This afternoon, Marvel sent a message from its official Twitter account that Miles Morales will be getting his own Clone Saga story this Spring.
https://twitter.com/Marvel/status/1348729353677533186?s=20
Depending on when you were born and how long you’ve been reading Spider-Man, this likely caused one of three broadly general reactions:
- Gleeful squeals of nostalgia.
- Weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Severe confusion.
For those in Group 3, Mark Pelligrini and David Brooke have covered it extensively, but here’s a quick (and admittedly cynical rundown)
- During the 1990s, Marvel decided to
goose their sales numbersshake things up by declaring that the Peter Parker we’ve been reading about for the last 20 years was actually his own clone that he fought in a 1973 story by Gerry Conway. - The “real” Peter Parker somehow managed to survive and hide out for the next few years. He also took on the name Ben Reilly and became the Scarlet Spider.
- Convoluted shenanigans ensue.
- Marvel tried to have Ben become the permanent/official Spider-Man, but fans didn’t like it.
- In response, Marvel brought back Norman Osborne (the original Green Goblin) from the dead and proclaimed that Peter was the real Spider-Man all along, but his old nemesis had tricked him believing he was a clone.
There’s so much craziness I left out from that short recap that we don’t even have time to get into.
Marvel initially steered clear of even referencing the controversial storyline for a while, but it has since spawned a number of tales and characters in modern continuity — and some of them are actually really good. We also got a highly enjoyable Clone Conspiracy event a few years ago that touched on a lot of themes from the original saga.
But something about using an alternate universe Spider-Man who was finally starting to become an independently popular/beloved character only to mirror a storyline like this feels…weird.
Will I still read it, though? Absolutely.
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