Warning: contains spoilers for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #28!

Shift, a flawed clone of Miles Morales, is revealed to be the newest member of his family in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #28, and he's quite unlike any spider-hero who has come before. Miles has an incredibly strong bond with his family, but that bond was sorely tested during his very own 'Clone Saga,' wrapping up in this issue (or so it would seem.) Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Carmen Carnero and colors by David Curiel, the issue sees Spider-Man embrace Shift, implying the weird new hero is here to stay.

Shift is one of three clones introduced in Spider-Man #25. Shift, Selim and Mindspinner were created as part of an as-yet-unknown plot by a living algorithm known as the Assessor, who used Miles' DNA to create the clones and trained them to become expert combatants. Selim, the leader, has a human appearance, but the other two clones are monstrous. Mindspinner has multiple blood-red eyes, pointed limbs, and powerful psionic abilities, while Shift is another beast altogether.

Related: Miles Morales is New Venom of Marvel's Dark Ages

Shift's name is descriptive, as while his base appearance is a corruption of Miles, his vast body can also dramatically change in shape. While Shift doesn't seem to have the ability to fully shapeshift in the style of a character like X-Men's Mystique, his skin is gelatinous and can move around his body. He can create larger arms to add strength to his punches similar to Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel, place the mass at his feet to anchor himself to the ground, and even form tendrils and extra arms to bind or combat opponents. As an unfortunate side-effect of this density control, Shift suffers from several permanent lumps around his throat and neck which make it difficult for him to speak.

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Shift's other power initially seems disconnected from his awkward physicality: the ability to spread colorful gas around a large area. He has utilized this ability only a few times, most often as a multicolored smoke bomb. But in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #28, after a hard-fought victory over the deranged Selim that sadly claims Mindspinner's life, he uses this power to paint a large mural of himself and Miles on the Brooklyn Bridge, with the stylized caption "Brooklyn Brothers." It's quite an impressive work of art, and proof that Shift has human intelligence and can understand Miles perfectly, even if he can't participate in regular conversation. It's possible that Shift's density control is related to these internal gases, though the comics have yet to go into detail.

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At the end of the issue, Miles vows to find a cure for Shift's deteriorating cells, and invites him into his family, asking his baby sister, "You think Pops and Mami are gonna lose their minds when we tell them we have a new brother?" But as unusual of an addition as Shift is, he's more than earned his place in the family, having turned on his clone brothers in order to rescue Miles' sister. It's clear that Miles' 'Clone Saga' has ended quite differently to Peter's, with Spider-Man gaining a new ally with powers far beyond his own. The possibility exists that more clones will arrive in future issues, and Miles still has to make good on his promise to save Shift from his rapid genetic deterioration, but for now, Spider-Man has a powerful new ally in his corner.

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