Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2021

[Pav]

Be that as it may, I keep hearing the rumor that it’s not our Ben, but Earth-94 Ben who supposedly died during the Scarlet Spiders mini that was part of the Spiderverse event. I guess we will know for sure soon enough as more details leak out.

The only person who has suggested that to my knowledge is... me!

Haven't seen it elsewhere, although I'd be interested to know other's thoughts on the idea.

-Pav, who doesn't think the premise fits that version of Ben though...

[Spiderfan001]

Be that as it may, I keep hearing the rumor that it’s not our Ben, but Earth-94 Ben who supposedly died during the Scarlet Spiders mini that was part of the Spiderverse event. I guess we will know for sure soon enough as more details leak out.

This.
Also he seems to get a lot of joy from the process beyond corp puts him through in the preview.
And Beyond Corp is multiversal based

[Huntsman Spider]

I’m tired of deaths, unless they stick. And they NEVER do in Marvel comics now. I’m struggling to think of the last comic book death that really stuck. Just put Norman in a coma; at least that way they don’t have to do another corny resurrection when they want to use him again in 3-5 years.

And with Norman you know he'll be back sooner or later anyway.

Funny enough, the New Dark Avengers arc by Bendis right before Avengers Vs. X-Men did end with Osborn in a coma as opposed to just killing him, and he was implied to have woken up and escaped from his hospital bed almost right before Superior Spider-Man started, so there is precedent.

[Pav]

Random thought: IF Beyond Ben turns out to be Perfect Ben -94, but the stories take place in the 616, then that would at least hopefully mean we'd get a Spidey-Ben vs Scarlet Ben fight at some point!

-Pav, whose favorite ep. of Power Rangers as a kid was the Green Ranger vs White Ranger showdown...

[classicgmer]

The only person who has suggested that to my knowledge is... me!

Haven't seen it elsewhere, although I'd be interested to know other's thoughts on the idea.

-Pav, who doesn't think the premise fits that version of Ben though...

If it turns out to be the Ben from Scarlet Spiders or any other alternate version of Ben then any and all interest i had in "beyond" is automatically killed.

[Huntsman Spider]

Random thought: IF Beyond Ben turns out to be Perfect Ben -94, but the stories take place in the 616, then that would at least hopefully mean we'd get a Spidey-Ben vs Scarlet Ben fight at some point!

-Pav, whose favorite ep. of Power Rangers as a kid was the Green Ranger vs White Ranger showdown...

That was a fun one, yeah.

If it turns out to be the Ben from Scarlet Spiders or any other alternate version of Ben then any and all interest i had in "beyond" is automatically killed.

Sadly would have to concur, generally speaking. As "damaged" as our Ben still is, I'd rather have him as the "new" Spider-Man of Spider-Man Beyond than an A/U version coming to this world.

[Blanks]

Honestly, I hope it’s our Ben, but remember that X-Men Forever comic? How it would have continued on as if Claremont was still writing X-Men? I would not mind if we got a Spider-Man Forever type title (or… Beyond) set in Ben’s Earth 94 continuity. To see how some of the world events would have occurred with Ben still in the webs. Like, which side of the Civil War would Ben be on? What about the Other? Meeting his worlds Miles? Ezekiel? Would he have experienced his own “Brand New Day”?

I’d buy that type of book in a heartbeat.

I wouldn’t mind seeing how that Ben’s life continued progressing.

[Huntsman Spider]

Honestly, I hope it’s our Ben, but remember that X-Men Forever comic? How it would have continued on as if Claremont was still writing X-Men? I would not mind if we got a Spider-Man Forever type title (or… Beyond) set in Ben’s Earth 94 continuity. To see how some of the world events would have occurred with Ben still in the webs. Like, which side of the Civil War would Ben be on? What about the Other? Meeting his worlds Miles? Ezekiel? Would he have experienced his own “Brand New Day”?

I’d buy that type of book in a heartbeat.

I wouldn’t mind seeing how that Ben’s life continued progressing.

Yeah, that would have been cool, too.

[Drako]

That was a fun one, yeah.



Sadly would have to concur, generally speaking. As "damaged" as our Ben still is, I'd rather have him as the "new" Spider-Man of Spider-Man Beyond than an A/U version coming to this world.

Yeah, bringing a Ben from another universe feels like a cop out instead of making the current version great again.

A pretty damaged man striving to be better is a much compelling story than bringing the Ben from the 90's to be Spider-Man again.

[Huntsman Spider]

Yeah, bringing a Ben from another universe feels like a cop out instead of making the current version great again.

A pretty damaged man striving to be better is a much compelling story than bringing the Ben from the 90's to be Spider-Man again.

True enough. It's also what was so great about Kaine's Scarlet Spider in the first place.

[classicgmer]

Yeah, bringing a Ben from another universe feels like a cop out instead of making the current version great again.

A pretty damaged man striving to be better is a much compelling story than bringing the Ben from the 90's to be Spider-Man again.

Yep the way i see it is they made a mess of the character so it's on them to undo that mess instead of just bringing in some clean slate version of the character from a different universe.

True enough. It's also what was so great about Kaine's Scarlet Spider in the first place.

True enough but as you say Kaine has been filling that role so if Ben is now going to be seeking redemption for his Jackal days it does make me wonder how he'll be used going forward....Part of me thinks they're going to give him a new reason to hate Ben and go full on antagonist again which would be a shame imho.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Honestly, I hope it’s our Ben, but remember that X-Men Forever comic? How it would have continued on as if Claremont was still writing X-Men? I would not mind if we got a Spider-Man Forever type title (or… Beyond) set in Ben’s Earth 94 continuity. To see how some of the world events would have occurred with Ben still in the webs. Like, which side of the Civil War would Ben be on? What about the Other? Meeting his worlds Miles? Ezekiel? Would he have experienced his own “Brand New Day”?

I’d buy that type of book in a heartbeat.

I wouldn’t mind seeing how that Ben’s life continued progressing.

If this run in Amazing goes well, Marvel may be tempted to do just that. If it was me, I'd get J.M. Dematteis back and give us a look at what he would have done if he had stayed with it. It's between him and Jurgen's because Jurgen's came over to Marvel to write for Ben.

[Huntsman Spider]

Yep the way i see it is they made a mess of the character so it's on them to undo that mess instead of just bringing in some clean slate version of the character from a different universe.





True enough but as you say Kaine has been filling that role so if Ben is now going to be seeking redemption for his Jackal days it does make me wonder how he'll be used going forward....Part of me thinks they're going to give him a new reason to hate Ben and go full on antagonist again which would be a shame imho.

Agreed.

If this run in Amazing goes well, Marvel may be tempted to do just that. If it was me, I'd get J.M. Dematteis back and give us a look at what he would have done if he had stayed with it. It's between him and Jurgen's because Jurgen's came over to Marvel to write for Ben.

I'd also like to see J.M. DeMatteis come back to write a "Scarlet Spiders" book teaming up Ben and Kaine, at least to complete a kind of trilogy as begun by "The Lost Years" and "Redemption."

[HypnoHustler]

If this run in Amazing goes well, Marvel may be tempted to do just that. If it was me, I'd get J.M. Dematteis back and give us a look at what he would have done if he had stayed with it. It's between him and Jurgen's because Jurgen's came over to Marvel to write for Ben.

Despite writing one of the best depictions of Ben, Jurgens hates Ben and left because Peter didn’t come back to the books quick enough. In the ‘Life of Reilly’ essays, he said he would never write Ben again. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.

I’d love JM DeMatteis back though. Another person who “got” Ben was Todd Dezago who did ‘Sensational’ with the late and much missed Mike Wieringo. I corresponded with Dezago a couple times and he said he still has great affection for the character and would love to write him again. I think JM would be good for dark Ben stories, and Dezago would be good for the lighthearted stuff.

[Pav]

Despite writing one of the best depictions of Ben, Jurgens hates Ben and left because Peter didn’t come back to the books quick enough. In the ‘Life of Reilly’ essays, he said he would never write Ben again. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.

I’d love JM DeMatteis back though. Another person who “got” Ben was Todd Dezago who did ‘Sensational’ with the late and much missed Mike Wieringo. I corresponded with Dezago a couple times and he said he still has great affection for the character and would love to write him again. I think JM would be good for dark Ben stories, and Dezago would be good for the lighthearted stuff.

I was very appreciative as a kid that Todd Dezago seemed to decide that Peter mourning Ben was something that had to happen in more than one issue -- that some readers might be mourning Ben just as much! So we got the DK storyline and Peter potentially touching Ben's soul in the Technomage story, plus Peter using Ben's stingers as the Hornet. I was mourning Ben, and I'm glad Sensational was the safe place for me to do that. All the other titles were clearly tasked with moving on from and not mentioning the Clone Saga.

-Pav, who can't speak highly enough of the Dezago/Wieringo creative team...