Clone Saga

Cover to Web of Spider-Man #117 (October 1994), which officially launched the 1990s "Clone Saga."

The Clone Saga or Spider-Clone Saga was a major story arc in Marvel Comics which ran from 1994 to 1996 involving many clones of Spider-Man.

The story is considered within fandom to be one of the most controversial stories ever told for Spider-Man if not in the comics industry as a whole. The story was intended to wrap up in less than a year. However, the comics sold very well and the writers were encouraged to prolong the saga as long as possible. This led to some changes to the storyline that ultimately proved unpopular.^[1]

Although there were many people involved, the Clone Saga is most closely associated with Terry Kavanagh, who proposed the idea, and Howard Mackie, who worked on the majority of the smaller crossovers involved in the overall storyarc. Executive editors on the storyline included Tom DeFalco, Bob Budiansky, and Bob Harras.

Storyline

Strictly speaking, there were two "Clone Sagas": the original storyline in the 1970s and the second saga which consumed all the regular Spider-Man series, several limited series and one shots between 1994 and 1996. Between the two, there were also two smaller storylines that dealt with elements from the original saga.

Cover to Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975). Art by Ross Andru.

The original Clone Saga

Some months beforehand, Gwen Stacy, the girlfriend of Peter Parker (Spider-Man's real identity) had died during a fight between Spider-Man and his arch enemy, the Green Goblin. Subsequently, Spider-Man was plagued by a new villain, the masked Jackal. At the same time, Gwen Stacy seemingly returned from the dead and investigations revealed that the woman was identical to Gwen in every way.

It transpired that Peter and Gwen's biology professor Miles Warren had been driven insane by his feelings for Gwen and sought to preserve her memory. He had perfected cloning and created clones of both Gwen and Spider-Man. He had also become the Jackal. In a conflict, Spider-Man fought his clone while the Jackal threatened to detonate a bomb. The bomb exploded and only one Spider-Man survived. The Jackal's body had been lost in the explosion whilst what appeared to be the clone was dead. Spider-Man undertook genetic tests, but declined to view the results as he determined that his feelings for Mary Jane Watson could not be duplicated since they had started and grown after the cell sample from which he was cloned was taken and that he was therefore the original. Gwen Stacy's clone disappeared to find a new life for herself..

The remnant Carrion

A few years later, Spider-Man encountered Carrion, who claimed to be a degenerated clone of Warren.

The High Evolutionary exposes the cloning as a sham

The clone of Gwen Stacy reappeared many years later when she was being pursued by the High Evolutionary, who was determined to discover how Warren had been able to perfect cloning. In the process, he discovered that Warren had not, but had instead created a genetic virus which transformed already living beings. "Gwen Stacy" was seemingly cured of the virus and left to lead her own life once more.

Later, Spider-Man investigated Warren's old laboratory and discovered that Carrion had in fact been a genetic weapon created by Warren. Another former student of Warren's, Malcolm McBride, became infected with the virus and became the new Carrion.

Later, with Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1, this story arc was molded to fit into the New Clone Saga.

File:Webofspiderman118.jpg

Cover to Web of Spider-Man vol. 2, #118. Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider

The second Clone Saga

More years passed before Spider-Man's clone reappeared. He had survived the battle and for several years had lived an existence under the name Ben Reilly (a combination of Peter's Uncle Ben's first name and Aunt May's maiden name). A series of chaotic events followed, in which Peter and Ben were plagued by both a resurrected Jackal and by Kaine, who was an unsuccessful first clone. In the process, another clone of Spider-Man became the villain Spidercide. Matters were further confused by the interventions of the mysterious and seemingly all-powerful Judas Traveler and Scrier.

The revelations made by the High Evolutionary were revealed to have been inaccurate, driven by a determination to discredit Warren, who had formerly worked with him.

Medical tests indicated Peter was actually the clone and Ben the original. Peter temporarily retired as Spider-Man, leaving the mantle of Spider-Man to Ben. An explosive climax revealed that Peter, Ben, the Jackal and many others had all been manipulated for years by Norman Osborn, who had been secretly alive all along. Osborn said Peter was the original, a claim that was confirmed when Ben died saving Peter's life and his body degenerated like any other clone's. Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal (February 1997) explains the Green Goblin's role in the entire storyline.

Selected bibliography

During the mid-1990s, Marvel consistently published four monthly Spider-Man series, roughly one every week. For the most part, the Spider-titles were treated during this storyline as a single weekly series, although occasionally they would separate, pair off, or have special anniversary editions. The Clone Saga ran through all four titles from October 1994 to December 1996, in addition to countless spin-offs, one-shots, and ancillary issues. With that said, the relevant issues are:

Ongoings:

• Web of Spider-Man #117–129, and its replacement, Sensational Spider-Man #0–11
• Amazing Spider-Man #394–418
• Spider-Man #51–75
• Spectacular Spider-Man #217–240
• Spider-Man Unlimited (Vol. 1) #7–14
• Furthermore, all five titles were temporarily renamed with "Scarlet Spider" in place of "Spider-Man" for two months, in imitation of the X-Men's "Age of Apocalypse" stunt.

Special one-shots and mini-series:

• Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha
• Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Omega
• Spider-Man: The Lost Years
• Spider-Man: The Final Adventure
• Spider-Man: Clone Journals
• Spider-Man: The Parker Years
• Spider-Man: Redemption
• Spider-Man: Jackal Files
• Spider-Man: Dead Man's Hand

Though no longer in print, there was a trade paperback which collected the four-part Revelation storyline. Originally, The Osborn Journal was to be included. Instead, Spider-Man #75 has 14 bonus pages. The first seven shows Ben fighting briefly with Norman Osborn, set during Amazing Spider-Man #418. The second seven shows Peter and Mary Jane mourning over the loss of Ben Reilly and Baby May, which has Spider-Man dumping Ben's ashes in the river. The bonus pages are drawn by John Romita Jr..

Production background

The original story was written by Gerry Conway in response to requests to resurrect Gwen Stacy, but it was done in a way that the original Gwen was not actually resurrected (by introducing her clone, who was used as a psychological weapon against Spider-Man). The response to the story was strong, as witnessed by the later creation of Carrion. The story was inspired by the common theories in the 1970s that cloning human life was possible.

In the late 1980s, new developments in science, particularly the understanding that early in gestation human cells become greatly specialized, left greater skepticism as to the possibility of being able to duplicate fully grown organisms, which may explain Conway's decision to revisit the storyline and reveal that the process was not cloning at all. It has also been speculated that Conway wanted to undo the notion that a clone of Gwen was running around to prevent the clone from being brought back over and over again, so as to strengthen then-recent marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Science swung again towards the possibilities of cloning in the mid 1990s and once more the storyline returned to cloning.

The second Clone Saga was inspired by Marvel Comics' determination to produce a strong Spider-Man "event" story that would rival DC Comics' storylines "The Death of Superman" and "Batman: Knightfall". Furthermore, Marvel's editorial structure at the time was divided into separate "groups" or "families," and some Spider-Man editors reported pressure to compete with the X-Men family's successful Age of Apocalypse event. Several of the Spider-Man creators believed that the character had drifted too far from his original portrayal and sought a way to restore the Spider-Man of old, in particular jettisoning his marriage to Mary Jane. There is some discrepancy between the recollections of production staff at the time, confused further by evidence that plans for the direction seemed to shift almost constantly.

With a plethora of writers and editors, the storyline was initiated throughout all the regular Spider-Man series, but slowly grew out of control. The sales department requested extensions to the storyline, buoyed up by very strong sales on the book at a time when most other comics were experiencing a noticeable decline in buyers. With this extension, the storyline outlived several key creative staff and many decisions on the eventual direction of the storyline were changed.

The decision to replace Peter with Ben as the regular, true Spider-Man met with a massive outcry from many readers and was also unpopular with many of the creative staff of the day. The decision was soon taken to undo this and restore Peter as the true Spider-Man. However, this proved a difficult decision to implement and many schemes were devised, including one proposal to reveal the entire confusion as having been spawned by the demon Mephisto as part of a struggle with Judas Traveller and Scrier. This was rejected as being widely out of Spider-Man's league. Eventually the decision was taken to reveal that an archenemy of Spider-Man's had been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The decision to resurrect the original Green Goblin was very controversial in itself, as his death was part of the death of Gwen Stacy storyline that was widely considered a classic, but it was deemed necessary by Marvel's then-Editor-in-Chief.

Recognizing the chaos of the storyline, Marvel eventually parodied it in Spider-Man: 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga (January 1997).

Clone Saga follow up in MC2

While the mainstream Spider-Man titles rarely touch upon the Clone Saga, Spider-Girl (May "Mayday" Parker) has referenced it. Mayday generally wears the costume based on Ben Reilly's Spider-Man design. Elizabeth Tyne/Janine Godbe from The Lost Years had Ben's son, Reilly Tyne (Darkdevil). Felicity Hardy fights crime as The Scarlet Spider. Kaine is also a recurring character.

Spider-Girl #44–50 and 52 focus on loose ends of the Clone Saga, such as Alison Mongrain planning to kill Normie Osborn, believing he could pose a threat to the child who was placed in her care. May reveals herself to Alison, in order to save Normie. Alison is last seen in Spider-Girl #52. #44 is noteworthy as Peter tells May about her Uncle Ben, minus the fact he was a clone. Overall, the issue recaps the Clone Saga storyline. There was to have been a panel with Ben Reilly in his Scarlet Spider outfit, but it was left out, hence why the cover mentions him as The Scarlet Spider.

Ultimate Clone Saga

The cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #103. Art by Mark Bagley.

The Clone Saga was adapted for Marvel's Ultimate imprint. It began in Ultimate Spider-Man #97 (July 2006) and concluded in #104 [1], with a small epilogue in #105. In the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity, the character Miles Warren was first introduced as Harry Osborn's psychiatrist who was hired by Norman Osborn to brainwash out any memories of his Goblin persona. Ben Reilly was established as an African-American lab assistant with no personal ties to Peter.

In this version, Bendis wrote a story in which the Ultimate Scorpion is captured and revealed to be Peter's clone, sharing 94.4% of Peter Parker's DNA (issues 97, 98). MJ is then abducted, and searching for her, Peter runs into Ultimate Spider-Woman, and in the following issues, further Spider-Man clones appear, among them one with a disfigured face and one with six arms (issues 98, 99). As a twist, Bendis also made Peter reveal his secret identity to Aunt May and the Fantastic Four, and let an amnesiac Gwen Stacy and Peter's presumed dead father Richard re-appear. Via a longer dialogue through Peter and Spider-Woman, Bendis also established that every clone has inherited Peter's love for MJ, and his worries of her getting hurt; as a result, the disfigured clone injects the fictional super-power drug OZ into MJ and turns her into a huge red monster, stating now she is finally able to defend herself. As of issue 103, the masterminds behind the clones seem to be Dr. Octopus and Ben Reilly (Reilly stole a sample of Peter's blood shortly after the death of Gwen Stacy). As a twist, Bendis established that they acted with consent of the CIA. In addition, Gwen is revealed to be Carnage, and Richard seems to be yet another clone (issues 99-103).

As of issue 104 the clone posing as Richard Parker has died from his rapid aging, Jessica Drew has fled after helping Peter defeat Octavius and Doctors Franklin Storm and Reed Richards have found a cure for Mary Jane's OZ-related affliction. At that point, Peter declared his love for MJ. Reed suggests that they might even remove Peter's powers after some more research, since they are also partially caused by the OZ serum. In issue 105 Peter rejects the cure and gets back together with Aunt May and MJ, much to Kitty's dismay; the Spider-Woman clone leaves to embrace the "Jessica Drew" identity and it seems Nick Fury wants to cure Gwen Stacy. Meanwhile Mary Jane is still traumatized by the whole thing and wishes to move on. Bendis inserted many references to the original Clone Saga: it includes Miles Warren and Ben Reilly; it begins with Peter re-examining his relationship with MJ; an amnesiac Gwen Stacy appears from nowhere, turning out to be more than she seems; Aunt May experiences a heart attack; a "Scarlet Spider" (Spider-Woman) evades Peter and is later used as a plot dump; a half-formed, semi-insane clone appears several times, specifically wanting to protect MJ; an old friend and colleague of Norman Osborn appears to have been manipulating the scenes from behind: Dr. Mendel Stromm in normal Marvel continuity, Otto Octavius in Ultimate Marvel continuity; Also, both of these associates turned out to have respective unseen powers over robotics.

Television

Further information: The Return of Hydro-Man and Spider Wars

In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Clone Saga appears in two forms. First in the show, Spider-Man is reunited with Mary Jane after she disappeared into a vortex in his last fight with the original Green Goblin. It was soon revealed that this Mary Jane was a clone as was the resurrected Hydro-Man all of which were the product of the experiments of Miles Warren. Spider-Man tears his costume in a fight with the Hydro-Man clone. The Mary Jane clone saves him with water powers she has by virtue of her body structure being derived from Hydro-Man. Warren runs off from an upcoming flood Hydro-Man's clone would create and finds a piece of Spider-Man's costume, hinting at the possible cloning of Peter Parker. Due to their unstable cell structures, the Mary Jane and Hydro-Man clones evaporate in front of Spider-Man. The death of the Mary Jane clone devastates him, and he is next taken to another dimension by Madame Web to fight in the animated version of the Secret Wars. Warren managed to get a sample of Spider-Man's DNA from a torn piece of his costume.

After that was the two-part Spider Wars series finale, where Spider-Man is presented in an alternate reality version of the Clone Saga. In this version of events, though, the revelation that Peter is the clone, and Ben Reilly is the original leads Peter to become incredibly depressed and vulnerable. The Carnage symbiote takes advantage of this and merges with Peter Parker, becoming the composite being known as Spider-Carnage, who then attempts to destroy all of existence; which includes all universes; from his native universe. Later, after his plan to destroy all of reality is stopped by the original Spider-Man and other Spider-Men from different realities; including the Scarlet Spider; Carnage attempts to destroy every reality, one at a time, starting with the universe that was home to a wealthy, armored version of Spider-Man. However, the "prime" Spider-Man follows Spider-Carnage into that reality. Realizing that his armored counterpart is so arrogant because he has never failed, the "prime" Spider-Man contacts that reality's version of Uncle Ben, the only person who might be able to get through to Spider-Carnage. The gamble works, and Spider-Carnage stops the chain of destruction he had been about to initiate. He sacrifices himself by jumping in one of his unstable portals from the Time Dilation Accelerator in his reality which disintegrates him. The "prime" Spider-Man at one point remarks: "This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!" and part of the arc was called "I Really, Really Hate Clones".

External links

• ¹ Life of Reilly - A very detailed 35-part article covering this storyline, including behind-the-scenes information from Glenn Greenberg, who was part of the editorial team during this time, and interviews with other writers.
• The Clone Saga Timeline - A page on Sam Ruby.com featuring a detailed chronology, summary and list of titles.