Spider-Man: the Clone Saga Explained
A Summary, Just in Time for the Clones' Return to Spider-Man's Life!
Sep 5, 2009
The storyline had its roots in a short plotline from the seventies, in which Spider-Man was confronted by a clone of himself created by a supervillain called the Jackal. This was really biologist Miles Warren, driven mad after the woman he loved was killed by the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, who himself died, by his own hand, shortly later.
The two Spider-Men fought, as often happens, and the one who emerged victorious concluded that, based on the strength of his feelings for his girlfriend (later wife) Mary Jane Watson, he must be the original, rather than the copy.
With this declaration, and the apparent death of the other Spider-Man in an explosion, this storyline appeared concluded. However, the loose ends would be tugged twenty years later.
The Return of the Clone
At the beginning of the nineties storyline, it was revealed that the doppelganger had survived the explosion and, convinced he was the clone, left New York to start a new life. He adopted the alias ‘Ben Reilly’, combining the forename of his deceased Uncle Ben with the maiden name of his Aunt May, and managed to forge his own identity.
However, when Aunt May was taken ill, with little hope of survival, Ben Reilly returned to New York to see her one last time and, inevitably, encountered Peter Parker. Reilly ended up staying in New York and assuming his own Spider-Man-like costumed identity as the Scarlet Spider. Soon enough, the Jackal also returned, as well as the mysterious Kaine, later revealed to be an early, failed prototype Spider-Man clone.
Soon, the Jackal began to hint that, contrary to the assumptions of both Peter and Ben, Reilly had always been the original Peter Parker, and the victor of their original battle had been the clone, who had then unknowingly stolen the original’s life from then on. With Peter’s claim to the identity resting on no scientific basis at all, tests were finally performed, and it seemed to be conclusively proven that Ben Reilly was indeed the ‘real’ Spider-Man.
The new old Spider-Man
Around the time of Reilly’s return, Peter and Mary Jane Parker discovered they were to have a baby. With the discovery that Peter was a clone, they decided soon after to move away together and try to make a new start with their child, leaving Ben to carry on as Spider-Man. Dying his hair blonde to avoid being mistaken for Peter, Ben meets new friends and embarks upon a new life.
However, it is not long before mutterings of a conspiracy emerge around him. As well as his continuing battles with Kaine and other villains, a new mystery figure emerges who seems to know more than he should about the two Spider-Men and their problems. He, in turn, hints that he is working for someone even more insidious. This turns out to be Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, long thought dead.
Osborn soon reveals that he had been manipulating the tests which revealed the “truth” about Ben Reilly being the original Spider-Man, whilst poisoning Mary Jane and causing her to mis-carry her daughter. In the ensuing fight with the Green Goblin, Ben Reilly, now knowing himself to have always been a clone, is killed saving Peter’s life.
With both the baby and the clone removed, of course, all returns to normal in the world of Spider-Man. The whole clone storyline, wildly unpopular with many readers due to its attempt to declare Peter Parker ‘a clone’, was scarcely mentioned in the pages of the Spider-Man comics for over a decade afterwards.
The Legacy of the Clone Saga
Despite the storyline’s unpopularity with many, Ben Reilly has maintained a fanbase over the years, who have been keen to see him and the clone storyline at least acknowledged as part of the character’s history. Sporadic references have been made, and there has also been an ongoing comic book, Spider-Girl, running for over 100 issues, set in an alternate future where Peter Parker’s daughter survived the events of the clone saga and grew up to herself become ‘Spider-Girl’.
Similarly, the Ultimate Spider-Man series, which reworks the Spider-Man series from a modern perspective, has done its own version of the clone saga, featuring a version of Kaine, as well as a character called Ben Reilly and a female version of Peter Parker.
Outside of alternate realities, the clone saga had remained ignored, until just recently. It has been announced that an upcoming three part storyline called ‘Who Was Ben Reilly?’ will begin in October 2009’s Amazing Spider-Man #608, re-introducing the character of Kaine and letting newer readers know about the long-dormant clone saga ideas.
Around the same time, a six issue series, Spider-Man: Clone Saga, will begin, showing how the plot of the clone saga would have run if not for alleged editorial interference. The announcement of these new projects has been greeted appreciatively by clone saga fans, and sparked renewed hope that Ben Reilly may yet have a role to play in the future of Spider-Man.
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