Process of Elimination: Who can we be sure Kindred ain't? SPOILERS

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Ever since Nick Spencer started his run in 2018 (which isn't that long back but owing to the pandemic it feels so very long ago now), his run has centered around a mystery villain called Kindred. And there have been many threads and discussions featuring theories on who Kindred is. Rather than add to that, I realized that as we reach what seems to be a major moment in Spencer's run, i.e. the revelation of the Kindred mystery and/or Spider-Man confronting him, I thought to do something different. A listing out of characters who we can be certain isn't Kindred. A process of elimination.

Now how can we certain a character isn't Kindred you might ask?
-- One parameter is we see Kindred interacting with said character or otherwise in the same space as the character i.e. overlooking/staring and so on. If we see Kindred and [INSERT CHARACTER NAME] separately in the same time and space, we can be sure we are dealing with two different characters.
-- If we see Kindred summoning the spirit of a dead character (as in the Sins' Rising prelude) we can be certain we are dealing with two different characters.

So based on that we can rule out:
-- A substantial chunk of the rogues gallery we have seen in Spencer's run: Kingpin, Mendell Stromm, Boomerang, Gog, Kraven, the Sinister Six led by Lady Beetle, Doctor Doom, Arcade, Vulture, The Gibbon, Felicia Hardy, The Thieves' Guild, Overdrive, Chance, Mysterio, Lady Electro, Norman Osborn.
-- We can also rule out characters featured in satellite titles: Venom, Carnage, Doctor Octopus.
-- The following members of Peter's supporting cast: J. Jonah Jameson, Norah Winters, Randy Robertson, Robbie Robertson, Aunt May, Teresa, Mary Jane Watson, Carlie Cooper (as of ASM#45, where before she was a semi-known theory).
-- We can also rule out Miles Morales and his extended family and supporting cast owing to his status as a satellite.
-- Assuming Kindred is someone dead, we can rule out definitively Jean DeWolff as not being Kindred (based on Sins' Rising).

So where does this process of elimination leave us.
-- A good chunk of the living and active cast of ASM are ruled out. The major exception is Harry Osborn who we haven't seen on page since the penultimate Slott issue. Not my favorite theory, but the fact is he hasn't been ruled out.
-- Among the dead characters, the following aren't ruled out entirely -- George Stacy, Gwen Stacy, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, and that's among the prominent dead supporting characters. Technically speaking Nathaniel Lubensky hasn't been ruled out so he qualifies as still being on paper. So one can add almost any dead character to the list and claim it qualifies.

So the pool of suspects is larger among dead characters (hmm...almost like a dead pool...RJ you are a genius) than living.

The only character who explicitly seems to know who Kindred is, is Norman Osborn at least in one of his addled states as in the Absolute Carnage tie-ins.

You are all free to add/subtract/correct/qualify me on this.

[Grapeweasel]

I hope it's Steve Ditko.

[Alan2099]

I feel safe in saying that it's not Galactus, Howard the Duck, or NFL SuperPro.

[NC_Yankee]

Ever since Nick Spencer started his run in 2018 (which isn't that long back but owing to the pandemic it feels so very long ago now), his run has centered around a mystery villain called Kindred. And there have been many threads and discussions featuring theories on who Kindred is. Rather than add to that, I realized that as we reach what seems to be a major moment in Spencer's run, i.e. the revelation of the Kindred mystery and/or Spider-Man confronting him, I thought to do something different. A listing out of characters who we can be certain isn't Kindred. A process of elimination.

Now how can we certain a character isn't Kindred you might ask?
-- One parameter is we see Kindred interacting with said character or otherwise in the same space as the character i.e. overlooking/staring and so on. If we see Kindred and [INSERT CHARACTER NAME] separately in the same time and space, we can be sure we are dealing with two different characters.
-- If we see Kindred summoning the spirit of a dead character (as in the Sins' Rising prelude) we can be certain we are dealing with two different characters.

So based on that we can rule out:
-- A substantial chunk of the rogues gallery we have seen in Spencer's run: Kingpin, Mendell Stromm, Boomerang, Gog, Kraven, the Sinister Six led by Lady Beetle, Doctor Doom, Arcade, Vulture, The Gibbon, Felicia Hardy, The Thieves' Guild, Overdrive, Chance, Mysterio, Lady Electro, Norman Osborn.
-- We can also rule out characters featured in satellite titles: Venom, Carnage, Doctor Octopus.
-- The following members of Peter's supporting cast: J. Jonah Jameson, Norah Winters, Randy Robertson, Robbie Robertson, Aunt May, Teresa, Mary Jane Watson, Carlie Cooper (as of ASM#45, where before she was a semi-known theory).
-- We can also rule out Miles Morales and his extended family and supporting cast owing to his status as a satellite.
-- Assuming Kindred is someone dead, we can rule out definitively Jean DeWolff as not being Kindred (based on Sins' Rising).

So where does this process of elimination leave us.
-- A good chunk of the living and active cast of ASM are ruled out. The major exception is Harry Osborn who we haven't seen on page since the penultimate Slott issue. Not my favorite theory, but the fact is he hasn't been ruled out.
-- Among the dead characters, the following aren't ruled out entirely -- George Stacy, Gwen Stacy, Ned Leeds, Flash Thompson, and that's among the prominent dead supporting characters. Technically speaking Nathaniel Lubensky hasn't been ruled out so he qualifies as still being on paper. So one can add almost any dead character to the list and claim it qualifies.

So the pool of suspects is larger among dead characters (hmm...almost like a dead pool...RJ you are a genius) than living.

The only character who explicitly seems to know who Kindred is, is Norman Osborn at least in one of his addled states as in the Absolute Carnage tie-ins.

You are all free to add/subtract/correct/qualify me on this.

It is a long shot because I would not know his motive and also the calling of Parker Pete is certainly a clue, but Nicholas Lewis ( Crime Master) can be added to the list. He was in the Ditko era, familiar with Osborn, and likely ended up in Hell. He also played a role in the recent original Gwen comic ( which is interesting). I still look at in alphabetical order: Ned Leeds, Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy as the favorites. But Lewis as Kindred would make a nice curveball to shock the readers, if Spencer decided to go in that direction.

[CrimsonEchidna]

[Celgress]

Hahaha, oh, the memories. I watched that meme be created live as a youngster.

Damn, I feel old lol.

[xpyred]

I absolutely don't understand where the whole "Ditko era" clue came from. That's something I noticed recently on CBR posts and I may have to go back and read through 45 issues again to see what I missed.

I don't think it's Ned Leeds considering his clone just died while warning peter about Betty Brant and I don't even think she's come up recently.

I don't think it's Gwen because that's just beating a dead horse and I don't see shock value in yet another Gwen story.

This mystery has gone on long enough with no real clues except a random outburst at Peter revealing to Black Cat, two issues of Absolute Carnage and the line "I don't like killing innocents". It's not enough to keep me here trying to figure it out.

[Inversed]

Another major clue to remember: Kindred was already in hell when Mysterio died in Guardian Devil, which means if it is someone who died, it has to be someone who died before that point (easiest estimate would be sometime before the start of the 1999 Howard Mackie run). Which would obviously throw Flash out of the running (and would also just be an incredibly terrible idea anyway).

Also, this is my personal theory, I don't think we need to look at this as just simply being one full being, I believe there is a full possibility that he may be the physical manifestation of a piece of someone's soul. It would help to explain why it could be someone like Harry, who's still alive, or (to a lesser extent) Gwen, who was brought back/doesn't really have a reason to be in hell, Kindred's actually just a piece of them taken form as a vengeful beast. And Spencer himself opened his run with a story about a soul being split in two, so could end up being verrrrry early foreshadowing.

I also really wouldn't put it above Spencer to make him a deep cut and not some "huge major important character that will completely shape everything", because he's already shown how much he loves integrating all the obscure stuff, so wouldn't put it past him to take the most obscure thing he could think of and make it the most important plot point.

[NC_Yankee]

I absolutely don't understand where the whole "Ditko era" clue came from. That's something I noticed recently on CBR posts and I may have to go back and read through 45 issues again to see what I missed.

I don't think it's Ned Leeds considering his clone just died while warning peter about Betty Brant and I don't even think she's come up recently.

I don't think it's Gwen because that's just beating a dead horse and I don't see shock value in yet another Gwen story.

This mystery has gone on long enough with no real clues except a random outburst at Peter revealing to Black Cat, two issues of Absolute Carnage and the line "I don't like killing innocents". It's not enough to keep me here trying to figure it out.

Almost every issue of Ditko is worth reading. Take Amazing 31-33 ( the Master Planner Saga and the first appearance of Gwen). My personal favorite story. He introduced readers to not only Spider-Man, but JJJ ( with a clear explanation behind him), Ock, Goblin, Lizard, Kraven, Vulture and Sandman to name a few. He also wrote one of the best Doom stories and created the foundation of MJ.