The Next ‘Spider-Man’-Centric TV Show May Be a Clone War

What’s the best way to tell a Spider-Man story without it actually being Spider-Man? Well, how about a clone? That might be what Sony TV and Amazon MGM end up doing for their next foray into the Spider-Man TV universe. Deadline reports that Prime Video is “closing in on an order” to make a new Spider-Man-centric TV show, this one inspired by Marvel Comics’ “Clone Saga” storyline from the mid-1990s. Written by Kelvin Yu, the creator of American Born Chinese, the show would follow Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, two clones of Spider-Man who will either “grapple with their newly discovered identities as clones while also facing other clones” or take on different identities after their clone origins. Deadline’s sources are unclear on specifics, but apparently there will be significant changes to the original comic book storylines. That makes sense, especially considering the comic books could include Peter Parker in the mix, and these shows cannot due to rights reasons. That’s why Nicolas Cage’s live-action Spider-Noir was also Ben Reilly and not Peter Parker. But, as the Spider-Verse movies made very clear to the masses who are unfamiliar with the decades of comic book stories, there are many, many other versions of Spider-Man to work with. Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller are all expected to be producers on the series, as they have been on all Spider-Man TV adaptations, and this is just one of multiple shows that are in various stages of development. It’s still not a sure thing, but if Deadline is reporting it, this is certainly closer than most. After seeing the level of quality that went into Spider-Noir, any out-of-the-box Spider-Man adaptation seems doable. This one is certainly not the first you’d think of, but once you bring in the idea of cloning, anything is possible. Do you think this could be a good idea? Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.