Ben Reilly: Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2022

[Refrax5]

Of course I would also take a good Scarlet Spider over this Chasm mess. But it wouldn’t excite me. It would be a return to the pre-Beyond status quo when he was another generic second-stringer going on random missions as a guest star in other’s books, like in Cantwell’s Iron-Man. It was fun seeing him in that, but it wasn’t like an essential Ben tale. Anyway… I’m rambling a bit. Fwiw, I don’t think his appearance in ATSS will be as big as some are expecting. Hope I’m wrong, it’d be nice to see him in action.

I don't think he'll necessarily have a huge part, but he doesn't need it to have an impact. And it's a two movie story, so hopefully he'll get enough screen time to be memorable.

[Lukmendes]

[Sam-Abraham]

Damn, this hits very hard.

[HypnoHustler]

Every Spider-Man comic from the past decade or so has been fanfiction anyway.

[Sr. Bungle]

https://twitter.com/ifyoucantwell/st...c5HY2L0gQ&s=19

[Huntsman Spider]

"I am tired of Earth. These people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."

Every Spider-Man comic from the past decade or so has been fanfiction anyway.

And not even the good kind, either. Speaking of the good kind, though . . . "What if Kaine was the one who had brought back Ben Reilly instead of Miles Warren?"

https://twitter.com/ifyoucantwell/st...c5HY2L0gQ&s=19

Well, this ought to be interesting.

[Johnny]

I don't understand the point of making Ben a villain. Is there any other reason for this other than the old trope that in 2022 any major hero apparently still needs to have an evil twin for whatever reason.

[Huntsman Spider]

I don't understand the point of making Ben a villain. Is there any other reason for this other than the old trope that in 2022 any major hero apparently still needs to have an evil twin for whatever reason.

Same here. The charm of Ben's character, at least at first, was that he defied the "evil clone/twin" trope and was presented as a positive take on the Jungian shadow archetype for Peter --- someone who went through the same pains, the same struggles, the same losses, even the same sense of alienation from himself and the world around him, but didn't allow it to push him into self-destructive edginess the way Peter did by the time the Clone Saga began. As for Kaine, with the revelation that he was the first clone of Peter created by the Jackal, he was representing what Peter could have become if he let himself go all the way down into that darkness and didn't have Mary Jane or even the memory of Uncle Ben (and later Aunt May) to pull himself back up into the light. Speaking of Peter's clones, as long as I'm going in that direction, Spidercide would have been the distillation of Ben and Kaine as they were intended to be upon their creation, a weapon to be wielded against the man from whom he was cloned, with no humanity to keep him grounded or sane or moral.

[Xwho]

Yeah, if Ben is going to be turned good again, he should be a Spider-Man, because he owns the mantle just like Peter (for some he was a better Spider-Man than Peter). He is Spider-Man and he will always be. As much as I love his Scarlet Spider persona, it was only a temporary thing*.

*Ben could work as Scarlet Spider with his Sensational Spider-Man suit (just like it was in "Scarlet Spiders" tie-in in the OG Spider-Verse event), because the hoodie we all know and love was made to be temporary too.

Didn't Nick say that with Peter and miles not going anywhere and there was no place for Ben in the spider world or something?

[Lukmendes]

And not even the good kind, either.

Which's not surprising, most fanfictions are hardly even the mediocre kind, so ASM getting fanfiction quality, well, yeah lol.

Then again, my favorite fanfiction is bad by every standard you can try to think of (To put it lightly), but boy it's a joy to go through that trainwreck, it's like a B-movie adaptation of a B-movie.

I don't understand the point of making Ben a villain. Is there any other reason for this other than the old trope that in 2022 any major hero apparently still needs to have an evil twin for whatever reason.

Probably a combination of Marvel not knowing what to do with him, and the Brevoort's selling method which basically means "Butthurt sells".

Didn't Nick say that with Peter and miles not going anywhere and there was no place for Ben in the spider world or something?

I think he did yeah.

[Rzerox21xx]

https://twitter.com/90spiderbros

anyone checked out this pretty good artist, he loves Spider-man especially Ben, that person also does great work in the Philippines for his local cat shelter, with a pateron.

[Huntsman Spider]

Didn't Nick say that with Peter and miles not going anywhere and there was no place for Ben in the spider world or something?

Yeah, he did, which was, to be frank, B.S.

Which's not surprising, most fanfictions are hardly even the mediocre kind, so ASM getting fanfiction quality, well, yeah lol.

Then again, my favorite fanfiction is bad by every standard you can try to think of (To put it lightly), but boy it's a joy to go through that trainwreck, it's like a B-movie adaptation of a B-movie.



Probably a combination of Marvel not knowing what to do with him, and the Brevoort's selling method which basically means "Butthurt sells".



I think he did yeah.

Uh-huh, though as Sturgeon's Law would put it, 90% of everything is crap. Even the stuff you actually like.

https://twitter.com/90spiderbros

anyone checked out this pretty good artist, he loves Spider-man especially Ben, that person also does great work in the Philippines for his local cat shelter, with a pateron.

Thanks, and I see he's also a Radiant Black fan.

[Xwho]

that's retreading old ground though. just because you or i might find those questions interesting doesn't mean that enough other people would.

whereas a spider-man that ages "in real time" (sorta) playing his greatest hits was a different enough spin that a lot of people were curious enough to see how it would work.

What if the hook was starting and diverting the mini in the middle of the clone saga at some point after Ben became the Scarlet Spiders?
It would not just be about Ben but also Peter, MJ and Kaine.
They could release the clone saga story that came before the diverting point both as comics and gravic novels.
It could be like the x men forever comic series.

[boots]

I don't understand the point of making Ben a villain. Is there any other reason for this other than the old trope that in 2022 any major hero apparently still needs to have an evil twin for whatever reason.

it's having no confidence in a "classic ben" depiction in 2022 finding an audience (or clashing with other elements of the current IP) and trying to find a niche for the character to occupy.

the closest we have to actual insight as to why they chose villain was that they're aiming to write "a tragedy".

evil twin might have been subconsciously part of the move (it's just so embedded in superhero culture) or an intentional use of the trope. i wouldn't be surprised if marketing opportunities for chasm were a part of the "pitch" in the latter case.

[boots]

What if the hook was starting and diverting the mini in the middle of the clone saga at some point after Ben became the Scarlet Spiders?
It would not just be about Ben but also Peter, MJ and Kaine.
They could release the clone saga story that came before the diverting point both as comics and gravic novels.
It could be like the x men forever comic series.

i love the clone saga. you love it too.

doesn't mean enough other people out there do, or that they love it enough to see it mined again.

"spider-man ages in sorta real time" is a good hook because we've never seen it before. "clone saga written differently" has been done and didn't sell that well. i think the best you can hope for is another ben reilly: spider-man mini series. you can almost believe/head canon that in that "world" ben never stopped being spidey or "the original".