Last week Marvel revealed to the world that they were rebooting the “Clone Saga” storyline but not with Peter Parker, but with having Miles Morales take on some clones of himself in a brand new storyline.
Writer Saladin Ahmed’s acclaimed run on MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN will hit a new highpoint this April with the CLONE SAGA, a new arc that promises to be Miles Morales’ most thrilling adventure yet. One of the most talked-about comic book storylines of the nineties, the mega-popular “Clone Saga” took over the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, shocking readers month after month. Now, this iconic saga will be—Miles Morales-style—beginning in a special oversized anniversary issue: MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #25.
After months of buildup, the Clone Saga will be the culmination of many of the ongoing story threads that have been haunting Miles since the very beginning of Ahmed’s run. Readers will finally see the full extent of the Assessor’s meddling as his clone creations run rampant through Brooklyn. Designed by superstar artist, Marvel Stormbreaker Carmen Carnero, prepare to meet three distinct Miles clones, each one destined to turn Miles’ Super Hero career upside down.
“When Peter Parker faced his own ‘Clone Saga’ years ago, he was taking part in what was already one of the most iconic traditions in comics—the hero battling a version of themselves. Since the very first issue of MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN, I’ve known that I wanted put Miles through that iconic wringer in his own distinctive way,” Ahmed says. “Miles’ CLONE SAGA is a story that has been months, even years, in the making. We’ve been planting its seeds throughout the series, from the horrors of being abducted by the Assessor to the confrontations and sacrifices of the Ultimatum epic. Moments from the past will come back to haunt Miles, and the events of the story will ensnare everyone from his baby sister to Peter Parker (who knows a thing or two about dealing with clones). The ramifications will be felt for years, and it all starts in April!… If you thought the first ‘Clone Saga’ was controversial, wait until you read what Saladin and Carmen do.” – Editor Nick Lowe.
Miles was kidnapped by the Assessor and held hostage for a few issues back in Mile Morales: Spider-Man #8 & #9. The bulk of the first issue saw Miles mostly strapped to tables, having tests run on him and (seemingly) fluids taken for further testing. He even ran through some hoops, fighting robots, testing his abilities, and even an escape attempt, which are all further tests to document his abilities. The second issue sees his rescue by his father and uncle, but perhaps raises an interesting question that this new storyline might address; Is the Miles that was rescued and then starred in the next 10 issues of the series even the original Miles? We know that clones of Miles were developed by The Assessor as Miles Morales: Spider-Man #19 saw Miles fight one of them, known as “Asset 42” and revealed to have been created at the behest of Ultimatum aka the evil Miles Morales as previously seen in Spider-Men. When Miles fights this clone, however, he punches him so hard that his entire body disintegrates into a mud-like-substance, though Miles alludes to it looking like something else. So what can we infer from all of this? There were seemingly at least 42 attempts at cloning Miles, and perhaps even more in the days after.
This is not the first time that Marvel or Spider-Man writers have tried their hands at the Clone Saga storyline. The original was done back in 1973, which ran through Amazing Spider-Man issues 139 and 150, which saw the return of Gwen Stacy from the dead after the events of Amazing Spider-Man 121 where she died at the hands of the Green Goblin, a scene played out many times in other Spider-Man related media. It was revealed through this storyline that a new Villain by the name of “The Jackel”, aka Professor Miles Warren, had perfected the cloning process and brought Gwen back as a test subject, thus leading to The Jackel trapping Spider-Man and making a clone of him. In the final issue of the story arc, a bomb explosion leaves only one Spider-Man standing, with the identity of the real Spider-Man left untold.
In 1996, the Clone Saga returned with the appearance of Ben Riley, known as the Scarlet Spider (who had a popular run of books of his own), who had been the Spider-Man thought to have been killed in the first storyline. Over this two-year run, this Clone Saga brought in the idea that Ben Riley might be the original Peter Parker, meaning everything we had seen from Issue 150 through to Issue 394 was done with a clone living under the name of Peter Parker. We then spend all of 150+ issues (Amazing Spider-Man Issue 394 through 418, plus issues from Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and many, many more Spider-Man and non-Spider-Man series) finding out the whole thing was a plot from The Jackel once again, this time teaming up with a rejected Spider-Man clone called Kaine. But the final twist comes from The Green Goblin, who was the mastermind of the whole thing from the very beginning as another plot to mess with Peter’s mind. Things end with Peter being the original all along and Ben being the clone. The Clone Saga is considered the second-worst Spider-Man storyline ever written due to its complex and headache-inducing writing and plot twists, with the only thing worse being the One More Day/Brand New Day storyline in 2008.
The last time Marvel decided to do the Clone Saga story was in Ultimate Spider-Man, the second volume in the Ultimate Universe Spider-Man series. Running from Ultimate Spider-Man Issue 97 through Issue 104 (2006) this more modern retelling of The Clone Saga was more based around modern DNA cloning ideas. The story saw The Scorpion be revealed as a clone of Spider-Man with him sharing 94.2% of Peter Parker’s DNA. As a result of this, we see the usual tropes of MJ being kidnapped, new clones being introduced (Tarantula and Kaine), and people returning from the dead (Gwen Stacy & Peter’s father Richard Parker), along with some interesting twists. The twist this time around were things like Ben Riley being a lab-assistant and not a clone, Doctor Octopus working with the CIA, Miles Warren just being there but ultimately doing nothing, Gwen Stacy turning into Carnage, and MJ getting injected with the OZ serum (the same OZ chemical that game Peter his powers through a spider-bite) and turning into Red DemoGoblin. This version of the storyline was still panned by a lot of critics, but has been accepted as the better version of events thanks to the great writing in the Ultimate Spider-Man series at the time.
The newest version of the Clone Saga, featuring Miles Morales as the lead/victim, shall begin with Miles Morales: Spider-Man Issue 25, in comic shops April 28, 2021.
