Admittedly they've got different leads, different creative teams, and different directions; but god forbid numbering continue, ever. From 2013,
Scarlet Spider #20, "Sibling Rivalry, part 2" Written by Christopher Yost and Erik Burnham, pencils by Pat Olliffe, Inhyuk Lee, Paco Medina; inks by Bit, Inhyuk Lee, and Juan Vlasco; and from 2018,
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #20, written by Peter David, art by André Lima Araújo. (Miscredited as Will Sliney!)
Our first
SS#20 features Kaine, back in New York City, with Spider-Man against the Jackal! Except also against Spider-Man, since Kaine doesn't know it's the Superior Spider-Man, with the brain of Otto Octavius. They're both chained up in the Jackal's new, and very high-end, lab; and when a Gwen Stacy clone pays attention to Kaine, Otto is snottier than Peter Parker could be on the worst day of his life. (My headcanon remains: Superior Spidey sounded like Pete doing a
Dexter's Laboratory accent.) Otto is also super-possessive of his new DNA, and doesn't want the Jackal to have any; so he's steaming that Jackal took samples while he was out. Kaine, on the other hand, is a disappointment--they can't all be Ben Reilly's, eh? But he manages to break his chains, then work one of Jackal's mutant-powered Spidey-clones to blast his 'friend' Peter loose.
While Kaine fights Carrion (and the monster in Kaine's head, figurative or literal, still defends him against Carrion's mental attack) Otto works the angles, to cause a massive hydrogen explosion. (Think the end of
Quantum of Solace, with the world's most explodiest hotel...) Jackal goes back into the fire to try and save "my DNA! My babies!" while Kaine tries to save the Gwen, who doesn't want to be saved. Otto's feeling pretty pleased with himself, before Kaine shows up, angry that 'Peter' isn't acting like a hero. Later, back in Houston, Kaine is
obviously drugged at the airport, but thinks it's one of "Houston's horse-sized mosquitoes." Still, later that night, he wakes up to find his scars have returned, and he may be degenerating again...!
Kaine does have some scars five years later, but they may be the least of his problems today: while Ben infiltrates an Air Force base in search of a scientist that had been working on a cure for Abigail Mercury (to save his soul, it was a whole thing) Kaine sees a Mindless One in Vegas, accidentally brought there in an earlier issue. He saves a young child from it, only to catch a kick to the crotch, then the Mindless One takes the kid again, having apparently bonded with him! And a ton of cops have now shown up to make things worse. Meanwhile, Ben finds the scientist he had been messaging, only to find out he had really been talking to his assistant, Karl. Karl? Oh, you may know him better as Sauron!
If it had any kind of Legacy numbering,
Scarlet Spider would've been in the fifties; but of course comics aren't numbered like that anymore. And I think both Scarlets have shown up here and there since, even as recently as, well,
now. A couple questions: had Ben fought Sauron before? I think both he and Kaine were often called 'Spider-Man' by bad guys, bystanders, whoever; and rarely bothered to correct anybody. Which sounds like a problem for Peter: "I swore I'd get even for what you did to me in Houston, Spider-Man! And Vegas, you bastard! How could you?" "...what?" And does Otto have a specific beef with clones? Did one sleep with his wife or something, he seems a little touchy about them.
3 comments:
Methinks Otto is projecting here and is trying to deny his feelings of feeling inferior to Peter. Just a thought. Of course he could also never have really understood the Jackal's obsession with Gwen & his cloning as well & looked down on his for such.
Thankfully unlike Kaine, I never had to have a kid kick my in the dick to persuade to never have kids. My nephew is pretty good birth control as it is, haha.
Pretty sure it's the first Secret Wars, where somebody needs medical attention, and Otto's like "I'm not the kind of doctor that helps you. At all." He just looks down on everybody. Even somebody like Reed or Doom, Otto would be "they're fairly intelligent. I guess."
Probably yeah, although I'd like to legit hear his uncensored thoughts on Doom. Reed we already know or can guess how he'd go on about Reed wasting his intelligence and gadgets on saving the world or only using half-measures, something like that. But Doom? Lord I so want to hear an Otto diss track on Doom.
"Pathetic scarred man with a mommy complex for days,
He burned his own up like he smoking purple haze.
He keeps his country locked up they don't even get to play Twitch,
For all that vaunted intelligence he's still Reed Richard's bitch!"
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