Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2018

[Vworp Vworp]

Just did a quick search and, as far as as I can tell, nobody had started a Ben thread as yet. Which I figured was a situation that needed rectifying. So... ta dah!!

Ben will always be 'my' Spidey. I was part of Marvel's target audience back then; someone who bought comics regularly, and who liked Spidey as a character, but who wasn't buying any of Spidey's books - daunted by the many, many years of continuity. I actually missed the clone saga as it took place. Back in those pre-internet days (well, pre-internet for me, anyway), I never had much clue what was happening in other books, outside of information in the bullpen news pages and just seeing covers of books on the shelves. So I'd been vaguely aware that there had been another Spider-Man in the Spidey books, but that was pretty much the sum total of information I had.

Then Sensational Spider-Man #0 was released (the one with the wibbly, wobbly cover) and so I picked it up. Imagine finding out about the entire clone saga just from Ben's expositional opening dialogue. My mind was officially blown. At a time when killing and replacing heroes was pretty common, this was something entirely new. Marvel had replaced Spider-Man... with himself!

And so that was it. All the Spidey books went on my pull-list, and in the meantime I worked backwards, collecting all the back issues from when it had all started, back in Web #117 (OK, technically it started with the original clone story, but you get the idea). And I stayed on board throughout all Ben's run... and beyond. It was hard going in those first few months after 'Revelations'. From my perspective, Peter was the replacement. And ironically or poetically, depending on your point of view, I stuck with Pete all the way until OMD - meaning, one attempt to create a single 'Peter' had brought me on board, and the second attempt had pushed me away.

But Ben remains my Spidey. He wasn't just Pete with different coloured hair, not to me at least. He was his own character and the fact that we're still talking him about him today (regardless of varying opinions on the clone saga itself) says a lot for his legacy.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Always liked Ben Reilly. Shame Reilly hasn't returned. Two of the best Spidey suits both as the original Scarlet Spider and as Spider-Man as well.

[Sardorim]

Well he will be in Spiderverse, at least I hope.

Hopefully it's The Clone Saga series version where he survived, Kaine went good and Peter retired to be a family man.

[Huntsman Spider]

Well he will be in Spiderverse, at least I hope.

Hopefully it's The Clone Saga series version where he survived, Kaine went good and Peter retired to be a family man.

That would be the best way to go about it, instead of bringing him from the past to the present knowing he's doomed to die once the event is over and he has to be sent back to his time of origin. Also, he's definitely going to be in Spider-Verse, as the big banner image by Gabrielle Dell'Otto with all the Spider-Men (and some Spider-Women and Spider-Girls) included Scarlet Spider Ben Reilly.

[Enigmatic Undead]

[S9y]

I wish Ben would return as a supporting character. I guess we'll only see him in Spider-verse

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Wow! Great piece of art IMO.

[Thinker4730]

Well he will be in Spiderverse, at least I hope.

Hopefully it's The Clone Saga series version where he survived, Kaine went good and Peter retired to be a family man.

I'm not sure how Spider-Verse will pan out, but it could bring characters that are dead back to life.

If time travel is involved in any way it could be the real Ben and not just a dimensional copy of him.