Ben Reilly

• 1. Introduction

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  Ben Reilly first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149, published in October 1975, and he was seemingly killed in that very same issue. He had no name yet. He was a nameless clone of Peter Parker, the man behind Spider-Man, grown by a scientist known as the Jackal. Writer Gerry Conway created him as a twist inside a larger tragedy. Nobody involved appears to have expected the copy to outlast the story that made him. Yet this clone kept finding his way back into print. This documentary follows Ben Reilly through those returns. It asks why a one-issue stunt became a fixture of Spider-Man's world. It asks what the comics did with a man whose memories belong to somebody else. And it asks what happens to a person who is never allowed to stay dead.

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• 2. Making of a Copy

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  Gerry Conway has explained that he was playing with the idea of reductio ad absurdum when he wrote The Amazing Spider-Man #149. He had already brought Gwen Stacy back as a clone, and he needed a bigger finish for the moment he wrote her out of the book again. His answer was simple logic. In his words, "if we can clone Gwen, we can certainly clone Peter." Conway also loved the old, melodramatic titles that Stan Lee used to write. He invented a parody of one, "If I Kill Me, Will I Die?", and he liked it as a title in its own right.

  The man behind the clones was Professor Miles Warren, who was unhealthily obsessed with his late student Gwen Stacy. She had died at the hands of the Green Goblin. Warren blamed Spider-Man for marking her as a target, and he took on the villain identity of the Jackal. His first clone of Peter Parker, named Kaine, suffered from clone degeneration and was dismissed. Later attempts produced stable clones of both Parker and Stacy.

  The Jackal then forced the hero and his duplicate to fight, and each man believed the other was the copy. They put the fight aside to rescue Parker's colleague Ned Leeds and the clone of Gwen. An explosion appeared to kill both Warren and the duplicate. The duplicate survived. He realized he was not the real Peter Parker, and he chose not to take over another man's life. He left New York to wander, and he named himself Ben Reilly. The name nodded to Ben Parker, the uncle of the original, and to May Parker's maiden surname.

  On the road, Reilly befriended the geneticist Seward Trainer and became his lab assistant. Under that mentorship he sharpened his science to university graduate level. He trusted Trainer with his secrets, and the older man became a father figure. Kaine, scarred and resentful, hunted him through these years. Reilly also worked with the scientist Damon Ryder, who mutated himself into a dinosaur hybrid called Raptor. A fire started during an attack by Kaine killed Ryder's family, and Ryder blamed Reilly for it.

  Reilly fell in love with a college student named Janine Godbe. She turned out to be a fugitive named Elizabeth Tyne, who had killed her father after enduring abuse from him. Janine apparently took her own life out of guilt, and Reilly kept travelling. Five years after leaving New York, he heard that May Parker had suffered a stroke and might not recover.

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• 3. Hoodie and Web-Shooters

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  Editor Danny Fingeroth gave the Spider-Man artists a clear brief for the new costume. It had to stand apart from ordinary superhero outfits by favoring plain function over flash. The artists each worked on ideas alone. According to Mark Bagley, the "hoodie" design by Tom Lyle won unanimous approval among them.

  The result was a red spandex bodysuit and mask under a blue sleeveless hooded sweatshirt. A large spider symbol sat on both sides of the sweatshirt. A utility belt and bulkier web-shooters completed the look. Inside the story, the outfit came together in a hurry. Eddie Brock, as Venom, went on a rampage, and Reilly decided to stop him. He bought a blue spider hoodie at a museum and wore it over a red bodysuit. After he beat Venom, the Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis dubbed him the Scarlet Spider.

  The web-shooters were Reilly's own design. Like Peter's, they sit on the wrists and hold several cartridges of web-fluid, a chemical mixture that hardens when it meets air. Depending on the valve setting, the fluid becomes an expanding net, a thin line, or a sticky goo. Reilly's version added impact webbing, stingers that cause temporary paralysis, and mini-dot tracers, a smaller version of Peter's spider-tracers. All that machinery made the shooters bulky, so he wore them outside his sleeves.

  The body underneath was Peter's. Reilly shares the same spider-like strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, and resilience. His reflexes and stamina work up to 40 times faster than an average person's. He can lift 150 times his own weight, an approximate limit of 10 tons, and leap thirty feet from a standing position. A buzzing at the base of his skull warns him of danger, which is the spider-sense. He also has Peter's genius-level scientific mind, and his years of travel let him surpass Peter in some fields.

  His fighting was another matter. Kaine notes that Reilly leans on tactics more than physical skill, and calls him a calculating and cunning combatant. After he lost the Scarlet Spider identity, Bagley designed a replacement costume, with minor alterations by Bob Budiansky.

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• 4. Clone Saga Years

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  From October 1994 to December 1996, the Clone Saga ran through five concurrent Spider-Man titles. They were The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, and The Spectacular Spider-Man. In November and December 1995, the Scarlet Spider replaced Spider-Man in all five. The books were renamed to match, including The Amazing Scarlet Spider and The Spectacular Scarlet Spider.

  Reilly then took over as Spider-Man. He stayed the featured Spider-Man from January to December 1996, and The Sensational Spider-Man replaced Web of Spider-Man as a monthly title. The story spilled into Spider-Man: The Lost Years and Spider-Man: Clone Journals. Reilly also crossed over into DC vs. Marvel with DC Comics and Backlash/Spider-Man with Image Comics.

  The plot began with Reilly's return to New York. He met a bitter, angry Peter, who was prone to violent rages after recent traumatic events. After the two handled a hostage situation at Ravencroft, Peter tried to reclaim his humanity. Ben decided to stay for a while. When they reunited later, they came to believe that Peter was the clone and Ben the original.

  As the Scarlet Spider, Reilly joined the New Warriors briefly and grew attracted to his teammate Firestar. Then Peter was nearly killed in action. He decided to retire as Spider-Man to be a better husband and father, and he left the city with Mary Jane. A holographic duplicate of the Scarlet Spider soon ruined Ben's reputation during a gang war between Lady Octopus and Alistair Smythe. He dropped the name and took up the Spider-Man identity in a new costume.

  He dyed his hair blonde and worked at a cafe called the Daily Grind. He briefly bonded with the Carnage symbiote as Spider-Carnage, and John Jameson helped remove it. He also dated Jessica Carradine, a student who believed Spider-Man was a murderer. Her late father had been the burglar who killed Ben Parker. She finally accepted that Spider-Man was a hero when she saw him risk his life in a burning building.

  When Peter and Mary Jane returned, the two men began to treat each other as brothers. Ben introduced Peter to the cafe staff as his cousin. Kaine admitted he had been avoiding responsibility and turned himself in to the authorities. Inspired, Janine did the same, after it emerged that Kaine had forced her to fake her death.

  The villain behind it all was Norman Osborn. He had spent years tormenting Peter, even having Seward Trainer forge lab results so that Peter would think he was the clone. When Osborn attacked directly, Reilly took a fatal wound meant for Peter. His body decomposed rapidly, which proved he was the clone. He died in Spider-Man #75, and Peter took the costume back. The character was mostly absent from mainstream continuity for years, though writers alluded to him and used him as the backstory foundation for the Spider-Girl mythology. In January 2009 he returned in the third part of Marvel's X-Men/Spider-Man miniseries, written by Christos Gage. It was his first new adventure in more than 12 years.

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• 5. Twenty-Seven Deaths

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  On the 25th of July 2010 at San Diego Comic-Con, fans told Marvel they wanted Ben Reilly back. Assistant editor Tom Brennan answered, "It's being worked on." At the 2011 convention, Marvel posted a teaser image of Reilly's shirt in flames, titled "The return of The Scarlet Spider?" The answer was no. Kaine became the new Scarlet Spider in his own series. When Reilly appeared in costume on the cover of Scarlet Spider #21, fighting Kaine, it turned out to be Kraven the Hunter in disguise.

  The real return came in the 2015 All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, under the alias Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of death. It led into Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy. Miles Warren had survived the events of Maximum Clonage and resurrected Ben in a clone body. That body suffered cellular degradation, so Warren killed Ben and tried again. He repeated this many times. Ben's memory transfer meant he recalled each death until the 27th body finally held together.

  Traumatized by 26 deaths, Ben broke free and defeated Warren. He then decided to use Warren's technology so that no one else would suffer death. He put on an Anubis mask, became the new Jackal, and improved the process. He called his creations reanimates, meant to be continuations of the original person rather than mere copies. The new process required each clone to swallow a pill daily. Without it their flesh, muscles, organs, and bones would deteriorate until only the nervous system, eyes, and brain remained. The reanimates also carried a latent form of a new Carrion virus in their cells.

  Publicly, Reilly ran New U Technologies, which offered healing and organ replacement, even for terminal conditions. Peter Parker, then head of Parker Industries, grew suspicious and investigated. Reilly revealed himself and showed Peter the people he had resurrected, whose deaths had weighed on Spider-Man. They lived in a neighborhood-like facility called Haven. Peter pointed out that Reilly had not revived Uncle Ben. If Reilly truly believed he was doing right, Peter argued, Ben would have been the first person he brought back.

  A signal then destabilized the reanimates and set off the airborne Carrion virus. Reilly intended to let the plague spread and replace everyone with improved reanimates. Spider-Man stopped him. With his own body breaking down, Reilly saved himself with New U Pills and Webware Technology, and he was left with scars across his face and body. After a brief fight with the original Jackal, he left to start a new life. He still believed his work had been for the good of humanity.

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• 6. Favored by Death

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  In Las Vegas, the disfigured Ben was tracked down by Cassandra Mercury, owner of the Mercury Rising casino. She wanted revenge because New U Technologies had failed to cure her daughter Abigail's terminal disease. Ben bought time by promising a cure in exchange for a lab and resources. He lived at the casino and called himself "Peter." He was haunted by hallucinations of his old self urging him to be more heroic, and of his Jackal self defending their actions.

  He stole a Spider-Man cosplayer's hooded costume, and later took a copy of his original Scarlet Spider outfit from a fan. As a vigilante he used harsher methods than before, sometimes using a gun to deliver nonlethal injuries. Kaine Parker arrived, wanting Ben dead for his actions as the Jackal. Ben's untested serum backfired and killed Abigail, and Death seemingly killed Kaine.

  Death explained that no one had been brought back as often as Ben, and that this had corrupted his soul. One more resurrection would likely shatter his soul and sanity. She offered to restore either Abigail or Kaine. Ben asked her to save both and take him instead. Impressed, Death healed them and removed his scars. When Ben later used excessive force, scarring returned around one eye. Death told him he was still being tested.

  The 2017-2018 series Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider states that he has died and returned more than anyone else in the Marvel Universe, which made him a favorite of Death. His testing was not over. Ben injected Abigail with what seemed to be a blood sample from the angel Gabriel, but she still succumbed to her illness. The demon lord Mephisto then tricked Kaine into killing Ben. The blood had worked after all. Abigail ascended to an angelic level of existence and offered to resurrect him, since Mephisto had overstepped by arranging an early death.

  Ben refused, remembering Death's warning. Abigail assured him he was still a hero at heart. He soon woke in a body bag in an ambulance. He punched Misty Beck through the stomach and exposed her as an android. Ben realized he had been driven sociopathic, and he enjoyed it. He assaulted Kaine and ordered him to leave Las Vegas. Then he broke down crying in an alleyway.

  During Spider-Geddon, Otto Octavius recruited Kaine to fight the Inheritors, vampiric beings who feed on the life force of animal totems, especially Spider heroes. Ben overheard that they planned to use New U Technologies to rebuild their cloning machine. He volunteered his services to stop his technology from causing more harm. Octavius grudgingly agreed, then apparently betrayed him by offering him to the Inheritors. The Inheritor called Jennix took Ben's life force and with it the experience of his 27 deaths, which drove Jennix insane, just as planned. Octavius resurrected Ben a 28th time, with his mind restored.

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• 7. Chasm

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  At an unspecified point, the Beyond Corporation recruited Ben to wear the Spider-Man mantle a second time. He took a modified Beyond costume into the field when Bushwacker seized a building in Dallas. To secure his loyalty, the corporation arranged the prison release of Elizabeth Tyne, his true love. It then altered his memories to keep control, and he lost his sense of responsibility. The company pitted him against Peter, saying they had a device that could restore his memories.

  In the fight, Ben was exposed to matter-manipulating polymers created by Beyond, and he disappeared. He resurfaced months later, having deteriorated further and become unable to perceive his own face. He was bathed in green and black energy. He put on a twisted green and purple version of his Spider-Man suit, declared his old self dead, and became the villain Chasm.

  The Dark Web storyline pulled Chasm into Limbo. He and Janine, now transformed into Hallows' Eve, planned to recover his memory. There they met Madelyne Pryor, and Chasm formed an alliance with her. He told her he wanted to consume Peter Parker's soul. The two won Venom over by ripping out his memories of his son Dylan Brock, which returned him to his vicious persona.

  Chasm kidnapped J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson and sent them to Limbo. He confronted Spider-Man and unleashed six demons, each a pastiche of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Hallows' Eve gave him the Scythe of Sorrows. He took the throne of Limbo from Pryor, became a demonic form called King Chasm, and led his forces against Earth. After he was defeated, Pryor locked him in a cell in the building that became the Limbo Embassy.

  Chasm later mastered his energy powers and escaped. He went after the Winkler device, hoping it would restore his memories, and reunited with Hallows' Eve. They allied with Queen Goblin, who betrayed him and tried to mutate him. Spider-Man saved him. When Spider-Man was corrupted by the sins of Norman Osborn, Chasm used a special goo to help him regain control of his body.

  Chasm and Hallows' Eve then settled in an abandoned church. Druig took control of Chasm as part of a plan to let Mole Man invade the surface. Kaine freed him, and Chasm went to help Hallows' Eve fight Mole Man's forces. Later, Hellgate sent Peter Parker to another planet, and Norman Osborn began working as Spider-Man in his place. Ben began impersonating Peter and living his life. After Shocker attacked him, Norman and Black Cat saved him. Ben told Felicia Hardy that he did not know who the current Spider-Man was, and that he had gained appreciation for what Peter has.

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• 8. Other Worlds and Screens

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  In September 2009, Marvel issued a six-issue miniseries, Spider-Man: The Clone Saga, to tell the 1990s story as it had first been conceived. In that version, Mary Jane Watson's baby is not stillborn but is kidnapped by Alison Mongrain. She entrusts the child to Kaine Parker, who returns her to her parents. Ben Reilly leaves New York to travel the world and find a life for himself.

  Other comics imagined Ben in different shapes. In Spider-Man: Life Story, where characters age normally, Miles Warren creates him at Norman Osborn's insistence. He and a clone of Gwen Stacy rename themselves Ben and Helen Parker, and in 2006 Morlun murders Ben. In the Amalgam Comics imprint, Spider-Boy blends Ben Reilly with DC's Superboy. In Ultimate Marvel, Ben Reilly is an African-American scientist who worked with Curt Connors, and the symbiote Carnage is nicknamed "Little Ben" after him.

  During the 2014 "Spider-Verse" storyline, a Ben Reilly from Earth-94 joined a team of Spider-Totems against the Inheritors. In his world Peter Parker's powers never returned, and Ben had grown lighter without Peter's burdens. He led fellow clones Kaine Parker and the Jessica Drew of Earth-1610 to Earth-802, which was ruled by the Inheritor Jennix. Reilly sacrificed himself to destroy their cloning facility. The What If? issues asked other questions. In #30, the clone wakes first after the Jackal's bomb and puts the real Parker in stasis. In vol. 2 #86, Reilly's body washes ashore and Peter is believed dead.

  On television, the Scarlet Spider made non-speaking cameos in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "One Man's Worth" and the Fantastic Four episode "Nightmare in Green." Christopher Daniel Barnes voiced an alternate-reality version in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series finale "Spider-Wars," alongside a Spider-Carnage. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Scott Porter voiced a synthezoid built by Doctor Octopus. Nicolas Cage appears in the 2026 series Spider-Noir as a Spider-Man Noir who uses Ben Reilly as an alias, adopted after the end of World War I.

  In the 2023 film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Andy Samberg voices Reilly as a parody of 1990s comic tropes. Director Joaquim Dos Santos said the character represents an era "when super duper ripped characters were like the norm." Reilly has also been an alternate costume in games including Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man 2 (2023). Chasm is an unlockable skin in Marvel Rivals. Toy Biz released figures of the Scarlet Spider and of Ben as Spider-Man in 1996, and Medicom Toy's Mafex line added another in 2021.

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