Kaine

Superherobox|

caption=Cover to "Web of Spider-Man" #124.
Art by Steven Butler.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Kaine
real_name=Kaine
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Web of Spider-Man" #119
creators=Terry Kavanagh
Steven Butler
alliance_color=background:#cccccc
alliances=
aliases=
powers=Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility and reflexes,
Precognitions,
Ability to stick to solid surfaces|

Kaine is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics villain or anti-hero and enemy of Spider-Man. The character first appeared in "Web of Spider-Man" #119, and was created by Terry Kavanagh and Steven Butler.

Fictional character biography

The birth of Kaine

Kaine is the Jackal's first temporary success at cloning Peter Parker, but the cloning process was flawed. As a result he is left deformed and mentally unstable, but also more physically powerful than Spider-Man, as well as possessing a low-grade precognition (An enhanced version of a spider-sense).Professor Warren discards Kaine because the clone starts showing early signs of the degeneration process, and Kaine experiences a strong feeling of rejection similar to that between a father and son. Kaine leaves Professor Warren and realizes the partial degeneration also caused a slight amplification of the powers he "inherited" from Peter. Not only has his strength, speed, and agility been copied from the original Peter's, but he gains a "precognitive sense" that shows him flashes of the future (an amplified version of Peter's spider-sense). He also possesses a "Mark of Kaine," a corrosive touch that he uses to leave eaten away hand prints on his victims' faces. Though never explicitly stated within the story, in interviews afterwardsFact|date=May 2007 the creators reveal that the Mark of Kaine was meant to be another analog of one of Spider-Man's powers, namely the ability to cling to walls.

The Jackal goes on to create a new, better clone; the man who would become Ben Reilly. When the Jackal uses Reilly against Peter, the ensuing battle leaves Reilly and the Jackal for dead. They both manage to survive; the Jackal places himself into suspended animation in a cloning pod to awaken later; and Reilly leaves New York.

Behind the scenes, Norman Osborn manages to have the files on Ben and Peter switched, so the Jackal would think Peter is the clone and Ben is the real deal. Consulting the Jackal's files, Kaine also believes the same, so he follows Ben Reilly through his "exile". For a time, he finds love in the arms of police detective Louise Kennedy of Salt Lake City, but when she is discovered to be working for the criminals, coupled with Kaine's increased cellular degeneration pushing him even further towards insanity, Kaine finally loses it. After killing Louise, Kaine continues to stalk Ben, making it appear as though Janine Godbe, Ben's new love, has committed suicide. Kaine then frames Ben for a number of murders he commits (Kaine and Ben have the same fingerprints), hoping to give the man who he thinks is the clone (Peter) the life he could never have.

Trial of Peter Parker

Peter is eventually imprisoned for Kaine's crimes (for he, too, had the same fingerprints), but after a period of time Ben takes his place in prison.

Peter wants Kaine to stand for what he has done, but Kaine initially refuses. The two fight and end up getting dragged into a mock-trial where Spider-Man is on trial, Kaine is his defense attorney, Carnage is the prosecutor, several Ravencroft inmates are the jury, and a powerful being known as Judas Traveller is the judge. During the one-sided trial, Kaine tries to physically fight off all those who are against Spider-Man before Traveller returns them to their previous place of battle.

After an incident involving a superpowered villainess named Stunner, a weakened Kaine still refuses to confess to his crimes. Spider-Man responds by knocking Kaine out and webbing him up before heading to the courthouse. Kaine reawakens before they arrive and struggles again with Spider-Man in refusing to confess. At this point, Kaine admits that he's done everything to protect Peter's life and reveals that he is the first clone of Peter, now partially degenerated. Spider-Man decides that if Kaine will not reveal the truth, then he will reveal his true identity to the entire courtroom and end everything. Kaine pleads for Peter not to do this and eventually gives into revealing the real truth about the murders and the "Mark of Kaine".

Maximum Clonage

After Peter gives in to the news that he is a clone and Ben is the true Peter Parker, he allies himself with the Jackal. But Kaine refuses to let him throw his life away. He confronts the Jackal with the full intent of destroying him, when the Jackal manipulates his mind once more by leading Kaine to believe he will be cured of the degeneration process. Once Jackal reveals he's once more lied, Kaine leaves feeling dejected. He goes back to Mary Jane for answers, and after a conversation of power and responsibility, Kaine returns to the Jackal's lab in time to assist Ben in a battle against numerous Spider-clones. In the ensuing battle, Spidercide impales him with a masonry spike, killing him.

The Jackal, curiously, then places Kaine in a regeneration pod. When the pod is next seen, it is empty.

The Return of Kaine

During Reilly's time as Spider-Man, some of the world's strongest fighters are pitted against one another in a fighting competition called the Great Game, a fighting tournament in which wealthy people wager on the fighters for their amusement.

One of the Game's main sponsors, James Johnsmeyer, finds the pod containing the revived Kaine, and decides to initiate him into the competition, sending the Rhino to fight him. After Kaine's refusal and escape, thanks to temporary partner Shannon, Johnsmeyer still attempts to involve Kaine by allowing other Game competitors to attack him (Joystick and Polestar).

Spider-Man interferes in the skirmish and gets sidetracked by Joystick and Polestar while Kaine puts a near-fatal beating on Rhino and escapes with Shannon. Before they are able to get away, Spider-Man manages to tag Shannon with a tracer and he pursues them once Polestar and Rhino are taken into custody. He finds them moments before the police, but after an incident that threatened to kill the officers, Kaine and Shannon escape again.

This time, Kaine's destination is Johnsmeyer's headquarters. Spider-Man finds them once again after Kaine manages to single-handedly destroy all of Johnsmeyer's rooftop security defenses, but once inside, Johnsmeyer reveals that Shannon--who was still working for Johnsmeyer during the entire ordeal--has been manipulating and deceiving Kaine. Kaine, not wanting to become a puppet of anyone ever again, tries to kill Shannon but was persuaded by Spider-Man not to do so. Kaine leaves, vowing to take down every sponsor of the Great Game.

Kaine's redemption

During a later encounter with Ben Reilly, in which Janine Godbe returns to the man she loved, Kaine finally brings himself to let go of his hatred for his brother, even saving Ben's life after nearly leaving him to die in a burning diner. Encouraged by his brother's example (as well as finally acknowledging Ben as his brother rather than his foe), Kaine hands himself over to the law, as Janine (who was wanted for the murder of her abusive father) does the same.

Several months later, however, he is shown escaping from jail alongside many other super-powered criminals in an issue of "Thunderbolts". Kaine breaks out to try and stop Norman Osborn after finding out that Osborn is still alive and has masterminded the Clone Saga, as a few issues of Spider-Man briefly mention Kaine working against Osborn's agents in southern Europe. The last mention of Kaine is an offhand line from one of Osborn's men saying that Kaine has been "dealt with", without elaborating on what that meant.

In the "Civil War: Battle Damage Report" one-shot, the final pages mention potential enemies and candidates to the "." Kaine is listed as an "Enemy Combatant."

Powers and abilities

As an imperfect clone of Spider-Man, Kaine has superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and equilibrium all at higher levels than Spider-Man due to his continued mutation.

The true limit of his strength is unknown, but he has proven able hold his own against and beat the Rhino unconscious and to hold his own against three Spider-Men at the same time (Peter Parker, Ben Reilly and Spidercide).

His precognitive spider-sense is more developed than that of Spider-Man; where Parker and Reilly can sense immediate danger, Kaine can actually see short glimpses of the future.

He uses his clinging ability primarily to burn a distinctive scarring into surfaces (and people), which he calls the "Mark of Kaine". After defeating an enemy, usually resulting in death such as breaking their neck using his superhuman strength, he would burn the "Mark of Kaine" onto one side of their face. Notable characters to have been defeated in such a fashion include Doctor Octopus (Although Doc Ock was later resurrected).

Kaine also uses his ability to stick to walls in other ways. In one instance, he fashioned a weapon out of a large section of a building by simply sticking to the building and then pulling away with his superhuman strength, bringing a large chunk of it with him ("Amazing Spider-Man" #409).

Due to flaws in his genetic make-up Kaine does not look like an ordinary human, his skin covered with a web-like mass of disfiguring scars.

The costume that Kaine typically wears has been said to slow the degeneration process in his body.

Other versions

MC2

In the alternate future known as MC2, Kaine successfully rescues baby May (Peter and Mary Jane's baby) from Norman Osborn and returns her to her parents. This is, in fact, the main point of divergence from the Marvel Universe.

Later, Kaine allies himself with the Kingpin of Crime, but is betrayed by him during a confrontation with Daredevil. Daredevil sacrifices his own life to save Kaine. Kaine takes Daredevil's body to a regeneration chamber, where he is also attempting to assist Reilly Tyne, the son of Ben Reilly, who is degenerating as a result of his imperfectly cloned father's DNA. He attempts to summon the demon Zarathos to aid him in saving the two, but in the end, Zarathos turns on him and attempts to claim the boy's body as his human vessel. The soul of Daredevil fights the demon, and in the end Reilly Tyne is transformed into Darkdevil, with the soul of a hero and the powers of a demon.

Kaine attempts to kill the Kingpin but is stopped by Spider-Girl and sent to prison. There, he is recruited by Special Agent Arthur Whedon as part of a team of captured supervillains given the opportunity to redeem themselves by working for the government (similar to the Thunderbolts). Those under his command include Big Man (the son of Henry Pym and the Wasp, former member of the Revengers), Quickwire (former villain, first appearing in "Spider-Girl #53"), and formerly Raptor (now fully pardoned and released from duty), and Normie Osborn (agreed to use his powers to work for them in place of Raptor, and since de-powered upon the death of the Venom-symbiote, can be presumed to have been released from duty).

Kaine appears to be genuinely interested in reformation, and has since been supportive of Spider-Girl and acted as an advisor to her.

Spider-Girl is clueless about her genetic relationship with Kaine, although Kaine hinted at it in their first encounter. It's implied that Darkdevil does know the truth, however, once commenting on Kaine's "twisted notions of simple concepts like family".

Ultimate Kaine

In the alternate-universe "Ultimate Marvel" imprint, Kaine is a misguided and disfigured clone of Peter Parker. He kidnaps Mary Jane and attempts to give her super-powers. He is killed after Fury's Spider Slayer's shoot while he tries to prevent them from taking Mary Jane. Although never stated in comic his name is revealed in "Ultimate Secrets".

Kaine possessed superhuman strength, reflexes, and equilibrium. Like Spider-Man he can stick to most surfaces and had a sixth danger warning "spider-sense".

External links

* [http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/kaine.html Kaine's profile at Spiderfan.org]
* [http://www.samruby.com/History/clonesagatimeline.htm The Clone Saga Timeline]
* [http://marvel.com/universe/Kaine Kaine on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki]