To be fair, he can turn invisible.
Kaine: "What did you call me?"
Wally: "The Scarlet Spider. That's your super hero name, right? I heard it on the news."
Kaine: "...I swear to god, I'm being punished"
- Scarlet Spider Vol.2 #5
Scarlet Spider is an alias that has used by multiple characters in the
Marvel Universe. With a common trait of them to be clones and the two most famous to bear the title being clones of the famous superhero
Spider Man and created from
The Clone Saga.
The original character to handle the title was Ben Reilly, one of the clones of Peter Parker, who used it as a distinction from Peter. The character was one of the few things well-received in the otherwise infamous clone saga. Eventually, Ben took over as Spider-Man after a complicated story that made it unclear who of him or Peter was a clone. He was eventually
Killed Off for Real by the
Green Goblin, and Peter Parker re-assumed the Spider-Man identity.
The next time Scarlet Spider was actually a team of 3
Super Soldier clones of a recently killed
Avengers Initiative recruit Michael van Patrick, that wore variations of Spider-Man's then recent Iron Spider armor. Named Micheal, Van and Patrick, they briefly aided
Peter Parker in attempting to cover up his recent reveal of his identity during the events of
Civil War. Afterward during the course of their adventures they discovered their clone heritage but by the end of the series only one of the three was still alive and went public with his story to help bring the darker elements of the Initiative to justice.
Another of Peter's long-disappeared clones,
Kaine, who was also part of
The Clone Saga, came back during the
Grim Hunt arc, where he made a
Heroic Sacrifice for Peter Parker and was seemingly
Killed Off for Real. Kaine returned in the
Spider Island arc, where he
returns as a mutated minion of the Jackal. He was eventually cured - with enhanced powers identical to the ones Peter once possessed - by Spider-Man, and helped him defeat the arc's
Big Bad. After that, he left Manhattan, taking one of Peter's new stealth suits with him, and tried to leave for Mexico. When passing through Houston, Texas on the way there, after
breaking up a human trafficking ring on his way out of town, he finds himself linked to a young girl and a group of Houston residents and eventually decides to stay. Due to
the suit's previous color modification being stuck, local media and people dubbed Kaine the
Scarlet Spider. Compared to Ben Reilly, Kaine's incarnation of the Scarlet Spider is darker and more violent due to his past and struggles with his
heroic impulses.
Kaine Parker is the current Scarlet Spider and star of the ongoing series started in 2012 written by
Christopher Yost.
Recurring Scarlet Spiders Tropes
- Animal Themed Superbeing: Spiders.
- Cloning Blues: Both were cloned from Peter Parker by the Jackal, though Kaine was dismissed as being defective.
- Expy: of Spider-Man of course; justified in that two of them are clones of him and the other three wore copies of his suits.
- Legacy Character: initially subverted to the deception of some fans. Then Kaine took the title.
Tropes Applying to Ben Reilly:
- Badass Biker
- Civvie Spandex: His original "costume" was simply a red spandex suit and mask with and a sleeveless hoodie with a spider on it. The point was Ben didn't have a lot of money and made his costume out of what he could afford (which wasn't much).
- Clone Degeneration: The way it was confirmed he was the clone and not Peter.
- Cool Loser
- Important Haircut: He wears his hair differently than Peter and bleaches it blonde to differenciate himself.
- Killed Off for Real
- Meaningful Name: He is named after Peter's deceased uncle Ben and uses Aunt May's maiden family name.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Well he is Peter's clone; what did you expect?
Tropes Applying to Kaine:
- Anti-Hero
- Nineties Anti-Hero: Unlike Peter and Ben, he is more then willing to cross the line of killing.
- The Atoner: He doesn't try to dwell on it but his past does eat at him from this from time to time
- Berserk Button: Don't confuse him with Spider Man.
- Do not mess with his friends. A group of robbers learned this the hard way after one of them took Annabelle hostage.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: One of the new abilities he has gained since his revival are his "stingers".
- Can't Hold His Liquor: A Continuity Nod to Peter Parker, since his revival and recovery from the clone degeneration, he gets black out drunk after 3 beers.
- Came Back Strong: After being killed by Kraven's wife Ana, Kaine is resurrected by Ero as an anthropomorphic spider and is "reborn" during Spider Island with the powers Peter acquired during The Other arc. note This happened to Peter in Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 3 Issue 15, though the Queen was thought responsible for both instances. After being killed by the Lobos siblings, Ero resurrects him a second time by getting him to embrace his Inner Spider in the same manner Peter did in The Other, though Kaine comes back significantly more monstrous than Peter did.
- Chameleon Camouflage: His new suit allows him to pull this trick off.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Which Kaine refers to as the Parker legacy.
- Colourful Theme Naming: More so then any of the previous incarnations.
- Cursed with Awesome: According to Word Of God, Kaine's Clone Degeneration gave him his precognition - amplifying his Spider-Sense.
- The Mark of Kaine was also said to be an amplified wall-crawling trait, specifically using his wall-crawling/clinging powers to stick his hand to someone and then rip it off, leaving a perfect hand-shaped mark. Of course, Peter Parker's "stick-em" powers are powerful enough to do the same, but most of his opponents only have their face exposed, so the results could be very gruesome.
- Didn't Think This Through: Kaine usually acts before actually considering any consequences.
- Expy: Kaine's version of the Scarlet Spider often gets confused for Spider-Man except for the uniform color, the Wolverine-like power ( his "stingers") and attitude.
- During the Minimum Carnage event, a victim of Cletus Kasady aka Carnage confuses Kaine for the killer.
- Heel Face Turn: Originally, considered more of a Anti-Villain but within recent years he has mellowed.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Houston doesn't have enough tall buildings to get around everywhere, so Kaine is not immune to improvising.
- Hot Blooded: Kaine is more likely to pick a fight than Peter or Ben were.
- I Am A Humanitarian: Post-resurrection #2, Kaine almost eats Aracely, but she uses her powers to restore his human form.
- I Am a Monster: Kaine feels this about himself due to his past and later due to his 'Inner Spider' post 2nd resurrection.
- Insistent Terminology: He is not a super hero.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Not the nicest person.
- Mega Corp: Roxxon Who was responsible for hiring the Lobos to bring over Aracely as a test subject and awakening Mammon.
- My Greatest Failure: Killing the love of his life in "The Lost Years" because she was a Dirty Cop. Also, losing Ben Reilly.
- Name of Cain: Kaine
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Especially during his Nineties Anti-Hero phase.
- Sir Swearsalot
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: His attitude toward most superheroes and their issues endangering his new hometown of Houston.
Scarlet Spider (2012) comic series contains examples of:
- Alcohol Induced Idiocy: The Armadillo in issue 16 really just another example of Love Makes You Dumb.
- Achilles in His Tent: Kaine after failing to save over two dozen Houston citizens from dying at the end of Minimum Carnage
- Battle Amongst the Flames: Kaine vs Salamander in the hospital, and later Kaine vs Ana Kraven in Issue 6.
- Call Back: Kaine's resurrections have connections to both Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 3 Issue 15 and The Other.
- Christmas Episode: Issue 12.
- Create Your Own Villain: Looks like Kaine did this with Zoe at the end of the Second Master arc.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Kaine vs. the Assassins Guild members that came to kill him.
- Deal with the Devil: Kaine makes a deal with the Assassins Guild to stop the contract they have on Dr. Donald Meland by the only remaining family of a former patient.
- After being killed by the Lobos siblings, Kaine makes a deal with Ero to be reborn in the same manner Peter was after being killed by Morlun during The Other story arc.
- Didn't Think This Through: Kaine's MO including sleeping with Zoe right after saving her as Scarlet Spider, and therefore revealing his (and possibly Peter Parker's) identity to her.
- Friend on the Force: Officer Wally Layton
- Gory Discretion Shot: Notable especially during the In the Midst of Wolves arc for several including drug usage and a scene with the main character being eaten alive.
- In-Series Nickname: He is often referred to as Scarlet Spider by the cops and media, but Carnage liked to call him 'Not Spider-Man'
- Kid Sidekick: Aracely, who may actually be the Aztec sun/war god Huitzilopochtli.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Lobos siblings give Kaine one of these in issue 13, the ending isn't pretty.
- Not So Different: Kaine and the villain known as The Mark.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The Lobos Cartel.
- Super Team: The Rangers are (apparently) the Southwest's only heroes, barring Kaine, and consist of Texas Twister, Firebird, Fifty-One, Living Lightning, Shooting Star and Red Wolf. They tried to welcome Kaine into the group afterwards...he rejected the offer. Violently.
- Symbol Swearing: Actually happens quite a bit in the series and not just limited to Kaine.
- The Team Benefactor: Kaine thanks to his stealing money from human traffickers and drug dealers.
- Wire Dilemma: Kaine and Wally have this issue after locating a nuclear Time Bomb, they spent most of the issue trying to find it and not knowing what to do after they found it.
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