Ben Reilly: Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2023

[Prime]

I just hope we can give Ben and Janine a good ending guys

[Kurolegacy]

That’s an interesting POV but ok. Retcons are part and parcel of superhero comics.

There’s a fine line between a retcon and flat out saying that the guy you’ve been following for the past 5 years is a fake.

[Drako]

There’s a fine line between a retcon and flat out saying that the guy you’ve been following for the past 5 years is a fake.

Would really be a problem if everything they did with him since Slott were erased? 90% of what Marvel did with him in the current era sucks anyways.
At least for me.

[KyleWayne]

Would really be a problem if everything they did with him since Slott were erased? 90% of what Marvel did with him in the current era sucks anyways.
At least for me.

Agreed. Also, that other poster must not read DC. They’re constantly retconning things and deleting characters and stories from continuity.

[Kurolegacy]

Would really be a problem if everything they did with him since Slott were erased? 90% of what Marvel did with him in the current era sucks anyways.
At least for me.

At that point that’s taking the easy way out rather than fixing your mess. It would be like after Heroes in Crisis that they just said it wasn’t Wally but rather the Wally that people had been following since Rebirth was a different one from the Dark Multiverse rather than fixing him like they did so that he comes out of it triumphantly. It just ends up revealing that they wasted your time on something that you wouldn’t have even bothered with had they been upfront.

Agreed. Also, that other poster must not read DC. They’re constantly retconning things and deleting characters and stories from continuity.

That’s pretty much part of the reason I don’t buy DC.

Look, you guys are free to want to wish away the stuff they’ve done with Ben but I don’t think that just saying it wasn’t really him is the answer. It’s just a really lazy way out for the writers.

[All Star Superman]

I love Ben! I’m still not over Spider-Man #75!

I’ve heard that they’ve made Ben a villain, but at least it’s just a clone of Ben and not the real deal. The real Ben is still dead.

I prefer to think that the Ben Reilly's we've seen since Spider-Man #75 are all clones. The real Ben was put in stasis by Norman for later use. For whatever reason, he's still out there, somewhere. It's been decades in the "real world," but only a few years in comic book time. If Marvel didn't hate the character so much, this is how they'd restore Ben and Scarlet Spider. He returns, reunites with Peter, then moves to a new city (or country) and begins a new life. I can't think of any character that deserves happiness other than Peter Parker quite as much as Ben Reilly.

[Matt Rat]

Look, you guys are free to want to wish away the stuff they’ve done with Ben but I don’t think that just saying it wasn’t really him is the answer. It’s just a really lazy way out for the writers.

The end of the Spencer run was a really lazy way out of liberating Gwen from some unfavourable character development stretching back nearly 20 years, so again I don't see your point. We're not the only people who want to 'wish away' stuff, Marvel writers have the power to not only wish it themselves, but grant their own wishes. We've seen Marvel retcon just as badly as DC have in so many years

[KyleWayne]

I prefer to think that the Ben Reilly's we've seen since Spider-Man #75 are all clones. The real Ben was put in stasis by Norman for later use. For whatever reason, he's still out there, somewhere. It's been decades in the "real world," but only a few years in comic book time. If Marvel didn't hate the character so much, this is how they'd restore Ben and Scarlet Spider. He returns, reunites with Peter, then moves to a new city (or country) and begins a new life. I can't think of any character that deserves happiness other than Peter Parker quite as much as Ben Reilly.

I like this.

[Kurolegacy]

The end of the Spencer run was a really lazy way out of liberating Gwen from some unfavourable character development stretching back nearly 20 years, so again I don't see your point. We're not the only people who want to 'wish away' stuff, Marvel writers have the power to not only wish it themselves, but grant their own wishes. We've seen Marvel retcon just as badly as DC have in so many years

I’m just gonna agree to disagree on this one. As I said, you’re free to your opinion on the matter and that’s fine. I’m just not a fan of those types of solutions especially when it comes to a focal hero as they both feel lazy and further convolutes a situation that they could make a triumphant story out of if they’d stop doubling down on screwing over the character and actually course correct for real.

[bob.schoonover]

The end of the Spencer run was a really lazy way out of liberating Gwen from some unfavourable character development stretching back nearly 20 years, so again I don't see your point. We're not the only people who want to 'wish away' stuff, Marvel writers have the power to not only wish it themselves, but grant their own wishes. We've seen Marvel retcon just as badly as DC have in so many years

I don't think lazy is the right way of describing what Spencer did - he created a hideously complicated plan involving clones, supercharging Mysterio's powers, an AI from one story 20 years ago, and supernatural forces to retcon Sins Past. It may have been stupid, it may have been a waste of time, and it may have not lived up to what some had hoped for, but it wasn't lazy.

[Drako]

At that point that’s taking the easy way out rather than fixing your mess. It would be like after Heroes in Crisis that they just said it wasn’t Wally but rather the Wally that people had been following since Rebirth was a different one from the Dark Multiverse rather than fixing him like they did so that he comes out of it triumphantly. It just ends up revealing that they wasted your time on something that you wouldn’t have even bothered with had they been upfront.

It's not like Wally was brought back to be a villain to begin with, so they needed to course correct him.

With Ben, I would be fine either way. Nothing Marvel did with him nowadays holds any sentimental value for me to care if it was ereased.

It could be great to see him being himself again but having to deal with his demons and actions of his tenure as Chasm, but i doubt Marvel will waste their time doing that. They already didn't in the first time he magically went back to being himself with Spider-Geddon.

[PanicPixieDreamGirl]

There’s a fine line between a retcon and flat out saying that the guy you’ve been following for the past 5 years is a fake.

[thousand-yard bleary-eyed stare at my profile picture]

I prefer to think that the Ben Reilly's we've seen since Spider-Man #75 are all clones. The real Ben was put in stasis by Norman for later use. For whatever reason, he's still out there, somewhere. It's been decades in the "real world," but only a few years in comic book time. If Marvel didn't hate the character so much, this is how they'd restore Ben and Scarlet Spider. He returns, reunites with Peter, then moves to a new city (or country) and begins a new life. I can't think of any character that deserves happiness other than Peter Parker quite as much as Ben Reilly.

That could work, especially if you tie it into Norman's inevitable return to the dark side.

[Sr. Bungle]

[thousand-yard bleary-eyed stare at my profile picture]

At least clone Harry was a good guy. I wonder why Spencer killed him at the end the Sins Past retcon could have been done without the clone retcon thing.

[Blanks]

I’ve stayed this before in the previous thread, but I didn’t mind how Ben was revived, and I appreciate the extra mile they went in to tell us in his own series, with Death, that he is the original, even if it is his 28th body now. His return as the New Jackal, I loved, aside from the last issue, where he decided to replace Peter himself when Peter didn’t follow through with him resurrecting their Uncle Ben.

I’m still not thrilled with this whole Chasm era, even though I will admit I do like the costume and even the slight power upgrades we’ve seen so far in Dark Web.

I’m hoping that once this Dark Web era is over, Ben gets his memories/mind restored, even if he keeps the Chadm upgrades…. Or not. They could always off him and have him restored as Ben-29, fixing him back to factory settings again, lol.

Anything to get our boy back to “normal” again.

[Toxin45]

I’ve stayed this before in the previous thread, but I didn’t mind how Ben was revived, and I appreciate the extra mile they went in to tell us in his own series, with Death, that he is the original, even if it is his 28th body now. His return as the New Jackal, I loved, aside from the last issue, where he decided to replace Peter himself when Peter didn’t follow through with him resurrecting their Uncle Ben.

I’m still not thrilled with this whole Chasm era, even though I will admit I do like the costume and even the slight power upgrades we’ve seen so far in Dark Web.

I’m hoping that once this Dark Web era is over, Ben gets his memories/mind restored, even if he keeps the Chadm upgrades…. Or not. They could always off him and have him restored as Ben-29, fixing him back to factory settings again, lol.

Anything to get our boy back to “normal” again.

Well his girlfriend Janine is getting her own mini series after dark web so yeah