Among Spider-Man fans, the mid 90s is known as one of the most maligned periods for the web-slinger. There is one principle reason for this—the return of the clone of Peter Parker. Originally introduced in the 70s, the clone was created by the Jackal and the story ended with the clone’s apparent death. Fast forward about twenty years. Marvel decided to bring back the clone and they gave him a different name, Ben Reilly. Ben began a career as a crime fighter as well, operating under the alias of the Scarlet Spider. The story then took a turn for the worse when Marvel stated that Ben was the original Spider-Man and Peter was the clone. It was a story that was drawn out far too long and eventually ended with Ben assuming the mantle of Spider-Man. It wasn’t until later that Marvel hit the reset button, killed Ben, restored Peter as Spider-Man, and even brought back the long-dead Norman Osborn.
Fans despised this story and it didn’t take long before they also learned to despise what they believed to be the source of such poor plotting—Ben Reilly. However, people seem to overlook some very important things about Ben. He’s single, he’s young, and, as he was on the road from the mid-70s to the mid-90s, he’s avoided many of the pitfalls Peter encountered during that period. In many ways, Ben is the answer to many complaints about Spider-Man becoming too aged (including Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada). Ben is the 70s Spider-Man, kept preserved in a stasis. He provides the perfect way for Spidey fans to have their cake and eat it, too.
However, the main pitfall with Ben is his baggage, and it’s the trap Marvel fell into when they used Ben. Most stories focused on Ben in New York, either operating beside Spider-Man or operating on Spider-Man’s turf. This left him permanently stuck in Peter’s shadow and didn’t give him a chance to grow as a character. The stories also heavily focused on Ben’s ties to the Clone Saga.
Although I knew a little of Ben Reilly, I wasn’t reading the Spider-Man comics during the Clone Saga. So my major introduction to him came in the form of fanfic when Cory Wiegel resurrected the character in his Amazing Spider-Man run at Marvel 2000. But the definitive version of the character, at least in my opinion, is not from the comics—instead it’s also in fanfic. Specifically Russ Anderson’s fifteen-issue run of Scarlet Spider, also at M2K. Russ wisely did exactly what I’ve just advocated—he took Ben out of New York and out of Peter’s shadow. He relocated Ben to Baltimore and pitted him up against some unlikely characters, including Killer Shrike, the Mengo Brothers, the Pig, Fenris, Lodestone, the Wrecker and even the Hypno Hustler. As Derrick Ferguson pointed out in his review of Russ’ run, it’s “like those early Lee/Ditko Spider-Mans where Peter was getting a real kick outta his powers.”
So what’s so special about Ben Reilly? Well, Derrick’s quote pretty much sums it up. Ben may be Peter Parker, but only up to a certain point. After that, the similarities end and Ben went on a different path. Traveling the country for five years is a great chance to give a man perspective, and it’s likely quite a different perspective from the one Peter has. Ben is a bit more worldly than Peter in this sense. And, as Ben hasn’t spent those five years swinging around in a costume, he’s perhaps much more secretive about his identity. There’s also the matter of the Scarlet Spider being a wanted criminal after the events of the “Nightmare in Scarlet” story-arc that preceded Ben taking on the Spider-Man mantle. It’s a thread I picked up on my own Scarlet Spider series over at Avengers 2000 (originally hosted at MV1).
The key thing to remember about Ben is that he’s not Peter. And it’s this mentality that has led to some great stories about Ben in fanfic, from the likes of Russ Anderson, Barry Reese, Tony Thornley and others.