Clones, Clones, Clones.....

[Spidey5640]

So Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is now officially a clone. Spiderman has clones around every other corner – Ben Reilly (27 times), Kaine, Ned Leeds, Gwen Stacy, Doc Ock to name just a few, Civil War had a Thor clone, the Red Skull is a clone of Steve Rogers body, Professor X – clone. X-23- clone.

Is anyone else tired of Marvel writers using clones? I hate clones. Absolutely hate them. I think clones undermine any and all credibility to ANY story in which they are involved because nothing counts in a clone story. Nothing is permanent, nothing has long term consequences. If anyone dies, they are simply cloned and reappear. It is a cheap gimmick used by writers out of ideas. What’s more, clone are evolving. Used to be they were blank slates when they were created, had to relearn everything. Not now. Now they have memories right up to the time of death of the original. Used to be they needed some meds to keep them going or they would dissolve before your very eyes….now like a new model car they have improved their tech so all of that is out the window. Clones are perfect copies. Copies of characters that actually experienced every emotion, every action, every defeat, every consequence of their actions but now none of that counts. Clones are just as good. Same as the original and we should just accept that.

Marvel writers should be absolutely ashamed of this trend. This is the best you can do? Really? Really?

Am I alone in this feeling?

[Xalfrea]

I'd argue Gwen doesn't count because she got her powers in her own universe and was not literally cloned from Peter Parker.

[LordMikel]

I'd argue Gwen doesn't count because she got her powers in her own universe and was not literally cloned from Peter Parker.

Not Spider-Gwen, originally there was a Gwen Stacy clone.

[Bossace]

Clones can be annoying, like the amount of times poor Gwen has popped up because of it. But I do enjoy clones like Kaine, Ben and ultimate universe version of Jessica drew. Characters who offer something different from the characters cloned from the original. But cloning just to clone like black widow seemed like a pretty lame way to resurrect her, I feel like that’s how they brought colossus back too unless I’m remembering wrong.

[leokearon]

It's lazy writing but it is no different to the whole mutant origin

[Dr. Skeleton]

Let's not forget Sabretooth. Yeah, I do hate clones. Clone Saga was the reason why I quit Marvel.

[OOTCS]

I wouldn't count Laura because even though she is genetically engineered from Logan's DNA, she was born and raised and is essentially her own person. And clones can be interesting if they actually tell an interesting story with them, push the boundaries a little, but as an easy way to bring a character back from the dead...yeah, I'm over that, too.

[Spidey5640]

I just see clones as such a cop out to escape telling any consequential stories. It's like writing a What if? story arc. there is no lasting impact on a character because clones have a built in escape for the writer - you either bring back the original if the clone's actions go against what is expected of the original and say "well it was clone who acted that way, not Pete, Natasha etc.." or you just let the clone die. So unoriginal.

[Grim Ghost]

I totally agree with the OP. Clones are so lazy. Only thing that annoys me more is the "I come from an alternate future/past/whatever" characters....stares at the X-Men hard.

[Iron Maiden]

So Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is now officially a clone. Spiderman has clones around every other corner – Ben Reilly (27 times), Kaine, Ned Leeds, Gwen Stacy, Doc Ock to name just a few, Civil War had a Thor clone, the Red Skull is a clone of Steve Rogers body, Professor X – clone. X-23- clone.

Is anyone else tired of Marvel writers using clones? I hate clones. Absolutely hate them. I think clones undermine any and all credibility to ANY story in which they are involved because nothing counts in a clone story. Nothing is permanent, nothing has long term consequences. If anyone dies, they are simply cloned and reappear. It is a cheap gimmick used by writers out of ideas. What’s more, clone are evolving. Used to be they were blank slates when they were created, had to relearn everything. Not now. Now they have memories right up to the time of death of the original. Used to be they needed some meds to keep them going or they would dissolve before your very eyes….now like a new model car they have improved their tech so all of that is out the window. Clones are perfect copies. Copies of characters that actually experienced every emotion, every action, every defeat, every consequence of their actions but now none of that counts. Clones are just as good. Same as the original and we should just accept that.

Marvel writers should be absolutely ashamed of this trend. This is the best you can do? Really? Really?

Am I alone in this feeling?

So where did they officially make Natasha a clone? (issue #) Was is done because of her age?

[Digifiend]

It was done because she was killed in Secret Empire, saving Miles Morales.

She was revived at some point prior to Tales of Suspense #100, revealed to be alive in #102, and revealed to be a clone in #103.

[WebLurker]

So Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is now officially a clone. Spiderman has clones around every other corner – Ben Reilly (27 times), Kaine, Ned Leeds, Gwen Stacy, Doc Ock to name just a few, Civil War had a Thor clone, the Red Skull is a clone of Steve Rogers body, Professor X – clone. X-23- clone.

I haven't read all those stories, but there are a few differences. Black Widow, Doc Ock, Professor X, Reilly, and Red Skull were cloned as a form of resurrection for the characters (instead of a supernatural method or changing history). Reilly, Gwen, Leeds, SPider-Man, Thor, and others were part of specific plots involving cloning gone wrong. X-23 averts all the major cloning tropes (she had to grow up rather than being aged to adult form right away, doesn't have any of Wolverine's memories, has her own personality, and did very little with the "are clones real?" thing), to the extent that changing her origin to something other than cloning (like how Logan reimagined her as a test tube baby) changes nothing important about the character. Basically, from a narrative standpoint, she's not treated like a clone character.

Is anyone else tired of Marvel writers using clones? I hate clones. Absolutely hate them. I think clones undermine any and all credibility to ANY story in which they are involved because nothing counts in a clone story. Nothing is permanent, nothing has long term consequences. If anyone dies, they are simply cloned and reappear. It is a cheap gimmick used by writers out of ideas.

Cloning is just one method used to to resurrect characters, so it's not like the problem would go away if cloning was off the table; comics would still have zero consequences for the big name characters, they'd just used different tropes to undo stuff.

What’s more, clone are evolving. Used to be they were blank slates when they were created, had to relearn everything. Not now. Now they have memories right up to the time of death of the original. Used to be they needed some meds to keep them going or they would dissolve before your very eyes….now like a new model car they have improved their tech so all of that is out the window. Clones are perfect copies. Copies of characters that actually experienced every emotion, every action, every defeat, every consequence of their actions but now none of that counts. Clones are just as good. Same as the original and we should just accept that.

Actually, the idea of a clone being a perfect copy, with memories and all that, is old hat. And there are clones, like X-23 and the young Apocalypse clone, who avert the "perfect copies" thing entirely. Also, a clone not turning to dust is more realistic and is primarily plot relevant than anything else. Spider-Man clones turning to dust makes sense since the usual idea of those stories is that they're just copies. X-23 not turning to dust makes sense, since her story isn't about being a clone, but being an abuse survivor.

Marvel writers should be absolutely ashamed of this trend. This is the best you can do? Really? Really?

Am I alone in this feeling?

I'm not a huge fan of the "a clone is the same person as the original" conceit (since that doesn't make any sense), however, I don't think authors should be limited if they have a good story in mind.

[Iron Maiden]

It was done because she was killed in Secret Empire, saving Miles Morales.

She was revived at some point prior to Tales of Suspense #100, revealed to be alive in #102, and revealed to be a clone in #103.

Thanks. I guess one of these days I'll thumb through Secret Empire. Then again maybe not.

[kilderkin]

Thanks. I guess one of these days I'll thumb through Secret Empire. Then again maybe not.

skip it

Not keen on the Nat clone thing either

Just let her stay dead rather than half bothered things like this imo

[BlueElf94]

If we wanna get technical, Nightcrawler's in a "cloned" body too (made up of demon worm Bamf thingies, but you get the idea).

Speaking of clones, I just recently read Infinity Abyss for the first time. Yikes