My apologies. As you suspected, this was indeed a joking reference to the comics, specifically the “Clone Saga,” which most Spider-fans will acknowledge as being one of the most memorable and influential story arcs of the last decade. That is, they will acknowledge this once you have broken through the self-induced amnesia that their psyches have desperately constructed to blot out the crippling post-traumatic stress disorder that reading the “Clone Saga” tended to induce, a breakthrough which could take years of therapy. So don’t trouble yourself, just take my word for it.
Like you, I’m one of those people who stays to watch the entire credits, partly out of respect for all the various clappers and loaders that worked on the movie, partly as an “Airplane!”-induced reflex not to miss any stingers at the very end. Plus, you learn interesting trivia that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, such as the cameo appearances of John Landis (“Doctor”) or Scott Speigel (“Man on Balcony”).
