10. Madelyne Pryor
Maddie gets a spot on this list because she is the mother of one of my favorite comic book characters, Cable. Maddie was a clone of Jean Grey created by Mr. Sinister so that she could get knocked up by Scott and he could finally have the perfect combination of Summers and Grey DNA. Oddly, my favorite moment involving this character has nothing to do with her stint as the Goblin Queen but for her neck-breaking awesomeness in X-men: The End. I also love the fact that even though Cyclops abandoned her and their baby as soon as he got word of Jean being alive, writers have been kind enough to let that drop. Maybe one day they’ll do the same thing for Hank Pym.
9. Kaine
Clone of Spider-man. He melts faces, ’nuff said.
8. Ultimate Spider-Woman
Ultimate Jessica Drew is probably the last good thing to occur in the Ultimate Universe and one of my favorite ultimizations. She’s a clone of Peter Parker whose (created by Doc Ock) whose chromosomes were manipulated to make her female. Great costume, great concept…I’m just not sure if by the time Bendis really starts using her I’ll even be reading the Ultimate Comics line anymore.
7. Ragnarok
Ragnarok, formerly known as Clor, is a clone of Thor created by Tony Stark, Reed Richards and Skrull Hank Pym to serve the initiative. Regardless of how you feel about Civil War you’re kidding yourself if you didn’t enjoy the collective “!@#$ just got real” moment the Marvel Universe experienced when he shows up and fries Black Goliath. There’s also something to be said for the fact that Tony Stark and Reed Richards had a hand in creating this utterly destructive force. I kind of wish Thor hadn’t dispatched him at the end of Siege so that people could make Stark and Richards feel bad about it the way everyone craps on Pym for creating Ultron.
I have no clue why this empathy for Hank Pym keeps seeping into this list.
6. Esme Cuckoo
One of the many good things about Grant Morrison’s pivotal run on New X-men was all the wacky students he created and littered throughout the Xavier institute. The Stepford Cuckoos were just a few of those many great characters although it wasn’t revealed until later that they were clones made from Emma Frost’s cells.
The Cuckoos were always wacky characters when they were portrayed as the Five-In-One, but Esme’s megalomaniacal behavior towards the end of the series is what earns her a spot on this list. She manipulated another student into almost killing Emma, was responsible for the death of her sister Sophie, and got Xorneto so !@#$ed-up out of his mind on Kick (a drug which boosts mutant powers) he tried to flip the world upside-down.
5. Clone-Batman
Another Grant Morrison creation. Clone-Batman is an imperfect clone of Batman created by Darkseid in order to fool Earth’s heroes into believing he had been killed by the Omega Sanction. Since Dick Grayson didn’t believe Tim Drake when he tried to explain to him Bruce was really alive, he mistakenly believed this to the real corpse of Bruce and attempted to resurrect him in a Lazarus Pit. The entire fight he has Dick and Damian is pretty awesome. Go read Morrison’s Batman & Robin if you’re not doing so.
4. Superboy
Here’s where I let some of my fanboy leaning shine through – I’m a huge fan of Young Justice. I think it’s one of the better team books DC has ever published and it’s a damn shame that they have no intention of releasing it in trades. That series made made me a huge fan of Superboy. The only good thing that’s been done with him since was establishing that half of his human DNA came from Lex Luthor, making him Half-Superman, Half-Luthor. This was played with a little bit recently in Adventure Comics but I’m waiting for a good writer to get a turn at the character. He’s hoping his upcoming ongoing doesn’t disappoint.
3. Slo-bo
I was lying before. Here’s where m fanboy leanings really shine through. For those of you that didn’t read Young Justice, Slo-bo is a clone of Lil’ Lobo (a de-aged Lobo created during the Sins of Youth event) who was born during the Our World’s At War crossover when Lil’ Lobo was killed on Apokalips. While other Lobos grew from the blood and battled for supremacy, the genetic leftovers combined to become Slo-bo, who hid from the battle and followed Young Justice back to Earth where he joined the team.
Poor little guy eventually starts suffering from the kick in the nuts known as clone degeneration but before he can die from that Darkseid sends him to the DC One Million future (the 853rd Century!) where he’s a fully conscious statue which is then destroyed by Young Justice One Million.
At least it’s a better fate than being written by Geoff Johns…
2. Mondo
Mondo was a member of Generation X and clone of a villain named…wait for it…Mondo.
Honestly he’s not on this list because I particularly love the character – I think the only things I read with him in them are the AoA Generation Next series and it’s been so long I can barely remember them.
No, Mondo is on this because when I was looking up comic book clones I found his wikipage and all my memories of the Generation X TV movie that aired on Fox in the 90s flooded back to me. Those memories aren’t as awful as you’d think, they’re rather quite fond. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that I’ve allowed my nostalgia to block out how I really feel about that movie after re-watching it again a few years ago.
1. Mewtwo
What? Pokemon is a comic too! Go on, tell me you didn’t love the first Pokemon movie.
That’s right, you can’t.
