Marvel’s new Spider-Man, Ben Reilly, got some serious help in his new role from one of Peter Parker’s old allies at the Ravencroft Institute.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #75, available now from Marvel.
Few Marvel characters have lived lives quite as complicated as Ben Reilly. The most famous clone of Peter Parker has spent years going back and forth from being an iconic hero to a complete joke, with his most recent turn putting him right back on top as the new Spider-Man, officially licensed by the mysterious Beyond Corporation, much to the chagrin of the new-comatose Peter Parker. However, there was more to this transformation than at first glance, and Ravencroft’s own Doctor Ashley Kafka had a big hand in Ben’s transformation.
As revealed in the backup story to Amazing Spider-Man #75, “Kafka,” by Zeb Wells, Ivan Fiorelli, Edgar Delgado, and VC’s Joe Caramagna, Beyond had their eyes on Ben for a lot longer than he knew. And Beyond also knew that rebuilding and fortifying his mind with help from longtime Spider-Man ally Doctor Kafka would be instrumental in ensuring that success.
First introduced to the Marvel Universe in the pages of 1991’s Spectacular Spider-Man #178 by J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema, Doctor Kafka has long been one of the foremost super-criminal psychologists in the world. Her work was so impressive that the United States government even brought her in to head up the Ravencroft Institute, where she treated the likes of Electro, Doctor Octopus and Carnage.
This work gave her a unique sort of insight into the way Ben Reilly was molded by those around him before she became acquainted with him for herself. Kafka was there when Ben chose to bond to the Carnage symbiote in a bid to keep it from finding Cletus Kasady within Ravencroft, and she has studied his case a close as anyone associated with it. Her particular expertise in dealing with superpowered individuals, especially Ben and those related to him in one way or another, is exactly what drew Beyond to her when they are looking for help in crafting their own Spider-Man project. There is also the fact that Doctor Kafka was revived by Ben through cloning, something that Beyond Corp seems to somehow be all too aware of.
As unsettling as that is, the opportunity to work with Ben Reilly was too good to pass up, and Doctor Kafka was able to cover an amazing amount of ground in her endeavors from the looks of things. While the Ben Reilly of Amazing Spider-Man is a strong and confident figure, this is far from the almost clownish Scarlet Spider seen recently in the pages of Iron Man by Chris Cantwell and CAFU. When Tony Stark’s hunt for the now godlike Korvac drew him to outer space, Ben Reilly found himself fighting alongside the Avenger as well as the rest of his crew. This ragtag group of heroes included the likes of Misty Knight, although it also gave less intimidating heroes such as Frog-Man a moment to shine, and Ben was far closer to the latter than the former in terms of usefulness during that mission.
There is no question that Doctor Kafka still has some serious reservations when it comes to anyone looking to capitalize on the expertise she gained throughout the Clone Saga, and that certainly includes Beyond. Stilll, the chance to take all of the pain and trauma she has been dealt and transform it into something heroic isn’t one she is willing to turn down, especially not when it comes with the opportunity to get inside the head of one of the most interesting figures in her world.
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