share heartfelt moments together cleaning out the Parker Family Home's attic, meanwhile Seward Trainer escapes captivity and attempts to warn the two Spider-Men of his captor’s plot, only to be killed by Gaunt (Spectacular Spider-Man #240). Gaunt -revealed as former business partner to Norman Osborn, the long-thought-deceased Mendel Stromm- adorned in a cybernetic armoured suit is sent to kill Ben Reilly in front of Peter. Various friends of Peter are anonymously invited to gather at the Daily Bugle, meanwhile Alison Mongrain, a woman in the employ of Osborn, secretly drugs Mary Jane, triggering suddenly goes into an unnatural labour (Sensational Spider-Man #11).

 

Mary Jane is taken to hospital where she learns from a Doctor Folsome that her regular doctor is not available. In the birthing suite, Mary Jane asks if her baby is breathing and is told by Folsome ‘everything is going exactly as planned’ as an unseen Norman Osborn watches on. Ben fends off Gaunt so Peter can unite with Mary Jane at the hospital, only for Ben to be captured by the plot’s mastermind himself. Following an agonising delivery, Mary Jane again asks Folsome ‘why isn’t she crying’ before breaking down in tears. The doctor offers his condolences, while Mongrain (disguised as a nurse) wheels an unidentified ‘package’ to her car. Alison meets up with her employer at the docks where she is told she is going to Europe with a sizable bonus as she boards a yacht. Mongrain’s employer tells her she can call him by his real name: Norman Osborn (Amazing Spider-Man #418).

 

Peter reaches the hospital and learns what has happened from Doctor Folsome, only to be drugged immediately afterwards. When he awakens, Peter finds himself confronted with a very much alive Norman Osborn. To prove to the disbelieving Peter he isn’t an imposter or clone, Norman reveals his chest scar from his Goblin Glider impalement. As the Green Goblin, Norman reveals to Peter the full extent of his manipulations, pulling the strings of everyone and ensuring Peter thought he was a clone when in reality he was the original. While a severely beaten Ben rescue everyone trapped inside the Daily Bugle building and locates the bombs set to explode, Peter (as Spider-Man) fights the Green Goblin, desperate to learn what has happened to his wife and child. Losing his battle, Norman remotely launches his Glider while Peter is distracted talking to Ben. Sacrificing himself to save his brother, Ben is impaled in the back and falls from the roof of the Bugle. Peter makes short work of defeating Osborn using his own bombs, only arriving in time to hear Ben’s final words imploring him to take care of his niece and tell her about her Uncle Ben. As he dies, Ben’s clone body rapidly deteriorates to dust. Peter then races to the hospital to comfort Mary Jane who tells him they lost the baby. Later, Peter scatters Ben’s remains from atop the Brooklyn Bridge (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75, Spider-Man: Revelations).

 

A special thank you to Eric Gillette’s long-defunct but sorely missed fansite www.samruby.com, the dedicated Spidey-dude.com and friend of the blog Jesús Arias, along with the Marvel Chronology Project and the Marvel Wiki. While I tried to be in-depth, in the interest of remaining sane, I’ve left out any nonessential information. If you feel I’ve omitted something important, please let me know! Next time, the MC2!

 

Until I find a way to condense the Clone Saga further, I remain

 

frogoat