X-Men and Spider-Man #3
Clone Sagas
A Few Years Ago…[1]
Cyclops and a team of X-Men including Storm, Wolverine, Iceman, and Archangel, have found another one of Mister Sinister’s secret labs. The mutant geneticist is annoyed that the X-Men have found him again and teleports away, much to Wolverine’s frustration. This irritation is mirrored by Cyclops who is sick of always on the defensive when Sinister is around and orders the team to look around for any information that can give them a leg up during their next encounter. Although the computers are no longer working, Archangel is able to find a lock box. After Storm picks the locks, they find a paper file inside.[2] Looking over the file, Cyclops figures this will give them the leg up against Sinister and allow them to repay a favor in the process.
In Manhattan, Spider-Man is chasing after Slyde, who doesn’t understand how Spider-Man doesn’t remember that his webbing can’t stick to his costume.[3] Slyde tries to make a getaway but instantly surrenders when he is confronted by the X-Men. The X-Men explain that they have come looking for Spider-Man because of their past invovlement with Kraven the Hunter and Mister Sinister. However, when Spider-Man says he remembers, Wolverine instantly knows he’s lying and asks what’s up. Spider-Man explains he’s not the wall-crawler they know, which confuses Wolverine because he smells the same. Very quickly, the web-slinger explains that the Spider-Man they knew in the past was actually a clone created by Miles Warren and co-opted his life after a life-and-death battle. This Spider-Man changed his name and tried to make a life elsewhere. However, his successor lost his powers and retired prompting Spider-Man to take back the costume identity he abandoned years earlier.[4] Storm realizes that this is going to be a long story and suggests that Spider-Man fill them in as they travel.
When Spider-Man finishes his story, he confirms that the only X-Men he knows were the ones he fought alongside against Kraven and the Blob years earlier.[4] Storm then shows Spider-Man the file they recovered from Sinister’s lair which reveal that Mister Sinister exchanged cloning information with Miles Warren. Spider-Man isn’t overly interested in that since Warren’s cloning technology is old news to the web-slinger, what he’s more concerned about is that Mister Sinister is seeking to obtain a sample of Carnage symbiote’s DNA as it may hold the key to stabilizing Sinister’s cloning experiments.
At that moment, Mister Sinister has arrived at Ravencroft Institute where Carnage is being held prisoner. Using his mental powers, he compells the entire staff to gather in the cafeteria. When he open’s Carnage’s cell, the psychotic serial killer tries to attack him. Sinister tells Carnage that he cannot be harmed and he will take a DNA sample by force if necessary, but offers to give him whatever he wants if he gives it up willingly. Carnage wants to get out, so he snips off the tip of one of his fingers for Sinister to use. That’s when Spider-Man and the X-Men arrive, and a battle breaks out. Wolverine takes on Carnage, but finds himself out of his league when Carnage bites through Logan’s bone claws.
Mister Sinister tries to exert his mental powers on his foes, but the X-Men are piling on to him too much to concentrate. When he vows to turn their minds upside down, Spider-Man dares Sinsiter to look into his head. Seeing all the memories of Spider-Man’s clone upbringing is horrific to Mister Sinister who flees in disgust. The X-Men then quickly subdue Carnage by having Iceman seal him in a block of ice until they can get him back in his cell.
In the aftermath of the battle, Spider-Man is shaken by the memories that Sinister pulled up, leaving him to doubt if he’s the original Spider-Man or a clone. Cylcops tells Spider-Man not to think about it too much, pointing out that Sinsiter is a master manipulator. Still, Spider-Man asks Wolverine if he sense anything amiss about him. Wolverine reminds Spider-Man that he smells the same as the other Spider-Man he’s met in the past, but tells him that seeing him in action proves to Logan that he’s Spider-Man in every way that matters.
Elsewhere, Mister Sinister has been able to clone Carnage’s symbiotic DNA and distill it to the point where it has no free will. Adding it to the mix of all the samples in his cloning vat, Mister Sinister finally believes that he will create a clone that cannot just duplicate the powers of the source material but surpass them. As the body begins to form, believing that this creation may be mutantkind’s only hope for survival.
Recurring Characters
X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Iceman, Archangel), Spider-Man, Mister Sinister, Carnage, Slyde
Continuity Notes
Chronologically this story takes place between Spectacular Spider-Man #232 and Sensational Spider-Man #3 for Spider-Man and Spider-Man Team-Up #1 and Uncanny X-Men #328 for the X-Men, or “year nine” of the Modern Age. This story takes place roughly six years after issue #1 and roughly two years after issue #2 of this series.
Storm mentions how Wolverine’s claws are no longer coated with Adamantium. This story follows the events of X-Men (vol. 2) #25 and Wolverine (vol. 2) #75 in which Magneto used his powers to rip the Adamantium from Wolverine’s body. This will remain Wolverine’s new status quo until Apocalypse bonds Adamantium to his body again as detailed in Wolverine (vol. 2) #145.
This is because the Spider-Man that Slyde previously encountered was Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #73 and Web of Spider-Man #23. This is actually Ben Reilly who took over the Spider-Man identity in Sensational Spider-Man #0 after Peter retired in Spectacular Spider-Man #229. Ben will maintain this identity until his death in Spider-Man #75, forcing Peter Parker to repraise the identity.
Oh fuck, the Clone Saga. Yeah everything Spider-Man says here is not entirely accurate. Let’s get down to it:
This Spider-Man, aka Ben Reilly, is actually the clone (more on that below) and was created by Miles Warren to try and kill the real Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #149. The two fought to the seeming death, with the clone apparently dying. This is where it gets complicated.
In Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1, it’s revealed that the Jackal put who he thought was the real Peter Parker in a death like state and in an attempt to convince the clone he was the real Peter Parker and Parker the clone. This backfired thanks to the machinations of Norman Osborn behind the scenes.
Ben Reilly eventually re-entered Peter Parker’s life in Web of Spider-Man #117.
Later, the Jackal later successfully tricked Peter Parker into thinking he was a clone and Ben Reilly was the original in Web of Spider-Man #123. Also around this time, Peter Parker’s powers began fading for no apparent reason prompting him to retire as Spider-Man in Spectacular Spider-Man #229.
Peter’s powers eventually come back on their own by Spider-Man #72 and Ben Reilly was later killed in Spider-Man #75, conclusively proving he was the clone all a long.
Ben Reilly “remembers” everything prior to Amazing Spider-Man #149 because Miles Warren’s cloning process also duplicates the memories of the DNA of the original.
