A Complete Guide to Spider-Man’s Clone Saga, One of Marvel’s Most Controversial Stories

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In 1994, Marvel Comics revived a twenty-year-old Spider-Man story, creating one of the company’s most controversially convoluted events of all time. Spread across six co-actively running series, the two-year-long “Clone Saga” has gone down as one of the franchise’s biggest marketing failures; however, even in chaos, the Clone Saga introduced multiple series-staple characters, and left a lasting impact on Peter Parker and Spidey lore.

This guide will offer a complete and thorough breakdown of
the classic Spidey event
, though without the convoluted method of delivery that Marvel initially chose.

Besides the aforementioned issue regarding unevenly splitting the story between 19 different ongoing series, the Clone Saga’s greatest flaw is its nigh-absurd use of retcons within its own story. Yes, clones, genetically modified actors, and fake deaths all became staples of the Clone Saga. This guide will have to acknowledge some of those retcons, as they are unfortunately part of the plot itself. That said, underneath the unorthofox storytelling, the story itself has its merits.

Marvel’s Infamous 1990s “Clone Saga” Arc Started With A Callback To A 1970s Storyline

Read: Amazing Spider-Man #149 – Written By Gerry Conway; Art By Ross Andru

To understand the 1994 Clone Saga, readers first have to look at the story that started it all, Amazing Spider-Man #149, published in 1975. Several years after Gwen Stacy’s death, Peter Parker’s first love shockingly reappears, only to be quickly revealed to be a clone. Investigating, Spidey uncovers a cloning facility controlled by the Jackal, who had also created a genetic duplicate of Peter Parker. Spider-Man and Jackal clash, causing a massive explosion. Ultimately, the clone of Parker dies, leaving Spider-Man to bury his other.

This was originally supposed to be the end of it. Gerry Conway only
brought Gwen Stacy back
because he wanted to solidify the importance of her death. Over a decade later, he released The Spectacular Spider-Man #149, which delegitimized the original cloning process. Conway has since admitted that he was effectively leaving a warning to other writers to leave Gwen’s death be. There are few, of course, permanent deaths in comics and Conway didn’t want Gwen to be part of that cycle. Unfortunately, in 1994, everything he feared would come true, as Marvel embarked on what would become the Clone Saga.

Read: Spectacular Spider-Man #216–Written By Tom DeFalco; Art By Todd DeZago & Sal Buscema

In 1994’s Spectacular Spider-Man #216, readers have finally seen
Peter Parker hit his breaking point
. For years, Marvel had been tearing apart his psyche, leaving him to believe that Spider-Man was a separate person. In this issue, his relationships are dwindling and Aunt May has become ill. As Spider-Man, Peter discovers another Peter already in May’s hospital room. The two clash on the roof of the hospital until the second Peter reveals that he is the clone from the 1975 story, currently calling himself Ben Reilly.

Peter’s mental health continues to spiral, transforming the pinnacle of heroism into a neurotic and unstable mess. Sometime later, Ben Reilly returns as the Scarlet Spider, immediately damaging Spider-Man’s name by accidentally breaking Spidey’s peace
agreement with Venom
. Meanwhile, Peter continues becoming more unstable. He turns to Daredevil for help, before being poisoned by Vulture. Upon waking up, Spider-Man learns that Doctor Octopus has decided to save him. Before any thanks can be given, though, a third Spider-Man suddenly appears and kills Doc Ock.

Clone Saga Act 1½: The Ben Reilly Vs. Kaine Rivalry, Explained

More Clones Enter The Mix

During the in-canon five years between the cloning explosion and Ben reuniting with Peter, an entirely different and necessary plot had been retconned into the story to justify Ben’s existence. After surviving the explosion, Ben goes on an independent journey to define his own identity, though he still retains
Peter Parker’s memories
. Along the way, Ben meets another unstable-looking Peter Parker, who also reveals himself to be a clone. This clone, calling himself Kaine, is the Jackal’s first attempt to clone Peter. An imperfect specimen, unlike Ben, Kaine’s genetics were degrading, slowly killing him.

The two clones repeatedly clashed over the years. Kaine hated the love and respect that Peter Parker had and hated that Ben Reilly had a chance to feel that. The two’s quarrel became that of a Shakespearean epic, as Kaine consistently tried to break Reilly down. In one memorable story, Kaine kidnaps and stages Reilly’s girlfriend’s death. He also kills
Kraven the Hunter’s son
. Finally, Kaine tracks down Parker and Reilly, kills Doc Oc, and plans to kill his “brothers” too. Kaine is defeated, all three Peters later unite after discovering the Jackal had also survived the explosion years prior.

Clone Saga Act 2: Marvel’s Most Iconic Hero Goes Through An Extended Identity Crisis

Will The Real Peter Parker Please Stand Up?

When all three Peter Parkers confront the Jackal in his old laboratory, he releases another clone called Spidercide, who equally believes himself to be Peter Parker. Spidercide is defeated, but before Jackal flees, he reveals that Ben Reilly is in fact
the actual Peter Parker
, while Parker was the clone. Later, this would be retconned as a lie, but at the time Spider-Man comics treated the prior information as if it were true. For about a year, Ben took over Peter’s life, while Peter struck out on his own, more mentally broken than ever.

The Jackal eventually reemerges and Peter and Ben (currently calling each other the opposite names) team up to investigate. The pair finally corner the Jackal, who reveals himself to be Norman Osborn, who hadn’t actually died twenty real-life years prior. Instead, Osborn had set everything up in a long ruse to destabilize Peter’s mind. Parker, Reilly, and
the Green Goblin fight
, tragically leading to Ben’s death. As the hero is impaled, his body dissolves into goop, proving that Peter was the original all along.

Final Takeaways From The Spider-Man: Clone Saga

A Complicated Story With A Complex Legacy

After 125 independent issues, spread across 19 series, and told over two years, the Clone Saga wrapped up with only a few worthy developments to note and even more questions. Issues regarding Aunt May’s health and Peter and MJ’s daughter were continuously swept over until the even more controversial One Last Day story. However, the first major note is that the Clone Saga solidified Green Goblin as Peter Parker’s one true nemesis. The inconceivable efforts which Osborn made to destroy Spider-Man are beyond villainous.

Speaking of villains, Kaine Parker continued to act as an on-again-off-again villain for Peter Parker and Ben Reilly. However, Kaine has recently found his redemption and has reconciled with his past and his brothers. Likewise, Ben Reilly has persisted as a notable Spider-Man character and currently shares a series with Kaine called Chasm: Curse of Kaine. While the Clone Saga is still regarded as one of Spider-Man’s most convoluted and controversial stories of all time, its impact on the Wall-Crawler remains worth discussing to this day.

In retrospect, the Clone Saga has a largely negative reputation among Marvel fans; while it might be praised for its ambition, the ultimate end result was soap-operatic convolution. Though characters from the Saga, notably Ben Reilly and Kaine, persist as part of the franchise to this day, the actual details of the storyline, and their place in Spider-Man lore, are territory which few Marvel writers dare tread, even to this day. That makes the story’s legacy hard to navigate, at times; to a certain extent, that legacy is still in flux, to be determined.

The complete Clone Saga is available now from Marvel Comics.

“}]] The tangled “Clone Saga” web Marvel wove.  Read More