Ben Reilly
Ben Reilly is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Ben Reilly was the name adopted by a male clone of Peter Parker who had been created by the villainous scientist known as the Jackal. He was created by Professor Miles Warren had an injection that removed some of Spider-Man's genetic material where the RNA cellular memory was altered to make him believe he was the real Peter Parker. After capturing Spider-Man, the clone and the real Peter Parker were left in a room that held Ned Leeds attached to a bomb that would only defuse to the real version. However, both Spider-Men believed themselves to be the real Peter Parker leading to a fight as they sought to save Leeds. The trap was only thwarted by a clone of Gwen Stacy who was horrified at Miles Warren's actions causing him to regret what he had done and attempting to free Ned Leeds. This caused the bomb to be activated which seemingly killed him and the cloned Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #149)
For years, he wandered from one place to another as he tried to distance himself from his past. Whilst stopping at a diner, he came to meet the red-headed server named 'Janine Godbe' and was instantly smitten with her where he asked her out. (Spider-Man: The Lost Years v1 #1) At first, Reilly simply wanted to had been left alone but Spider-Sense along with the memories of Peter Parker saw him looking to help others. This included aiding the police in their fight against various gangs in the Salt Lake City area where he wore clothing to hide his face as he operated as a masked vigilante. Among his activities included saving the life of detective Matthew Ravens son from the mob that had abducted him. During this time, he and 'Janine' continued their relationship but she broke it off before it could become serious. Around this time, Reilly was also captured by the mob who wanted to eliminate him where they brought a corrupt cop named Louise Kennedy to help them. (Spider-Man: The Lost Years v1 #2) He only managed to escape when a maddened Kaine attacked the warehouse allowing Ben to escape where the injured Reilly sought out Janine for help. She gave him shelter but he learnt that she planned to leave the city and he asked her what she was running from in her life. Janine then revealed her past to him namely that her real name was Elizabeth Tyne and that she had killed her father who for many years had been involved in some incestuous abuse with his own daughter. After killing him, she was held as a criminal and had been on the run ever since where she was haunted by her past. Ben came to reveal his own past to her and confessed that he loved her with the two agreeing to run away together. Whilst making their way, they were confronted by Louise Kennedy along with her partner Matthew Raven where the former wanted to eliminate Ben Reilly to hide her mob connections. Kaine then arrived where he killed Louise Kennedy but allowed Reilly to leave with Elizabeth who tried to make a life for themselves together. (Spider-Man: The Lost Years v1 #3)
This time saw Ben drifting from one place to another as he struggled to get his life together and resented Peter Parker. Whilst at an inn, he did not have money to stay but one of the guests decided to pay the costs as an act of generosity. Later on, a drunk Ben had a tantrum at the inn where he wanted food and became violent after being denied service cause the kitchen was closed. It was then that the same guest tried to reason with him and said that he wanted to help Ben who later passed out. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #405) It was then he found himself in the company of the same man who was named Seward Trainer where he decided to take Ben under his wing. After seeing his talent for science, Dr. Trainer decided to take Reilly on as a research assistant at his laboratory. During this time, an incident occurred that nearly killed them with Reilly being forced to reveal his superhuman strength to Trainer. Despite that, Seward kept Ben's secret and came to be a close friend to Reilly as a result. (Spider-Man v1 #62)
Scarlet Spider
Whilst at the Museum of Natural History, he came to struggle with his origins as a clone. It was during this time that he heard over the radio that Venom was on a rampage. Ben came to wonder why the original Parker never took down Eddie Brock. He then made a quick stop at the museum gift shop before returning to his newly rented apartment where he puts together a new costume. It included a full body suit and mask that are entirely red. Overtop of this, Ben wears the blue hoodie with the spider emblem that he saw in the shop window. Satisfied with his new Spider-Man costume, Ben leapt out as he was determined to take Venom down once and for all. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #118)
Spider-Man
With Peter gone and Ben still feeling guilty over letting his Uncle Ben down, he decided to become Spider-Man again and make up for that one moment of inaction. This saw him adopting the Spider-Man identity with a new costume. Only a few heroes and villains realize this equivalent of Spider-Man was a different person than before. In his civilian life, Ben dyed his hair blonde and started working at a café called the Daily Grind. (Sensational Spider-Man v1 #0)
As the rumors of a new Spider-Man spread through the streets, Ben thought of contacting the Human Torch but had no idea what kind of relationship he and Peter had, the Human Torch eventually took the initiative and wrote a message to Spidey in the sky, asking him to meet with him at the Statue of Liberty. Ben saw this signal and went. On his way there Ben found Sandman and the Silver Sable and attacked Flint, unaware that the former criminal had reformed, which started a fight between the two. Ben was rescued by Johnny, who realized that he was indeed a different person to Peter Parker and angrily asked Spider-Man who he was but Ben said that he did not have to explain himself to him. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #407)
During Christmas, Spider-Man learned about a mysterious new channel network called Mystery-Vision. In the Daily Grind, Ben met a photography student of the Centennial University named Jessica Carradine, she invited Ben to join her on a walk to the University where the two stumbled upon Doctor Ramirez, with Ben leaving Jessica to follow the Doctor as Spider-Man, he found him on his lab watching Mystery Vision on TV and being in some sort of trance by it. Spider-Man was able to resist the transmission thanks to his spider-sense and broke Ramirez out of the trance, the Professor told Spider-Man that Mystery Vision was using his DIT Chip to enthrall viewers. Spider-Man went to Mystery Vision's head office, which turned out to be an abandoned movie studio where he met Rudolph Hines, president of the company, who offered him to try a new pair of virtual reality goggles, as Hines disappeared and smoke filled the room, Ben learned that Mysterio was behind the new network. (Sensational Spider-Man v1 #1) Unfortunately and due to having put on the virtual reality goggles, Ben started to believe that all of which he saw was real when in reality they were all Mysterio's illusions. As Spider-Man kept being victim to the illusions that were broadcasted through Mystery-Vision, he was also attacked by Armada, who had escaped from Ryker's Island, Ben was saved from being killed by a kid named Shakim Panzos, who shot Armada to distract him while Spider-Man had time to get back up and defeat him. After this, Ben realized that he was seeing illusions created by the eyepieces he put on earlier. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #408) Spider-Man could not find Mysterio at the abandoned theater so he decided to get some rest and even went on a date with Jessica, Ben then developed a means of tracking Mysterio's signal with a DIT tracking device developed by its creator. Spider-Man found and destroyed the transmitter which stopped the hypnotic signal, with Mysterio later being taken into custody. (Spider-Man v1 #65)
After saving a woman from committing suicide and stopping a supervillain known as Scorcher on Christmas, Ben met up with Johnny Storm at the Statue of Liberty the next morning after the latter wrote another message in the sky for him. He learned that the Human Torch and Peter always met up on the statue on Christmas morning and received a Fantastic Four communicator as a gift from Johnny in case he needed someone to talk to in the future. (Spider-Man Holiday Special v1 #1995)
While chasing Slyde, Spider-Man encountered the X-Men, who seeked Peter Parker's help, so Ben had to explain to Cyclops, Storm, Angel, Iceman, and Wolverine his whole backstory. Spider-Man helped the X-Men stop Mister Sinister who was after a sample of Carnage, so the heroes fought both villains on Ravencroft. With Ben hurting Mister Sinister when he tried to get into his mind and was instead subjected to his horrible memories. Though they managed to stop Carnage from escaping Ravencroft, Mister Sinister managed to get away from the heroes. (X-Men/Spider-Man v1 #3)
Mister Sinister was shown to had kept a number of Scarlet Spider clones in one of his laboratories. (Wolverines v1 #5)
Dead No More
Though killed, his remains were gathered by Miles Warren who ended up bringing him back to life through cloning. Reilly had retained his memories till the point of his death with Professor Warren pleased at this development. However, he looked to improve his cloning process and noted that Ben still retained some cellular degradation. As such, he killed him and brought him back to life again and again with Ben Reilly having endured countless deaths through various means ranging from electrocution, drowning, dissolved in acid, sonics and being burnt alive over the course of 26 lives. This was until his latest 27th clone where the strain of the numerous deaths caused him to snap where he managed to break free from his restraints and attacked Warren. In his anger, he nearly killed the man but refrained from doing so and instead chained him up where he took over his laboratory. Using the equipment there, he made clones of Warren with the five unsure which one was the original. Reilly also forced them to be dependent on pills that helped stave off cellular degeneration whilst he took over Warren's operation and became the new Jackal. With Warren's resources, Reilly wanted to make sure that no one ever lost a loved one again and looked to bring back all the people Peter Parker had lost. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #22) At some point, he was said to had saved Dr. Rita Johnsons life from two men that tried to kill her where she began to help Reilly in achieving his goals. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #2)
Among the first people to undergo the reanimation process was Gwen Stacy who was brought back to life. At first, she questioned her existence and thinking she was a clone where she was prepared to kill herself. This was until the Jackal showed that he had similarly reanimated her father George Stacy. This led to Gwen becoming a willing business partner to the new Jackal as he went about his plans. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #1) It was then that he went about establishing a network across the country with this web including members of government, law enforcement, medical institutions, media and so many other people who had lost loved ones. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #4)
At some point, the Jackal was responsible for reanimating Francine Frye and bringing her back to life. Later on, Dr. Connors assisted in the experiment designed to restore Electro's powers to him. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #16) Another person he approached was Wilson Fisk where he showed a reanimated Vanessa Fisk to him in order to secure his allegiance. Fisk though killed her after seeing her as an abomination and looked to get revenge against the Jackal. This saw the Jackal having the Rhino sent against him with the intention of killing the Kingpin but the fight was interrupted by Spider-Man which allowed Fisk to escape the scene. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #19) Through the machinations of a duplicate of Doctor Octopus, Ben also acquired the corpse of the original Doc Octopus. The duplicate agreed to work for Ben once he took control of his new cloned body. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #20)
After Jerry Salteres mysteriously disappeared, having been taken by New U after suffering from cellular degeneration when he forgot to take his pills, Spider-Man personally investigated New U. When he infiltrated their base of operations, Peter was confronted by the Jackal. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #1) The Jackal was accompanied by all of the villains who had been resurrected by him alongside Gwen Stacy and her father Captain Stacy. Ben offered Peter a chance to join him, in order to use the combined power of New U and Parker Industries to help the world, but Peter turned him down. When Gwen Stacy was outed as an impostor, with the original having being replaced by her superpowered counterpart from an alternate universe who had been investigating the Jackal's operations, Peter found the chance to escape with her. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #2) Eluding capture from other villains, Ben caught up with Peter, who overpowered him easily. Finally, Ben unmasked and revealed his identity to Peter. He made his offer again to Peter, this time offering up the chance to bring back Uncle Ben as an incentive. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #3)
Once there, Ben showed Peter the apparent utopia he had built, a place where Spider-Man's friends and foes coexisted peacefully. Having realized that Ben possessed power but not responsibility, Peter reprimanded him, prompting Ben to order the villains he had brought back to attack him. Reilly returned to the lab, where Doc Ock and Ben's hostage Anna Maria Marconi had discovered it was a specific type of frequency which caused the cellular decay, and an inverse frequency could stop the decay altogether. Doc Ock amplified the frequency responsible for the decay and piped it throughout the base after discovering that the Jackal was a clone, having decided to sabotage his enterprise for having disrespected Anna Maria, whom Otto loved. When all the clones in the base began to break down and turn into Carrions, Ben decided to broadcast the decaying signal across the entire world, causing an outbreak of the Carrion Virus globally, with the intention to bring every single person back as a clone once they had died. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #4) Ben kept fighting Doctor Octopus while Spider-Man hacked into the emergency system of his Webware and had all of these devices globally emit the inverse frequency, stopping the outbreak and curing all those who hadn't yet completely broken down. During their fight, Octavius shattered Ben's Webware, preventing both of them from being cured. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #5)
Arriving at his safe house, which had been built by the Miles Warren clones to resemble Aunt May's house, Ben was confronted by the real Miles Warren in his original Jackal costume, bent on getting revenge on Reilly for stripping him of his identity. The Jackal started a fire to burn what was left of New U's resources and attacked Ben, but was ultimately defeated and buried under the wreckage of the burning house. After leaving the Jackal to die, Ben set out to pave a new future for himself. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #24)
Life in Los Angeles
In the aftermath, Ben Reilly decided to relocate to Las Vegas as he tried to remake his life once again. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #1) Not long after that, Reilly was forced into an alliance with one of his former clients from New U, influential businesswoman Cassandra Mercury, whose terminally-ill daughter Abigail had been one of the many people replaced with healthy clones by the Jackal. Reilly reluctantly agreed to investigate Abigail's disease and find a cure for her condition. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #2) On Ben's trail was Kaine, who wanted to kill Reilly for his actions as the Jackal. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #3) Upon confronting one another, the two came to blows leading to a fight between them. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #4) Kaine agreed to let Ben go until Abigail was cured. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #5)
In an unusual turn of events, Ben was confronted by the personification of Death itself, who had become fixated on Reilly due to the many times he had died and come back to life. Death warned Ben that his many passings through the afterlife had corrupted his soul, though it would eventually heal in due time to the point he could return to being the hero he once was; however, one more death and resurrection would forever contaminate his soul. As a parting gift, Death offered to bring either Kaine, who had been killed by Death when he tried to attack Ben, or Abigail, who had died of her injuries, back to life, prompting Ben to offer his own life in order to save theirs. Amused, Death not only resurrected Kaine and Abigail but healed the scars in Ben's face too. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #7) In the middle of continuing his research on Abby's disease, the Scarlet Spider came into conflict with Hornet, who had seemingly returned from the dead. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #8)
On the advice of Dusk, Reilly investigated reports of Quentin Beck in Las Vegas, but departed satisfied at Beck's story that he had decided to retire after his recent experiences, since that reminded Ben that he came to Las Vegas for the same reason as Quentin: having a second chance. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #14)
When the Inheritors returned, Reilly revealed himself and joined Otto Octavius's faction that formed in response to the threat where he offered his knowledge of cloning when he was the Jackal. At first, Octavius refused to work with him but accepted Reilly's aid but said that he would keep an eye on him. (Spider-Geddon v1 #3)
Beyond
Ben Reilly would later return to New York City where he took a part-time job as a night shift security guard for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In that time, he came to be one of several heroes recruited into a makeshift team by Iron Man for his mission to defeat the resurgent villainous android Korvac. (Iron Man v6 #5)
Following his return home, Ben was approached by the Beyond Corporation to become Spider-Man once again as part of their initiative to privatize super heroes. Ben's boss was Maxine Danger, the head of Beyond's Hero Department. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #75) As part of Ben's employment, Beyond arranged the release of Janine Godbe from prison, resulting in the rekindling of their romance. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #74) His activities as the Jackal though were a complication for Beyond's hero initiative where they came to wipe Reilly's memories of that time. It was said that Ben had asked for the procedure so that he could operate as a hero without suffering from his past acts. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86) Reilly also counted with an improved suit, gadgets, and a support team headed by his handler, Marcus Momplaisir. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #75)
Provided a new Spider-Man Suit, Reilly went into the field to test its capabilities where he attracted the attention of the real Spider-Man. Ben came to use his webbing to tie-up Peter who later managed to track his clone down when he was in his civilian guise. During their catch-up, Ben revealed that he had been approached by the Beyond Corporation to be their corporate face as they had purchased the Spider-Man identity. Reilly had wanted Peter's blessing for the matter as he intended to be Spider-Man regardless of his feelings. Later on, the new Spider-Man responded to an incident at Empire State University that was being attacked by the U-Foes. Peter Parker as Spider-Man came to arrive at the scene as well where the two worked together against the villains. It was then that the U-Foes created an explosion of radiation against the two heroes. Ben's costume though had radiation shielding whilst Peter was exposed to dangerous quantities. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #75) Leaving Peter at the hospital, Ben later arrived to check on him though his presence was resented by Mary Jane. Feeling remorseful, Ben was by Peter's side where Parker said that he would get better and that Reilly should continue the mantle of Spider-Man. He then equipped himself with Beyond tech that allowed him to defeat and capture the U-Foes. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #76)
Ben's trust in Beyond was subsequently shattered after Doctor Octopus targeted the company for their use of his technology. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #84) After being defeated by Ben on behalf of Beyond, Octavius entrusted him with a hard drive containing the company's secrets, as well as the revelation that Ben's employers had picked him because they saw him as psychologically compromised and easy to manipulate. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #85) Maxine discovered that Reilly had learned Beyond's secrets, she forced him into a device to scrub his mind, which unwittingly erased most of the formative memories that Ben had inherited from Peter. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86) Ben quickly became aware of the missing pieces of his mind, and went on the run from Beyond. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #90) By this time, Peter had already recovered from his major injuries, and suited up after Beyond unleashed a new villainess named the Queen Goblin. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #89) He helped Ben break into Beyond's Staten Island super villain facility, but with Reilly's moral compass compromised, he set free a monster called Creature Z to cause a distraction while he went after Maxine Danger. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #91) Once Reilly stormed Beyond Tower, Maxine enticed him into trying to use the memory-extracting device on Peter to take back his memories from their original source. When Peter caught up with Ben, they fought viciously as the building became flooded with a quantum-shifting polymer intended to cover Beyond's tracks. After Peter destroyed the device, Ben let himself become submerged in this substance in defeat, and the building exploded. Reilly was left for dead, but Janine returned for him and discovered he had become mutated by the polymer. Tormented by his missing memories, Ben fled from Janine, taking on the alias of Chasm. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #93)
Some time later during spring, Ben, who was still living with Janine, started raiding Beyond safe houses to steal their tech. Feeling Limbo calling and the need to get his memories back, Ben started to create a transportation device that allowed him to travel to Limbo, with Janine promising to help him. (Amazing Spider-Man v6 #14)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Later on, he decided dye his hair blonde and restyle it in order to make him look completely different from Peter Parker. After deciding to be stay a superhero, he came to operate as Spider-Man for a time. (Sensational Spider-Man v1 #0) Once, he came to be bonded to the Carnage Symbiote and came to be known as Spider-Carnage. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #410) After his resurrection, he came to take over the laboratory of Miles Warren along with his identity as the Jackal. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #22) After the Beyond Corporation incident, he came to lose his sense of identity and memories where he came to take the name Chasm. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #93) Upon claiming control over Limbo, he came to assume the mantle of its ruler and was known as King Chasm. (Amazing Spider-Man v6 #18)
The original clone had his cellular memory altered to make him believe he was the real Peter Parker. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #149)
Upon learning of his origin as a clone, he came to struggle with his existence. He came to think he was a soulless creature. In addition, he struggled with the memories he held that were those of the original Peter Parker. This saw him initially being upset at seeing anything that reminded him of Spider-Man. Despite this, he still always remembered the truism that was taught to the original Parker years ago which was, "With great power comes great responsibility". (Web of Spider-Man v1 #118)
He lamented that he was too much like Peter Parker for his own good with him unable to resist being a hero. (Spider-Man v1 #51)
Despite being a clone, he still loved and respected Aunt May who he said had raised him as well due to sharing Peter Parker's memories. He had said that regardless of what happened that his memories of May made his life seem more real. It was for her sake that he went out of his way to save the real Peter Parker. (Spider-Man v1 #51)
As Peter Parker's clone, he shared a similar love and care for Aunt May so much so that he went to see her after learning she was in the hospital. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #117)
His memories came to be manipulated by the Beyond Corporation who began to erase portions of his implanted memories. These though came to affect him to the point that he began to become gradually more and more unstable. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #86)
During his self-imposed exile, he came to meet a red-headed waitress named 'Janine Godbe' though she eventually revealed that her real name was Elizabeth Tyne. For a long time, she suffered from incestuous abuse from her father until she eventually killed him in self-defense. This resulted in her being branded a criminal and charged with murder which forced her to go on the run from the authorities. Elizabeth always moved from place to place which prevented her from forming any relationships. In addition, she felt herself to be impure and could not see how anyone would love her. However, Ben came to confess his love for her and even revealed his own origins to Elizabeth where they attempted to run away together. (Spider-Man: The Lost Years v1 #3)
He maintained a close friendship with Dr. Seward Trainer who was a scientist and a man that helped Reilly in a bad moment in his life. (Spider-Man v1 #62)
Powers and abilities
As a clone, he was created to be an exact duplicate of Peter Parker and inherited all his abilities as Spider-Man. This included his super-strength, agility and his ability to stick to walls. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #149) He had noted that he had inherited some of Peter Parker's memories as well as his Spider-Sense. (Spider-Man v1 #51) Reilly also retained Parker's scientific acumen allowing him to create things such as web-fluid. (Sensational Spider-Man v1 #0)
It was shown that his reflexes were fast enough to catch a bullet which was something he had not been aware of and was quite painful. (Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1 #5)
He made use of a Spider-Man costume that helped mask his identity and included a pair of Web-Shooters. (Spider-Man v1 #51) At Centennial University, he came to secretly use their fashion department to craft a new Spider-Man costume for himself. (Sensational Spider-Man v1 #0)
At a later point, he came to be given a new version of the Spider-Man Suit by the Beyond Corporation. It was composed of a kinetic-sensitive foam in the costume which locked under impact thus allowing him to endure powerful blows. His gloves had lead lining in them and the suit was equipped with radiation shielding as well as air-scrubbing micro-mesh. Webbing could not stick to its surface and could deploy a spinneret which was a detachable piece of the costume in the shape of a spider that could latch around a target to restrain them. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #75) Trackers were included that allowed the Beyond Corporation to monitor the suit's position so long as Reilly was wearing it. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #76)
He was once bonded to the Carnage Symbiote against his will thus gaining all the powers of the living organisms. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #410)
As the Jackal, he gained the resources of Miles Warren that included his laboratory which he used to create a business empire called New U Technologies who specialised in cloning. Reilly had claimed to had solved the issue of clone degeneration by having clones take pills that staved off its effects on their bodies. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #22) Though called clones, he insisted that the technology was actually reanimation of dead remains with it bein the genuine person restored to life complete with their memories. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #19) Part of his operation included an underground facility for his laboratories that he called the Underworld. Its counterpart was a palce called the Haven that resembled a city and was a place for the reanimated to be alongside their loved ones. (Clone Conspiracy v1 #4)
Notes
- Ben Reilly was created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru where he debuted as Peter Parker's clone in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #149 (October, 1975) and identified as Ben Reilly in Spider-Man v1 #51 (October, 1994) with him becoming the Scarlet Spider in Web of Spider-Man v1 #118 (November, 1994) and finally as Spider-Man in Sensational Spider-Man v1 #0 (January, 1996).
- The character was based on Spider-Man who was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
- In Back Issue! v1 #69–77 (2010), Conway explained his reasoning for creating the character, "One of the things I was trying to do at that time was take ideas to their logical, yet absurd conclusion, reductio ad absurdum. The idea was that if we have Gwen Stacy brought back as a clone, how can I up the stakes when I get rid of her? When I write her out of the book, what can I do to make that really effective and to punctuate it, to bring it to the next level? And I thought, if we can clone Gwen, we can certainly clone Peter. I was also at that time enamored with titles that played off of old, melodramatic Stan Lee titles of the past. ... I came up with the title, "If I Kill Me, Will I Die?"[a] It was basically a parody of an old overdramatic Stan Lee title, but I also thought it was a good title in general. So that's really what the impetus was - to raise the stakes, give us a good finish to the Gwen Stacy saga, and to allow me to have a little fun with the storytelling conventions of the time."
Alternate Versions
- In Spider-Girl v1 #44 (2002), an alternate version of Ben Reilly appeared in the Marvel Comics 2 reality that was designated as Earth-982 in the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Ben Reilly appeared in the animated series in the episode "Spider Wars" where he was voiced by actor Christopher Daniel Barnes. This version was from an alternate reality where Miles Warren created a clone of Peter Parker and altered both his and the original's memories. Unsure of whether he was the clone or not, the original changed his name to 'Ben Reilly' and went by the Scarlet Spider in an attempt to escape the confusion. He eventually discovered that he was the original Peter Parker from the start and recovered all of his memories. Despite that, Reilly ultimately chose to continue his life as the Scarlet Spider. When the clone became Spider-Carnage, he plotted to destroy the Multiverse, and nearly succeeded but the Beyonder and Madame Web recruited the Scarlet Spider alongside the 'prime' Peter Parker Spider-Man as well as several of their multiversal doppelgangers to stop Spider-Carnage.
Films
- In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider appeared in the setting of the 2023 animated film sequel where he was voiced by actor Andy Samberg. This version was a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society who served as a parody of 1990s comic tropes and making internal monologues.
- Director Joaquim Dos Santos confirmed their version of Reilly was, "representing an era in comics. That's one of the key things with the character is that Ben Reilly was an era when super duper ripped characters were like the [norm]; and being in positions that were not physically possible....Muscles on top of the muscles on top of muscles and being in positions that were not physically possible. And we were just like we really wanted to capture that."
Video games
- In Spider-Man, Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider appeared as an alternate costume for Spider-Man in the setting of the 2000 video game.
- In Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider appeared as an alternate costume for Spider-Man in the setting of the 2001 video game.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider appeared as an alternate costume for Spider-Man in the video game.
- In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider suit could be equipped in the Wii version of the video game.
- In Spider-Man Unlimited, the Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider appeared as a playable character in the iOS game.
- In Marvel Puzzle Quest, Ben Reilly as Chasm appeared in the setting of the 2013 video game.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1975)
- Web of Spider-Man v1:
- Scarlet Spider v1:
- Sensational Spider-Man v1:
- Spider-Man v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v4:
- Clone Conspiracy v1:
- Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider v1:
- Damnation v1:
- Spider-Geddon v1:
- Iron Man v5:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Amazing Spider-Man v6:
External Links
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