Is this town really big enough for another webslinger?
While I was checking out Marvel’s interview with card-carrying Spider-Man brain trust member Marc Guggenheim about Amazing Spider-Man #600, one thing really stuck out at me:
“Who says it’s just one thing?” queries Guggenheim in return. “How about reintroducing a character whose last name is ‘Reilly’? How about the introduction of a new villain who will play a pivotal role in the upcoming series arc, ‘Who Is Ben Reilly?’”
Forget Bucky and forget Barry Allen: Ben Reilly is like a can of worms stuck inside a barrel of gunpowder. Or worse yet: a clone of Peter Parker.
Ben (who took his uncle’s first name and his aunt’s maiden name) represented the Clone Saga, and the outrage that many Spider-fans felt when it was revealed (and later retconned) that the Peter Parker we had been following for decades was really a clone. Following this revelation — and the fact that Mary Jane was pregnant with a baby — Peter was swiftly depowered and had to make way for a newer, blonder Spider-Man.
Now, this story could mean many things — it could mean he is returning, or that another character is acting out in his name. Or it could simply mean that someone has remembered Ben even existed (something that Marvel had previously avoided, even going so far as to making “clones suck” jokes for much of this decade) — in this case, it could be Norman Osborn, whose return was punctuated by impaling Ben on his Goblin Glider in Spider-Man: Revelations. Thoughts?
June 11th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I remember the clone saga and Ben Reilly all too well. Everything about this was just retahhhhhhded. That being said, I think there is an opportunity here to take a slice of embarassing Spidey lore and turn it into something amazing. What if this clone now becomes a major villain? How hot would that be? As long as he skips the off the shoulder sweat shirt ala Flashdance circa 1984, this is an excellent opportunity.
I mean, we’ve seen lame ass concepts come out on top before. I’m looking forward to what they’ve got up their sleeves.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Hmm, I wonder if Ben Reilly had an illegitimate kid during his travels, who could be affected by that poison Mr.Negative has that only targets people in Peter Parker’s bloodline?
June 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I’m all for it. I started reading Spidey titles around ’92 and really got into them in the middle of that decade — right when the clone saga was in full force. I think it’d be a nice bit of nostalgia — as long as they don’t drag it out for years and have bizarre editorial mandates like last time.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:02 am
You know I remember the Clone Saga and how bad that storyline was, but having said that I also remember the concept of Ben Reilly and how cool it would have been for Peter to have a “brother” that could assist him. For years I wondered about the dynamic that was missed when they just impaled him to return Green Goblin. Having him return as a villain might be interesting but I would say I’d rather have him return in heroic context. If not it would just be another Marvel bastardizing of characters they screwed up with and can’t reintroduce them to give people that actually liked those characters some sense of closer, or rather a reason to buy a dying book.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Bury it. Bury it with a shovel and then bury the shovel.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:13 am
“Hmm, I wonder if Ben Reilly had an illegitimate kid during his travels”
In Spider-Girl, Darkdevil is Ben Reilly’s son.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Thanks, but no.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Ben Reilly? Really? The only reason this would be a good idea is if they permanently kill off the character…but since this is comics he’d end up coming back 9 yrs later since we all knows “dead is NOT dead”.
Why can’t the magical mystery Mephisto fix this? Maybe issue #600 is “Clone New Day”?!!
June 11th, 2009 at 9:46 am
With “Brand New Day,” anything is possible, right? Anyway, since he was cloned once, why not clone Spidey again?
I know damn near everyone hated the clone saga, but I still think it was one of the ballsiest moves to try and make Ben Reily Spider-man. If they went through with it, I would have applauded Marvel for sticking with it, even if the idea was dumb.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:59 am
YES. Bring back Ben Reilly. With Ben Reilly, you had the rejuvenation of the character that OMD tried to bring about, without screwing up continuity in the process. Ben Reilly was a fun character, and his death turned me off of Marvel Comics until just before Civil War started, with OMD turning me off from Spidey again.
Just bring back the character; you don’t have to make him Spider-Man again (although, it would be nice to have a Spider-Man that actually feels like Spider-Man, instead of the monstrosity that is currently in the title).
Bring back Ben Reilly in one heroic form or another.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I liked Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider, but I’m not going to get excited or bent out of shape for a hint. If I see the character in action, I’ll make my judgments then.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I’ve always felt that the idea of Ben Reilly was a lot better than the execution of it. Ben Reilly, as a character, could have been/can be redeemed by the right storyline or writer.
As anyone who has read the awesome Life of Reilly blog knows, the whole Clone Saga is the very definition of Marvel hubris in the 90s and the concept of FUBAR in general.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:14 am
And here I thought Spiderman couldn’t get any worse….
June 11th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Why not huh? Throw everything at the wall, see what sticks, right?
June 11th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Thoughts? Glad I stopped reading Spidey books after OMD.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Man I’m glad I don’t read Spiderman, he sounds stupider the more I read about him. First the deal with the devil in One More Day, than Brand New Day and now talk of bringing he clone back? Retarded news
June 11th, 2009 at 11:08 am
As A Ben Reilly Fan, if it is a good story for a return…cool. I always liked the notion and the character interaction with others like the New Warriors. Buuuuut still not good enough to get me buying BND/OMD Spidey again. =)
June 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am
They brought back Jason Todd, Bucky Barnes, Azrael, and Marvel’s New Universe. Hell, Iron Man is currently running around in his signature 80′s armor over in Invincible. Keep in mind, today’s writers were yesterday’s readers, just like we were. And it’s obvious that they’re every bit as nostalgic about the material as we are, if not more.
How long, really, before Ben Reilly, The Beyonder, the Hobgoblin and who knows who else are brought back to their pages? House of M’s Layla was touted as the next major player in the Marvel U., and that’s been a complete bust.
They can’t do it. They just can’t turn any of us on to new characters. I mean the closest they’ve come lately is, what… Ares? He’s this decade’s Dr Druid.
They’ve got to keep going back to what worked and got killed off. Because they never created anyone to replace them.
/AS
June 11th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Ben was a GREAT Char, who was severly hurt by the terrible writing of the time.
Ben made sense for a lot of us spiderfans who loved the downtrodden loserish peter parker we had all grown to love. At the time Peter was married to a model, had put all of his major villians down and was generally just cruising around being clever waiting for his kid to pop out.
Ben came and had what peter didn’t anymore, the likability of someone with something to prove and not much to his name, and a whole open background to write about for those missing years and where he is now.
Ben was a REALLY good deal, the problem was Everything else they dragged along with it(spidercide really?) and Bringing Jackal back and blah blah who is the real peter blah blah, these were bad stories burying good people to write about.
If ben comes back, I’ll come back to spiderman books as well, since I havent picked up any spider books besides ultimate spiderman since they killed ben off, true story.
Heres hoping he comes back and comes back done right.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Who is Ben Reilly?
He was the answer to “What do we do with a married Spider-man?”
June 11th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Only Ben Reilly can end this Dark Reign!!!
June 11th, 2009 at 11:46 am
@ DAVE: too true. he’d have been a great person to flip to instead of mephisto mumbo jumbo. they could have had ben sit next to peter in spiderman garb and said. see here is spiderman and me at the same time. it was all a hoax i was forced to play along with. it could easily re-irtoduce ben and also taken care of the identity reveal.
yup. i loved ben as well. i started collected a few years before he was around.
he was fun and fresh and ew but i knew it wouldnt last. however, i didnt think they would have shuffled him off like they did. the only reason all went wrong with the clone arc is because they saw they had a good story hook and milked it till the teets spouted powdered milk.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Maybe Ben will end up marrying Mary Jane…
June 11th, 2009 at 11:59 am
you could bring Ben Reilly back as post OMD as Mary Jane’s husband/lover then all that continuity of her being married to Peter Parker may just be hair dyed blonde…
June 11th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
The Clone Saga might have progressively escalated into one of the most infamous clusterfucks in the history of comics, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly. In fact, considering the success of the new Captain America, fandom’s collective praise for the new Batman & Robin, and the somewhat meager returns – financially & critically – of Brand New Day, I think there’s a lot to be said for a Ben Reilly Spider-Man.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Ben Reilly is not only my favorite Spider-Man character, he’s my favorite Marvel Comics character. His return is the only thing that would bring me back to Spider-Man comics, aside from the retconning of OMD/BND.
Maybe Ben will come back with the knowledge of Peter’s marriage?
June 11th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Thoughts? Actually revive Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly, and then–here’s a novel thought–take him AWAY from the Spider-Universe! Don’t stick him in New York where he’ll forever be the sidekick to Pete, even if they never meet.
I’d love to see Ben come into his own as a “globe-trotting” Spidey. Granted, this might actually involve creating the occasional new hero, supporting character, and villain, but still. He needs his own book. Scarlet Spider. Set “everywhere but New York”.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Or it could be May Reilly’s relative who is shown in the preview pages…
June 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Right below Barry Allen on the list “Characters They’ll Never Actually Bring Back” is The Beyonder. I’ll stand by that.
And The Hobgoblin is infinitely more superior as a villain than The Green Goblin ever was.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
there must only be one, true spider-man.. not a duplicate with 80% of the same exact memories that he did not “earn”.. what kind of life is he going to have as a twin ‘cousin’ of Peter? What could he possibly tell a loved one about his history– his real history? He has none, until the day he came out of the clone tank..
The original clone saga dragged on for at least a year longer than it should have.. the Jackal was upgraded to a neo-Joker.. the lame Kaine of all people killed Doc Ock..
June 11th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I’d like to see Ben back, personally. As out of control as the Clone Saga got, there’s no reason why Ben couldn’t made into a perfectly viable character.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
why not? i mean, they have tried everything else since omd, why not this? as long as they bring back kaine for a bit o; craic!
June 11th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
why not bring the gwen clone as well. She is still out there and finish that once and for all
June 11th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
YEAH, bring him back. I really love this character and I hope he will stay for good, he may not be the better Spider-Man, but he is as good as Peter and a different take on the character, so he definitely has his place in the Marvel Universe.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
June 11th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
It’s time they introduced Bill O. Reilly, the one relative of Peter’s who could go head to head with J. Jonah Jameson!
June 11th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I’m one of those sickos who was always a little bit disappointed by how conclusive Reilly’s death was. I kinda liked the idea of shipping him off to be ‘Chicago’s Scarlet Spidey’ or to the West Coast (Avengers), or something.
Of course, such a conclusive death should not be reversed.
Not even by further cloning, identity swaps, or ham-fisted devil deals. That would just be silly. Silly. Silly.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Glad to see them taking the opportunity BND gave them to tell new stories with new cast. Wasn’t that the argument for all the retcons?
June 11th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I’ve always been a fan of the Scarlet Spider, and especially the costume. I know a lot of people don’t, but I admire the simplicity of it. It’s like anyone could throw together some red tights and a blue hoodie-it’s much more believable than the classic red and blues. I’d like to see br come back just to see the scarlet spider swinging into action again.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I near dropped half of my Marvel books due to OMD and the number is still dropping. However, if Ben returns then I’m willing to put a pause on my dropping. Also, if they do do his return right, I hope they follow up on the HUGE loophole (as in his death wasn’t at all accurate). Ben was the perfect clone because he didn’t degenerate. He was perfect. Then Ben died, and degenerated. But Ben couldn’t degenerate?! He was beaten by Norman and then later shows up being dragged in by Norman. The ONLY way his death makes sense is if Norman switched Ben with a faulty clone. So now Norman’s in power and Ben comes back… plenty of room to make that work just fine. Ben’s death was sloppy and inconclusive. I hope this fixes it.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I remember it all too well and this, if done well could be great. A Scarlet Spider return and making Spidey less than 3 times/month could get me back on ASM. I never had a problem w/ OMD just the $6/month on one tittle.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Who doesn’t love Spider-Man ? Except for the Michelinie / McFarlane issues, I hadn’t read Spidey in years. I passed on the Clone Saga as Marvel was really, really, really bad then, but the whole premise of Ben Reilly and the Scarlet Spider was awesome. It was the freshest and best idea for Spider-Man, well, that I can think of IMO.
I would love to see the return of the character done right. Seriously, this would get me reading Spider-Man or Scarlet Spider again. The whole idea of this being the real Spidey is just pure genius. It was the execution and milking it forever that failed horribly.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
What does this mean for the one remaining MVP Clone who goes by the name SCARLET SPIDER in AVENGERS INITIATIVE/NEW NEW NEW WARRIORS?
I liked THOSE Scarlet Spiders much more than I ever liked Ben Reilly.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
One word: Yawn.
Why not try to come up with something new for Spider-Man, rather than bringing back old plots and dead characters. Until then I won’t go near a Spidey comic again.
Marvel: House of Recycled Ideas
June 11th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
It’s time for Pete to take a break and let The Scarlet Spider take over for a while. Time to progress the story and tell new ones! Que ViVa BEN REILLY!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:35 am
I like the Scarlet Spider but bringing him back seems like a desperate move to get readers interested in Spidey again. I think a majority of Spidey fans will hate Marvel even more if this move is made. It’s really hard these days to pick up an Amazing Spider-man book these days. I miss J. Michael Straczynski…a lot.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Why not bring the clone back? 20 plus years of story was erased with Brand New Day. The clone story sucked…BND sucks….let’s really make Spidy suck even more!!!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Bringing back Ben would make me consider ending my boycott on all things Spidey, but only consider it. I haven’t purchased a single Spider-Man comic since Civil war and I still do not plan to do so, but Ben Reilly may make me do something other than look at the covers and roll my eyes.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Well my local shop is now down to selling a whopping six copies of Spidey per issue to regular order customers, i’m reckoning this will just about finish the job!
For Gods sake Marvel wake up and realise you’re killing this book with every stupid decision you make, along with the living of the people who run the comic shops struggling to sell this rubbish.
How about actually writing some good stories that people want to read instead of trying to get shops to up their orders with dumb@$$ gimmicks like 70th Anniversarry 1/10 covers?
June 12th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
The only good Spider-man stories are the ones that come naturally out of the interactions between Peter Parker and his supporting cast.
This trashy, soap opera plot device just lends credence to the idea that comic books are kiddie trash.
-Mike-EL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYQ7-sKSEzY
September 14th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I’m all for it. While the story arc may have been ridiculously convoluted, the character of Ben Reilly was awesome. He is, in fact, my favorite character in all of Spider-man lore. I’m hoping this might be chance to redeem the character and give it the second chance it deserves.
January 17th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
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May 5th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
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