Marvel's Ultimate Clone Saga Was Even Crazier Than The Original

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While Spider-Man's Clone Saga is one of the most infamous stories in comic book history — the Ultimate Comics version was even crazier. The Clone Saga is often seen as one of the worst periods of Spider-Man history, with writers launching into an epic story that rewrote Spider-Man lore — and struggling to find an exit strategy from the convoluted arc. The story reintroduced Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly, revealed he was actually the real deal, and then retconned that idea when it failed to land. There were bold twists, including Aunt May's death and Mary Jane's pregnancy, and then desperate attempts to reverse these for fear of making lasting change to the franchise. It wasn't even clear who the main villain really was, with the Jackal playing a prominent role and then a resurrected Green Goblin added into the mix as the real master planner. It was messy.

In 2000, Marvel launched the Ultimate line — books that relaunched classic heroes in a modern world. These comics riffed on the original stories, updating them for modern audiences — and taking risks the main comics would not. Marvel's mainline had become known for the "Illusion of Change," the idea that any changes made to heroes should avoid having any real lasting impact and should be careful not to damage a character's core concept, but the Ultimate line ignored this; sometimes this meant the stories were bold and confident, at other times it meant they weren't thought through. Inevitably, the Ultimate Universe eventually got its own Clone Saga.

Related: Spider-Man's New Identity Was Basically Just Spoiled by Marvel

Running through Ultimate Spider-Man #97-105, the Ultimate Clone Saga was even stranger. The original story had featured warped clones of Spider-Man