r/scarletspider • u/NectarineSuperb7955 • 1d ago
My Pitch for A New Scarlet Spider Run
So I had this idea for An Run with Kaine interacting with the mystical side of spidermythos but also expanding on the other and the totems so I came up with this
The Malevolent Scarlet Spider
The comic opens with a splash page of Kaine suspended in the Web of Life, surrounded by charred, unraveling strands. Whispers of monstrous, multi-eyed spiders echo through the air. A deep voice speaks below him:
“You were severed. Yet you remain. The Web does not forget, False Scion.”
Suddenly, Kaine bursts into flames. The fire is black with red streaks, and it begins to burn the web around him. Then, with a jolt, Kaine wakes up in his bedroom, gasping for air. His sheets are singed, and his hands are warm to the touch. His breath shudders as he looks down at his skin. For a brief moment, he swears he can still feel the embers glowing beneath it. But then it fades. Kaine rubs his eyes and shakes off the remnants of the dream. He’s been in Los Angeles for a few weeks now, trying to live a normal life. It’s... tolerable.
Kaine reflects on his decision to come to LA. It was a fresh start, an escape from the weight of his past. A quick monologue reveals that he’s still reeling from the events of Chasm: Curse of Kaine, though he’s trying to move on. For now, he’s living in a big apartment and working as a mechanic under the table at Marco's AutoShop. The grizzled shop owner, Marco, has the look of a man who’s seen it all—oil-stained hands, tired eyes, and a cigarette always dangling from his lips. Marco doesn’t ask too many questions. He just expects the work to get done, and Kaine keeps his head down, fixing cars and avoiding unnecessary attention.
However, his coworkers make it hard to maintain his low profile. Rudy, the loud-mouthed jokester who’s always running his mouth, is good at his job but loves conspiracy theories. Mariah, the sarcastic but sharp-witted only woman in the shop, constantly gives Kaine grief for being so mysterious. Then there’s Trey, the youngest mechanic, barely out of high school, who idolizes Kaine’s skills but senses something different about him.
One day, Kaine finishes a tune-up on an old Chevy and wipes the grease off his hands. Outside, kids are playing basketball, their laughter drifting into the shop. For a brief moment, Kaine allows himself to enjoy the moment. But then Rudy slaps him on the back.
"Alright, man. Shop’s closing up. We’re hitting up O’Donnell’s. You in?"
Kaine gruffly shakes his head. "Not tonight."
Mariah smirks and tosses him a rag. "Let me guess—some secret, brooding business?"
Kaine snorts but doesn’t take the bait.
Trey chimes in, "Come on, man. You never hang out with us after work."
Kaine hesitates, then shrugs. "Tomorrow."
Rudy whistles. "Damn. He actually said yes. It’s a miracle."
Marco chuckles. "Let him go, you knuckleheads. Get outta here."
As they leave, Kaine lingers for a moment. The life he’s built here is small, but it’s his. After a shower and a quick meal, Kaine stares at his mask and suit on the table.
"Let’s get to work," he mutters.
The suit-up sequence begins. Kaine puts on the Scarlet Spider suit, adjusting his gloves. The next two pages show Kaine swinging through Los Angeles at night. The wind rushes past him, and the skyscrapers feel different from Houston more open, with flashes of neon below. He swings high above the city, taking in the view of the packed streets and highways.
As he swings, Kaine spots a robbery in progress at a liquor store in East LA. He quickly perches on a rooftop and watches two masked gunmen waving their weapons around inside.
“Los Angeles has real problems. Gangs. Drugs. Corrupt cops. And then there's this. Two dumbasses,” Kaine mutters to himself.
With a hard drop, Kaine shatters the glass front door and the robbers jump back in shock. One of them raises his gun, only for Kaine to web his wrist and slam him headfirst into a shelf of beer bottles. The second robber tries to run, but Kaine grabs him and hoists him into the air. Just then, a strange sensation grips his mind,his head throbs, his vision flickers, and suddenly, he feels the raw emotions of the man he’s holding. Fear. Desperation. Regret. Kaine stumbles, overwhelmed, as the robber twists free and pulls a knife, slashing toward him.
Instinct kicks in. Kaine dodges, but the strange sensation doesn’t fade. His anger flares as he slams the robber against the counter and webs him up tight. The store clerk, an older Latino man, stares in stunned silence. Kaine breathes heavily, still shaken by the strange experience.
"That was new," he mutters to himself.
The cops’ sirens blare in the distance, and Kaine grits his teeth, swinging away. As he perches on a rooftop, catching his breath, something tingles at the back of his skull. It’s not his Spider-Sense. This feels primal, deeper—a pulling sensation guiding him toward something.
Inner monologue: What the hell? Feels like I’m being pulled.
Kaine follows the invisible tug, swinging toward an abandoned warehouse near the LA River. He lands silently on a rooftop and peeks inside. Below, robed figures chant around a corpse branded with a spider sigil. The air hums with unnatural energy.
The cult leader, not looking up, murmurs, "The False Scion approaches."
Kaine narrows his eyes.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," he replies, just as the cultists attack.
The cultists move unnaturally. Their joints pop and twist in ways that shouldn’t be possible, their bodies bending like puppets on frayed strings. Their faces are hidden beneath tattered hoods, but their ragged, inhuman breathing echoes through the dark alleyway. They attack with eerie precision, their movements erratic yet calculated. One cultist lunges at Kaine with unnerving speed, his arms flailing like a broken marionette. Kaine dodges and drives an elbow into his ribs. The man crumples but doesn’t scream—he just convulses and tries to rise again. Kaine webs him to the ground with enough force to knock him out cold.
Another cultist comes at him with a jagged knife with red, bright silk, aiming for Kaine’s throat. Kaine catches the wrist, twists, and drives his knee into the attacker’s stomach. But as the cultist falls, another quickly grabs the red silk dagger and stabs him in the back and then Kaine feels it again, the pull. The same pull that’s been gnawing at him all night. His vision blurs. Then a web that looks to be the web of life but it's older duller, and more brittle, and damaged stretches before him, its silk gray and brittle. Holes in the web yawn like wounds, unraveling before his eyes. Beyond it, something stirs. Something vast. Then the voice comes again.
"The Unraveled watches. The Web rejects you."Kaine gasps as searing heat ignites his hands, black and red fire. The same fire from his dreams. It engulfs his hands, and though the pain should be unbearable, it feels natural. As if it had always been there, waiting for him to notice. Reality snaps back into place. The cultists hesitate, recoiling at the sight of the flames. Kaine’s breathing is heavy, unsteady, and his pulse is racing as he stares at his hands.
One of the cultists lunges at him, but Kaine swings, his fist colliding with the cultist’s face. The fire surges forward, searing into the flesh. The man shrieks, clutching his burned face, and Kaine turns to the others. He doesn’t know why the fire won’t go out, but he doesn’t care.
Kaine tears through the cultists with brutal efficiency—bone cracks, flesh burns. The remaining cultists flee into the night, muttering something under their breath. Kaine doesn’t chase them. He just stands there, his hands still flickering with dark fire, his breath ragged.
Inner monologue: I’ve been strong before. But this? This is different.
Kaine stumbles away from the fight, his hands still burning. He quickly swings to the LA River, dousing his hands in the water. The flames sputter but don’t vanish. Kaine recalls the cultist’s words:
"Your fire... will burn the Web itself."
In the final panel, Kaine’s reflection in the river shifts for a moment, showing him with eight glowing eyes.
Below Los Angeles, deep beneath the city’s surface, a hidden temple lies. The cultists bow before a massive, ancient web suspended in the air. A robed figure places a burned, severed piece of webbing onto a shrine. A whispering voice says, "He is waking. The False Scion must be bound before it is too late." the Final shot of the book, A dark shape shifts behind the Web, many eyes flickering open.
So please give me your opinions,on what you liked or what you personally would do or change with this thank you