Fixing Ben Reilly

[SensationalSean]

I reckon Ben is going sacrifice himself in Spider-Geddon and maaaaybe become the new Master Weaver. I’m not sure how I’d feel about that, but it’d give him a higher purpose.

[Celgress]

I think it's helpful to come up with a sort of "rule set" that lays out the basics of the character. For example...

1. Any series about Ben should focus on issue of identity, purpose, and meaning -- these are inherent to his character because of his status as a clone.

2. Any series about Ben needs to feature Kaine, who is the Venom to his Spidey.

3. Any series about Ben should embrace the notion that writing about Ben inevitably means writing about Peter Parker: Ben is a mirror to Peter, and everything he does should always reflect back on who Peter Parker is...

I agree 100%. Great summary btw. Ben needs stories that can either only or most effectively be told with Ben rather than another Spider.

[Mister Mets]

My thoughts.

Step 1: Ben Reilly should be on some kind of team. I think it'd be a solid dynamic. He's a character who has much of the appeal of Peter Parker, but doesn't require maneuvering his appearances with the status quo of the main Spider-Man books. And he has enough of a following that it should help a B-list team book increase its sales. Reilly should be back to his roots, restored to physical and mental health, guilty about the bad things he did, and worried that he's capable of doing it again. I would strongly advise that whoever writes the team book give him some kind of big Spider-Man trapped under the rubble type scene at some point twelve issues in to show his return to grace. I think it would be important to avoid giving him a monthly title for a little while. Let him avoid overexposure at first.

Step 2: Eventually, there is a potential hook for a Ben Reilly monthly title. Let him be the Spider-Man who deals with weird stuff (a bit like Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, Steve Gerber's Defenders, and Warren Ellis/ Stuart Immonen's Nextwave.) Fortunately, there's a writer who has expressed an interest in a Ben Reilly monthly title who would be a good fit for a weirder superhero series: J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League International, Defenders.)

[boots]

bench ben for a while, few years. then slowly reintroduce him, seeding him into a main ASM story. (i'm imagining a story where peter has to rescue ben). establish him as part of peter's family in a way none of the other spiders can be.

this reintroduction can serve as a soft reboot for the character, losing most of the ben27/jackal business. bring his character back in line with what it used to be, but maybe with a whacked out purpose inspired by clone conspiracy: "must fix everything no matter the cost"

re-establish his relationshp with peter and what they mean to each other before breaking it again and let him loose in the MU. give ben a purpose. either hunting something or being hunted. chase some sort of macguffin

build it like a netflix/hbo show where there is a huge metaplot driving the series with smaller episodics along the way.

as pav suggested, his book should be about identity, and meaning. so take that and run with it to an extreme. the book can be mystical, existential, religious, meta whatever. villains can be a mix of unknown lost years types, peter's rogues gallery and new ones that represent the theme. identity theifs, clone haters, drifters etc
the important thing would be to keep ben grounded amidst it all. the every day man out of his depth in the marvel universe.

hmmm. tldr: preacher meets spider-man, but less gross

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

Does Ben's current trajectory remind anyone else of Bucky Barnes?

[boots]

I agree 100%. Great summary btw. Ben needs stories that can either only or most effectively be told with Ben rather than another Spider.

can kaine still occupy that role of arch nemesis in his current form though? maybe spidercide as a replacement

[Celgress]

can kaine still occupy that role though? maybe spidercide as a replacement

Now Spidercide would have made perfect sense as Jackal II during "Clone Conspiracy" rather than Ben, but I digress.

[boots]

Now Spidercide would have made perfect sense as Jackal II during "Clone Conspiracy" rather than Ben, but I digress.

yeah, i would've enjoyed that.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Does Ben's current trajectory remind anyone else of Bucky Barnes?

Bucky Barnes was better done/handled.

[Pav]

Not sure we need yet another Ben Reilly thread, but I digress....

We need MORE Ben Reilly threads! A romance thread! A villain thread! A costume thread! More Reilly!!!!!

For real though, one of the best parts of Ben being back - for me - was simply the focus brought back to the character, and the conversations that have been had: it feels good to have reason to discuss Ben again, after so many years out of the spotlight.

-Pav, who still 'ships Ben and Firestar...

[SuperiorIronman]

Now Spidercide would have made perfect sense as Jackal II during "Clone Conspiracy" rather than Ben, but I digress.

Actually that would've made so much sense, it was practically gift wrapped for Slott and Peter David.

The Jackal took DNA samples from both Otto and Kaine back during Sibling Rivalry and was planning to make a new Spidercide (this has been a lingering plot point for years BTW). Said Spidercide could potentially have the intelligence of Otto and the strength of Kaine from that period of time. And that would've explained everything we needed to know. It would've explained how Ben's sudden superhuman intelligence to not only clone people but design and build half the stuff he has, and would've explained why he was so strong. It would've even provided a valid explanation for why it supplanted the Jackal in that Otto's drive to be the best might've drove it to kill or take over for what it felt was shoddy work done by the professor. Thus also explaining why Ben feels he can do so much better. It also explains the money. If he looks like Peter then this could be carryover from Parker Industries. Peter didn't realize someone impersonating him was setting up shop where Ben was and since he was so new to the CEO business he doesn't realize the money siphoning was happening. Thus also explaining why people just work for Ben no question, they think it's Peter. And since it would possess a version of Otto's mind, it wouldn't be too weird for the PI staff either as Otto made the place and thus it's more or less back to normal for them considering they met Otto first.

Hell, if we assume Ben comes back from remnants from Carnage (as was his fight with Kaine only a few arcs prior to a potential cloning) that explains the frequency. It's not that humans just need a frequency to not become zombies, it's the carnage cells building up and ultimately possessing the individual. Thus the frequency through webware is a sonic attack that destroys the symbiote cells saving the victims and still living clones. It also ignores the then recent Carnage books as those Carnage cells weren't present for the Darkhold and thus still possess the weakness to fire and sonics. Jackal was also in the city for Spider Island, so assuming he studied Anti-Venom, the pills might be a temporary solution based on Anti-Venom that Jackal (Ben or Warren) has to the Carnage cell build up.

Then we assume that's also why he never contacted Kaine or Peter at all in the intervening years, he was a recent creation and therefore couldn't. We could still bring Ben back for Clone Conspiracy, and one could pimp older Scarlet Spider books in the process. The prior series to find out how this new Spidercide came to be, and Ben's old books. Then for Scarlet Spider we have a defined villain, a reason for Kaine to get involved, and potentially a crossover with the then upcoming Superior Spider-man or then current Superior Octopus. We also have a Ben who is resurrected through Carnage cells and Peter could consult him for Slott's finale.

[David Walton]

They could go Reign of the Supermen.

A couple of other 'Ben's start popping up in various Marvel books, begging the question of who the real Ben Reilly is. Which would kind of be a cool throwback to his original problem of wondering if he was the real Peter Parker!

Naturally, the real Ben is NOT the one who became the Jackal. That's a pretty important point for me, personally. I'm not interested in reading another 'redemption' arc where Ben feels really really guilty about what he's done. I don't see Ben as the kind of guy who ever could have done it in the first place. If they go down the redemption path, Ben will get caught up in the same ugly cycle as Hank Pym. He'll get built up and then torn down again every few years.

[Kurolegacy]

If I had to go with a way to fix him in his current state, I’d go with the events of Infinity Wars triggering something within Ben’s soul as a workaround for what’s going on with his soul.

Another option is that Ben seeks out Doctor Strange about his current predicament and gets dragged into the whole situation of bringing back Johnny Blaze from Hell. With Johnny ‘s combined power as Lord of Hell and Ghost Rider, he’s able to at least fix some of Ben’ soul allowing him to at least begin his path back to the light. After all, if Guido of X-Factor can be a hero without a soul after having been a Hell Lord, Nightcrawler can be a hero without a soul and Magik can be a hero despite all that’s happened with her soul, why not Ben?

[theoneandonly]

well the best thing most of the time to fix a character is to ensure he doesn't fade from the spotlight so as a individual title isn't going to be on the cards for some time then marvel could pull off a red Hood and the outlaws and have him lead or join the slingers or join a revived new warriors.he could presumably join while keeping them in dark about his recent activities which could be a interesting plot point. then again he could form a trinity of clones with Laura and Angelica Jones(firestars clone) or Madelyn

[Scott Taylor]

Step 2: Eventually, there is a potential hook for a Ben Reilly monthly title. Let him be the Spider-Man who deals with weird stuff (a bit like Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, Steve Gerber's Defenders, and Warren Ellis/ Stuart Immonen's Nextwave.) Fortunately, there's a writer who has expressed an interest in a Ben Reilly monthly title who would be a good fit for a weirder superhero series: J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League International, Defenders.)

This is a pretty good idea. It was a good fit to have Ben dealing with devils, angels and other supernatural stuff within his recent series. I could see him become like a Union Jack character.