8 Comics That Almost Had Better Endings
3. The Clone Saga
One of the most hated events in Spider-Man history came in the Clone Saga, which ran from October 1994 until December 1996. There were aspects of the storyline that were ingenious, and they called back to stories from the early 1970s, but in the end, it was a convoluted mess.
The story became confusing, and with too many changes, which indicated Spider-Man wasn't the real SPiedy but was instead a clone. That ended up being changed at the end, and when it was all said and done, Spider-Man fans were happy to get back to normal, but it didn't have to be that way.
Originally, the Clone Saga was meant to run the course of a year and would serve to replace Peter Parker with Ben Reilly. This was met with a lot of controversy, but it would have created a story arc with a beginning, middle, and ending. Instead, it became a confusing and complex nightmare for fans.
Marvel's micromanager-in-chief, Bob Harras, saw the sales figures and pushed the writers and artists to extend the story for three years. That undercut the intended structure of the story and pushed it beyond what was originally planned. Had the story been told as it was intended, it would doubtless hold a better place in Spider-Man history than it does today.