Initially, Marvel planned for a smooth transition: the Clone would realize his mistake, take the name Ben Reilly, dye his hair blonde and move to the West Coast with Mary Jane and his child, finally free from the responsibility of being Spider-Man. The real Peter would take his place, having more adventures without the baggage of a family. However, fans hated this idea, and editorial was forced to rewrite plans on the fly, leading to a confusing, ambling story that ultimately resulted in no changes to the status quo. Marvel affirmed that the Peter we knew was in fact the real Peter, that the other guy was the clone. The other guy took the name Ben Reilly and stuck around as the Scarlet Spider for a while, until he died… and came back… and died again… and also came back.
You can see where the confusion comes in, and we haven’t even talked about Kaine Parker yet. Kaine arrives midway through the Clone Saga, and reveals himself to be the first clone of Peter Parker, a deeply flawed one at that. Scarred and monstrous-looking, Kaine has none of the inherent goodness of Peter or Ben. Further, he has the ability to burn people with his touch, which he uses on the faces of his enemies.
These days, both Ben and Kaine have become accepted, regular parts of the Spider-Man mythos, sometimes carrying their own books and appearing in Spider-Verse crossovers. Which is just one reason why a Sony TV show isn’t the worst idea.
The other reason is that Sony just made (and canceled after one season) a really good Spider-Noir show, which also seemed like an unlikely choice for a TV series. The show had none of the leftist grit of the original comic book series, nor any of the overt goofiness of Nicolas Cage‘s performance in Into the Spider-Verse. Yet, it was still incredibly well done, both thematically rich and entertaining.
The same, of course, is true of Lanterns, a series that is indeed about two guys walking around Nebraska wearing street clothes and also about space cops who work alongside a sentient planet. So, you know what? Go ahead, Sony. You make your Clone Saga TV show. Maybe you can finally make something beautiful out of that legendary mess.
