9 Famous Spider-Man Comic Book Moments That Will Never Happen In The Movies

5. Peter Parker Is A Clone

Just the words €œClone Saga€ are enough to send any Spider-Man fan from the 90s into fits, as the long-running, convoluted storyline is often referred to as the creative low-point for the character. But, there are actually some worthwhile stories to be found within the €œClone Saga€ (Aunt May'€™s death in Amazing Spider-Man #400 is one of the best Spidey comics ever), plus Brian Michael Bendis proved a writer could create a coherent, well-structured clone-centric storyline in Ultimate Spider-Man in 2006.

The storyline from the original 90s €œClone Saga€ that likely never will be adapted for a movie is the one wherein Peter Parker is revealed to be a €œclone,€ while Ben Reilly is unveiled as the €œactual€ Spider-Man. This began a year-long period during which Ben was the lead character in all of the Spider-Man comics, while Peter disappeared to live a €œnormal€ life with Mary Jane.

Beyond the Peter/Ben switcheroo being hugely unpopular with comic book fans, the storyline just wouldn'€™t translate to the big screen. For one, it creates an emotionally confusing status quo for viewers: they€™'ve been introduced to and become invested in a likeable character, and are now being told that this other guy who just showed up a little while ago is the actual superhero to cheer for. To make matters worse, in order to sell the clone idea in the comics, some writers had Ben talk about Peter as if he were a villain of sorts who had stolen his life away from him.

Comic book fans responded poorly to this idea, and there€™'s no reason to believe moviegoers, who tend to have a lower tolerance for comic book logic, would respond any better to it.

Contributor
Contributor

Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.