Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy
"Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" is a 2016–17 Marvel Comics storyline starring Spider-Man. The story was notable for bringing long-dead Spider-Man supporting character Ben Reilly back to life. The storyline led Reilly to reclaim the heroic Scarlet Spider mantle and appear in his own comic book series. The story received generally mixed reviews, with critics praising the art style and action, however criticized the story and the retcons, as well as the treatment of Ben Reilly.
"Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy"
Plot[edit]
Prologue[edit]
Jackal resurfaces in the form of a mysterious man in a red suit with an Anubis mask. Approaching several of Spider-Man's enemies, Jackal offers a deal to them in the form of the chance to revive their lost loved ones if they follow his orders. He starts with Rhino presenting him with a mysteriously revived Oksana. Rhino accepts the deal.[2]
Jackal then heads to Andru Correctional Facility where he visits Lizard. Lizard accepts Jackal's offer when introduced to the revived Martha Connors and Billy Connors.[3]
Giving Rhino a new black version of his suit, Jackal sends Rhino to break out Lizard and a depowered Electro from Andru Correctional Facility. Afterwards, he offers Electro help to regain his electrical powers.[4]
Jackal later sends Rhino to convince Kingpin to join up with him while using a revived Vanessa Fisk as persuasion. Kingpin snaps the neck of Vanessa Fisk, calling her an abomination and not his real wife. Spider-Man appears at Fisk Industries as Kingpin goes after Rhino. Upon hearing that Kingpin declined the offer, Jackal tells Rhino that he has gained one strike. Jackal is then seen with a revived Gwen Stacy at his side.[5][6]
Lead-in plot[edit]
After J. Jonah Jameson Sr. has been hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital upon coughing up blood, Peter Parker, Aunt May, and J. Jonah Jameson visit him. After being told by Dr. McCray that J. Jonah Jameson Sr. is undergoing treatment, Jameson blames Peter for what happened to his father claiming that he must have come down with a disease which led to Jameson Sr. calming him down and Dr. McCray stating that the disease is hereditary. Outside of Jameson Sr.'s room, Peter and Jameson are approached by Dr. Rita Clarkson of New U Technologies who had been called to the hospital by Dr. McCray. She says that New U Technologies has cutting-edge technology with which they want Jameson Sr. to be a test subject of. Jameson storms off in anger while Parker wants to have the full details to them. At Edmond, Oklahoma, a chemical plant that is owned by Parker Industries suddenly catches fire. On his plane, Peter reads the research from New U Technologies where the latest technologies has them making new organs from the subject's DNA that do not have any genetic defects to them. While Anna Maria Marconi suspects that it has something to do with mad science, Parker is already starting to consider the possibilities. Within Living Brain, Doctor Octopus' consciousness is starting to take note of the procedure. Parker and Anna then get word about what happened in Edmond, Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Jackal had been working with the Lizard and Martha Connors in an experiment to restore Electro's powers to him. Upon Electro's reluctance to proceed with the procedure, the Jackal had then presented a mysteriously revived Francine Frye (without the tattoos and piercings), a former love of Electro's that he inadvertently killed when his powers were out of control after being experimented on by the Superior Spider-Man. Electro finally ceded and agreed to do whatever Jackal wanted. Before continuing, Martha Connors informs Jackal about the fire in Edmond, Oklahoma and watches the news to see Spider-Man's arrival as none of them had any involvement with the incident. Spider-Man arrives at the scene of the explosion where a police officer tells him that there are six trapped workers within the chemical plant. Spider-Man gets five of them out and goes back for the sixth, one Jerry Salteres, who he gets out from under the rubble before the chemicals explode. At the nearby hospital where the chemical plant workers were taken, Peter Parker discovers from the doctor that Jerry had inhaled some chemicals that damaged his heart and lungs. Upon going into the closet, Peter Parker contacts Dr. Clarkson to have her people work on Jerry Salteres in order to save his life. The operation is a success, but Peter's spider-senses go off. At New U Technologies' headquarters in San Francisco, Jameson meets with Dr. Clarkson and states that he wants to see proof that their technology works. He gets his proof when Dr. Clarkson calls out a revived Marla Madison-Jameson.[7]
It was revealed that the revived ones were clones, created by Jackal to bring the villains to do his bidding. Jackal went awry that Francine's DNA cloned was mixed in with Electro's DNA. This led to Electro dying upon Francine absorbing the electricity and becoming the new Electro instead. When Prowler infiltrated New U Technologies on Peter Parker's behalf and was accidentally killed by Francine during a chase, Jackal revived him while providing Francine a suit when she becomes the new Electro. Upon becoming loyal to Jackal, Prowler was used by Jackal to find out what Parker Industries is up to.[8]
When Peter Parker scanned Living Brain to find out why it was acting unusually, Doctor Octopus' consciousness asked why it was erased. Realizing the truth, Peter Parker shut down Living Brain only for Doctor Octopus' consciousness to reactivate Living Brain and cause it to self-destruct while escaping in the Octobot. Arriving at New U Enterprises, the Doctor Octopus-possessed Octobot plans to get his biological body back, convinced that the consciousness in Parker's body was 'infected' by its time in Spider-Man's body to believe that Peter was superior rather than himself.[9]
With J. Jonah Jameson Sr.'s health having taken a turn for the worse, Peter has to endure Jonah's and May's concerns for his extreme skepticism for using New U, with his secret identity preventing him from informing them of the real reason he doubts them. Peter remains adamant of sticking to the conventional procedure and J. Jonah Jameson Sr. has sided with him. Peter's superheroic endeavors prevent him from accompanying May and Jonah as J. Jonah Jameson Sr.'s health reaches critical status and he undergoes conventional surgery. To make matters worse, this is not enough and J. Jonah Jameson Sr. passes away.[10]
Main plot[edit]
J. Jonah Jameson Sr. (in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #4) and Aunt May were in Madagascar. He picked up a disease and, unaware that he was deathly ill, Aunt May and Jay went to a big party for the defeat of Regent, a villain after all of humanity's heroes and villains powers. After attending J. Jonah Jameson Sr.'s funeral, Peter decides to pay Jerry Salteres a visit in order to investigate why his spider-sense went off in his presence. When they reach his house, his wife Emma reveals that New U had mysteriously taken Jerry away after he had accidentally forgotten to take a post-procedure daily pill prescribed by New U and his health decayed. As Spider-Man, Peter infiltrates the New U Headquarters and tries to locate Jerry using a microscopic spider-tracer he had tagged him with at the hospital once his spider-sense had gone off. Spider-Man delves deep into the laboratory and discovers several stasis tubes, with one of them apparently containing nothing but Jerry's nervous system, completely stripped off his body, and alive. Spider-Man is soon sighted by one of Miles Warren's clone/assistants, who calls the Rhino and Electro for help. After dispatching the two villains, Spider-Man continues to pursue Miles, only to find Gwen Stacy herself behind a closed door. The shock of Gwen's presence prevents Spidey from reacting to his spider-sense on time, and he is sucker-punched by the returned Doctor Octopus. In a side-story, Gwen is supposedly resurrected by Jackal and his clones. The Jackal claims that this one is not a clone, but the real Gwen who was harvested from her remains and still remembers everything in her life including her death (during which she was apparently aware but paralyzed by Green Goblin's gas and learned that Peter was Spider-Man). Jackal offers Gwen the opportunity to be his business partner as he tries to change the world with his new technology. Gwen is hesitant about this new life at first, but accepts it when the Jackal shows that he has reanimated her father George Stacy, who is much better than he was before he died.[11]
After the Jackal breaks up the fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, he shows Spider-Man around the New U Technologies. He was shown to have made reanimations of the villains Alistair Smythe, Bart Hamilton's Green Goblin form, Big Man, Eduardo Lobo, Hitman, a Hobgoblin, a Jack O'Lantern, Kangaroo I, Massacre, Mirage, Montana, a Mysterio, Ox I, a Rose, Spencer Smythe, Stilt-Man, and Tarantula as well as reanimations of Ashley Kafka, Jean DeWolff, and Spider-Woman. George Stacy recognizes something off about Gwen's face and points his gun at her. It was revealed that Gwen was actually the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 that assists Spider-Man in escaping. The real Gwen Stacy is kidnapped by Kaine and taken to Parker Industries to be studied. Kaine reveals that he and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 came to this world to assist Spider-Man because they saw that apparently Spider-Man allying with the Jackal's offer on other worlds results in a global disaster in the form of the Carrion virus.[12]
Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 escape after quickly incapacitating the Lizard thanks to the Prowler directing the cloned supervillains to another part of the city. Back at Horizon University, Kaine tells Max Modell, Hector Baez, and the rest of the employees about the Carrion virus and reveals his condition. The scientists figure they can use Kaine to try and find a cure for the virus since he is not contagious and decide to call the cops to alert them of the possible epidemic. However, Police Chief Anderson is secretly in league with the Jackal and informs him of Gwen Stacy's location. Jackal sends Electro and Rhino to retrieve Gwen and attends a meeting where he reveals his plan to move into Phase 2 of his project, allowing more New U Technologies factories and less government oversights. As Doctor Octopus is working on improving the cloning process, he is told by Jackal that he also plans to move to a new location since Spider-Man knows where he is. At Horizon University, the staff is attacked by Rhino and Electro. They retrieve Gwen, but Gwen tells them to take Kaine with him too since the condition could help with Jackal's experiments. Anna Maria Marconi also volunteers to come with since she has studied both Kaine and the drug. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 arrive too late to New U Technologies to stop them and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 tells Spider-Man that she is there because Peter Parker has joined the Jackal in all the alternate dimensions she has been to. The New U Technologies staff tells Peter what happened. Before they go rescue Kaine and Anna, Kingpin shows up and reveals he has been following the Jackal's trail ever since the encounter with his cloned wife. He gives Spider-Man a folder containing the location of a meeting that Jackal will be at so Spider-Man can take him down for revenge. Spider-Man arrives at the airstrip where Jackal is receiving a large box and attacks him. Peter is surprised that Jackal is able to get the upper hand on him with enhanced strength and speed. Jackal takes off his mask and reveals himself to not be Miles Warren, but none other than Ben Reilly. He offers Peter the chance to bring back Uncle Ben as his corpse is in the large box.[13]
In the Jackal's laboratory, Doctor Octopus is studying Kaine and Electro to perfect his "proto clone." Anna Maria is brought into the lab and becomes uncomfortable when Doctor Octopus starts appealing toward his love interest. Spider-Woman of Earth-65 follows her Earth-616 counterpart into the South New U Technologies facility to find Kaine. After Ben and Peter's confrontation, Ben starts driving Spider-Man to the New U Technologies facility with Uncle Ben's corpse and explains to Peter that he was able to make his company and vision come to life through emotionally blackmailing the higher-ups of society. He then shows Peter the "Haven," a section of the facility set up like a normal neighborhood where Peter sees all of his resurrected friends and enemies with the latest ones being Sally Avril, Ned Leeds, and Nick Katzenberg. He apologizes to the Stacys and Marla Jameson tells Spider-Man that she was honored by his vow not to let other people die. After J. Jonah Jameson heads upstairs to promote the New U Technologies on television, Spider-Man confronts Jackal and tells him that the reason he has not brought Uncle Ben back yet is because Peter knows Uncle Ben would tell Jackal that he is wrong and that he is using this power without responsibility. Jackal orders Spider-Man's rogues gallery to kill the hero and plans to replace Peter when he is dead. Prowler assists Spider-Man in battling the villains as Jackal heads back to his laboratory. Anna Maria reveals she knows how to stop the decaying process on the clones and Jackal offers her the "proto clone" body in exchange for the formula. Doctor Octopus takes offense to Jackal's comments on Maria's dwarfism and attacks his boss. Spider-Woman of Earth-65 uses the opportunity to try and free Kaine, but is attacked by Electro. Doctor Octopus pulls a switch which activates the Carrion virus in all of the clones and causes them to start rapidly decaying. Spider-Woman of Earth-65 escapes with Kaine as the Carrion virus starts spreading which causes Anna to also be affected. Spider-Man tries to appeal to Ben, but Jackal ignores him and takes over J. Jonah's broadcast to tell the world that they will all die and be reborn.[14]
As New U Technologies' subjects continue to decay, Spider-Man decides to head toward Jackal's laboratory. Prowler and Jean DeWolff assist him with escaping from the villains. After George Stacy deteriorates in Gwen Stacy's arms, she assists Peter by helping him get to the lab. When they get to the lab doors, Gwen locks Spider-Man inside the lab and sacrifices herself toward the reanimated Hobgoblin and Green Goblin to give Spider-Man more time. Kaine is knocked out of the facility by Jackal. Spider-Woman of Earth-65 and Prowler assist him in containing the infected villains. During the ensuing melee, Lizard and his family escape, with Lizard stating that he can cure both Martha and Billy. Rhino was devastated when he witnesses Oksana dying. When Spider-Man makes it to the lab, Anna Maria tells him that she has invented an inverse frequency that can fix most of the problem. Doctor Octopus fights Jackal to allow Peter and Anna Maria the time to transmit the frequency. They go to the Fact Channel's filming location to see if they can transmit the signal and find Silk there, who tells them that Marla Jameson shut down the signal before deteriorating in her husband's arms. J. Jonah Jameson admits to Spider-Man that Peter Parker was right about the situation. Spider-Man hacks into the Webware Emergency System from Parker Industries and switches it to evoke from every Parker Industries device on the planet, which sends out a large signal that stops some of the other victims from decaying, but quickly affects some of the reanimated like Jackal and Doctor Octopus. Peter and Anna check the building and see that Jackal, Doctor Octopus, and Gwen Stacy have been reduced to dust. Anna notes that the "proto clone," or "Ultimate Template," appears missing. They come back to the front to check on Kaine and Spider-Woman of Earth-65's status. Kaine tells them that Prowler and DeWolff died fighting, while Spider-Woman of Earth-65 tells them that Electro and some of the cloned villains that survived the frequency and got away. Dr. Rita Clarkson comes out of the building and takes Spider-Man and his team downstairs where some of the New U Technologies patients are still alive. Some of the patients like Prowler were cured of the virus and still have a chance at living while some of them are slowly dying. Jerry Salteres emerges from one of the pods and Spider-Man tells him that he is unsure of how much of the promise he had made to Jerry's family to bring him home he can keep. Jerry is understanding and tells Spider-Man that he is only human.[15]
Critical reception[edit]
The main series received generally mixed reviews. According to Comic Book Roundup, the main series received a score of 7.3 out of 10 based on 48 reviews.[32]
According to Comic Book Roundup, Issue 1 received a score of 8 out of 10 based on 16 reviews.[33]
According to Comic Book Roundup, Issue 2 received a score of 6.9 out of 10 based on 8 reviews.[34]
According to Comic Book Roundup, Issue 3 received a score of 6.7 out of 10 based on 7 reviews.[35]
According to Comic Book Roundup, Issue 4 received a score of 8.2 out of 10 based on 7 reviews.[36]
According to Comic Book Roundup, Issue 5 received a score of 6.7 out of 10 based on 10 reviews.[37]
According to Comic Book Roundup, The Clone Conspiracy: Omega Issue 1 received a score of 6.6 out of 10 based on 7 reviews.[38]