By now, most people have heard that Marvel is bringing back the Scarlet Spider. On January 22, 2012, Chris Yost and Ryan Stegman will be launching a new series. Except it won't be Ben Reilly, the previous Scarlet Spider, starring in the series, but instead, his nemesis, Kaine.'

During the infamous Clone Saga, Kaine played a big role in simply being a thorn in the sides of Spider-Man and Ben Reilly. His hatred for Spider-Man and Ben is a complicated one based on misinformation and his imperfect creation at the hands of the Jackal. In recent years, Kaine has shown that there is more Peter Parker in him than previously thought possible.

With the opportunity to reinvent himself and to truly be the hero he always wanted to be, Kaine's road to redemption has just begun. There may be strong fan demand for the return of Ben Reilly as Scarlet Spider but it's clear that Kaine will prove to be the center of some interesting stories.

Kaine is mostly known for wearing purple and black, having a messed up face and wanting to kill Ben Reilly. He was the first semi-successful Peter Parker clone created by the Jackal. Because he was not a perfect clone, he had some actual genetic flaws. When he started showing signs of the clone degeneration flaw, Jackal threw him away as if he was nothing. This and a little mental instability drove Kaine into becoming a villain in the pages of the Spider-Man comics.

Imagine what it would be like to be created as a clone. Once it turned out he wasn't perfect, his 'father,' the Jackal' had no use for him. Especially after Ben was created and was the first perfect clone, without the degeneration flaw (which is why I never could accept that it was actually Ben that died - see my rant from earlier this year).

What many believe is his hatred towards Ben was pure jealousy. It's easy to believe that Kaine hated Ben because he was the perfect clone while he was flawed and discarded. Kaine actually believed that Ben was the true Peter Parker after Norman Osborn switched the lab results without Jackal realizing. They thought Ben was the original and Peter was the clone. Kaine believed he was going after the original and that his clone 'brother' deserved a life.

Over time, Kaine started becoming less of an actual Spider-Man villain. The biggest change came during Kraven the Hunter's return in The Grim Hunt story arc.

After being hunted by Ana and Alyosha Kravinoff, a badly beaten Kaine made his way to Peter's place to warn him that they were going to kill all the "spiders." Kaine had tried telling Peter to simply take off and run from Kraven and his deranged family. Peter was pretty let down that Kaine's instincts were to run while his were to fight considering they shared the same DNA.

Peter went off to do his part in prevent the slaughter of others and Kaine gave himself a makeover and healed from his attack. This was Kaine's moment to fully become a hero. Spider-Man was momentarily defeated and Kaine stepped up. He knocked out Peter and took his costume in order to confront Kraven.

Kaine sacrificed his life and was killed only to be resurrected by the Jackal and the Queen for her Spider-Island scheme. Mutated further, Kaine was forced to follow Jackal's orders and nearly destroyed the spider-virus cure needed to revert all of Manhattan from spider-forms back to human. Kaine was stronger and faster than Spider-Man.

Kaine was about to release a toxin into the cure. The two fought and Kaine ended up falling into the cure. He was now free from the Queen's control and no longer suffered from the clone degeneration. The cure was supposed to wipe out his spider-powers as well but somehow he managed to keep them (along with the spider-stingers Spider-Man had in The Other story arc).

Spider-Man and Kaine were both instrumental in defeating the Queen and freeing all of New York City.

Kaine was now a hero. Cured from the clone degeneration and able to work side-by-side with Peter, this could have been the beginning of a Spider team-up that we haven't seen in a while. Kaine was a hero...but he was still a killer. This wasn't necessarily something other heroes could overlook.

Is it necessary for Kaine to leave New York City? Couldn't his emergence from the pool with the cure that rid him of the clone degeneration also be a rebirth for the man? He no longer resembled the man called Kaine and could easily create a new superhero identity and start over.

Instead, he left to go where Spider-Man, or Peter Parker, wasn't a common site. Hitting the road and on the run from his dark past, is some ways, his new path is similar to the one Ben Reilly had to take.

Is Kaine to blame for the bad things he did or could it be blamed on the mental instability he suffered from the clone degeneration? He has proven himself to be a hero. He has Spider-Man's blessings. It's time for him to earn the rest of his redemption and taking on the mantle of the Scarlet Spider will aid him in his journey.

The new chapter in Kaine's life will be an interesting and exciting one (even if I still want to see the return of Ben Reilly as well).

I love this, Kaine became what he hates (or used to hate) the most, Ben Reilly...

This book. Is gonna rock. So hard.

I'm glad it's Kaine who's the Scarlet Spider. I loved Ben Reilly but I think its Kaine's time to become a hero and show that even clones deemed 'undesirable' can become just as great as the original (Peter) or the originals perfect clone (Ben) when given the chance.

Sick costume.

@Deadcool: That would be interesting.

Kane is and was a cool character he brought something different to the clone saga by being evil. And now he is bringing the difference of being a sort of black/dark spiderman who has that lethal edge when needed.

they should bring riley back thought have spider corps lol, theres lots of places in the world aftr all could spread them out so america europe and asia or africa have one each.

That costume is two straps over the shoulder away from being overalls

@lazystudent: Me want something like that (or Ben replacing Kaine in the book as main character eventually but still have him working together as brothers since it would be a almost superman/batman feel into it in the terms how they do their thing differently but fit together somehow)

slightly off topic, how bout the return of Spidercide?

I guess it was only a matter of time.

Even, back then, I expected this to happen sooner or later.

I hope his strength and other abilities still far surpass Peter's. Would make sense really.

@InnerVenom123 said:

This book. Is gonna rock. So hard.

Agreed!

@EganTheVile1 said:

slightly off topic, how bout the return of Spidercide?

Been confirmed, along with Hybrid and Toxin.

Kane is and was a cool character he brought something different to the clone saga by being evil. And now he is bringing the difference of being a sort of black/dark spiderman who has that lethal edge when needed.

they should bring riley back thought have spider corps lol, theres lots of places in the world aftr all could spread them out so america europe and asia or africa have one each.

This book. Is gonna rock. So hard.

Does anyone else find it a strange coincidence that Kane is sporting a red and black look at the same time we're getting an new Ultimate Spider-Man that's sporting a black and red look??? Connection in some way???

Something I'm slightly disappointed about was the fact they slimmed Kaine down to look more like Peter and it would have been nice if they are left him with the larger physique he had before to better distinguish him from Spider-Man. Along those same lines the preview images show Kaine with a short haircut and clean shaven. I think at least how he looked in Spider-Island (such as the image above of him talking to Peter) should have been maintained but maybe they'll go back to it.

I'm interested in seeing how smart Kaine is. Yeah he's Peter's clone so he's got inherent intelligence, but how much knowledge does he actually have? Is he smart enough to build web-shooters, trackers, and other gadgets? Can he adjust the suit he wore at the end of Spider-Island? Kaine's never struck me as the scientific sort so hopefully he doesn't suddenly gain scientific expertise just so he can maintain the suit.

But does anyone else think the multiple hero thing is getting a bit old and overused?

@ltbrd: Not sure if you saw the preview with these. He goes super-short with the hair.

Above and below all else, I'm pleased to see them pursuing his story. The Clone Saga had it's points, and definitely had a massive amount of negative review (I still believe this was largely due to them having Peter go into a self imposed exile, and rather than having Ben alongside Peter, attempted shortly to replace Peter with him. I can see why that would not go over well). But worse was seeing Marvel not stick by it's guns and try and sweep the affair under the rug and leave a few things flapping in the wind as a result. That's bad form to me and like anyone does with any comic this happens in, left me sitting there thinking, " Well, what happened with all that, just forgotten? ". It's good to see this explored, even this long after. I like Kaine a lot too so that's another plus.

@G-Man: Yeah that's what I was referring to. Just think it makes him look a little too much like Peter (or at least someone that knows Peter would think its him but with a shorter hair-style) whereas keeping his hair longer would mask some of his facial features so such confusion/recognition would be minimized. But maybe the long hair doesn't work so well with the costume.

I can't wait for this book to start....even though I'm still a little upset that they didn't bring Ben back

Can't wait for this one!!! Stegman's pencils are fantastic, really, really excited about this book in January!!!

I wonder if he'll take Ben's civilian ID too.

@ltbrd: Yeah. At least Ben went blonde for his civilian guise. Not a huge change but enough of one for comics, I guess. I mean, you can tell Steve Rogers, Clint Barton and Hank Pym apart at a glance?

@InnerVenom123 said:

@EganTheVile1 said:

slightly off topic, how bout the return of Spidercide?

Been confirmed, along with Hybrid and Toxin.

Toxin's coming back too? Awesome.

I wonder what I should drop to read this

@NyxEquitis said:

@InnerVenom123 said:

@EganTheVile1 said:

slightly off topic, how bout the return of Spidercide?

Been confirmed, along with Hybrid and Toxin.

Toxin's coming back too? Awesome.

Venom #12 is when Toxin'll be back. As for the others, no issue number was stated. So keep an eye out.

A good read as usual! Also cause Scarlet Spider is one of my favorite if not favorite Marvel character.

@InnerVenom123 said:

@NyxEquitis said:

@InnerVenom123 said:

@EganTheVile1 said:

slightly off topic, how bout the return of Spidercide?

Been confirmed, along with Hybrid and Toxin.

Toxin's coming back too? Awesome.

Venom #12 is when Toxin'll be back. As for the others, no issue number was stated. So keep an eye out.

Sweet, can't wait.

I'm all for this, but I miss the hoodie.

The name Scarlet Spider has never really worked for me. Really corny and reeks of the 90s.

"Kaine is mostly known for wearing purple and black, having a messed up face and wanting to kill Ben Reilly."

get rid of the purple and add the spider man humor but make him insane and homicidal he is DEADPOOL. but now kaine has a normal face so... DARN.

Should made his suit purple and black, but the stealth suit works! Bring on Scarlet!!

I'm pretty excited for this one. I'm playing catch up with the clone saga and spider island so I do not know much about Kaine, but what I have seen so far looks great!

I'm very excited for this book! If Venom, a well known killer and Spider-Man villain, can be turned hero (by using a different host of course) then Kaine can be the new Scarlet Spider!

I'm glad he's taking up the mantle, it's a nice physical representation of the bad clone (Kaine) becoming the good clone (Scarlet Spider), showing he's gone from evil (or misguided) to a full hero.

So glad he's not in New York

I really like Kaine, i really like the idea he's using the mantle of his greatest rival, I really like how he is striving for redemption and going against his violent nature so in my oppinnion this new series/direction has a lot of potential and I'm pretty damn excited about it.

I don't think that anyone other than Ben or Peter should be allowed to use the name Scarlet Spider. Kain is cool and should be a new spider themed hero, but Ben should be the only Scarlet. It's like if Peter Parker died no one except maybe if Peter had a kid should take up his mantle. 
 
Here's to another decade of hoping to see Ben Riley come back to life :c

Since Ben Reilly won't be coming back, let's just pretend Kaine is him. :P

@Deadcool said:

I love this, Kaine became what he hates (or used to hate) the most, Ben Reilly...

So true.

I really think he is going to be a great Scarlet Spider and this is a series I have been most excited about since I have heard about it

Its better than Effed up face Peter Parker- Kaine

He has seen better days...

Let him try it out. After all from what we are seeing her it looks like he is adopting much of what made Ben Reilly a great Scarlet Spider. Should be interesting to see how he plays this out.

man, these new spiderman costumes are getting more&more badass!

he needs a hoody.

I love the costume. Kaine looks like he has a very Venomish style to him. I think he needs to be more distinguished. Love his fighting style.

Sorry, but I disagree. This article does a good job of laying out why Kaine deserves his own title, but it does an absolutely terrible job of justifying why Kaine deserves to be the Scarlet Spider. Give Kaine his own title. Show him struggling to make up for the past. But don't piss off fans by promising a Scarlet Spider title and then saying, "oh by the way, Ben's still dead." Marvel's been doing this stupid tease act for a while now, hinting that Ben will return and then saying, "nope, he's still dead! Sucks to be you!" It was old the first time. Now it's just irritating.

I'm totally digging that new costume.

It's incredibly bizarre to me (as someone who admittedly hasn't been as into comics in the 2000s as I was in the 90s) to see Kaine being this accepted by readers. I actually didn't have much of a problem with the clone stuff when it was going on, but it sure seemed like I was in the minority. People haaaaated that shit so much back then, it seemed.

Then again, I also loved Maximum Carnage when that was going on, so I was a sucker for the mega crossovers.

Sorry for being pedantic, but the Spider Queen didn't resurrect Kaine. He went through a The Other style cocoon process, hence the powers.

I don't care as long as he wears the hoodie, looks cool too me. What is the series and when does it start? Anybody? Anybody?

I like the suit...it's a hell of a lot better than Flashdance Spider-Man.....What a Feeling!