Folks, I don’t have a new comic to review for the first time in years, so I’m combining Cobwebs and Alford Notes to look deep into who is Kindred! This is it! A DEFINITIVE ANSWER TO WHO KINDRED IS – and it’s not who you think, dear readers! Read on for an analysis done in the Capricious Crawlspace Comportment!
This is a long read, but if you want to know who Kindred is – it’s worth it!
Remedial ASM 101
If you need this, then I’m pretty sure this article isn’t for you, but who am I to turn away a reader? Behind the scenes, a mysterious masked individual with some control of centipedes and potentially demonic power has been stalking Peter Parker and those he interacts with both as Spider-Man and out of costume. Who is he? Only Mysterio knows, and he’s not talking (well, to us, anyway). All we have are some clues he’s dropped here and there along with his costumed name – Kindred.
The Suspects (posited at various points along the way by Crawlspace readers):
Jason Macendale / Roderick Kingsley / Ned Leeds (Hobgoblin connection)
Mephisto / Demon Under Mephisto
Alternate Peter / clone
The Marriage Incarnate
Ezekial
Felicia Hardy or her father, Walter Hardy
Jean DeWolffe
Carly Cooper
Harry Osborn
Baby May or the unnamed daughter lost in the marriage deal
Nora Winters
Maddie Franklin
Uncle Ben
Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake
Jackal
Flash
Silvermane
Richard Fisk
Foreigner
Richard Parker
Will Fitzpatrick
JJJ Sr.
Someone as Yet Unknown to Us
Spider-Cide
George Stacy
a damned part of Peter’s soul that Mephisto got in the deal
Gabriel Osborn
Randy Robertson
The Problem
The biggest problem with people guessing the identity is that most of the people I’ve heard on other sites only look at the most recent clue, and not the many clues given in the 30+ issues prior. So let’s break this down!
All issue references are vol 5 unless stated otherwise.
The Clues
Kindred Died Prior to 2006 (our time)
- In his first appearance as Kindred (ASM #1), Kindred mentions that he walked Mysterio out of hell, which means he was not only in hell by 2006, but powerful enough to lead Mysterio out.
- In the same issue, he refers to himself as, “The thing which catches us all.” Doubtful he is referring to Usain Bolt.
- Using the Mysterio reference, his first reference may have been Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12 vol 1:
- In ASM #7, Kingpin bows to Kindred. In this issue it is revealed that Kindred was active when Vanessa died, which is 2007 in our time (Daredevil #92 vol 2).
- In this same issue, he refers to himself as being “in the rotting flesh”. While he could be speaking poetically, this is early in his reveal and the odds are high that Spencer is giving us information to frame this character with.
- In ASM #24, Kindred claims to be a prisoner of hell.
- In ASM #37, Kindred is hanging out in a cemetary.
- On Twitter, when someone asked Ottley if Kindred had bad breath, he replied, “No breath”. While not a canon fact, it does seem to reaffirm previous clues of Kindred having died.
Thoughts:
The dates of time in hell I believe are most important to narrowing down the field of candidates. Whoever this is must have died or been a resident of hell before 2006 in our timeline.
The Prisoner of Hell does not rule out Mephisto yet as he could claim prisoner status for a number of reasons.
We can keep Jackal if we say that the real Miles Warren died in first Clone Saga. We can keep Harry since he died prior to 2006 and his return is suspect.
We can keep Jackal if we say that the real Miles Warren died in first Clone Saga
We can keep Harry since he died prior to 2006 and his return is suspect
The unkept graveyard that Kindred chooses may be of some importance or it may be just be an artist idea. It should not be anything connected with Uncle Ben as his grave yard is well kept. The fact that is forgotten and overgrown may suggest people no one cares about or maybe people whose death no longer matter, say due to the marriage deal (like Harry).
Even though One More Day happened after Mysterio’s hell arc, we can say that Peter’s messed up soul stays in due to splitting at time of marriage.
Suspects that meet the death prior to 2006 criteria:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, The Marriage Incarnate, Walter Hardy, Jean DeWolffe, Harry Osborn, Baby May or the unnamed child lost in the marriage deal, Maddie Franklin, Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake, Jackal, Richard Fisk, Richard Parker, Will Fitzpatrick, JJJ Sr., Someone as Yet Unknown to Us, and George Stacy.
Mephisto / Demon Under Mephisto – while not dead, could fit this criteria of not being “alive”
Any new suspects needs to fit this criteria as it is one that is the most developed early on, therefore, must be an important clue in Spencer’s eyes.
Kindred Knows Peter
- From ASM #1 on, Kindred refers to him as “Pete” – shows familiarity.
- ASM #23 – Says Peter is the greatest threat to the ones he loves.
- In that same issue, Kindred does not set off Peter’s spider-sense (though the spider-sense has never been the most stable of indicators).
- The name Kindred literally means close like family thought this cannot rule out actual family.
Thoughts:
You could stretch what Kindred thinks as “like family” a long way. Just because Kindred feels a close connection doesn’t mean Peter reciprocates. For that matter, it doesn’t even rule out someone unknown to us or even unknown to Peter (like his grandfather Will Fitzpatrick), though it is likely.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, The Marriage Incarnate, Jean DeWolffe (with such a close connection to Spider-Man, maybe?), Harry Osborn, Baby May or the unnamed child lost in the marriage deal, Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake, Jackal, Richard Parker, Will Fitzpatrick, Someone as Yet Unknown to Us, George Stacy, Mephisto / Demon Under Mephisto.
We the Readers Are Supposed to Know Who Kindred Is
- Kindred keeps his face hidden
- Kindred guards his identity from us
- In ASM #5, the Tri-Sentinel robots go out in a bang all saying, “Guess my name!”
Thoughts:
The face always wrapped in bandages alone could mean he is horrifically scarred or even invisible, but the other clues with it seem to affirm that we should know. This teasing does not rule out lesser known characters, but should rule out obscure ones. Spencer wants us to guess, so it is a person we could figure out.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, The Marriage Incarnate, Jean DeWolffe, Harry Osborn, Baby May or the unnamed child lost in the marriage deal, Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake, Jackal, Richard Parker, George Stacy, Mephisto / Demon Under Mephisto.
Kindred Doesn’t Just Know Peter, Kindred Has a Personal Grudge Against Peter
- In ASM #7, he will not allow Kingpin to harm Peter.
- In ASM #10, he says he has plans to isolate Peter.
- ASM #24, Kindred says Peter needs to face the truth of what he did and also says, “Just me and you like it should have been all along.”
Thoughts:
This personal grudge suggests that Peter did something to hurt Kindred, either directly or indirectly. This can rule out a few individuals like Jean DeWolffe, who was already on shaky ground with the other clues.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, The Marriage Incarnate, Harry Osborn, Baby May or the unnamed child lost in the marriage deal, Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake, Jackal, George Stacy
Kindred Has Issue with Someone Who Overshadowed Him and Feels Like He Is a Victim of Injustice.
- ASM #4 – Tells Stromm that he too is “Someone who knows what it is like to live in another man’s shadow”
- ASM #18 – Seems to suggest that this person was betrayed or done wrong in some fashion by quoting Hobbes on the viscous nature of humans and saying it’s a wonder anyone can be trusted and in the same issue is shocked by MJ’s act of kindness of not squishing a centipede and notes that there is good in the world after all.
Thoughts:
This, along with his visit to Norman in the asylum, suggests that the driving motivation for Kindred is this victim mentality.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter (less so) / clone (more so), The Marriage Incarnate (less so), Harry Osborn, Baby May or the unnamed child lost in the marriage deal, Uncle Ben (less so), Gwen Stacy / Squeezy Bake, Jackal, George Stacy (less so)
Kindred Is Male
- Ad in ASM 20.hu says “he” in reference to the mystery villain.
- Solicits for ASM #24 refer to mystery villain as male.
- The above can be written off as not canon (especially if marketing is not in on the secret), but they are confirmed in issue when Mysterio tells the brainwashed psychologist the name of Kindred. Kindred is upset that his name was told. In the same issue, the brainwashed psychologist refers to Kindred as male. Kindred should not be upset that the name was revealed unless it is his true identity. Mysterio confirms with his fear that he believes Kindred to be male.
Thoughts:
This is a clue that many people overlook, but it is established that Mysterio knows who this is. To say that Mysterio was lied to by Kindred after so heavily establishing that he knows would be playing unfair with the mystery. Spencer has taunted the reader (in a good way) with this idea that we can figure this out, and as such, has established that we can trust his clues. They may be misleading, but they are not flat out lies.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, Harry Osborn, Uncle Ben, Jackal, George Stacy
Before we get to the most limiting of clues, let’s look at a few others:
Kindred Is Well Educated – he quotes philosophers (seems to rule out Uncle Ben)
Kindred is concerned with the supporting cast – he gets upset over Black Cat being told Peter’s identity and he takes great interest in Mary Jane (he could be Chi-Town).
Mephisto reveals in Champions #4 that “I delight in making all Spider-Men suffer.” This seems to suggest that Mephisto has something to do with Kindred, while not actually being Kindred. Maybe Kindred didn’t escape as much as made some deals with Mephisto to get out. This implies also that Kindred is not as in charge as he would like for us to think,
In the letters pages of ASM #19, Nick Lowe says, “There’s NO WAY you’ll see Roderick or Hobgoblin in ASM. That would be Insane.” – This lends credence to the Ned Leeds idea, but could just be a hint that we will get to see a Spencerian Hobgoblin soon.
ASM #7 – Freaks out the Kingpin and makes Kingpin bow before him. This was troubling at first, but I believe all this is meant to mean is that with his demonic powers, he somehow helped the Kingpin. This does not imply that Kingpin knows Kindred’s identity. This only sets up a timeline for Kindred’s appearance and the power set that Kindred brings to this fight.
Kindred appear to cling to the wall like Spider-Man. Clue that this is a clone or alternate version? The problem with making this a Peter Parker is saying that part of our hero could become not just a criminal, but a ruthless murderer.
Kindred is a small guy. This has been shown by numerous artists, so we cannot just rule it out. This is a clue to his identity and works well with the overshadowed clue. Conversely, this does not rule out a bigger guy since we could say that literally going through hell and being constantly full (consumed?) of centipede monsters will do a number on one’s physique.
Ok, now we are down to the two most limiting clues of all.
Norman Osborn Is Important to Kindred
- ASM #30 shows Kindred taking great interest in Norman.
- ASM #37 – admits that Norman really rattled him. Norman is important.
Thoughts:
This rules out Uncle Ben and probably the Jackal. Though the Jackal would have some issue with the guy who killed Gwen Stacy, he has never seemed to fixate on Norman before (unless I am forgetting something). The line about, “He thinks he knows who I am,” when the issue was leaning heavy to Harry does not rule out Harry. It can mean that this is not who Norman (and by association, us) thinks, or it can easily mean that I am no longer the weakling he remembers. With the new powers Kindred has, either reading is a good one. While George Stacy has reason to hate Norman, their source of enmity comes after George’s death, so this idea that they know each other doesn’t fit.
Suspects still in the running:
Ned Leeds, Alternate Peter / clone, and Harry Osborn
To strengthen the above clue,
Kindred Is a Product of Norman Osborn
- ASM #31 and 32 cement that Kindred is a result of Norman Osborn, both through Kindred’s inner monologue and through Norman admitting that he made him.
Thoughts:
Ned Leeds is getting thinner and thinner here. Sure he is connected with the Green Goblin, and by association, Norman, but this connection seems to go far deeper than anything Ned should be able to feel toward Norman. Plus, Ned’s beef is with Kingsley, not with Norman. A Peter Parker of sorts could still be counted if you want to say that the death of Gwen Stacy is a defining moment on par with the death of Uncle Ben. I think an argument could be made here, and even if the two are not on equal level, Gwen’s death is of magnitude that it could overshadow the impact of Uncle Ben’s death. Therefore, Norman made Peter into the Spider-Man he is today.
Suspects still in the running:
Alternate Peter / clone and Harry Osborn
And the final clue (so far!) – and the clue that reveals his secret identity!
Kindred Was at Harry’s Surprise Party when He Returned from Rehab in ASM 105 vol. 1
Both issues confirm that these people were present at the party and therefore one must be Kindred:
- Aunt May – We could say that she did actually die in Spectacular Spider-Man #400 and that was in 1995, giving her time to rise in the underworld, but we would have to overlook the other clues. She has no problems with Peter, no connection with Norman, she is female, and most of all, there would be no reason to have her going through cancer now to just throw that story line away. Kindred is NOT Aunt May.
Crawlspace Odds – 0% - Randy Robinson – A guess that has gained some traction on our message boards, however, Randy has no connection with Norman, and while he thinks Peter is a bad roommate, he doesn’t have a grudge against him, and most importantly, Randy has not died. Kindred is NOT Randy.
Crawlspace Odds – 0% - Flash Thompson – An early favorite by many, but Flash has not been dead nearly long enough and his connection with Norman is not strong enough to make him go to these lengths. Plus to say that Flash hates Peter this much goes beyond all character development between the two. No, Flash is NOT Kindred. Flash, having the Anti-Venom symbiote, is currently in his grave, constantly reviving and then suffocating constantly for all eternity….
Crawlspace Odds 0% - Mary Jane Watson – Mary Jane has not died and, despite the best intentions of the last run, does not hate Peter enough to go on this murderous rampage. Kindred is NOT Mary Jane.
Crawlspace Odds 0% - Gwen Stacy – Association with Norman – check, reason to have a grudge against Peter – check (especially if you look at Slott’s take on her death in the Clone Conspiracy), knows Peter – check. Gwen Stacy can be made to fit ALL clues except that she is not male. That and it gets problematic to say that her death made her into a rage-fueled demon-entity that worked her way up through hell. I think Spencer will have a hard time selling that one. Kindred is almost a certainty not Gwen. If you like her as the identity of our masked villain, you have to overlook Mysterio’s absolute certainty that Kindred is male.
Crawlspace Odds – 25% - Peter Parker – Some alternate universe version of Peter or a clone version of Peter could be it. Or, it could be a version of Peter that went away after the marriage deal (assuming that put the real version of Peter in hell at the moment the marriage dissolved, not when the deal was made). Still, Spencer has been very keen on the idea that we know THIS guy, not just a version of this guy. To say that this is some version we have never seen before is unlikely. To make any form of Peter into a homicidal maniac is unlikely. Even Nazi Cap only lasted a single issue. It is possible that Kindred is Peter.
Crawlspace Odds – 50% - Norman Osborn – A surprise addition to our list. While he did die and would have the ability to fight his way up through hell, Norman is nobody’s victim. Plus, Spencer went on way too long to show us that Norman is the creation of Kindred. The only way to make this work is to twist this so that Norman and the Green Goblin are separate entities and while the Green Goblin Norman is back in the world, the weak part of Norman stayed dead and went to hell. He is overshadowed by his Goblin persona. This could be a reason we never see Norman in his weak, “I want to be a father to Harry” stage after he is brought back in the ’90s. We could also say that Norman somehow blames Peter for what happened instead of Peter doing the right thing and making sure Norman got the help he needed. This is a stretch, but it could be the curve ball people are looking for. Norman is quite possibly Kindred.
Crawlspace Odds – 75% - Harry Osborn – All clues point to Harry, which is most people’s reasoning that it should not be Harry. Plus, Harry is alive so we would have to construct a theory that the real Harry stayed dead or at least part of Harry stayed dead. The sudden reappearance of Harry in the comics was never explained and Harry’s absence since the start of Spencer’s run is suspicious. My theory is that we are going to see Kindred and Harry in the same panel before issue #50. If this happens, it will be a red herring. That will be the False Harry. Harry Lyman. Harry is probably Kindred.
Crawlspace Odds – 90% - JR Fettinger – One of the unnamed peopled that appeared in both the original party issue and the recap (possibly the guy with the glasses behind Gwen). Norman made JR. Jr has shown some animosity to the current storyline, supposedly because he has seen all this before, but in reality, it goes deeper than that. JR goes by the not-so-secret identity of Mad Goblin. Did JR die before 2006? Well, when did he get married? You think he makes all those comments just as throw away lines? They are CLUES!
Fettinger IS Kindred.
Crawlspace Odds – 100%
Plus, we have this not at all fake leaked image from Ottley’s Twitter feed for the cover of ASM #50:
There you have it, folks. The definitive answer to the mystery. Remember, you read it on the Crawlspace first!
Special Thanks to Peter Norbot and Neil Bogenrieder for bouncing ideas back and forth with me as each issue comes out.
Special Thanks to JR Fettinger who woke back up my love of Spider-Man with his Spidey Kicks Butt articles and therefore bringing me over to the Crawlspace. Learn why we love his articles by reading them here on the Crawlspace.
Never ‘Nuff Said!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
I think by now it is quite obvious who Kindred is.
ASM #24, Kindred says Peter needs to face the truth of what he did and also says, “Just me and you like it should have been all along.”
Kindred feels that Peter Parker and Kindred both should be together like it should have been “all along”.
That KIndred is “male” is a red herring.
KIndred is female. Kindred is small in size because Kindred is female. A dead female who was close to Peter Parker.
They should have been together “all along”. Has a history with Norman Osborn.
Obvious now isn’t it?
Last Hint: This dead female appears on this very page in one of the panels!
its most likely harry but Harry has no real ties to the Kingpin (at least that I remember) and I feel that he might be too obvious even though he’s a product of Norman Osborn
However I feel like it’s Aunt May due to the fact that
– previously she was used by Mysterio to get at her dead husband’s treasure (way back in the 70s) so she may have a grudge with him
– was shot by Kingpin’s assassin and essentially was the leading cause of most of One More Day (his sin of taking her life and almosr turning her nephew into something he’s not)
– with Norman, he faked her death, buried her and possibly killed the closest thing to a “grandchild” she could possibly have, also a large cause of most of the tragedy of Peter’s life
– she dislikes Felicia (mentioned before by Aunt May in an issue of Sensational Spider-Man), but doesn’t want to see her go through hell (the vibe that I got from the reveal the way (s)he said HER)
– she’s protective of Mary Jane (obviously since Day 1, she even tried setting them up together)
– okay with Peter (originally in a Sensational Spider-Man issue after she gets shot and Peter uses a seance to try and bring her back, she tells Peter that she wishes to move on and wants to remain dead because she’s tired and lived a long life). Peter still goes through with OMD and essentially spits on her final wishes, and still goes through with bringing her back to life not honoring her basically dying wish.
Also, he sacrificed the marriage because of that so not only is it not honoring her wish, he sacrificed the one thing she worked hard to do for her
Also, Peter tried so hard to bring Aunt May back to life but maybe it was a monkey’s paw scenario, where she was brought to life but the Aunt May since Brand New Day wasn’t the real one
Instead Mephisto revived an artifical Aunt May and the real one has been under his command in hell forced to live a life of damnation because of Peter and his selfishness
-Also centipedes are known for their long lifespans
– Aunt May has been the reoccurring theme of death and frailty (she can keel over and die at any minute, the NUMEROUS TIMES SHE’S BEEN KIDNAPPED OR SEEN AS A FRAIL OLD WOMAN)
– She is one of the only people to have been around when Sin Eater was rampaging in the 80s so maybe she used that as a low point in Peter’s life, also knew who Sin Eater was
– kindred mentions many times about the thing that chases us all, the theme of DEATH
or it really might be Harry lmao, but I doubt Spencer would make it obvious
@Jack – “at least as much as a creepy super-villain from Hell might show mercy” –
Ha! Ha! I’ll be thinking of this description of Kindred from now on!
I’m just guessing wildly. Harry being Kindred seems obvious, but too obvious, and there’s a living Harry who isn’t a walking corpse crawling with mutant centipedes. Maybe Harry can transform back and forth.
Kindred also seems protective of the women in Peter’s life, at least as much as a creepy super-villain from Hell might show mercy.
But the Ned option seems more and more unlikely. I don’t think Ned had much if any relationship with Norman — like, any at all that I can remember.
Kindred said he was someone who used to get phone calls from Kingpin. I can’t see why Ned would ever have gotten phone calls from Kingpin.
And I can’t see Ned being scared of Norman (unless he meant scared by the Green Goblin voice, which I can imagine Ned having heard). And why would Norman be proud of Ned, as Norman says in the insane asylum? How would Ned be Norman’s true legacy?
@Jack Brooks — I kind of just assumed that The Other “never happened” after Brand New Day, since Peter lost his stingers and the ability to adhere items to different parts of his body. Maybe this means that the “reborn” Peter is different, not only from the one who died, but also the Peter we have now. Ah, The Other — back when Morlun seemed actually intimidating and formidable.
@Evan & Jack
Evan – Well, I can’t find it. I am sure that somewhere I saw that the Lizard and Spider-Man were either talking or it was a thought caption that stated that it was verified that Billy’s soul was indeed in the cloned version. I swear I remember it because I was defending Slott’s take (I know, I know) on these clones not really being clones but rather a resurrection of sorts of the original person. I think I was arguing with Big Al about that. Not sure. Then it turns out to be clones after all, but when that issue came out verifying that it was the actual soul (I think Dr. Strange confirmed it?) then I felt justified in my take. But now I can’t find it.
Jack – I had not considered it being part of the Other storyline, largely because I am very shaky on my knowledge of the Other storyline. I am going to have to go back and re-read it. It has been established that people close to Peter do not set off his spider-sense (like May), but I don’t remember if Harry ever did while they were sharing an apartment together. I guess it could be written off by saying that so far, Kindred has done nothing against Peter to set off the sense, much like the sniper who shot Aunt May. He was there the whole time, but until he actually acted, Peter didn’t sense him. Then again, we’ve seen issues where some random hood is walking down the sidewalk sets off Peter’s spider-sense, so who knows!
@Mark — Maybe because Clone Ned learned, somehow, that Kindred was Undead Ned.
Also, has it been explained yet why Kindred doesn’t set off Peter’s spider-sense? The only thing I can think of is that Peter can’t react to himself. Isn’t that why Peter can’t sense Venom?
Is it possible that a Peter who died in The Other, and the Peter who came out of the cocoon, are two different Peters? Maybe you already analyzed this permutation.
KINDRED IS STEGRON!!!
@Mark — I had no idea that Nick Spencer said the clones in Clone Conspiracy were the real deal. Wait, didn’t Ned turn into flour? (I didn’t actually read that one because clones (Sorry, Zach!)). But then, I guess they weren’t clones after all. Believe it or not, that actually makes me even more confused.
@Mark: Purely coincidence/dumb luck. It’s something I cropped out for Panel of the Day a little while ago and have yet to post, and I looked at it again recently and thought, “Well, ain’t that interesting?”
@Evan – That cover does look very similar! I wonder if it was just a coincidence? I’m not that strong on the whole “Other” storyline. I had stopped collecting at that point and when I got all caught up on MU, I believe it had half the story in another title that either was not on MU at the time or I just didn’t interrupt my ASM streak by pulling those up.
I have heard some push for George Stacy and when we start dealing with demon magic, anything goes, but I just can’t get behind it. Especially since George was briefly brought back to the living in Clone Conspiracy. Since Spencer has already stated that the clones were in fact the real deal (Little Lizard Boy IS actually Billy Conors, soul and all – not a clone), then that was the real George we saw. How does that line up with Kindred? Same goes for Gwen.
But we shall see if Marvel ever goes back to printing comics again!
Personally, I am hoping that it is the Mindworm. 🙂
@ Adam – Head to the front of the class, man! How did you find that – and so soon! Wow! Gold star for Mr. Schingle! If I am remembering correctly, that was during the time they were teasing everyone on who the Hobgoblin was and Flash’s strange actions turned out to be that he was trying out for a professional football team or something. However, Spencer has this deep knowledge of continuity and doesn’t mind incorporating old stories to have new meaning, as shown with the Harry rehab party scene.
@hornacek — Or Ned Dead Redemption
@Adam Schingle:
Ooh! That’s the sort of quote I was thinking of.
Except Flash died very recently, not back in 2006. And it can’t be some form of MJ, since Kindred is male.
I still lean Ned, though I could see it being Real Original Harry, with the current Harry having been a stowaway of some kind.
@Adam – ‘Night Of The Living Ned”!
@Mark — Interesting, but mostly like completely irrelevant thought: As soon as I started reading this article and I saw the picture of Kindred at the beginning (and at the end with masked removed, of course!), it reminded me of a cover I had seen years ago with many alternate versions: the cover to The Other (from late 2005, I believe): https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/735513.jpg
(To be fair, in retrospect I realize that I had falsely remembered the Octopus arms as belonging to Spider-man — they are alternate Spider-man covers, after all — much like those centipedes on Kindred, so it got me thinking along the lines of an alternate Spider-man for Kindred’s identity, but that is the only consideration in that direction for me.)
By the way, even if George Stacy’s reason for hating Norman happened after George’s death, I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch, in a universe with magic and an afterlife and such, to say that he could have still been aware of her death even though he was dead at the time. We are talking about a demon, after all.
Wonderful article!
@Jack and Mark: There was a zombie Ned in Spectacular Spider-Man #148.
Now here’s something interesting I’ve found recently that’s a bit of a wildcard. In Spectacular Spider-Man #96, Mary Jane reflects on the fact that she revealed to Peter that she knows he’s Spider-Man (in ASM #257/258). She then thinks this: “I was concerned to hear what Pete was saying about Flash Thompson, though. Something about troubles with his girl, Sha-Shan. I always sort of thought about Flash as the male version of myself — popular, breezy, don’t let anything get you down. Maybe he’s keeping something bottled up inside him as bad as what’s bothering me. I’ll call him — maybe a conversation with a kindred spirit will help.”
@ Hornacek and Jack Brooks
Hornacek – Didn’t knock the monocle out?
Jack – Q1 – Maybe. Bringing back Ned just to kill him off again seems odd, but I don’t see how his clone getting killed off lines up with Kindred. I’ve tried to see how that fits – not saying it doesn’t, I just don’t see it. I also don’t see Ned being close enough to Peter to claim the Kindred title. I think the Betty thing will be for a story arc that that we see developed after Kindred and after Chameleon.
Q2 – I don’t know of one. I did a quick Google search and didn’t see anything. I bet there was some dream sequence or something like that that you are remembering.
Q3 – This took long enough! I can’t imagine combing through issue after issue looking for that phrase! 🙂 Maybe we can task Hornacek on to it! Give him a No Prize or something. 🙂
Dear Mark:
Q1. Does Clone Ned’s hysterical begging of Peter/Spidey during “Hunted” to protect Betty, and that Betty was in terrible danger, count as a clue?
Q2. Wasn’t there a zombie Ned at some point? Maybe in an ancillary title.
Q3. Is there any way to see if any of these characters ever used the phrase “kindred spirit”? That seems like an impossible task, though.
(drops coffee cup, stares at bulletin board)
Of course! It all makes sense now!
@ George – Thanks!
@ J.R. Fettinger – I’ll take that as a compliment, regardless of the spirit it was delivered!
@ Enigma_2099 – This is the kind of hard-hitting journalism people expect from Threats and Menaces – I mean, Spider-Man Crawlspace!
Did you hit your head and lose track of time? April Fool’s Day was 20 days ago.
You are a profoundly disturbed group of people.
All of this tracks. At last, we know the truth. Good work, Dark Mark!