The Other

Spider-Verse continues from Spider-Verse Team-Up #2…

The three spider-clones have attempted ot infiltrate Jennix’s cloning facility located within the Baxter Building. Disguised as Iron Man, Ben Reilly tries to slip past security with Kaine as his “prisoner”. Unfortunately, they are stopped by this world’s version of the Human Torch, one of Jennix’s loyal guards. He can hardly believe that a version of Peter Parker has been brought to the Baxter Building without him knowing about it.

Ben tries his best to continue the act, but when it becomes clear they aren’t getting anywhere, Kaine snaps his handcuffs and activates the steal function on his costume. As Johnny Storm starts to flame on, the Scarlet Spider kicks him in the face. When the Torch rights himself, Ben punches him in his face - his fist protected in the Iron Man armor he has commandeered. They eventually knock the Torch out and Kaine tells Ben to ditch the armor since Jennix has probably installed failsafe systems inside that he could use against them. When more guards show up they quickly take them down and decide to crawl up an elevator shaft now that their cover has been blown. They check in with the Black Widow who has hacked into the security and determined that the guards have stopped searching for her to find them.

Jessica is able to tell them how to get to the cloning center but that’s the best she can do since they are starting to shut her out of the security system. Both Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider find another clone of Max Modell and force him to hand over the security code for the elevators. They are taken down to the cloning facility where there are thousands of cloned bodies for each Inheritor. Given the scale of the facility, the Scarlet Spider figures they’ll have to destroy the whole building, but Spider-Man insists that they do it without taking any human lives in the process.

By this time, a clone of Miles Warren reports to Jennix and tells him that someone has infiltrated their building, but they can’t isolate who it is because they are either invisible or too fast. Jennix finds this news amusing and tells Warren that he has family business to attend to and is confident that security will deal with the intruders.

By this time, the spiders have decided the best way to deal with the Inheritor clones is to shut off the power to the cloning lab so they all expire. The Black Widow determines where the power source is so Ben and Kaine can deactivate it. Using his suit’s stealth capabilities, Kaine takes down all of the guards and security systems. However, he sees something interesting and doubles back to get Ben and their prisoner. In a locked room they find a bunch of cloning vats that contain hideous spider-like humanoids. Max Modell has only heard rumors of this part of the facility and only knows that it is Jennix’s biggest failure. Having an idea of what they are looking at, Kaine smashes one of the receptacles in anger while Ben begins to feel sick to his stomach.

That’s when a holographic projection of Jennix appears before them and he confirms what they have already feared. He has been trying to find a way to clone spider-totems in order to give the Inheritors an unlimited food supply. Unfortunately, he can clone their mind and bodies but not the essence that Jennix and his family feed upon. He is pleased to have two successful clones in his presence that can reveal what he has been missing. Kaine calls Jennix a coward and to come out and face him. The Inheritor obliges and enters the room. After snapping the next of Max Modell, he looks forward to what happens next as he will find it very interesting.

… Spider-Verse continues in Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #2.

Recurring Characters

Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Jennix, Human Torch

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: Deadwood, John from Cincinnati