Miles Warren, codenamed The Jackal, was a professor of bioengineering at Empire State University in New York. He earned that alias because he was not only a master in the field of cloning, but, much like Spider-Man himself and many of his adversaries, The Jackal had subjected himself to genetic modification, transforming into a Jackal-human hybrid.
Well, from every conceivable angle, this guy looked exactly like the kind of villain you'd find in a Kamen Rider show.
And what he was doing now was manufacturing a whole horde of supervillains and Spider-Man clones. His cloning technology was vastly superior to the cloning techniques used by Doctor Octopus in Earth-616—he had spent decades researching the field and had successfully achieved the study of incomparably perfect clones.
Ben Reilly, or rather, the Peter Parker clone of Earth-1616, was one of his most brilliant achievements. When he had completed all his research and intended to exact his revenge on Spider-Man, he discovered that Spider-Man had changed. He had become a gloomy, obese shut-in who was lethargic, depressed, and a complete failure.
This kind of Spider-Man was simply not the Spider-Man Warren wanted to destroy! Everything was ruined! Consequently, Warren first created a "perfect" Spider-Man—a clone with 17 years of combat memories, implanted with five years of fabricated memories, and with all traces of Miles himself erased from his mind. This clone was convinced he was the genuine article, with physical attributes and combat capabilities at their absolute peak.
Imagine, when such a Spider-Man appeared in the city, fighting against supervillains who were long dead, he would steal all the glory from the real deal! He would become the true Spider-Man! Everyone would believe this Spider-Man was the original—that he was the real one!
And he could take everything away from that damned obese shut-in! Even his loved ones, his social connections—eventually, the fat loser would just die in a fit of rage, perceived by everyone else as a clone or some other abomination.
Even taking a step back, if Peter Parker truly rose up and made a comeback, he would still have to contend with his own clone, right?
But everything was ruined! That damned clone Spider-Man had actually formed a united front with that damned fat loser, and for some reason, these clone villains were so flimsy that they were completely totaled the moment they were hit.
In particular, Venom and Mr. Negative—how exactly did they lose? The Jackal had been pondering this question for a long time, but he still couldn't figure it out.
Superheroes shouldn't be like this!
The Jackal gritted his teeth. The Sinister Sixteen had already been completely wiped out. Except for the Green Goblin, he had tinkered with everyone else's genetic sequences, so they couldn't possibly last more than a few hours; by now, they had probably collapsed completely. This was the brilliance of The Jackal's plan: even if the clones and the original body could see eye-to-eye, they would still face the most critical component—experiencing a tragic parting of ways.
Thinking of this, even The Jackal couldn't help but hum a little tune.
Meanwhile, using Mysterio's helmet to project illusions and stealthily sneaking everyone inside, Gwen watched the way this guy's expression shifted back and forth, and after seeing him mutter to himself in a frenzy, she asked, bewildered: "What exactly is wrong with this guy?"
"I don't know either, but I've roughly grasped why Miles Warren is so disgusted with the Peter Parker of this world. Of course, this is just some... speculation."
It was a conjecture based on information about The Jackal from comics past. But after Peter realized that The Jackal's actions toward Spider-Man stemmed from disgust and hatred, he immediately set out to verify one thing, and the results confirmed it.
"Miles Warren was Gwen Stacy's university professor. Back at Empire State University, Gwen—the Gwen from your universe—worked and studied in his research group."
Hearing this, both local Spider-Men turned their heads to look at Peter, and then Ben Reilly asked uncertainly: "Wait, you mean he discovered my true identity and then decided that I was the one who killed Gwen? So he's doing this to avenge his student?"
"It should be said, not entirely for his student. I have a theory, purely a theory... much earlier, around the time you were still in high school, Miles Warren led an experiment on human genetic evolution. During the experiment, he created a cloned human hybrid with jackal DNA. That hybrid unexpectedly gained his memories and then murdered his wife and two daughters."
As Peter spoke, he took out a photo of The Jackal's wife and daughters. The obese Peter asked uncertainly: "You mean this guy thinks Gwen looks like his wife or daughter? Aside from the blonde hair, they look nothing alike, okay?"
"...This is just a speculation; otherwise, you can't explain why he hates you guys so much."
The two local Spider-Men took the news relatively well, but Gwen herself was clearly feeling a bit nauseated. She leaned toward Peter and asked quietly: "I remember you saying there's also one of these guys in our world? Can't we just arrest him now?"
"If you arrest or kill someone just because their counterpart in a parallel universe committed a crime—even if you know this person is highly likely to be a villain—the whole world would descend into chaos. Besides, the Miles in our universe has a wife who is alive and well, and his experimental projects were already shut down by Norman."
Compared to the mindset of "I know he's a villain, so I'll take him out even without evidence," Peter was more wary of a different scenario. Civil War II in the comic book universe was triggered by a similar cause: Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, believed in the predictive powers of an Inhuman and began arresting or eliminating criminals before they committed their crimes. This led to a notorious civil war between heroes that effectively dragged Carol's reputation into the gutter.
"Alright then, can I beat this guy up in front of me?"
"By all means, but the problem is, this guy is likely just a clone, too. I'll go find the real one for you, and you can beat him up all you want."
As Peter said this, he looked at Earth-1616's obese Peter and Ben Reilly: "Then it'll be up to you two to put on this universe's fishbowl helmets and ambush this guy. Gwen and I are going to find the real Miles Warren."
The two gave a gesture of agreement and stood up. The fat Peter, wearing the local Mysterio's fishbowl helmet, walked out: "Hey, Miles, your days of randomly manufacturing clones to mess up New York are over. Shut down the cloning machines."
"If you want this, then come and... I guess he wouldn't say that." Ben Reilly added from the side, watching The Jackal stand up, surprised to see the two of them: "How did you find this place?!"
"Saw him, villains are always so predictable."