In Amazing Spider-Man #93, Ben Reilly faces a final fate far worse than anything Peter Parker has been made to endure – but did he deserve it?
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #93, available now from Marvel Comics.
During the “Beyond” storyline, Peter Parker’s long-suffering clone Ben Reilly was given the chance to once again take on the mantle of Spider-Man, and his time under the mask proved to be uncharacteristically healthy. Not only did Ben prove himself to be just as capable of a hero as his genetic template, but he also rekindled his romance with his old flame Janine Godbe and mended his estranged relationship with Peter, gaining a sense of purpose and fulfillment that has eluded him his entire life.
Unfortunately, Ben’s life has always been defined by a seemingly inescapable cycle of sudden triumph and subsequent tragedy, and that pattern has once again repeated itself in Amazing Spider-Man #93 (by Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Bryan Valenza, and VC’s Joe Caramagna). While Ben’s latest downfall is the consequence of his own self-centered choices, the decision to once again turn the former Scarlet Spider into a villainous reflection of Spider-Man is emblematic of a seemingly sadistic desire to unnecessarily “punish” the character for his role in the infamous Clone Saga.
Throughout Ben’s partnership with Beyond, the corporation has been secretly wiping the implanted memories that Ben shares with Peter to transform him into the first in a potentially long line of Beyond-branded heroes and villains. Although Ben initially teamed up with Peter to take down Beyond after discovering what they had planned, his growing mental instability allowed his former handler Maxine Danger to manipulate him into attacking Peter, promising that she could use the same device that she used to wipe his memories to transfer Peter’s into him. After the device was destroyed in the ensuing battle, a despondent Ben allowed himself to be consumed by the flood of toxic chemicals that Maxine released into the building. Although Ben survived and was eventually rescued by Janine, the loss of his memories and the lingering effects of the chemicals twisted his body and mind, turning him into the seemingly villainous “Chasm.”
Although Ben’s transformation into Chasm is portrayed as a shocking turn of events, it isn’t the first time that he’s taken on a more villainous role in the Marvel Universe. Following his death at the hands of Norman Osborn in Spider-Man #75 (by Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Kevin Tinsley, Liz Agraphiotis, Richard Starkings, and Comicraft), Ben’s dissolved remains were collected by his creator Miles Warren, who repeatedly killed and resurrected him to test a new cloning process. Driven mad by the agony of his multiple deaths, Ben broke free, defeated Warren, and used his resources to found New U Technologies, which he then used to refine the cloning process. Hoping to use his new and improved method to “improve” humanity, Ben attempted to kill the entire population of Earth with the Carrion Virus and replace them with “superior” clone duplicates, only to be defeated by Peter and Doctor Octopus.
Despite his genuine desire to be a hero and live up to his and Peter’s shared memory of Uncle Ben, Reilly always finds himself enduring one form of suffering or another. While Ben isn’t the first Marvel character to undergo traumatic experiences, the decision to continuously torment him appears to stem from the creative team. As the central figure in the often reviled Clone Saga, Ben has become intrinsically associated with the infamous storyline, and the constant agony he endures sometimes appears to be a way for Marvel to denounce the divisive event by continuously punishing its main character.
However, the continuous torment of Ben has almost all of its narrative punch and is becoming counter-productive. By keeping Reilly around, the creative teams who utilize him are continuously raising the ghosts of the Clone Saga, ensuring that the event continues to play a defining role in the Spider-Man mythos. By giving Ben a happy ending, Marvel could have finally exorcised the spirit of the story and given one of its longest-suffering heroes closure.
The “Old Parker Luck” is a phrase that’s always embodied Spider-Man’s seemingly limitless capacity for misfortune, but it holds even more true for his clone than it does for any other version of the webslinger. Despite coming close to a degree of lasting happiness with the love of his life, Marvel’s unluckiest clone has once again been cast aside by a world that only wants the “real” Spider-Man.
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