Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2021

[Goodman]

There's really little doubt Peter will be back in the saddle by #900. I feel some sympathy with fans who feel that Spencer's run was about clearing away a lot of the baggage that has dogged the character since One More Day

If indeed Marvel’s focus of late is returning to the Spidey status quo (which is also consistent with the 2nd Superior Spider-Man series) that doesn’t necessarily bode well for Ben. His status quo was mostly being dead. Still, they might be planning to try another Scarlet Spider series. Maybe a more upbeat one.

[Vworp Vworp]

So what's Best Case scenario here?

Nothing in the publicity for this event seems to be bigging up Ben as Ben, but instead all the focus is on how this impacts on Peter. Not to mention Ben is being backed by a somewhat questionable corporation with links to the multiverse. So we're not exactly off to a solid start. But let's work with it.

Most importantly, Beyond Ben shouldn't be Clone Conspiracy/Scarlet Spider Ben. It's too late to salvage CC Ben at this point. He's gone from ludicrously motivated villain to edgy whatever-David-was-trying-to-do to generic nobody that just rocks up in the occasional book and has no discernible personality of his own, much less anything that's even slightly reminiscent of the real Ben. So I'm hoping Beyond Ben is an AU Ben from a universe where he didn't die. But aside from that one admittedly significant divergence, he's still the Ben we remember from the Clone Saga. With all of our Ben's history, relationships, etc. And yes, I know it's a bit convenient, but I still think it's more plausible (and palatable) than continuing to work with Not-Ben.

As for his ties to Beyond, that could set up his own arc in this story. Maybe they do have an agenda and maybe they are trying to manipulate him but ultimately, he sees through it, does the right thing and remains the hero Ben should be. We know how this run's gonna end in regard to Peter obviously being back in the webs. So what's important in the long term for Ben will be his role in how Pete gets there. I wanna see 'em as bro's again, with the relationship they had in the Spidey books during Ben's original tenure as Spider-Man.

So. In a nutshell;

- A new Ben who is more like the old Ben than the last new Ben was

- Ben not being a plot device for some nefarious scheme and existing only to show how awesome Pete is when he inevitably returns

- Pete and Ben as buds

[Shunt]

Most importantly, Beyond Ben shouldn't be Clone Conspiracy/Scarlet Spider Ben. It's too late to salvage CC Ben at this point. He's gone from ludicrously motivated villain to edgy whatever-David-was-trying-to-do to generic nobody that just rocks up in the occasional book and has no discernible personality of his own, much less anything that's even slightly reminiscent of the real Ben. So I'm hoping Beyond Ben is an AU Ben from a universe where he didn't die. But aside from that one admittedly significant divergence, he's still the Ben we remember from the Clone Saga. With all of our Ben's history, relationships, etc. And yes, I know it's a bit convenient, but I still think it's more plausible (and palatable) than continuing to work with Not-Ben.

Hey, if aunt May never died in ASM 400, this could also be true for Ben Sadly, that would be the laziest retcon imaginable and it would probably need large doses of amnesia. Still, I prefer it to CC Ben or AU Ben... woah, this is a really sad situation for the character indeed.

[Vworp Vworp]

Hey, if aunt May never died in ASM 400, this could also be true for Ben Sadly, that would be the laziest retcon imaginable and it would probably need large doses of amnesia. Still, I prefer it to CC Ben or AU Ben... woah, this is a really sad situation for the character indeed.

You're not wrong. CC didn't just ruin Ben in that moment, but pretty much made any future return of the character enormously difficult to pull off too.

But honestly? If they straight up said the Ben who died in Revelations was a(nother) clone and the real Ben had spent the last 25 years in suspended animation/skipped it all through a time warp/was just shooting the breeze in gutter space with Gwenpool, I'd happily suspend all disbelief just to get to an outcome where we got our Ben back.

[TheKryptonMan]

I'm ok with Marvel bringing back Ben , but not at the expense of Peter .
If Peter is killed off , then I'm out . There's just no reason for it .

[Orbus]

We know that Ben is going to fail somehow forcing Peter to come back and reclaim his identity validating why Peter is the better Spider-Man.

The best case scenario is that Ben isn't in on whatever shady things the Beyond corporation are up to and is being duped in someway. While Peter scores the ultimate victory over the villains Ben plays a part and everyone relevant to the story realises whatever bad things have happened are not his fault and he and Peter and friends. Marvel attempts another revival series.

[Huntsman Spider]

We know that Ben is going to fail somehow forcing Peter to come back and reclaim his identity validating why Peter is the better Spider-Man.

The best case scenario is that Ben isn't in on whatever shady things the Beyond corporation are up to and is being duped in someway. While Peter scores the ultimate victory over the villains Ben plays a part and everyone relevant to the story realises whatever bad things have happened are not his fault and he and Peter and friends. Marvel attempts another revival series.

Works for me. Makes more sense that way, too.

[Spiderfan001]

I'm ok with Marvel bringing back Ben , but not at the expense of Peter .
If Peter is killed off , then I'm out . There's just no reason for it .

This is a popular sentiment and honestly, you're not wrong

[Spiderfan001]

We know that Ben is going to fail somehow forcing Peter to come back and reclaim his identity validating why Peter is the better Spider-Man.

The best case scenario is that Ben isn't in on whatever shady things the Beyond corporation are up to and is being duped in someway. While Peter scores the ultimate victory over the villains Ben plays a part and everyone relevant to the story realises whatever bad things have happened are not his fault and he and Peter and friends. Marvel attempts another revival series.

I doubt Ben knows they are evil.
But I also hope it's Peter who saves Ben(after Ben figures out they are evil he can send a signal before getting captured)

[Jman27]

I'm ok with Marvel bringing back Ben , but not at the expense of Peter .
If Peter is killed off , then I'm out . There's just no reason for it .

peter "died" for superior and came back and peter die already in this run like 7 times. Death has no meaning in comics

[Spiderfan001]

peter "died" for superior and came back and peter die already in this run like 7 times. Death has no meaning in comics

8 to be exact but all those were meant to more of torture than actual death.Akin to Krakoa but just for the arc.

Peter was written horribly(for the most part) in superior and with Slott in general.Same for the rest of the cast.MJ,May and the Avengers were done wrong as well.Hell even otto who is supposed to be work oriented and focused was perving on girls half his age and trying to get laid.Mind you the only reason otto did any good is because of Peter's memories, which is what makes the essence of a man.So he really didn't do much.

Also MJ was done too wrong in this.Aside from dropping a hundred IQ points like everyone else her last interaction where she leaves N.Y. city is the opposite of MJ as a character and the opposite from her best and defining moment.He made MJ into a helpless damsel in a fire begging for peter and then tried to make her a badass with "You boys just got spanked, Mary Jane Watson Style".

Seriously what.He made her hook up with a random guy none of us care about then had the audacity to make her say "He's unpredictable or something(I don't remember,the next part is the worst), that's why he's my ex".Bruh what, you know he's Spider-man and he's you ex cause of the devil and Slott knows this.

If anything when MJ would find out what happened she would do her best to be there for him and not F'ing run away.The point of MJ is that after everything that happened with her she deals with things head on.People don't talk enough about how Slott ruined MJ so easily in a story she was barely a part of.

Then MJ went on to be in Iron man and that was another sh*tshow.And then slott had her say that she was happier with being an assistant because she had no secrets to keep.
I understand there are issues she deals with but their is are better ways and ways in character to address this like Spencer did with MJ's meeting with superheros anonymous

[HypnoHustler]

peter "died" for superior and came back and peter die already in this run like 7 times. Death has no meaning in comics

Peter also “died” in that atrocious storyline ‘The Other’ from the mid 2000s. And there’s been a handful of other times Peter has “died”, but they’ve mostly been 1-2 issue affairs (like that McFarlane ‘Spider-Man’ issue where he meets Death from the early 90s).

Here’s a pretty comprehensive list (although a couple aren’t canon)

https://screenrant.com/spider-man-de...ics-fake-died/

[Spiderfan001]

Peter also “died” in that atrocious storyline ‘The Other’ from the mid 2000s. And there’s been a handful of other times Peter has “died”, but they’ve mostly been 1-2 issue affairs (like that McFarlane ‘Spider-Man’ issue where he meets Death from the early 90s).

Here’s a pretty comprehensive list (although a couple aren’t canon)

https://screenrant.com/spider-man-de...ics-fake-died/

He has died a total of 12 times I think.
8 were with kindred.

[Jman27]

yeah yet everyone acting like this is permanent

[NC_Yankee]

yeah yet everyone acting like this is permanent

No not in the least. Death for Peter has become redundant and basically meaningless ( 8 times in the Spencer run is unneeded an excessive). Unless you are into Faces Of Death or some kind of sadism Porn what is to enjoy about that?. I actually got angry and skipped that crap after the first time. As for Ben Everyone expects Peter back before ASM 900 ( if not sooner) so you are not really going to invest with Ben (unless you are one of his fanboys ( or fan girls)). Besides Part of any story ( especially a mystery) is to surprise the audience in a good way. This is exactly what you are not getting.