Ben Reilly

Ben Reilly is the original clone of Peter Parker, created by the Jackal, who embarked on a tragic and complex journey to forge his own identity, most famously as the heroic Scarlet Spider and briefly as Spider-Man himself, before enduring multiple deaths and resurrections that ultimately twisted him into the villainous Chasm.

• Role in the Universe: As the central figure of the controversial 1990s Clone Saga, Ben Reilly serves as a living exploration of identity, memory, and what it means to be “real” in the Marvel Universe. He is a perpetual challenge to peter_parker's status quo, acting as his brother, his replacement, and his dark reflection, questioning the very foundation of who Spider-Man is.
• Primary Impact: His existence and initial heroic journey culminated in one of the most significant status quo shifts in Spider-Man's history, with him taking over the mantle completely. His subsequent death and later villainous returns have had a profound and lasting traumatic impact on Peter Parker, making him one of the most personal and complicated figures in Spider-Man's life.
• Key Incarnations: In the primary comic continuity (Earth-616), Ben is a deeply nuanced character with a long, tragic history across multiple identities—Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man, the Jackal, and Chasm. In his most prominent screen adaptation, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, he is portrayed as a more one-dimensional, aggressive, and brooding variant, serving as a meta-commentary on 90s comic book angst.

Ben Reilly's journey began long before he was ever known by that name. He first appeared, unnamed, in The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975). This issue, created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru, was the climax of the original Clone Saga. In this story, the villain known as the Jackal creates a clone of Spider-Man to torment him. The story ends with both the clone and the Jackal seemingly killed in an explosion, leaving Peter Parker to dispose of the clone's body in a smokestack, confident the ordeal was over. For nearly two decades, this was a self-contained story. However, in the mid-1990s, the Spider-Man editorial team, seeking to reinvigorate the character and create a major, line-wide event, decided to revisit this plot thread. Spearheaded by editor Tom DeFalco and executed by a team of writers including J.M. DeMatteis, Terry Kavanagh, and Howard Mackie, the plan was to reveal that the clone had, in fact, survived. This character was brought back and given a name—Ben Reilly, a portmanteau of Uncle Ben's first name and Aunt May's maiden name—and a new heroic identity: the Scarlet Spider. The storyline, which ballooned into the infamous Clone Saga, ran from 1994 to 1996 and was initially a massive commercial success. The mystery of which Spider-Man was the “real” one captivated readers. The eventual editorial decision to reveal Ben as the original Peter Parker and have the Peter readers had followed for twenty years be the clone was a monumental, and deeply controversial, move. The goal was to de-age Spider-Man, freeing him from his marriage to Mary Jane and allowing for a “back-to-basics” approach with the bachelor Ben Reilly. However, overwhelming negative fan reaction to this twist forced Marvel to reverse course. The saga was concluded by revealing that Ben was the clone after all, orchestrated by a returned Norman Osborn, and Ben was killed off. Despite the narrative's messy reputation, Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider remains an iconic and beloved figure from that era.

The in-universe origin of Ben Reilly is a tale of scientific hubris, stolen identity, and a desperate search for self. Professor Miles Warren, a brilliant but unstable genetics professor at Empire State University, became obsessed with his student Gwen Stacy. When she was murdered by the green_goblin_norman_osborn, Warren's mind shattered. Blaming Spider-Man for her death and having secretly discovered his identity as Peter Parker, Warren adopted the villainous persona of the Jackal and perfected a cloning process. His ultimate revenge was to create a perfect duplicate of Peter Parker. In their first confrontation, the clone and Peter fought, both believing themselves to be the original. The battle ended in a massive explosion, seemingly killing the Jackal and the clone. Peter, shaken but believing he was the victor and the genuine article, disposed of the clone's body in an industrial smokestack. However, the clone survived. Awakening with all of Peter Parker's memories, love, and sense of responsibility, but now believing himself to be a soulless copy, he was horrified. To avoid creating chaos in the “real” Peter's life, he embarked on a five-year, self-imposed exile. He adopted the name Ben Reilly and wandered the country, working odd jobs and trying to build a life, all while being haunted by memories that he felt he had no right to. He was eventually drawn back to New York City upon learning that Aunt May was gravely ill. His return coincided with the emergence of a new, mysterious web-slinging hero: the Scarlet Spider. Clad in a simple red bodysuit and a blue sleeveless hoodie, Ben began fighting crime, his fighting style more brutal and his methods more direct than Peter's. This inevitably led to a tense and often adversarial alliance with Peter Parker, who was mistrustful of his returned duplicate. The core of their conflict was amplified by the manipulations of Seward Trainer, a scientist and friend to Ben, who (under duress from the Green Goblin) produced genetic tests declaring Ben the original and Peter the clone. This revelation shattered Peter's world. Believing his life was a lie and with his wife Mary Jane pregnant, Peter decided to retire and pass the torch. Ben Reilly, accepting his supposed reality as the “real” Spider-Man, shed his Scarlet Spider identity and took on the mantle of Spider-Man, designing a new, updated costume. His tenure was tragically short-lived. The master manipulator behind the entire saga, a resurrected Norman Osborn, revealed himself. In a final, brutal battle, Osborn impaled Ben with his Goblin Glider. As Ben lay dying in Peter's arms, his body began to rapidly break down, the cellular degeneration proving once and for all that he was, and always had been, the clone. He dissolved into dust, leaving nothing but his costume and a heartbroken Peter Parker. Years later, Ben was resurrected by the Jackal through a new, flawed cloning process that required daily medication to prevent cellular decay. After enduring death and rebirth 27 times, Ben's mind snapped. He killed and replaced Miles Warren, becoming the new Jackal and launching a plot to grant “immortality” to the world in the Clone Conspiracy. He was defeated and seemingly died again. He was resurrected once more, but this time with amnesia. Seeking a fresh start in Las Vegas, he reclaimed the Scarlet Spider identity, battling his flawed clone “brother” Kaine. Eventually, the powerful Beyond Corporation recruited a memory-wiped Ben to become their official, corporate-sponsored Spider-Man after Peter Parker was incapacitated. They subjected him to intense psychological manipulation, culminating in them erasing his core memories inherited from Peter. When Peter returned, a final battle saw Ben fall into a vat of psycho-reactive “quantum-shifting polymers,” which seared his soul and transformed him into the demonic, memory-starved villain known as Chasm.

To date, Ben Reilly has not appeared in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999). His most significant and well-known adaptation is in Sony's animated film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This version of Ben Reilly is a member of Miguel O'Hara's multiversal Spider-Society.

• Origin & Role: The film provides little backstory for this variant (designated Earth-90214), but his existence implies a similar cloning origin. Within the Spider-Society, he acts as a heavy enforcer, tasked with apprehending multiversal anomalies like Miles Morales. He is fiercely loyal to Miguel O'Hara's philosophy of protecting “canon events” at all costs.
• Personality & Design: This Ben Reilly is a deliberate, almost parodic exaggeration of his 90s comic book persona. He is intensely brooding, prone to dramatic monologues about his own pain and “abyss-like” inner turmoil, and physically depicted as far more muscular and imposing than other Spider-Men. His costume is a faithful recreation of the classic Scarlet Spider outfit.
• Key Differences from Earth-616: The primary difference is personality. Where the comic version was defined by his struggle for humanity and his inherent goodness, the film version is an aggressive, one-note antagonist. He lacks the nuance, compassion, and internal conflict of his comic counterpart. The film uses him as a meta-commentary on the “edgy” anti-hero archetype of the 1990s and as a formidable physical threat for Miles to overcome. He is ultimately defeated and sent back to his home dimension by Gwen Stacy.

As a perfect genetic duplicate of Peter Parker, Ben Reilly possesses powers and intellect identical to the original Spider-Man, though his life experiences have led to different applications of these gifts.

• Powers & Abilities:
  • Superhuman Strength: Ben can lift approximately 10-15 tons and can strike with incredible force.
  • Superhuman Speed & Reflexes: He can move and react faster than the finest human athlete, allowing him to dodge automatic gunfire at close range. His reflexes are approximately 40 times greater than an ordinary human's.
  • Superhuman Agility & Equilibrium: His balance and bodily coordination are extraordinary, allowing him to perform complex acrobatic maneuvers with ease.
  • Wall-Crawling: He can adhere to virtually any surface through conscious control over the electrostatic attraction between his body and other objects.
  • Spider-Sense: A precognitive danger sense that warns him of potential threats with a tingling sensation in his skull. His Spider-Sense is identical to Peter's, though at times it has been depicted as slightly more sensitive due to his unique experiences.
  • Genius-Level Intellect: Possessing all of Peter Parker's knowledge up to the point of his cloning, Ben is a brilliant scientist with expertise in chemistry, engineering, and physics.
• Equipment & Weaponry:
  • Web-Shooters (as Scarlet Spider): Ben's first set of web-shooters were an improvement on Peter's original design. Worn on the outside of his costume over his wrists, they featured a more efficient trigger system and a larger fluid capacity.
  • Utility Belt (as Scarlet Spider): He wore a utility belt containing extra web-fluid cartridges and unique projectiles of his own invention.
  • “Stinger” Darts: Small, tranquilizer-like darts made of solidified webbing that could paralyze his opponents.
  • Impact Webbing: Small, web-fluid-filled capsules that, upon impact, would explode and ensnare a target in a thick cocoon of webbing.
  • Redesigned Spider-Man Suit: When he took over as Spider-Man, Ben created a new costume with a larger, more stylized spider emblem that stretched across the torso, altered web-patterns on the gloves and boots, and his custom external web-shooters.
  • Chasm's Weapons: As Chasm, his primary weapons are mystical, razor-sharp blades called “Abyssal Blades,” which are formed from his own soul and can harm individuals on a spiritual level.
• Personality:

Ben's personality is one of the most complex in Spider-Man's world. Forged in five years of lonely exile, he was initially more cynical, pragmatic, and emotionally guarded than Peter. He carried a deep-seated identity crisis, constantly feeling like a “ghost” or a “copy.” Despite this, he possessed the same core of heroic responsibility as his progenitor. He had a dry wit and a fierce desire for a normal life, something he felt was stolen from him. His love for Janine Godbe revealed a deeply passionate and protective side. However, his repeated deaths, resurrections, and betrayals—especially the loss of his copied memories from the Beyond Corporation—inflicted profound psychological trauma, twisting his sense of responsibility into a bitter, selfish obsession. As Chasm, he is a being defined by emptiness and rage, desperate to reclaim the soul he believes Peter Parker stole from him.

This cinematic version is a significant departure, focusing on specific traits for a specific narrative purpose.

• Powers & Abilities: He possesses the standard suite of Spider-powers, but his fighting style is much more of a brawler. He relies on his superior muscle mass and brute force, overwhelming opponents with powerful strikes rather than Peter's or Miles's acrobatic finesse.
• Equipment: He wears a faithful adaptation of the Scarlet Spider costume, complete with the blue sleeveless hoodie and external web-shooters. He does not demonstrate the use of impact webbing or stingers in the film.
• Personality: This Ben is an intentional caricature of 90s comic book angst. He is perpetually brooding and self-serious, delivering overwrought monologues about his pain and inner darkness. He lacks any of the warmth, wit, or internal conflict of the Earth-616 version. He is presented as an aggressive, physically intimidating obstacle who is slavishly devoted to the mission of the Spider-Society, making him a pure antagonist to the film's hero, Miles Morales.

• peter_parker (Spider-Man): The defining relationship of Ben's life. They are, for all intents and purposes, brothers, but their bond is fraught with rivalry, mistrust, and philosophical differences. They fought as enemies, worked together as partners, and for a brief time, Ben completely replaced Peter. Peter's grief over Ben's death was profound, and Ben's villainous returns have been some of the most personal and painful battles Peter has ever fought.
• Kaine Parker: The first, flawed clone of Peter Parker created by the Jackal. Initially, Kaine was a violent, mentally unstable villain who stalked and tormented Ben during his exile, believing Ben to be the “real” Peter. Over time, Kaine stabilized and reformed, becoming a true brother to Ben. He even took up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider himself in Ben's honor, becoming a hero in his own right and often acting as Ben's conscience.
• Seward Trainer: A brilliant geneticist who befriended Ben during his exile. Seward became a father figure and mentor to Ben, offering him guidance and a sense of family. Tragically, he was secretly manipulated by agents of Norman Osborn to falsify the clone test results, a betrayal that devastated Ben. Seward was ultimately murdered to protect Osborn's secrets.
• Janine Godbe (Elizabeth Tyne): Ben's greatest love. A fellow wanderer with a dark, abusive past, Janine found a kindred spirit in Ben. They fell deeply in love while Ben was in Salt Lake City. Their relationship was tragic, as Janine's past eventually caught up with her, forcing her to fake her death to protect Ben. Her loss haunted him for the rest of his life.

• The Jackal (Miles Warren): Ben's creator and original tormentor. Warren's obsession and scientific madness are the sole reasons for Ben's existence. He represents the theft of Ben's identity and the source of all his suffering. The irony is that Ben himself would later usurp the Jackal's identity, becoming the monster who created him.
• green_goblin_norman_osborn: The ultimate architect of Ben's pain. Osborn, having secretly survived his own supposed death, orchestrated the latter half of the Clone Saga from the shadows. His goal was to psychologically destroy Peter Parker. He manipulated Seward Trainer, was responsible for the false test results, and ultimately murdered Ben in cold blood, delivering the final, cruel “truth” that Ben was just a copy.

• The New Warriors: During his time as the Scarlet Spider, Ben briefly joined the New Warriors, fighting alongside them and earning their respect as a hero.
• Beyond Corporation: In a more recent and damaging affiliation, Ben was hired by the Beyond Corporation to be their corporate-backed Spider-Man. While they provided him with advanced technology and a new life, they also systematically manipulated him and erased his foundational memories, leading directly to his psychological break and transformation into Chasm.
• Spider-Society (Across the Spider-Verse): In this animated adaptation, Ben is a prominent member of Miguel O'Hara's multiversal task force, acting as one of its primary enforcers.

This is the sprawling, two-year-long epic that defined Ben Reilly. The story began with his return to New York as the Scarlet Spider. It introduced a complex web of mysteries involving other clones like the murderous Kaine and the unstable Spidercide. The central conflict was the question: “Who is the real Peter Parker?” When tests “proved” Ben was the original, Peter retired, and Ben took over as Spider-Man, battling new villains like Doctor Octopus II and contending with the legacy of his “clone.” The saga concluded with the shocking return of Norman Osborn, who revealed the entire affair was his master plan. In a heroic sacrifice, Ben saved Peter from Osborn but was killed in the process, his dissolving body providing the final, heartbreaking proof of his clone status.

This storyline brought Ben back from the dead in the most shocking way possible: as the new Jackal. It was revealed that Miles Warren had perfected a process of resurrecting the dead in new clone bodies but had repeatedly failed on Ben, torturing him through 27 cycles of death and rebirth. Ben snapped, killed Warren, and took his place. Under the guise of humanitarianism, he founded New U Technologies and began resurrecting the deceased loved ones of both heroes and villains, intending to control them. His plan was to unleash the Carrion Virus globally, giving him control over life and death itself. He was ultimately foiled by Peter Parker and a reformed Doctor Octopus.

Following another resurrection, a memory-wiped Ben Reilly was approached by the enigmatic Beyond Corporation. With Peter Parker hospitalized by a radiation attack, Beyond offered Ben the chance to be Spider-Man again, but this time with corporate sponsorship, a high-tech suit, and a full support team. Ben accepted, hoping to be the hero he always knew he could be. However, Beyond's true purpose was to psychologically break Ben and study the source of Spider-Man's power. They systematically erased the core memories he had copied from Peter, specifically the foundational “With great power comes great responsibility” lesson. This act of psychic mutilation, combined with a final, brutal battle with Peter, caused Ben to fall into a vat of experimental material, dissolving his mind and soul and rebirthing him as the villain Chasm.

As the newly minted Chasm, Ben, now a being of pure rage and emptiness, formed an unholy alliance with Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen and a fellow wronged clone. Together, they opened a portal to the demonic realm of Limbo and unleashed its hordes upon New York City. Ben's singular goal was to force Peter Parker to give him back his memories—Peter's memories—believing they were the key to restoring his stolen soul. This event solidified Ben's heel turn, pitting him against the X-Men and Spider-Man in a magical and deeply personal war.

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Earth-90214): As detailed above, this version is an exaggerated, aggressive enforcer for the Spider-Society. He is more of a thematic symbol of 90s angst than a fully developed character, serving as a physical and ideological foil for Miles Morales.
• Ultimate Spider-Man (Earth-1610): The Ultimate Marvel universe took a very different approach. Here, “Ben Reilly” was the name of an African-American lab assistant working with Dr. Curt Connors at ESU. He was involved in the creation of the Carnage symbiote. The “Scarlet Spider” of this universe was a separate, tattered-costumed clone of Peter Parker who was revealed to be Kaine. This version completely divorces the name “Ben Reilly” from the Scarlet Spider identity.
• Spider-Girl (MC2/Earth-982): In this potential future, Ben Reilly's heroic legacy endures. He is honored through the name of Peter Parker's second child, Benjamin “Benjy” Parker. Furthermore, Kaine Parker is a recurring heroic figure in the life of May “Mayday” Parker (Spider-Girl), having overcome his villainous past, in part due to Ben's influence and sacrifice.
• Marvel's Spider-Man Video Game Series (Earth-1048): While Ben Reilly himself does not appear as a character in the Insomniac Games series, his legacy is honored. The iconic Scarlet Spider suit (blue hoodie and all) is a highly popular unlockable costume for Peter Parker to wear in the game, a testament to the character's enduring visual appeal and fan base.

• peter_parker
• clone_saga
• kaine_parker
• jackal_miles_warren
• green_goblin_norman_osborn
• beyond_corporation

^{1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)}