Clone Saga

Clone Saga is a comic book story arc




There are 5 "Clone Saga" in Spiderman story line, of which the most remarkable ones are the second saga that was supported by the 90's tv series and the Ultimate Clone Saga released in 2006.

Before we start our travel in time, we must say that the "Clone Saga" is maybe one of the most important events Marvel ever had involving many clones of Spiderman, The original idea came from Terry Kavanagh and Howard Mackie, the last one was the man who worked on the majority of the smaller crossovers involved in the overall story-arc. Also, executive editors on the storyline included Tom DeFalco, Bob Budiansky and Bob Harras.

This saga was also design to have a "life spawn" of one year, at the end of that time the story should have ended completely, but things came great for the writers and the comics sold up pretty well for what was expected. So, they wanted to prolong the saga as long as possible. This led to some changes to the storyline that ultimately proved unpopular with some exceptions. Ok, already said that, lets start:

The Original Clone Saga

This was released in the comic “Amazing Spider-Man #149” (October 1975). The story begins with Gwen Stacy being girlfriend of the Peter Parker we all know (the original). Unfortunately for Peter, in a battle against the Green Goblin she was seriously injured and eventually died by her wounds. Spiderman cant forgive himself for not being able to save her, leading to some internal conflict if he should still be Spiderman or hang out the mask.

Some months later, and decided to still be Spiderman, a new villain arrives in town, this time is the masked Jackal. The story gets the first twist when the dead Gwen Stacy inexplicably returns from the dead, even the investigation Peter made run on Gwen, showed a match in all sense; she was completely original, at least in the genes.

What Spiderman didn’t knew was that the Jackal’s real identity was Miles Warren, a biochemist at Empire State University were Peter studied. He fell in love with Gwen, and when she was killed by the Green Goblin, he went mad and started to genetically experiment with her DNA in hopes to preserve her memory. With a lot of failures and tries, he finally perfected the cloning formula and created clones of both Gwen and Spiderman.

Miles never knew what really happened in the battle Peter had against the Green Goblin, and even less the manner how Gwen died. So in his ignorance he blamed Spiderman for her death. With the Spider clone he made, he set a trap for Peter. He made the clone fight his original version wile the Jackal placed a time bomb nearby. The battle was too long and the countdown went to zero, that triggered an explosion catching the Jackal, Spiderman and his clone.

Only one Spiderman survived, the Jackal's body was missing, maybe dead. Trying to be sure he was the real Peter, Spiderman made himself some genetic test, but when the results came by, he didn't have the courage the see them. ¿What if he was the clone and the original was the one dead?, ¿Was his memories of a past life real or just a side effect of the cloning process?.

He taught, maybe he was the real thing; he determined that his feelings for Mary Jane Watson could not be duplicated. He was feeling something towards her before the other Spiderman appeared, so how could the clone (IF he was the real Peter) could have those feelings too? It would be impossible.

The clone of Gwen Stacy moved on with her life, she left the Empire State University in hopes to find a new life, a life were she could start all over again.

Connecting the Original and the New Clone Saga

Years have passed by, but the memories of what happened haven’t run out Peter’s mind. Things got worse when Carrion presents to Spiderman as a degenerated clone of Warren.

The cloning process that the original Warren perfected got the attention of a very advanced geneticist known as the High Evolutionary who wanted to analyze how could the professor create the clones without driving them into an unstoppable genetic degeneration. The fact was, that Warren really didn’t perfected the cloning process at all, but had instead created a genetic virus which transformed already living beings, which led to more questions about how could Gwen Stacy clone appear if the original was dead.

Spiderman went to investigate in the old laboratory Warren used long time ago. There, with some notes, formulas and attaching ties, Peter discovered that Carrion was actually a genetic weapon made by the professor in order to infect all man kind. Decided to put an end to all Warren’s work, Spidey went to fight Carrion . Unfortunately, before he was defeated, the cloned version of Warren infected another student of the Empire State University in order to pass on his mission. The infected guy was Malcolm McBride that was a pupil of Warren when he was alive. That way, Malcolm became the new Carrion.

This how, with the comic “Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1”, this story arc was molded a bit in order to be a prelude to what should become the New Clone Saga

The New Clone Saga

Many years later the events of the first saga, it appears that the clone that was declared dead in the time bomb explosion was alive, and not only that, he adopted the name of Ben Reilly (a combination of Peter's Uncle Ben's first name and Aunt May's maiden name) leaving New York deeply depressed after what happened. Convinced that he was a clone, he made a new life, gave himself a new haircut and with the new identity, started fighting crime again as the Scarlet Spider, of course, always trying to keep distance of Spiderman.

Clones, clones, clones.
Clones, clones, clones.
After Ben returned to New York and a series of chaotic events passed between them (we recommend to read Scarlet Spider’s page for more information about the lost years), Ben and Parker were challenged by Kaine, one of the first clones the Jackal made and consider it a success. Plus to that, it was known that another clone of Peter was made, this new clone by the other side became itself the Spidercide.

The story gets his own twist when all of the sudden, the interventions of the mysterious and seemingly all-powerful Judas Traveler and Scrier appeared. But these revelations weren’t as important as some next issues when medical experiments were done to Peter in order to re-check his originality, but the results he was so afraid of became true, Peter was the clone of Ben.

Depressed and feeling he has lived a borrowed life, he stands aside and quits being Spiderman. He even asks Ben to wear the original suit, the one he deserved to wear.

The story ends up in a very explosive way. It is revealed that the actions of Peter, Ben, Jackal and even Carrion were somehow manipulated behind the scenes by Norman Osborn, he was alive and this influence dated back many years. Osborn tells Peter to stop worrying, he is the original. Peter wants to believe him, but how can he ignore the medical results?

Finally it is confirmed. In his attempt to save Peter, Ben is killed by the Goblin's Glider, but instead of just dying, the body of Ben degenerates just like the body of any other clone. Peter is finally convinced that he is the original.

Spider Wars

TV supported Clone Saga

This is one of the most notable saga since it took place in the animated series that launched Spiderman into popularity beyond the world. The story in this saga was short but full of twist and controversial plots. First thing we must remark is that the Spiderman showed in the series was NOT the one it appeared in the other two Clone Sagas.

After fighting in the Secret Wars where some Marvel celebrities joined Spiderman to fight the most evil villains. The Beyonder takes Peter to what it appears to be a completely destroyed New York, everything was devastated. Peter ask who was the responsible for such devastation for what the Beyonder answered that HE did it. Before Peter could say anything, the Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin passed by destroying some building as “their little entertainment”. Trying to stop them from stealing a Microwave Broadcaster from the top of the Daily Bugle building, Spidey is forced back from what appears to be another Spiderman.

This other version had the same costume, but something was wrong. Peter discovers that he was fighting not only another Spiderman, but a Spiderman bonded with Carnage. The Beyonder managed to teleport Spiderman away the battle since Spider-Carnage was too much to Peter to handle. There the real story begins.

Beyonder gathered 5 alternate versions of Spiderman and teamed them up to face the menace. In the lines was the Iron Armor Spiderman, the Octo-Spiderman, the mutant Spiderman, Scarlet Spider and a tv actor of Spiderman (that would be the one of our real dimension, the one we see Spiderman

as a fictionary character). Since all Spidey’s were caught in the middle of other things, The Beyonder explained the reasons why he gathered them.

The thing is, that in the reality of Ben Reilly and Peter Parker (the reality of the Original Clone Saga), Peter had things very hard in his life. Ben Parker passed away and eventually his Aunt May also died, he lost Mary Jane too. But the thing that completely broke him the most, was the fact that he was a clone and that the real Spiderman was Ben Reilly. He started to concentrate all his anger towards the Scarlet Spider.

Ben was tracking down Kingpin’s latest mischief. He had managed to steal a transporter that could make any material travel between distances and dimensions. When Ben enters in action to stop the Kingpin, Peter appears in the scene. Ben taught Peter was there to help him, but it wasn’t like that, Peter went to fight Ben. In the action, the device is activated and creates a little vortex, from that vortex the symbiote appeared and attracted by Peter’s anger, it bonded with him and turned him completely insane.

¿But what does that have to do with the rest of the “other” Spiderman’s?, Beyonder then showed some images of the bomb that Spider-Carnage would build in a near future that consumed all realities.

The Spiderman from the animated series was made Leader of the team, and together they went to Kingpin’s tower. In the battle Octo Spiderman and the Iron Armor Spiderman were defeated and transported back were the Beyonder was. The mutant Spiderman finally transformed into a Spider monster delaying their advance. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop Spider-Carnage from activating the bomb, wile the Scarlet Spider distracted Spider-Carnage, Peter manage to unplug the transporter from the machine.

Spider-Carnage managed to take the transporter and travel to another reality; Peter with the other versions were taken out of the explosion just in time.

Once they knew in which reality was Spider-Carnage, Peter went alone to stop him since Beyonder powers weakened too much to teleport the rest. The New York Peter landed was like the one he knew, and even better, people actually loved him as a hero not like his reality were he was a “masked criminal”. Peter realize that he was in the Iron Spiderman reality. It seems the Peter of that reality unmasked his identity a long time ago, that prevented Mary Jane to die, even to fall in love with him since Gwen Stacy was alive and as his girlfriend.

Spiderman found Spider-Carnage in the “Peter Parker Science Foundation” finishing the modifications for the device, after a quick battle, Spider-Carnage runs away kidnapping Gwen Stacy. For a brief moment Peter didn’t knew what to do, ¿how could HE defeat HIMSELF?, Spider-Carnage would know every move Peter could do and counter them, and to add to that, he had the life of Gwen Stacy on his hands. Evaluating the situation, Peter had an idea and maybe this was the ONLY reality were he could find the help he needed.

He tracked down Spider-Carnage trying to use the microwave broadcaster, but instead of going alone, he went with Ben Parker to talk sense to him. The plan worked, and the Peter inside the symbiote manifested at last. He really didn’t want to do anything the symbiote was forcing him to do. He tried to expel Carnage from his body but it was useless, so the only way to stop the evil resident was to take the device and using it to destroy himself.

Spider-Carnage was finally killed. And before Peter returned with the Beyonder to his reality, he took the so long wanted chat with Uncle Ben. The special end they gave to this saga was that Spiderman was sent to our reality meeting nothing else than Stan Lee. After that, he was sent to go find Mary Jane, the REAL Mary Jane. That was the final episode of all the 90's animated series

Ultimate Clone Saga

In this "new version" of the story some of the characters past have been modified a bit. Like for example Ben Reilly, who was established as an African-American lab assistant with no personal ties to Peter Parker (better known as Spiderman) like in the other stories were he was a clone of Peter.

The trama beggins in the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity, and starts when Harry Osborn was presented to hes new psychiatrist who was hired by hes own father, Norman Osborn. The name of that man was Miles Warren. The goal of Miles was to absolutely erradicate the criminal alter ego of Harry known as the Green Gobling.

Later on, Ultimate Scorpion fights Spiderman in the streets, when Scorpion is defeated, Spidey realize that the men behind the mas was no other than Peter Parker, wich was imposible to belive since he was the REAL Peter. In the issues 97 and 98, it is determined that Peter's clone was sharing 94.4% of hes DNA. This was certantly a big shoot for Spidey, unable to clean Peter Parker name without revealing hes real identity.

The story continues on and Spidey gets the hint that Mary Jane (Spiderman eternal love and unaware of Spidey identity) was abducted, in hes search for her, he runs into Ultimate Spider-Woman, the thing was, this version was hes clone aswell (of course, her chromosomes were manipulated to make her female, but the rest was pure Peter's genes).

Following up the story, Spiderman faces other clones of hymself, among them was one with a disfigured face and another one with six arms in a black costume (issues 98 and 99). In this issues Peter Parker is faced to say the truth of hes identity to hes Aunt May, and even to unmask in front of the Fantastic Four. Not only that, hes forced to leave an amnesiac Gwen Stacy and face the re-appearence of hes presumed dead father, Richard.

Peter and Spider-Woman had theire talk and strange at it may sound, she revealed that all the clones (even herself) had inherited Peter's love for Mary Jane, and his worries of her getting hurt. That was the reason why the disfigurated clone kidnapped Mary Jane to introduce in her a powerfull drug called OZ, in the process, the clone said to her not worry at all, to look at it as a favor, that he was doing it because she would finally be able to defend herself.

Following the issues 99 to 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), the clones agreed to fight him but unfortunate in the battle, the six-armed tarantula and the disfigured Kain were killed in action. Finally Dr. Octopus was defeated and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D took custody of him. Then the story changes again and in a great twist when the doctor declared that he and Ben were receiving orders of the CIA. Plus to that, it resulted that Gwen Stacy was really the body host of Carnage and that Peter's father was nothing more than another clone.

As of issue 104 the clone posing as Richard Parker died due to a side effect of the cloning process that makes him age a lot more faster than normal beings, Jessica Drew fled after helping Peter and hes clones defeat Octavius and Doctors Franklin Storm that were also involved in the process. Reed Richards have found a cure for Mary Jane's OZ-related affliction, affirming that her powers will slowly disappear. Peter gets the chance to declare hes love to Mary Jane.

Reed Richards had another surprise for Spiderman, he gave him a choice, he could decide to be normal again using a cure Reed made to remove hes powers since they were somehow realted to the OZ-drug or to still be the man behind the mask.

In issue 105 Peter rejects the cure and gets back together with Aunt May and Mary Jane. The Spider-Woman clone leaves to embrace the "Jessica Drew" identity. Nick Fury gets interested by Gwen's condition and decides to cure her, or at least to try. Meanwhile Mary Jane is still traumatized by the whole thing and wishes to move on.

The interesting part of this saga is that it is inserted many references to the original Clone Saga: it includes Miles Warren and Ben Reilly; it begins with Peter re-examining his relationship with Mary Jane; 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; 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 like a million times and specifically wanting to protect Mary JaneJ. Finally, both clone sagas feature 'mystery women' called 'Jessica'


Associated Issues Edit

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Overview

The record is broken for the longest continual run by a creative team in Marvel history! Bendis and Bagley—take a bow! And in this landmark issue learn the terrifying secret of who is behind the worst thing to ever happen to a beleaguered Peter Parker. The revelations just don’t stop coming.




As Peter tries to sort out his relationship with the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde—and continue his friendship with Mary Jane—a mall-food-court lunch turns into a free-for-all as Peter and MJ are interrupted by the debut of...the Ultimate Scorpion! But who is the Scorpion—and what sinister conspiracy is threatening Spider-Man’s very existence? The clues have been laid over the past 96 issues...and it all starts to come together here, as we begin the most shocking, most mind-blowing Spider-Man story ever published! And we start with what’s sure to be one of the most talked-about last page of the year! (And no, it isn’t Aunt May as a centerfold.)




After the Scorpion (who seems to be a clone of Peter Parker) is knocked unconscious in the previous issue, Spider-Man takes him to the Fantastic Four to try to find out what is going on.

Reed Richards put the clone through a DNA test, and discovered that he was a 94.2% match to Peter Parker. And Susan Storm found that the tail mechanism was grafted onto his spinal cord, which she revealed to be illegal.

To see if they could find out what was going on with this supposed clone, Reed contacted Nick Furry, and asked him if he knew anything about cloning experiments going on anywhere throughout the world, but he didn't and this only made him suspicious.

Spider-Man realized what time it was (issue does not specify time), and says that he must leave, or Aunt May will ground him.

Peter came home to find that Mary Jane is missing, and immediately leaves to find her.

The first place peter checks is her house, they show marks on the wall (hand and foot prints) from someone like Spider-Man climbing up the wall, but no one sees them.

He runs out of her house, and goes to their secret hideout, the warehouse. He climbs up the wall and jumps through the window. He doesn't find Mary Jane, but he does find a girl in a Spider-Man costume, but the top is open for her hair, and it's black with a big white spider on it (see cover).

Peter is very aggressive and rude in his conversation with her, and ends up lunging at her, but she jumps out of the way using abilities equal to his. He lunges again, and she dodges again. Then to stop him, she punches him in the face and throws him at a post. He throws something at her, and she maneuvers her head away from it, then webs his face with an organic webbing (similar in consistency to his) emanating from her index finger. She checks to make sure that he's alright, then she basically says that she's sorry for coming there, that the confrontation was her fault, and also that she is going to fix things, and get back at "them". "We didn't deserve this", she says, and then she swings away.

When Peter wakes-up, he thinks that maybe Mary Jane could have gone to his old house. But when he gets there, he sees that the door is open, and that Gwen Stacy is inside in her pajamas (alive and well), but she doesn't know of anything after and including her death.

Mary Jane wakes up inside of a glass container, with a man who appears to be Peter Parker outside of it. He tells her that he is going to make sure that no one can hurt her ever again, but she screams for him to let her out.




There are two Spider-Man clones, one has been altered to be more like a scorpion than a spider, and the other looks as though half of his body has been dipped in acid (the left half). This one has abducted Mary Jane, and plans to contaminate her with the Oz formula.

Mean while, Peter has discovered Gwen Stacey is still alive! Then Aunt May comes in, and Peter ends up telling her that he is Spider-Man. Aunt May then tells him to leave, that he can no longer live with her.

Then Peter's dad (who was supposed to have died while Peter was still a small child) comes into the house, and it seems as though Aunt May already knew that he was alive because she doesn't seem surprised.

And to end the issue with a huge cliff hangar......

Nick Furry is calling in a strike on Peter Parker!!!




Overview

A true milestone for Peter Parker, Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimate line—our double-sized 100th issue celebration! Chock full of secrets that date back to the book’s beginning—finally, chillingly revealed! And there are three—count ’em three—mind-staggering shock endings. It’s the Spider-Man event of the year with an exclusive look back at the series with Brian Micheal Bendis and Mark Bagley.

The story starts off with Richard telling Peter how he has been alive all this time. He begins to talk about his life’s work (the Venom Project) and Peter tells him he is familiar with the concept and origins. Richard states how Trask and the government wanted to use the work for biological weapons and what not.

Unknown to Peter, Richard and the Brock family were given a second offer to continue their work for others, yet not having complete control or gaining the results that the projected was created for. At the airport, Richard, Mary, and the Brocks were to get on a plane and fly to Chicago to talk about working for their new employers. Richard decides not to get on the plane and refuses to sign. Mary gets pissed at him, and the 3 take off on the plane. Richard later learned the plane blew up, killing all aboard.

Since Richard is technically a “ghost” now (the world believes him dead) he decides young Peter is in good hands with May and Ben to raise him. Henry Gyrich approaches Richard, deciding to make him an offer.

Richard can carry on his work with Gyrich and his people, but must remain in secret and never is seen.

He tells Richard they will support his endeavors in curing both Cancer and AIDS, but Richard must also help them prepare to help them in the upcoming genetic war the world is leaning towards. Gyrich also tells Richard Nick Fury wants to put together a team of super-soldiers to patrol the world, and Richard’s insight towards stopping this is needed. Richard realizes he must accept the offer.

Peter still wants to know how Gwen is alive, and May wants them all to leave her home. Richard has apparently helped bring Gwen back to life as he asks her how she is feeling and what her pulse is like.

Richard continues to tell Peter how he found out about the suit running amok in the city and how “Spider-Man” intervened in the onslaught caused by the creature. (See Ultimate Venom kiddies!) Richard then learns that his son is Spider-Man, and becomes more fascinated in what his son can do. He even sneaks out to watch him at school from time to time, much to the dismay of Gyrich and co.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Kaine wants to mutate MJ so she can have powers of her own and he won’t have to worry about her getting hurt ever again. This is all happening at the destroyed Oscorp laboratories (See Ultimate Spidey Volume 1. This all ties together!) Just as Kaine is about to start the mutation experiment, a six armed and black costumed clad Spider-Man stops him. Six armed clone states that this is not what they were created for and the two have a huge fight. Kaine gets the upper hand and defeats six armed clone, and starts the transformation process on MJ.

Back at the Parker home, Richard goes on to explain how he approached May awhile back. She tells him to stay away from Peter and get out of their lives. Peter still is confused about how Gwen is actually alive, when a voice is heard on the front lawn. Nick Fury wants all the Parker clan (and Gwen) to come outside and surrender or face lethal force. Fury has this massive armada of Spider-Slayer robots with him, and he isn’t kidding around here. Richard wants Peter to suit up, but Peter realizes even he can’t fight that many foes at once. Peter wants to try and talk first, and the stress gets to Gwen who turns into Carnage and leaps out the window to face the robotic foes. Aunt May seems to have a heart attack, and Peter doesn’t know what to do next. Back at the lab, MJ wakes up to hear Kaine tell her congratulations on gaining new powers and becoming a new person or being.




The Clone Saga continues! Carnage is back! The Ultimate Fantastic Four guest star. The most important chapter in Peter Parker’s life is beginning, and nothing you’ve seen before can you prepare you for what will occur. Part 5




The revelations continue as we learn the secrets of Ben Reilly! Peter Parker tries his best to evade capture by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., plus—the transformation of Mary Jane Watson—into what?! And just for good measure—the scarlet sicko, Carnage, goes on the rampage! Part 5 (of 7)




Mary Jane has been taken to the Baxter Building in the hopes of curing her of Norman Osborn's Oz formula. Sue Storm takes Peter's "father" to the roof of the hospital and reveals to him that he really is a clone that has been altered and aged. Nick Fury continues to stall FBI Agent Henry Gyrich as Peter and the clones fight Doctor Octopus.

Doc Ock manages to kill all the clones with his newly seen powers over metal except for the female clone Jessica, Spider-Woman. Peter and Jessica manage to take down Doc Ock and the battle is over. Peter tells Jessica that he is going to keep his word and turn himself over to Fury. Not agreeing with this, Jessica leaves on her own.

As Peter goes outside, dragging an unconscious Octavius, an argument begins between Peter and Gyrich, the man responsible for Octavius creating the clones of Peter. The Human Torch arrives and informs Peter he needs to go with him to the Baxter Building.

Back on the hospital roof, the older clone of Peter, now accepting his fate and seemingly aging further, askes Sue to be Peter's friend. After she accepts, he dies.

At the Baxter Building, Mary Jane appears to have been cured. The combine intelligence of Reed Richards and Doctor Storm was enough to determine how to cure MJ. Peter declares his love for MJ after nearly losing her. Then Reed tells Peter that it is possible for them to cure him of his spider powers due to the similar nature of his powers with Osborn's Oz formula. The choice is his.




Virtual Mortality Part 2 of 4. Continued from Web Of Scarlet Spider #1 and continued next in Scarlet Spider #1.

1st appearance:
-  Carrie Bradley (Joystick)

Variant Cover exists, same art, different coloring




  Newsstand Variant cover (look at joystick's "joysticks") 
1st appearance:  Joystick in costume




Overview

Young Peter Parker must pick up the pieces of his life and face a series of terrifying questions: Will Aunt May survive her heart attack? What plans does Nick Fury have for Gwen Stacy? Is Peter being drawn back to MJ, or will he stay with Kitty Pryde? What about the mysterious Spider Woman? The answers will shock you.

Spoilers

Knowing that Mary Jane has recovered from being cured of the Oz formula, Peter goes to the hospital to see how Aunt May is doing after her heart attack. Nick Fury, Captain America, and Iron Man arrive at the Baxter Building shortly after searching for Peter. The Thing begins to argue with Fury about leaving Peter alone when Mary Jane reveals that Peter looked up to Fury. She said that Peter told her he wanted to be like him and wants to be the greatest hero in the world. All this is shocking to Fury.

Kitty Pryde and the X-Men arrive at Peter's house in Queens in the blackbird in cloak mode. They soon discover that Aunt May suffered a heart attack and head towards the hospital.

Peter talks with Sue Storm, who tells him that the man he thought was his father was, in fact, a clone of him. Peter said that he had figured that out. Left alone with Aunt May, Fury arrives. Fury informs Peter that the reason he had created the Spider Slayers prior to these events was because he was planning ahead. He figured that anyone that had gone through all the ordeals that Peter has, would turn into a supervillain. He then admits that he was wrong, much to Peter's pleasure. As Fury is about to head back to the Baxter Building, Peter asks Fury to tell Reed Richards that he's going to pass on his offer.

Kitty Pryde arrives at the hospital and asks Professor X to erase Aunt May's knowledge that Peter is Spider-Man. He refuses and she tells him that she hates him. It turns out that Aunt May is able to forgive Peter for his deception.

Peter finds Spider-Woman to see what she has planned. Even though things are good between Fury and Peter, she decides that she wants to be on her own. She leaves saying she thinks she'll give the super hero thing a try.

Peter returns home, or to the destruction that is his home. Mary Jane's mother tells Peter that he can stay with them. As Peter and Mary Jane embrace after everything that has happened, Kitty is shocked and saddened to witness this.

As Mary Jane wakes up to brush her teeth, her hand begins to shake. She then thinks she sees Peter's scared clone that had kidnapped her as Peter comes to check on her.




This issue had a variant cover from American Entertainment with Spidey and Mary Jane walking in the park.




The Clone Saga was adapted for Marvel's Ultimate imprint. 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. Although in the "Carnage" story-arc, Reilly refers to the Carnage creature as "Little Ben". The creature itself being created from Peter Parker's and Curt Conner's DNA with traces of the Venom suit's genetic material as well.
In this version, Bendis wrote a story in which the Ultimate Scorpion is captured and revealed to be Peter's clone, sharing 94.2% 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 (Kaine) and a black-suited clone with six arms (Tarantula). 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 (though the former of the two actually escaped). 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, they each tried a different approach, the Scorpion trying to make sense of his jumbled memories, Spider-Woman trying to stop the other clones, Kaine using his advanced mind to incorporate the drug OZ into MJ's body, and the Tarantula trying to defend MJ from Kaine.
Upon waking to find that she has been injected with OZ, MJ is enraged, and her anger triggers a transformation into a large, red monster. 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). A fight between the clones and Dr. Octopus leaves the Tarantula and Kaine apparently dead, and Dr. Octopus captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. As a twist, Bendis established that Dr. Octopus and Reilly acted with consent of the FBI. In addition, Gwen is revealed to be Carnage, and Richard revealed to be yet another clone (issues 99-103), aged artificially and given psychic treatment to create his false memories.
As of the end of the Ultimate Clone Saga, the clone posing as Richard Parker died from his rapid aging, Jessica Drew fled after helping Peter defeat Octavius, and Doctors Franklin Storm and Reed Richards found a cure for Mary Jane's OZ-related affliction; Peter's relief at her safe condition made him realize his true feelings for her and resumed their relationship. Reed Richards suggested that they might even remove Peter's powers after some more research, since they are also partially caused by the OZ serum. However, after a talk with Nick Fury, Peter rejects the cure and got back together with MJ. The Spider-Woman clone left to embrace the "Jessica Drew" identity and the other remaining clones - the Scorpion and Gwen Stacy - were left in the custody of Nick Fury, who advised his Scientists to 'get to work' on them.
In re-imagining the story for the Ultimate Universe, Brian Bendis inserted many references to the original Clone Saga. Among them are that the brief appearances of the characters Miles Warren and Ben Reilly; Peter re-examining his relationship with MJ; an amnesiac Gwen Stacy appearing from nowhere, then turning out to be more than she seems; Aunt May experiencing a heart attack; a "Scarlet Spider" (Spider-Woman) evading Peter and later being used as a plot dump; a half-formed, semi-insane clone appearing several times, specifically wanting to protect MJ; a 'mystery women' called 'Jessica'; an old friend and colleague of Norman Osborn appearing to have been manipulating the scenes from behind (Dr. Mendel Stromm in normal Marvel continuity, Otto Octavius in Ultimate Marvel continuity), later revealing unseen powers over robotics.




You’ve been asking for it…and now it’s here: THE CLONE SAGA!!! Marvel’s most controversial event of all time returns with a vengeance, presenting the Clone Saga as it was originally intended to be told! From the minds behind the crossover that changed comics forever and the artist that introduced Spider-Man to President Obama, it’s six issues of twists and turns that will shock fans old and new alike! Be here as Peter Parker’s worst nightmare begins again…now with an ending you have to see to believe!




Power and Responsibility Finale 
Traveller and the psychotic inmates of Ravencroft, including Carnage, Shriek, Vermin, and Chamelion mentally torture Spider-Man, leading to the unlikely help of his long thought dead clone.




Ben Reilly: carbon copy or the real deal? It’s only issue two and already we’re letting this genie out of the bottle! Find out what the architects of the original Spidey epic REALLY had in store for poor Peter Parker as the sensational series that has everyone talking ramps up into high gear!



Story Arc: Clone Saga
1st Appearance: #
Appears in: 31 issues
Publisher: Marvel Publishing
Clone Saga
Clone Saga: Epilogue
Clone Saga: Part 8
Clone Saga: Part 7
Clone Saga part 6
CLONE SAGA: PART 5
Clone Saga - Part 4



Union
763 points

KillerZ
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XION66578
7 points

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Nuriel
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