Peter Parker has dealt with villains who know his secret identity, steal his powers, and try to take his place. The Clone Saga made that last threat literal. For a stretch of the comics, Peter had to confront the possibility that the life he remembered belonged to someone else.
The story also gave two of his clones lives well beyond that mystery. Ben Reilly became the Scarlet Spider, while Kaine Parker took a far rougher path toward finding his own identity. Their relationship could now become the center of Sony’s next television project set in Spider-Man’s corner of the Marvel universe.
Prime Video is nearing a series order for a show inspired by the Clone Saga, with Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker at its center, according to new reports. American Born Chinese creator Kelvin Yu is writing the project, which would follow the recently canceled Spider-Noir under Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television’s deal for Marvel character shows.
What Could a ‘Spider-Man’ Clone Saga Series Look Like?
The reports indicate that the project draws more specifically from the second Clone Saga, which focuses on Ben and Kaine. In the comics, Ben is a clone of Peter Parker who establishes his own identity as the Scarlet Spider. Kaine is an earlier, flawed clone whose existence makes the question of which Spider-Man is “real” even more complicated. Exactly how much of that history will survive the adaptation is unclear. Reportedly, one version of the proposed story follows Ben and Kaine as they discover they are clones and encounter others like them, while other sources suggest the show could change their origins and give them different identities, so even readers who know the comics should not assume they know where the series is headed.
That uncertainty matters especially after Spider-Noir. Nic Cage played a character named Ben Reilly in that series, though the comics’ Spider-Man Noir is an alternate Peter Parker. There is no indication that Cage’s version of Ben would be connected to the clone at the center of this new project, especially given that Spider-Noir was canceled after one season. Regardless, the Clone Saga has no shortage of material for a show to explore. Its most notorious twist briefly established Ben as the original Spider-Man and Peter as the clone, before Marvel reversed the revelation. A television adaptation could use that uncertainty to examine what Ben and Kaine want for themselves once they learn how they were made, whether it follows the comics’ biggest reversal.
Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller are expected to executive produce alongside Yu. For now, there is no announced cast, production date, or release window.
via Collider