Kaine

Origin

The man that would come to be known as Kaine was the clone created by Professor Miles Warren, the Jackal, in his plot for revenge against Peter Parker for his role in the death of Gwen Stacy. Kaine initially appeared to be perfect but a short while later his body began to break down. No longer a use to Warren, the scientist used him as a test body (in the process augmenting Kaine’s already formidable powers) until he was finally discarded. A side effect of the treatment caused Kaine to become mentally unstable.

Creation

Kaine was created by Terry Kavanagh and Steven Butler and first appeared in Web of Spider-Man issue 119 (1994).

Major Story Arcs

The Clone Saga

After his first failure the Jackal created another clone and sent it against Spider-Man, but both were beaten and assumed dead. After the Jackal’s defeat at the hands of Spider-Man, Norman Osborn (Green Goblin) switched Peter and Ben’s files, making it look as if Peter was the clone. Kaine, who broke into the Jackal’s lab and look those files, was led to believe the same thing, and followed Ben Reilly, aka the Scarlet Spider. Believing Ben was the real Peter Parker, he was determined to keep Ben away from New York so that his “clone brother” could live the life he was denied by the degeneration factor. While tracking Ben Reilly Kaine fell in love with a Salt Lake City police detective, Louise Kennedy, but Kaine discovered that she was corrupt and had lied to him. This fact, coupled with his genetic deterioration, drove him insane and he killed Louise. Determined to make Reilly suffer he stalked Ben where ever he went. He then made it appear that the girl Ben loved, Janine Godbe, had committed suicide.

When Ben returned to New York upon learning of May Parker‘s illness and took up super heroics Kaine read about his exploits. He left his “Mark of Kaine” on a mobster, a mark that contained Parker Prints, and made his way to New York, determined to keep Reilly from interfering in Peter’s life. Upon his own return to New York Kaine began eliminating many of Peter’s rogue’s gallery. He killed Doctor Octopus, and the Grim Hunter in short order. He attempted to kill members of the Sinister Seven but failed due to the intervention of Peter Parker (dressed in Ben’s Scarlet Spider costume). This was largely due to the fact Kaine was having precognitive flashes of Mary Jane Parker dying at the hands of some unknown assailant. Peter was eventually imprisoned for Kaine’s murders (as they shared the same fingerprints) but Ben took his place. Peter attempted to make Kaine take responsibility for his crimes, which led to a fight. In the end, they both took part in a mock trial with Spider-Man on trial, Kaine as his defense attorney, Carnage as the prosecutor, several Ravencroft inmates as a jury, and Judas Traveller as the judge. Kaine attempted to fight off all those against Spider-Man, and Judas returned them to their previous battle.

Kaine fought with Stunner, who was avenging Dr. Octopus death, and after being severely weakened, he was knocked out by Spider-Man, who tied him up and brought him to the courthouse. Kaine woke before they arrived, and unveiled who he was and that he had done all this for Peter’s sake. Peter threatened to reveal himself as Spider-Man to the courtroom and end everything unless Kaine confessed. Kaine gave in and told everything, including “The Mark of Kaine.”

Peter, after learning that he was (supposedly) the clone, went to join the Jackal. Kaine refused to let Peter throw his life away and confronted the Jackal, prepared to kill him. The Jackal tricked Kaine into believing that he would be cured of his degeneration, and upon learning the truth, Kaine left, feeling dejected. He went to Mary Jane for answers, and after she taught him about responsibility, he left to help Ben as he fought many Spider-clones. In the ensuing battle, Spidercide impaled Kaine, killing him. Strangely, the Jackal put Kaine into a regeneration pod, and it was later found empty.

When many of the strongest fighters were pitted against each other in The Great Games, a man named James Johnsmeyer found Kaine’s pod and decided to enter him in the games. Kaine refused, and with the help of a temporary partner, Shannon, he escaped. Johnsmeyer sent Rhino, Joystick, and Polestar to force Kaine into the Games. Ben Reilly in his stint as Spider-Man intervened, and began fighting Polestar and Joystick as Kaine nearly killed the Rhino. Ben stopped him, and Kaine escaped with Shannon. Ben got a tracer on Shannon before they escaped. He found the two just before the police, and Kaine was escaped by threatening one of the officers. This time, Kaine and Shannon went to Johnsmeyer headquarters. Ben found them again, and Kaine destroyed all of Johnsmeyer’s security equipment. Johnsmeyer revealed that Shannon had been working for him all along and had manipulated Kaine the entire time. Kaine attempted to kill Shannon, but Ben convinced him to spare Shannon. Kaine left, vowing that he would take down everyone who supported the games.

Later, Kaine encountered Ben and Janine Godbe who had recently returned to Ben. Kaine saved Ben after initially leaving him to die in a burning restaurant. Kaine finally acknowledging Ben as a brother, instead of an enemy. Kaine turned himself in to the police, and Janine (who was wanted for the murder of her abusive father) followed suit.

Dark Reign

We are caught up on Kaine’s status. His imperfect clone DNA is killing him and he is being hospitalized. Possibly due to the pain Kaine is “visited” by Ben Reilly, the Jackal and other people from his past, the mirages he talks to help comfort and motivate him. These visions insinuate he is not imperfect and suffering from cellular deterioration but he is actually changing somehow and not dying as he thought. He is eventually awoken from some sort of lab table and is then escorted back to his cell in Hammer prison. While in his cell he thinks about his inevitable escape and he is only waiting for the perfect timing.

Kaine later escaped from prison to fight Norman Osborn, who he learned was alive and had been the mastermind behind the Clone Saga. Later, a soldier for Osborn said that Kaine had been “dealt with,” without elaboration. Kaine was later listed as an enemy combatant to the Fifty States Initiative.

Who Was Ben Reilly?

Kaine has returned to his brother/father’s life, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. While Spider-Man followed a Spider tracer he had place on Damon Ryder aka Raptor, Spider-Man swings to a building that is under construction. Spider-Man is disappointed to find no sign of Ryder but he is shocked to see who is waiting for him in the shadows… Kaine.

Then we are caught up in the history between Damon Ryder and Ben Reilly we see Kaine lurking in the shadows a few times while Damon and Ben’s friendship unravels and Damon begins changing due to the dinosaur DNA inside of him. Could Kaine possibly be to blame for the slaying of the Ryder family and the birth of Raptor?

In the present Spider-Man and Kaine begin fighting for no reason. Spider-Man comically questions Kaine’s return and intentions which only makes Kaine angrier. Kaine reveals he needs Damon Ryder (and possibly Ben Reilly) to help stop his cellular deterioration. The battle does not quite end but is delayed when Kaine throws a taxi (filled with people) into the air which Spider-Man, of course, catches and saves but while Spider-Man saves the taxi Kaine sneaks away. An interesting thing was said during Kaine’s and Spider-Man’s in-fight banter; while mentioning Kaine’s violent past he believe Peter has the same tendencies because he (Peter) is him (Kaine) but Peter rebuked by saying he has it backwards.

The Grim Hunt

Later Kaine was hunted by Ana Kravinoff and Alyosha Kravinoff , they manage to hurt him quite severely, and he runs to Peter Parker’s current apartment, with a warning: “the spiders are being hunted”. While Peter is fighting the Kravinoff family Kaine recovers and cleans himself up, to resemble Peter a bit more. He then joins Peter’s fight with the Kravinoffs, but when the Spiders are losing, Kaine pushes peter into an open grave and buries him, while he takes his outfit and reenters the fight as Spider-Man. He is then killed by Sasha and sacrificed to resurrect Kraven the Hunter. After the events of the Grim Hunt, Kraven and her daughter (after killing the family members) flew to the Savage Land. Because Spider-Man didn’t kill Kraven that the rule must not be broken so as one lives than the other “prey” must live and with this Kaine was brought back to life and called him “Tarantula”.

Spider-Island

Kaine has since been captured by Jackal and mutated into a humanoid spider. Jackal kept his name of Tarantula. Given that he was in a spider-humanoid form, he was susceptible to manipulation and easily controlled by the Queen. He follows the orders until the Queen ordered Kaine to destroy the cure for Spider-Island. There he tussles with Spider-Man and when Peter regained his spider-sense, Kaine was tossed into the vat containing the cure. Upon Peter pulling him out of the vat, Kaine notices that he is cured of his monstrous spider look, his scars that had plagued him since cloning, and the Queen’s hold over him is now also gone. As Max Modell and the rest of the scientists are about to come into the lab, Pete gives Kaine his Spider-Man costume to put on. After not being found out, Pete leads Kaine back to his private lab where Kaine ultimately calls dibs on the Stealth suit. Using Peter’s stealth suit, Kaine joins the various other heroes in their final assault against the Queen. Knowing that Peter Parker would never deliver the needed blow, Kaine uses his spider stingers to kill the Queen. Shortly after the defeat of the Queen, Madame Web tells Kaine that his future was his own and that he needed to start finding his own path again. Kaine watches from afar as Aunt May finally left New York. He has a brother moment with Pete and then says goodbye. Taking the stealth suit with him, Kaine departs in hopes to spend the rest of his life in Mexico’s many beaches

Point One

Its been four days since Kaine left New York. He arrives in Charlotte, North Carolina in order to switch buses to Houston. He spends the last of his cash on the bus ride. Kaine dreams of a new life as he blends into the crowd while walking to the bus. As he thinks about the last time he laughed, an explosion goes off in the distance. There is a bank robbery in progress by men wearing masks of the many different Avengers. He notices a squad car tearing down the street. He wonders if they will be able to handle the situation or if people will get hurt instead. He decides to let them deal with it and gets on the bus. He tells himself that people die every minute of every day. He finds a seat on the bus and sets down his duffel bag. It is slightly open and a new spider costume rests inside it. He tells himself that he is a failed experiment, an imperfect clone, and that ever since his “birth” he has been dying. But now for the first time in his life, he isn’t dying. He realizes that he has a second chance at life.Kaine can feel a voice gnawing at him. Peter Parker judging him. He decides all that he wants is life and to experience it. With that thought he swings out of the emergency exit of the bus toward the action. The cops have the bank’s perimeter secured and are negotiating with the robbers inside who have hostages. Kaine sneaks in and takes out one of the men. The others spin around to shoot at him with their Uzis. As he fights them, he thinks of himself as the monster. Its all he’s ever known. Pain, fear, violence that was his life. He begins to think that this time things can be different. He takes out everyone except for the leader. Kaine approaches him slowly. He knows that killing him would be the most natural thing to do, but what if things could be different? Cops burst into the room only to find the robbers webbed to the ceiling.

Kaine walks down the highway knowing that he was a monster and that he did bad things. He wonders, now that he’s not dying if he could truly live. He stops to feel the rain on his face. Then, he continues on knowing that he isn’t Peter Parker, but he just might have his luck.

Life After Death

Kaine has been in Houston for a few weeks when he overhears a man talking about some kind of deal involving a lot of money going down at the docks. Kaine follows the man to where the deal is going down and proceeds to beat all the men there. He picks up the bag of money and turns to leave. Before he can he catches a strange scent. Ripping open one of the containers he finds a lot of dead bodies and realizes that the men must have been dealing in human trafficking. Spying one girl still alive he rushes her to the Hospital where he is mistaken for the bad guy and quickly leaves before he hurts someone. Kaine then hitches a ride to downtown Houston where he used the money he stole to pay for the room and reminisces about his past. Deciding he needs a fresh start he shaves his beard and hair before going out web-swinging (without his costume). Back at the docks the police are investigating the crime scene when they are attacked by a man called Salamander. Meanwhile Kaine is still swinging round Houston and saves an old woman from getting crushed by a car. He soon leaves when he realizes he has unintentionally hurt the driver of the car. The girl whose name is revealed to be Aracely is attacked at the hospital by Salamander and Kaine is seen leaving Houston.

As a taxi is driving him away from Houston an explosion comes from the hospital where Aracely is being treated. At first he debates whether he should get involved but the incident reminds him of how he got a second chance at life and how someone was trying to take that away from her. Kaine to steals the cab and goes back to help. After beating Salamander unconscious he decides to let him live.

That evening he returns to check on Aracely and asks if she is alright. She replies in Spanish which Kaine doesn’t understand. At that moment The doctor he’d seen earlier enters with a police officer. At first Kaine thinks they might try and arrest him, quickly saying that he doesn’t want any trouble but the doctor and the police officer both agree that Houston needs a hero and Kaine might be it. Kaine replies saying he is leaving and that he just wanted to make sure that the girl was ok. To which the doctor responds that medically she is fine but that she is in the country illegally and will most likely be deported and that over in Mexico they wouldn’t be able to protect her from the people who sent Salamander. The police officer states that Kaine as a vigilante could do something about it. Kaine leaves, jumping out the window telling them to forget it. The doctor returns to check on the girl later that evening to find she is gone. It is revealed that Kaine has had a change of heart, taking her from the hospital and hiding her in his hotel room.

Having saved Aracely from the fire Kaine allows Doctor Meland to come to his hotel room to treat her. The Doctor then heads back to the hospital for supplies where a sniper attempts to kill him but is saved by the Scarlet Spider. After a brief fight with the assassin, who reveals he is working for an organization known as the Assassins Guild and that a hit was placed on the doctor’s head. During their fight Kaine is forced to unmask and the assassin recognizes him before escaping. Upon returning to the Doctor, Kaine explains that now the Assassins would be coming for both of them as he has a past with the Guild. Kaine is able to stave off the assassins in a brutal fight. Having killed or disarmed the assassins he contacts the guild’s leader Bella Donna and in exchange for his life and the doctor’s, Kaine would do one job on any target for the guild.

After a bomb scare in Houston the Scarlet Spider is forced to track down the device and successfully disarms it before it explodes.

During a concert Kaine is attacked by Ana Kravinoff. Kaine beats her before being forced to flee as the concert hall collapses. Meanwhile someone frees Salamander telling him to return to Mexico and that the Wolves will deal with the Spider. Ana is then seen with her father Kraven explaining that Kaine has now grown soft as he didn’t kill her. When she asks her father if he is going to kill her he simply replies not yet as they have more hunting to do. Julia Carpenter is also seen having a vision that “she” is coming for Kaine.

The Second Master

After witnessing an attack on Roxxon, Kaine ends up having a one-night stand with a woman he saves from the explosion. He leaves very quickly the next morning when he realizes that the woman was actually the one responsible for the attack. After some deliberation, Kaine decides to look into the attack. With the help of Officer Layton, Kaine breaks into Roxxon and makes his way to the C.E.O of Roxxon David Walsh and confronts him on why he covered up the attack and the explosion of one of his oil rigs in Glaveston. Walsh informs Kaine that he covered up the attack as the woman who attacked the building was in fact his daughter and tells the Scarlet Spider to leave just as the Rangers show up.

Kaine fights off the Rangers and escapes taking Zoe with him. Although skeptical to believe anything she tells him, Kaine agrees to break into Roxxon so Zoe can show him the “evil” that is going on there. Tearing through Roxxon attracts the attention of the Rangers yet again. As they fight, the floor is destroyed to reveal an underground lab where Roxxon has been keep a creature called Mammon.

Kaine and the Rangers attempt to beat Mammon to no avail until the Scarlet Spider realizes what was keeping Mammon trapped in the first place was the oil. So he lures the creature into an oil tank and traps it there. After the events the Scarlet Spider blatantly refuses to join the Rangers and Zoe is seen in the hospital with her father who was injured during the fight, vowing to find Kaine and make him pay for hurting him.

Minimum Carnage

During one of his patrols through the city, Kaine stops to help people out of a burning building. Upon entering he finds many dead bodies all of which were killed by someone “who enjoyed it”. The Scarlet Spider finds one man still alive who for some reason is visibly terrified of Kaine. At the hospital, Dr. Meland finds out that the man’s name is Ryan Ketola and that he was attacked by a monster that looked like the Scarlet Spider, the same monster who killed the people in that building. He tells them that the creature was after his wife not him so Kaine sets out to find her before the monster does. The monster is later revealed to be Carnage. Kaine arrives just as Carnage is about to attack Dr. Ketola and the two have a brief fight in which Carnage escapes by teleporting himself and his accomplices away taking the doctor and a reporter with him leaving Kaine seething in anger just as Agent Venom, who has also been tracking Carnage, arrives on the scene.

After a brief confrontation with Venom due to Flash temporarily losing control over the symbiote (which was most likely due to Kaine’s connection to Peter) it is revealed that Carnage has been teleported to the Micro-verse. Venom attempts to convince Kaine to help track Carnage down but he declines as Carnage should no longer be a problem now that he is in the Micro-verse. After reconsidering Flash’s words however the Scarlet Spider returns and he and Venom both use the same teleporter Carnage took to enter the Micro-verse. When Kaine regains consciousness he finds that he has been separated from Venom during the journey and a mysterious man dressed in green is standing over him not mention a very angry giant scorpion-like creature about to attack. The Scarlet Spider defeats the creature and the stranger reveals his name to be the Redeemer he the proceeds to heal Kaine of his injuries. As they explore the Micro-verse the Redeemer reveals a bit more about who he is. That he opened himself to the Enigma force and that he plans to heal Marquis Radu to prevent more war in the Micro-verse. They are both taken by surprise by Carnage. Who proceeds to attack the Scarlet Spider.

Kaine and Carnage engage in another brutal fight which ends abruptly as Kaine is forced to save Redeemer from falling. He succeeds in saving Redeemer who then reveals that he is the embodiment of the Enigma force and that symbiotes are a “cancer” that is going to kill him. He also tells Kaine that if he dies the Enigma force dies with him taking both the Micro-verse and the Scarlet Spider’s Universe with it. Kaine catches up with Venom and helps him fight off Carnage and an army of symbiotes created by Radu. They succeed and Carnage disappears. The Redeemer says that he can no longer sense him and it is revealed that Carnage is now back in the normal universe however due to being shrunk down when entering the Micro-verse he has come back tiny and has split into multiple copies of himself. The tiny army of Carnages start massacring people around Houston before reforming into a normal sized Carnage. The Redeemer manages to send Venom, Scarlet Spider and the reporter back to their own universe. However like Carnage they arrive back tiny and Kaine and Venom are force to fight a now giant looking Carnage until eventually the effect wares off and Venom and Scarlet Spider are able to fight Carnage in their normal bodies. After a long fight Venom manages to take out Carnage with a sonic grenade. Seeing Cletus for the monster he is Kaine uses his stinger to lobotomize Carnage much to Venom’s horror. The Scarlet Spider then leaves, leaving Venom to get Carnage under lock and key.

The Man In The Presidential Suite

After the events of Minimum Carnage, Kaine takes the deaths of the people there quite personally, gets drunk, gets into an argument with Aracely, Meland and Layton before attempting to leave Houston but passes out from the alcohol. Meanwhile the Hotel he is staying at is being robbed by multiple gunmen. Aracely and Layton attempt to subdue some of them and Aracely demonstrates some form of telepathy in the process while Meland frantically attempts to revive Kaine with coffee. As he wakes up Kaine opens up to Meland about his past just as Annabelle with one of the robbers holding her at gunpoint enters the room. Now fully awake Kaine proceeds to beat down the gunmen. A little later a letter addressed to K. Parker from Julia Carpenter is seen arriving at the Hotel.

The Mark

After a young girl is found dead with a hand print burned into her face in much the same way Kaine used to mark his victims the Scarlet Spider sets his sights on local gangs to try and discover who killed her and who is trafficking people. His search leads him to the Hand and after a brief fight with the man copying his mark and Bruiser a man who says that he is a messenger from the Kingpin explains that Fisk plans to see to things in Houston personally and that he has no quarrel with Scarlet Spider as long as he stays out of his way. Bruiser then kills the man who marked the girl and leaves. Leaving a very confused Scarlet Spider trying to understand the situation. The Scarlet Spider is next seen at the girl’s funeral vowing to use his powers to hunt down monsters like his old self. Meanwhile at the Texas/Mexico border a pair of wolves approach a car but seem to transform into humans before reaching it. One of them asks the guards there to take them to Houston.

In the Midst of Wolves

Kaine continues his effort to eliminate human trafficking in Houston.Suddenly Aracely remembers something about her past in a dream.When Kaine and Aracely go out for a walk.She explains her past to Kaine and then suddenly they are confronted by the Werewolves Carlos Lobo and Esmerelda Lobo.Kaine and Aracely quickly flee from them.Suddenly Aracely starts howl just like the Bruiser.Kaine takes on the werewolves but was no match for them and they start devouring his flesh.

Kaine having been killed by the two werewolves reawakens in a church and encounters a priest who tells him to confess his sins. After the priest begins to shapeshift (becoming Ben Reilly, Louise Kennedy and the Jackal) Kaine realizes that something is wrong. After threatening him the priest reveals himself to be the “Other”. The same entity that gave Peter Parker his extra powers in “Spider-Man: The Other” and the one who resurrected Kaine after his death in “Grim Hunt”. The Scarlet Spider initially reacts violently to the creature saying that he if he’s dead he wishes to stay dead. Just as he is about to kill the other he remembers Aracely is still being hunted by the wolves so agrees to let the “Other” bring him back with new abilities.

After his resurrection a now transformed Kaine hunts down Carlos and Esmeralda and brutally beats them before they can hurt Aracely ripping out Carlos’s eye and tearing his arm off in the process. After Esmeralda takes her brother and flees Aracely attempts to approach Kaine to which he acts violently before regaining control of himself and changes back to normal. After the incident Kaine makes peace with the fact that he is a monster. A man is then seen approaching a bed ridden Carlos and tells his sister that as they failed he will send in his own team to kill the girl and the Spider.

A Good Ol’ Fashioned Rodeo

During a rodeo, that Kaine begrudgingly attends, Armadillo attacks the arena forcing Kaine to act. During the fight he realized that the creature is just trying to reach its loved one. The Scarlet Spider attempts to reason with it by saying that if the creature loves her he’ll let her go as monsters will only get people hurt,no doubt mirroring his own dilemma with Annabelle. However, when the creature’s girlfriend doesn’t care that her boyfriend is now a monster, Kaine realizes that he may have been a bit to narrow minded and quickly goes off to find Annabelle and knocks out her ex-boyfriend before kissing her. After this the letter sent by Madame Webb warning him that “she” is coming back and that he should run is seen in Annabelle’s hands. She then proceeds to burn the letter before Kaine can see it.

Wrath

The Assassins Guild calls in its favor and sends Kaine to kill Wolverine. With the help of Aracely he launches an attack on the “Jean Grey School” during the fight Aracely successfully incapacitates most of the telepaths and Kitty Pryde allowing Kaine to go after Wolverine. The Scarlet Spider and Wolverine engage in a brutal fight that ends with him slicing Wolverine’s heart in two pieces. Before turning to the remaining X-Men, demanding “Who’s next?”

Wolverine recovers with the aid of Beast as it was all a ploy to fool the Guild. Aracely telepathically told Jean to tell Logan to play along. After recovering Wolverine gets his shots on Kaine who felt he deserved it. Kaine teams up with Logan and they invade the Assassin’s Guild. Soon, Harvester, Smithy, Flower and eventually Bella Donna herself appears to try and kill the duo. Bella Donna states they must die to prevent Candra from being summoned. They resist, however, and the Red Death is summoned. Kaine manages to turn most of the Assassins’ Guild against Candra to prevent her from taking over the guild; Bella Donna is the only one to refuse. Even so Wolverine and Kaine manage to defeat and kill Candra. And before Bella Donna attacks again, the Arranger enters and reveals that guild is now owned by Fisk. With this revelation, Wolverine and Kaine are free to go and they head back to the mansion to get Aracely.

Sibling Rivalry

Kaine returns to new York to check on Spider-man (Currently Superior Spider-man) to make sure everything is ok having seen Peter’s new found fondness for violence in the media. When he confronts him about it Superior attacks him in a fit of rage due to the fact Kaine killed Otto back in the Clone Saga. The two fight until they are interrupted by the Jackal and a group of his newly created clones. The two Spider-men are subdued and captured by the Jackal and taken to his lair.

Upon awakening the Scarlet Spider is able to break free due to the fact the constraints were designed to hold Spider-man and due to the Other Kaine is physically stronger. He frees Superior and the two attack the Jackal and his clones. Spider-man then blows up the lair preventing the Jackal from keeping his newly harvested DNA and to Kaine’s horror kills the other clones in the process. Kaine berates Spider-man for his actions and tells him to act like a hero to which Superior responds that he isn’t done with Kaine yet.

Whilst Kaine is disappointed and saddened by Spider-Man’s behavior, he is unable to tell that Otto has taken over Peter’s body, and returns to Houston. In the airport, he is stung by what he believes to be a mosquito, and awakens the next day to find the cellular degeneration that was killing him has returned.

Into The Grave

Kaine begins to panic, wearing his Scarlet Spider costume and telling Aracely to stay away from him, whilst she insists he tell her what’s wrong. Throughout their conversation, Kaine covers his face with his arms, and when Aracely tries to use her powers to enter his mind she is immediately chased out by ‘the Other’.

Kaine eventually throws a couch through the window and leaps out, web-slinging away. Whilst swinging, he falls to the street below where he’s confronted by the original Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly. As Ben and Kaine fight, Ben states that he had faked his death and was living a quiet life until news of Kaine using his persona reached him and he was spurred to confront him. Ben tells Kaine that he can never be a hero or have a decent life due to the horrible things he’s done, including capturing and torturing Ben in the past. The two battle on a rooftop with Kaine unmasking Ben, believing him to be an imposter. However this theory is disproved when Kaine finds Ben’s face under the mask. Suddenly, The Jackal and Superior Spider-Man appear on the rooftop where the two Scarlet Spiders are fighting and urge Kaine to kill Ben. It’s at this point Kaine realizes that he is hallucinating, having been poisoned earlier. Ben then states that Peter would have realized the deception sooner, stating that Kaine was struck by a blow-dart in the airport and not bitten by a mosquito as he had thought. The drugs caused his erratic behavior and led to him hallucinating the scars on his face.

As the effects of the drug wear off, ‘Ben’ is revealed to be Kraven the Hunter, who tells Kaine that the two have “unfinished business”. Kaine awakens after having be drugged in a pit to discover Kraven has taken him to the local Zoo killing the guards and setting loose the animals to attack him. He fights his way through the Zoo until he encounters Ana who engages him. During the fight she tells Kaine that they have killed Dr. Meland, Officer Wally, Aracely and Anabelle driving the Scarlet Spider into a blood-lusted state and viciously beats down Ana. Before he can kill her he realizes that she was lying in order to provoke him. Using Ana to guide him to Kraven the two prepare to engage while Dr. Meland, Wally, Aracely and Anabelle watch helplessly. Refusing to fight at first, Kraven relentlessly bashes on Kaine, begging for him to kill him for a warrior’s end. Still holding back, Kraven orders Ana to kill all of his friends. Unable to stop her, Dr.Meland is slashed in the stomach. This provokes Kaine to finally end the battle, and drops Kraven with one hit. He helps his friends before reviving Kraven once again, assuring he doesn’t go down a a violent path. However, Meland’s husband is enraged that he is injured, and after rushing him to the hospital, finds out Kaine’s true identity.

Hands Covered In Blood

Wracked with guilt about Donald’s injuries Kaine attempts to burn his suit and give up being the Scarlet Spider. Upon returning to his suit he is met by Annabelle and the two sleep together. Later officer Layton having discovered the truth about who Kaine was and grief stricken about his dying husband breaks into the apartment and attempts to arrest Kaine. Zoe returning for revenge for her father’s coma gets in the same lift as Annabelle who is returning to speak with Kaine despite the fact someone who looks exactly like her is already there. It is revealed that the Annabelle who slept with Kaine was in fact Shathra in disguise but before anyone can react Zoe fires an RPG into the suites. After a savage battle with Shathra, Kaine is able to defeat her but has to resort to transforming into the Other in order to do so. Causing his friends including Annabelle to recoil from him. Kaine realizes he has to stop pretending to be a hero, and leaves Houston with Aracely. Living off of money stolen from criminals, they head to Mexico to discover Aracely’s origin.

New Warriors

While in Mexico, Kaine and Aracely see a number of Atlanteans washed up dead. They are confronted by the surviving Water Snake, who warns them of the Evolutionaries. They target those that threaten the evolutionary strength of humans, including Kaine for being a clone. The trio is captured and brought to the High Evolutionary, who is trying to purify the human race of evolutionary aberrations in advance of the Celestials return. They are rescued by a makeshift roster of New Warriors, but when the High Evolutionary and the Evolutionary retreat, Kaine and the others stick together just in case they come back.

Kaine and his new team clear Wundagore Mountain and keep it as their new headquarters. They use its built-in teleporter to move around the country, fighting villains here and there. Sick of waiting for the High Evolutionary to reveal himself, they figure out how to use his old tech to track his current tech. They ambush him and stop him from taking out the aberrations. Just then, High Evolutionary’s vision came true, but instead of the Celestials returning, it was the Eternals.

Kaine was the first to jump into the fray against the Eternals and ended up taking the brunt of their abuse. Eventually, all his teammates were defeated, and the Eternals locked them in the High Evolutionary’s gene bomb to power it. Except for Justice, who Makkari had ran out to the middle of nowhere as the most powerful member. Justice rushed back as fast as he could and unleashed the full force of his telekinesis to free Kaine and the others and run off the Eternals, many of whom were already losing faith in the High Evolutionary’s tactics.

Spider-Verse

Kaine is among the many Spider-Totems targeted by the Inheritors as a result Daemos comes to the 616-verse to hunt Kaine down. The New Warriors are defeated by him but Kaine is saved by a group of the Spider-Resistance fighting the Inheritors. He later joins forces with Ben Reilly and Ultimate Jessica Drew to find a way to stop the Inheritors being able to clone themselves. It has been noted that Kaine is one of the three main totems the Inheritors are searching for.

After Reilly’s death Kaine becomes enraged and travels to the Loomworld where he shifts with the “Other” and confronts Morlun, Daemos and Solus. After a brief fight Kaine kills Solus but is seemingly killed by Morlun and Daemos in revenge for their father’s death. In the aftermath of the battle everyone mourns the lose of Kaine saying he deserved better to go out the way he did. As Karn sends the the rest of the Spider back to there home worlds, Spider-UK, and Anya stay behind with him unaware that Kaine is still alive breaking free of the Others corpse.

Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy

Kaine was recruited to keep an eye on a Gwen Stacy clone. She was kidnapped and replaced by Spider-Gwen, so that Gwen could keep an eye on the new cloning operation of the Jackal (secretly Ben Reilly). However, when clone-Gwen needs clone meds to stop her Carrion Virus from activating, Kaine was forced to bring her to Spider-Man’s friends at Horizon Lab. There, Kaine informs them how serious the Carrion Virus is and how his had been activated.

When Anna Marconi informs the wrong cop about Reilly, Reilly is tipped off and sends Electro and Rhino to attack Horizon Labs. Kaine calls Gwen and Spider-Man for backup, but Spidey and Gwen can’t get there to stop Anna and Kaine from being taken with clone Gwen.

Kaine was strapped into surgical equipment while Anna was pawned off on a clone Doc Ock to help him find a cure to the Carrion Virus. They determined that a frequency was causing the degradation, and they had chosen to test their theory on Kaine. For her good work, Reilly offered her to upload her genius brain into a better body. This offended Anna and Otto, who decided to test his theory on all the other clones to punish Reilly. This gave Spider-Gwen the distraction she needed to free Kaine, but it also proved what Kaine had suspected, that the new clones were contagious while Carrion.

Kaine tried to fight Ben, but Ben threw him out a window without any webs. Spider-Gwen dove after him and saved him, leaving Spider-Man to stop the virus alone. He worked with Anna to reverse the frequency that was accelerating the virus, while Kaine and Gwen watched it succeed on the ground.

Las Vegas

Kaine was suspicious that Ben got away from the explosion at the clone lab. He tracked him to Las Vegas and a New U patient, Abigail, a daughter of a wealthy casino owner, Cassandra Mercury. Kaine fights mercilessly while Ben tries to convince him that he honestly wants to help people, specifically Abigail. So, Kaine agrees to a temporary truce for the sake of Abigail.

In the meantime, Kaine falls in with Terry and her veteran group when she mistook his Carrion scars for napalm burns. She was going to lose her shelter when her landlord decided to sell it. Kaine hoped Ben could get his new employer to help, but when he found out Cassandra was kidnapped, he pitched in to find her. For his help, Mercury gave him the money he needed to save the shelter.

Soon after, Terry’s football player brother, Kerry, showed up for a visit. He said his teammates have been targeted by an unknown assailant, so Kaine put a spider-tracer on him in case he was attacked. It didn’t take long before Hippo attacked. Luckily, Kaine was able to defend Kerry and get a name out of Hippo: Marlowe.

His search for Marlowe barely got off the ground. Ben kept attracting supernatural weirdness, including Mysteria, Mysterio’s magic using daughter, a Mindless One run rampant, and a shady deal Ben made with Mephisto. That deal backfires when Mephisto makes it look like Ben was withholding the cure from Abigail for profit, catching the ire of both Kaine and Cassandra.

Ben fought them both the best he could without really hurting either of them, desperate to prove he was a better person. However, Kaine ultimately shot him dead. Ben didn’t stay dead for too long though. He came back thanks to a future version of Abigail, but the trip from the other side corrupted his soul. He stabbed Kaine and told him if he survives to get out of Vegas.

Spider-Geddon

While using Inheritor cloning tech, Doc Ock opened the door for them to attack again. He started assembling Spider-Heroes from around the world, including Kaine. Otto needed a group of heroes to go to the radioactive planet the Inheritors escaped from to destroy a crystal with the data to revive the Inheritor’s father, Solus. Kaine volunteers to lead this Spider-Force.

He recruits Jessica Drew (Earth 616), Ashley Barton (Earth 807128), and a teen version of Peter Parker calling himself Charlie (Earth 218). Their radioactive suits are only good for 15 minutes, so they have to make it quick. Once they get there, though, all the teleporter watches short-circuit. Kaine had sabotaged them so that Vera, the Inheritor they were tracking, couldn’t use them to escape.

They immediately cross paths with a version of John Jameson, who turned into a telepathic Spider-Astronaut on this planet, protecting the last of mankind on a space station away from the radioactive planet. He receives an SOS from the station, convincing the team that Verna was looking for the crystal there. They all head up on John’s ship and split up on the station. John finds her first and seemingly slays her with the crystal, giving Jess the chance to steal her teleporter watch. Verna wasn’t dead though. She regains consciousness and feeds on John.

With the crystal but no watch, Verna is stuck in this reality, so Kaine and the others retreat to the planet to set a trap. They still need to destroy the crystal before they leave. Guilty over the danger he put everyone in, he instructed his team to use the last working watch and go home. Verna attacks before they could though. In the struggle, the watch is activated, sending Jess with the crystal back to Earth-616, stranding Kaine and the others on the radioactive planet.

Kaine and the others are later saved by Spider-Gwen, who traveled Earth to Earth putting together a Spider Army for the final showdown with the Inheritors.

Powers & Abilities

Classic Kaine:

Classic Kaine possesses enhanced versions of Spider-Man’s abilities. His Strength far exceeds Spider-Man’s own. Kaine could fight the Scarlet Spider, Spidercide and Spider-Man to a standstill, even with the three each being capable of lifting an excess of 10 tons. He was seen effortlessly One-Shotting and killing multiple Spider Clones, each with physical abilites comparable to Spider-Man, as well as effortlessly beating down Rhino. Kaine’s Durability is also superior to Spider-Man’s, as he was able to tank a massive explosion without any form of discomfort. He also tanked a full power blow from Spider-Man, without so much as flinching, as well as a bullet to the shoulder which barely slowed him down. Kaine’s version of “spider-sense” is so acute and powerful enough that it gives him a slight glimpses into the future, it is a sort of precognitive ability. An ability only Kaine posses is “the mark of Kaine” this is his corrosive touch that he uses to scar and even kill people with. He also has short retractable claws, which he call the “Sting of Kaine”. Along with the powers of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man he has many of his memories and his genius intellect like his vast knowledge of the sciences. Kane’s excessive strength and Durability, along with Mark of Kaine made him fight in a completely different way then his spider peers, despite his enhanced speed and agility (he was fast enough to speed-blitz Spider-Man) . The true reaches of his regeneration, have not yet been explored since after Sasha pierced his heart he was still later able to rise from the grave with a new look, it as not yet been explained if it was something mystical or if it was his actual healing factor.

Scarlet Spider:

After being cured of his Tarantula form his powers changed and now resemble Spider-man’s power-set after the events of The Other, but before Brand New Day.

Superhuman Strength- Thanks to the Other Kaine is physically stronger than Spider-man and is able to lift 20tons without exertion. He has been able to break chains that were designed to be completely unbreakable by someone Spider-Man’s level.

Superhuman Speed- Thanks to the Other Kaine is physically faster than Spider-man to what degree has yet to be ascertained but he was able to react to 3 bullets within only a few meters of himself.

Stingers- Kaine has a pair of retractable stingers that come from his wrists these can be used to impale.

Spider Communication- Kaine can mentally communicate with spiders, and have some degree of controlling them. He was able to search an entire city for a nuclear bomb with this ability.

Mark of Kaine- He still posses his corrosive brand mark.

Biological webbing- He develops the ability to shoot organic webbing from his wrists.

Night vision- He can see in the dark to a limited degree.

Healing Factor- Kaine has some degree of healing factor.

The Other Possession- The Other has shown to be able to aid and even slip into control from time to time heightening his already formidable physicals and preventing him being attacked mentally.

The rest of his physical power level is equal to Spider-man’s apart from the fact that he lacks a spider-sense

Equipment:

Stealth Suit- Kaine has the stealth suit designed by Peter Parker during the Big Time arc. This suit can render him invisible, immune to sonic attacks and cancels out any noise he makes when moving. Even an Assassin’s guild member with a special visor could not see Kaine when he was invisible. This suit is made of some kind of unstable particles that has the ability to auto fix itself, is noncumbustible and can change it from scarlet spider style to Big Time’s Tron style.

Ascended Scarlet Spider:

When Kaine fought and Carlos and Esmeralda Lobo, he was overpowered and killed. After his death, he was confronted by the Other who gave him enhanced powers. He returned as a feral human Spider-Hybrid, barely able to tell friend from foe.

Kaine later used the Ascended Spider form to fight and beat Shantra.

He has the following powers, in addition to the ones he had previously.

Further Enhanced Strength and Durability- Kaine in this form was able to easily overpower both Carlos and Esmeralda, while previously he was overpowered by the two. He even ripped off the arm of Carlos without issue, despite the latter having high levels of Superhuman durability.

In his fight with Shantra, his ascended form easily beat her, despite being overpowered by her in his normal form.

Organic Webbing- Like his “regular form”, Ascended Kaine had the ability to produce Organic webbing, but he seemed able to produce is much larger volumes, and quickly incapacitated Esmeralda Lobo with it.

Claws- As well as his stingers, Ascended Kaine has sharp claws on each finger, which he used to rip out one of Carlos’ eyes.

Fangs- Ascended Kaine has sharp Fangs, which were easily able to penetrate Carlos’ flesh.

Spider-Limbs- Along with his usual limbs, Ascended Kaine, has four Spider-Like limbs sprouting from his back. Similar to Iron Spider’s Limbs, these retractable appendages were strong enough to impale the Werewolves without much issue.

Shape-shifting- Kaine was first able to transform back into his original form, after help from Aracely. He later Shape-Shifted back to his normal form by himself after beating Shantra.

Healing- When Kaine was transformed out of his Feral form, all his injuries sustained by the Werewolves were gone, as well as his tattoo. This form of extensive healing is beyond Kaine’s normal limits and probably likely to be a one time thing, similar to Spider-Man undergoing extensive healing after reverting to a Human-Spider Hybrid form to kill Morlun. In that case, Peter not only healed a missing eye, but the tonsils he had removed when he was a child.

Alternate Versions

MC2

Kaine is perhaps the only reason that the MC2 universe is any different than the normal Marvel Universe. In this continuity, Kaine rescued a baby May Parker ( Spider-Girl in this universe) from Norman Osborn and returned her to her parents.

Kaine became a partner of the Kingpin of Crime, but was betrayed. Daredevil sacrificed his life to save Kaine, and Kaine took him to the regeneration chambers, where he was also trying to help Reilly Tyne. He summoned the demon, Zarathos, to help them, but Zarathos attempted to take Reilly’s body. Daredevil fought the demon, and in the end, Reilly became Darkdevil, with the powers of a demon and the heart of a hero.

Kaine later was sent to jail after Spider-Girl stopped him from killing the Kingpin. He was offered a position on a new government team for reformed super-villains. He accepted, and had under him Big Man (son of Hank Pym and Wasp), Quickwire (a former Spider-Girl villain), And formerly Raptor and Normie Osborn (Raptor being fully pardoned and Normie losing his powers).

Ultimate Universe

Although he was not named, a disfigured clone created by Dr. Octopus wearing a Spider-Man costume kidnapped Mary Jane. Reasoning that Mary Jane could protect herself when he administers the OZ formula to her. He was confronted by Tarantula, who wanted to stop him from changing Mary Jane. After a while, Kaine knocks Tarantula out and proceeds with his plan. When Mary Jane lashed out she became the ultimate version of the Demogoblin. Then the real Spider-Man and Spider-Woman (the female clone of Peter Parker) arrived. Spider-Man calmed Mary Jane down. But Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were tracked by Nick Fury, who brought Dr. Octopus with him. When Nick Fury wanted to take Mary Jane away, Kaine jumped for her and was shot by Spider-Slayers.

Other Media

Television

Ultimate Spider-Man

Kaine appears as Scarlet Spider in Season 4, acting as a major character. In the series, he first joins the cast when he helps Spider-Man fight Doctor Octopus and HYDRA, though he initially wishes to not get involved. After this, he joins Spider-Man’s team of Web Warriors. He is voiced by Scott Porter.

Video Games

The Amazing Spider-Man

Kaine’s scarlet spider costume appears in the movie tie-in game as an alternate costume. It also appears in the sequel.

Spider-Man Unlimited

Scarlet Spider appears as a playable character.

Merchandise

• Toy Biz released a Kaine figure for their “Maxium Cloneage” box set of Spider-Man figure. It was a repainted and slightly retooled Archangel figure from an earlier X-Men line.
• Hasbro released a figure of Kaine as Scarlet Spider for the Rocket Raccoon Build-a-Figure Marvel Legends wave.
• Another Scarlet Spider figure was later released as part of the Marvel Legends SP//dr wave.
• Scarlet Spider was released as part of the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series line by Hasbro.