Into the Spider-Verse 2, the sequel to the hit animated movie, has an exciting line-up of a range of different Spider-Men: including Miles Morales, Peter Parker, Gwen Stacey, and Spider-Man 2099 to name a few. But fans got a fun surprise with a brand-new poster for the superhero movie, because it revealed that another, previously-unannounced Spider-Man variant would be joining the film: The Scarlet Spider.
Otherwise known as Spider-Clone, The Scarlet Spider is one of the most intriguing Spider-Man villains from the comics. Originally appearing in 1975, The Scarlet Spider was created as a clone of Peter Parker by villain Jackal. When that story arc ended, Peter assumed the clone was gone, but he ended up resurfacing 20 years later.
Living under the identity Ben Reilly, he befriended Peter and worked in conjunction with him fighting crime in New York under the moniker The Scarlet Spider.
However, this all led to the infamous comic book storyline known as ‘The Clone Saga,’ which led readers to believe that Spider-Clone and Peter somehow swapped places back in 1975, and that for the past twenty years, the Spider-Man we knew and loved was actually a clone, and Ben was the real Peter Parker. This led to Peter retiring as Spider-Man and passing the mantle to Ben, but then, in a double fake-out, it transpired that Ben was the clone after all. Got it? Neither do we.
Either way, to find out how The Scarlet Spider comes into the Spider-Verse (no pun intended), be sure to catch the latest Spider-Man movie in theatres from June 2, 2023.