The Spider Who Laughs by TonyTempest on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

The Spider Who Laughs

Kaine + Jason Todd + Doppleganger + Batman Who Laughs

Anubis’ first attempt to clone Peter Grayson was not without its faults, and as it continued to degenerate, it became more mentally unstable and physically deformed. Anubis let it live as a test subject, and even he was surprised at the fact that it survived.

The clone felt a strong sense of rejection from the way that Anubis treated him and escaped from his lab. He chose a name for himself, Jason Kaine. He discovered that his degeneration had also affected his powers. He has a corrosive touch (similar to Cordyceps’) and his spider-sense allowed him to actually glimpse the future (like the power granted Madame Oracle).

Jason Kaine was, first and foremost, a clone of Peter Grayson, and he had a strong sense of morality (though like everything else, it became warped and ‘deformed’). He felt he was someone who should protect others from bullying, and in New Gotham, there was no shortage of bullies. While his powers made him more than a match for normal humans, he still used his full powers against them to defend the defenseless, frequently resulting in the death or maiming of his victims.

After Anubis’ scheme against Nightweb resulted in Ben Drake nearly dying, Kaine discovered the planted evidence and, as intended, concluded that Ben was the real Peter Grayson.

Kaine decided to stay in New Gotham and watch over the man he believed was the clone, the real Nightweb. Kaine had learned that Barbara Stacy was “killed” by the Bogey Man and, just as Peter, loved her. He sought to get his revenge on the Bogey Man. To do this, though, he needed to bide his time so that he could approach him.

He found his way to a half-way house run by Detective Louise Gunn, and fell in love with her. However, he learned that the halfway house was actually a front to train recently released criminals to be henchmen for the seemingly endless supply of colorful villains in New Gotham. Despite falling in love with her, Kaine killed her and chased off all the potential henchmen that were in the halfway house at the time.

This brought him to the attention of “Ma” Gunn’s partner, who presented Kain with the option of becoming a Maggedon enforcer/hitman. Kaine, whose desire was still to avenge himself on the Bogey Man, accepted, and his insanity had grown to the point that he fully accepted and embraced the role, convincing himself that he was going to be able to get close to Jack Osborn this way.

His fingerprints, of course, and Peter Grayson’s were the same, so Kaine also attempted to frame Peter for the crimes he committed. He believed that Ben was the real Nightweb, and wanted him to be able to reclaim his life, and getting the current Nightweb out of the way seemed like a good idea… to his addled mind anyway.

Being a spider-totem by virtue of cloning, he came to the attention of Morlun al Ghule, and fought him off, killing several of his agents. Morlun, once he got close enough, could sense the nature of Kaine’s connection to the Red was “off” and was the sort of equivalent of Saccharin when he craved real sugar. After this attempt, he was no longer interested in Kaine as a source of totemic energy, but he did keep an eye on him for potential induction into his League of Spiders.

Eventually, Kaine was able to confront the Bogey Man (on one of his many escapes from Arkham Island), when the Bogey Man lured him there with a trap really meant to capture Nightweb (involving a woman pretending to be Mary Grayson, Peter’s mother). Kaine managed to beat Nightweb to the scene, and attacked the Bogey Man who was simply incensed that his plan had gone awry, spoiled by one of Anubis’ fake Peters.

The Bogey Man defeated Kaine, deigning him not even worthy of his gags. Grabbing a length of rebar, the Bogey Man beat Jason Kaine near to death, leaving him broken and bleeding on the warehouse floor next to the bound woman that had pretended to be his mother. The Bogey Man then set off the bombs in the warehouse, killing them both, just as Nightweb arrived, too late to save them.

Anubis had thought to retrieve Jason Kaine’s remains for study, but was surprised to find the body was already missing. Agents of Morlun al Ghul had retrieved the body, and resurrected Kaine in the Lazarus Webs. This resurrection, his failure in avenging himself on the Bogey Man, and the Webs allowing him to touch the Web of Life and Destiny directly further warped his mind and body. The man was now much more physically intimidating than Peter ever was, and he was ready to become a viscous killer. Dubbing him the Cardinal Spider, Morlun guided Kaine’s rage toward his own interests in the League of Spiders.

Wearing a red helmet over militaristic gear, and wielding guns (which Peter Grayson would never do), Cardinal Spider worked for Morlun for a time, before finding himself in New Gotham again.

By this time, the Huntsman had had his last hunt against Nightweb and shot himself. His family wasn’t ready to accept this however, and kidnapped Kaine (believing him to be Peter) and sacrificed him in a ritual to revive Kraven the Huntsman.

This time, Anubis was able to retrieve the body and took it to one of his many hidden labs to study. Through his processes, he was able to resurrect Kaine, but Kaine had been infected by the demonic energies of the Kravinov’s ritual and mutated further than ever before. Growing extra pairs of red eyes, and two more pair of arms, at first Anubis was pleased and wanted to christen him his “new Tarantula!”, but Kaine attacked Anubis. His strength was too much for the (probably) clone of Miles Strange. In desperation, Strange doused Kaine’s mutated form with the Bogey Man gas. Strange would have died laughing, due to the gas, but Kaine, also laughing uncontrollably, killed him first.

The Bogey Man gas warped Kaine one more time, making his visage even more demonic with a rictus grin of sharp teeth and spider-like jaws, spiked, warped fingers and feet, and a hunched, powerful body. His precognition ability also went supernova, and he could not only see the future, every future, but also the past…every past. As insane as he was, he would not be able to function without his Eighth Metal visor limiting his “spider sense precognition”.

The Spider Who Laughs became a major enemy of Nightweb, his rogues, and everyone in New Gotham. When the Widow Queen attempts to transform everyone in New Gotham into a spider creature she can control, the Cure gives Kaine a reprieve from his tortuous life.

Meta Backstory

Yes, this is a bit much for an amalgam, but the story went so well together, I feel. It maybe doesn’t need Jason Todd, honestly, but I wanted to continue the thought idea that the Peter Grayson clones selected names that were based on other Robins…

But this character really took off when my friend suggested Batzarro + Doppleganger. I looked at Batzarro and his grin made me think of the Batman who Laughs, so away we went. Because Doppleganger had six arms, and Kaine gained six arms when he became the “tarantula” (not the good one), this made me think that Kaine would be the “spider” who was warped into the Spider Who Laughs (okay, his extra legs look more spidery…so sue me 😀)

Based on yesterday’s post where I realized I just totally went all Ben Reilly and completely missed any Tim Drake, I knew I had to bring more of Jason into this. Ma Gunn combined with Detective Louise Kennedy was a good start, and I knew he’d be killed by Bogey Man with a crowbar. The Cardinal Spider reflects Jason’s anti-hero/vigilante/villain life as the Red Hood, so I hope I got enough in there. Rather than the Joker torturing Bruce Wayne before gassing him, I just went with the whole of Kaine’s miserable life making him more receptive to becoming the Spider Who Laughs. Maybe I should have broken this up into two drawings, a Cardinal Spider then the Spider Who Laughs… maybe later. I figure I can only draw people at some stage of their life/career and this was more interesting to me.

Also. Sorry. This Backstory was incredibly long, and my meta backstory is likewise longer than usual. If you read it, THANK YOU!!!

New Amalgams in this Story

Cardinal Spider (Jason Kaine) = Kaine + Red Hood (Jason Todd)

Spider Who Laughs = Jason Todd + Kaine + Doppelganger + Batman Who Laughs

Detective Louise “Ma” Gunn = Detective Louise Kennedy + Ma Gunn

Widow Queen= Black Widow (Blackhawk/Quality/DC version) + Adriana Soria (Spider Queen)

Eighth Metal (Vibranium VIII)- Eight Metal + Vibranium

Anubis, Nightweb, Madame Oracle, Cordyceps, Maggedon, Bogey Man, etc. All others can be looked up in their individual entries.