Ben Reilly

This article is about the fictional character. For the similarly named musician, see Ben Riley. For the similarly named British politician, see Ben Riley (politician).

Ben Reilly
File:Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly).jpg Artwork for the cover of Web of Scarlet Spider vol. 1, #1 (November 1995 Marvel Comics)  Art by Steven Butler
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	As Peter Parker's clone: The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975) As Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #51 (October 1994) As the Scarlet Spider: Web of Spider-Man #118 (November 1994) As Spider-Man: Sensational Spider-Man #0 (January 1996) As the Jackal: The Clone Conspiracy #3 (December 2016)
Created by	Gerry Conway (based upon Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
In-story information
Full name	Benjamin Reilly
Place of origin	The Catskill Mountains, New York
Team affiliations	The New Warriors New U Technologies The Midnight Sons The Spider-Army/Web-Warriors
Notable aliases	The Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man, Spider-Carnage, Peter Parker, Henry Jones, the Jackal, the Man in Red, Canadian Spider-Man
Abilities	As the Scarlet Spider: Superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, stamina, reflexes/reactions, coordination, balance and endurance Spider physiology: high pain tolerance, precognitive spider-sense ability, cling to most solid surfaces Master hand-to-hand combatant and expert swordsman Spider-sense helps against enemies including Venom Genius-level intellect: Proficient scientist and inventor Utilizes wrist-worn web-shooters to fire various projectiles include a strong air-expanding adhesive substance in variety of forms of artificial webbings (web-lines and impact webbing), sedative stingers, and mini-dot tracers Undetectable to Spider-Man's spider-sense As Spider-Carnage: Limited shapeshifting and camouflage Symbiote's autonomous defense capabilities Healing factor

Benjamin Reilly (/ˈraɪli/), also known as the Scarlet Spider, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a clone and ally of the original Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and is prominent in the 1994–96 "Clone Saga" storyline, which led to his murder by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn). Reilly has been cloned many times. He has also died more than anyone else in the Marvel Universe, which was revealed in the 2017-2018 comic series Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider.

Created by writer Gerry Conway, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975). During the "Clone Saga" storyline, he wore a makeshift costume similar to Spider-Man's consisting ofa red spandex bodysuit and mask complemented by a blue sleeveless hoodie sweatshirt adorned with a large spider symbol on both sides, with a utility belt and wrist-worn sizable web-shooters. This "Scarlet Spider" costume was designed by artist Tom Lyle,. When he assumed the Spider-Man role for a while, he donned a variation of the classic Spider-Man costume designed by artist Mark Bagley.

In 2017's "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" story arc, the character was resurrected. In the 2017 series Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider, he reclaims his Scarlet Spider identity and is reimagined as an antihero, first hoping to escape his past then embarking on a spiritual quest to redeem himself as a true hero once more. This arc is completed in "Spider-Geddon" (2018), after which he again serves as Spider-Man's heroic ally.

Publication history

Ben Reilly was first featured as Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #149. The issue was later revisited in several comics such as What If #30. Asked why he created the character, writer Gerry Conway explained:

One of the things I was trying to do at that time was take ideas to their logical, yet absurd conclusion, reductio ad absurdum. The idea was that if we have Gwen Stacy brought back as a clone, how can I up the stakes when I get rid of her? When I write her out of the book, what can I do to make that really effective and to punctuate it, to bring it to the next level? And I thought, if we can clone Gwen, we can certainly clone Peter. I was also at that time enamored with titles that played off of old, melodramatic Stan Lee titles of the past. ... I came up with the title, "If I Kill Me, Will I Die?" It was basically a parody of an old overdramatic Stan Lee title, but I also thought it was a good title in general. So that's really what the impetus was - to raise the stakes, give us a good finish to the Gwen Stacy saga, and to allow me to have a little fun with the storytelling conventions of the time.

Though Conway had no intention of using the character beyond this initial story in which he dies, Reilly returned to the comics during the "Clone Saga", which ran from October 1994 to December 1996 through all five of the concurrent Spider-Man titles — The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, and The Spectacular Spider-Man. Editor Danny Fingeroth directed the Spider-Man artists to design a costume for the character which would stand out from conventional superhero costumes by emphasizing simple functionality rather than flash. The artists worked on costume ideas independently, and according to Mark Bagley, Tom Lyle's "hoodie" design won unanimous approval among them. The original costume was later replaced by an updated Spider-Man costume designed by Bagley with minor alterations by Bob Budiansky.

Between November and December 1995, the Scarlet Spider replaced Spider-Man in all five of the comics' titles, which were renamed The Amazing Scarlet Spider, Web of Scarlet Spider, Scarlet Spider, Scarlet-Spider Unlimited, and The Spectacular Scarlet Spider. Reilly was also featured prominently in the supplemental material provided for the storyline, including Spider-Man: The Lost Years and Spider-Man: Clone Journals. The storyline was later revisited in What If (vol. 2) #86. Reilly was passed the mantle of Spider-Man and was featured throughout the Spider-Man titles The Amazing Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, and The Sensational Spider-Man, which replaced Web of Spider-Man as an ongoing monthly title. Reilly remained as the featured Spider-Man between January and December 1996. During this period, the character also featured in two intercompany crossovers DC vs. Marvel with DC Comics and Backlash/Spider-Man with Image Comics.

Though the character has not been used in mainstream continuity since his death in Spider-Man #75, the character is often alluded to and provided the foundation to the backstory in the Spider-Girl mythology. In January 2009, Reilly returned to comics as Spider-Man in the third part of Marvel's X-Men/Spider-Man miniseries. Written by Christos Gage, the series explores episodes in the histories of both the X-Men and Spider-Man, sticking thoroughly to the source material of the time frames that the stories take place in. Issue #3 marked the first new adventure featuring Reilly in more than 12 years. Starting in 2009, and continuing into 2010, Marvel published a six-issue miniseries titled Spider-Man: The Clone Saga that was a retelling of the story as it had originally been envisioned. In 2010, Marvel began collecting the story in trade paperback and hardcover forms (ISBN 978-0785148050). The epic spans five books and covers Reilly's time on the road, through his encounters with Peter and Mary Jane, up to his role as the Scarlet Spider, as the lone spider hero in New York.

Mooted return

On July 25, 2010, at the San Diego Comic-Con, fans expressed their desire to see a return of Ben Reilly. To this, assistant editor Tom Brennan replied, "It's being worked on". During the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, a teaser image was posted on Marvel.com of Reilly's shirt in flames, entitled "The return of The Scarlet Spider?" It is revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man #673 and the Marvel Point One one-shot that Kaine will be the new Scarlet Spider in his own ongoing series, which was confirmed by editor Steve Wacker in the "Letters to the Editor" page of #673. Later, Ben Reilly in his Scarlet Spider uniform appears to be fighting Kaine on the cover of Scarlet Spider #21. At the climax of the issue it is revealed that this is Kraven the Hunter impersonating Reilly.

Resurrection

Ben Reilly returns in the storyline "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy", where it was revealed that his remains were retrieved by the Jackal after his death, after which the villainous scientist spent several months repeatedly 'killing' Ben and then bringing him back to life in new bodies to try and perfect a new cloning process. Ben eventually managed to escape the Jackal's control, but was broken by the memory and experience of over two dozen deaths. He took control of the Jackal's scheme, even adopting the Jackal name for himself, and set out to bring several of Peter's deceased allies and enemies back to life, using a flawed cloning process that required the resurrected to ingest a pill on a daily basis to stay alive. He planned to save the human race by killing everyone and bringing them back as 'immortal' clones who could continually have their memories transferred to new bodies. After a final confrontation with Peter forces him to abandon his plans and resources, Ben fakes his death and relocates to Las Vegas. There he initially tries to escape his past while haunted by hallucinations, adopting the Scarlet Spider identity again. His experiences there eventually help restore some of his sanity and set him back on the path to be a hero, and his appearance in the 2018 Spider-Geddon storyline finishes the arc.

Fictional character biography

Creation

Ben Reilly was created by the Jackal (Professor Miles Warren), and was the first successful clone of Peter Parker; a previous clone suffered from clone degeneration and was considered unstable. Through arcane science, Reilly is imprinted with a copy of Parker's memories. After Parker is captured by Jackal, both Parker and Reilly find themselves in Spider-Man costumes at Shea Stadium, each believing the other is the impostor clone. They fight but then, realizing the stakes, team up to save a Gwen Stacy clone and a captured Ned Leeds. In the process, Reilly appears to be killed in an explosion, and Parker, fearful of the consequences of a corpse identical to Peter Parker being found, drops the body into an industrial smokestack. But Reilly survives and escapes the smokestack. When he witnesses Parker and Mary Jane Watson in an embrace, Ben realizes he is the clone. Accepting Parker's strong sense of morality as his own, he refused to succumb to the temptation of murdering his doppelgänger and take his place. After taking old clothes the real Peter intended to donate to charity, he leaves New York to embark on a nomadic life, dubbing himself "Ben Reilly" as a nod to Peter Parker's uncle's first name and aunt's maiden name (Ben Parker and May Reilly, respectively). Deeply depressed, Ben is inspired by his own advice to build a life of his own.

Exile

Stricken with influenza, Ben Reilly meets and befriends geneticist Seward Trainer. In truth, Trainer is secretly blackmailed by agents of Norman Osborn into keeping track of the clone. Trainer helps helps him establish a new life with false credentials and hires Ben as his lab assistant, becoming a father figure in the process. Ben later decides to move on before his fake credentials are discovered, using the money earned to fund himself for a time. During his travels, he is hunted by Kaine, the earlier failed clone of Peter Parker. Kaine believes Reilly to be the original Peter Parker and hates him for being flawless, although initially Kaine is unsure why he is stalking Reilly other than wanting to see him suffer.

In time, Reilly finds love with college student/waitress Janine Godbe and live with her for some time. Eventually she reveals her true identity is Elizabeth Tyne, a fugitive who killed her father after enduring incestuous abuse. Later, Janine apparently commits suicide out of guilt at her past crimes. Reilly continues his travels, constantly followed and occasionally attacked by Kaine who vows to deny him happiness for as long as he can.

Although he dislikes playing the hero as it reminds him of Peter Parker's life, Reilly finds himself unable to always ignore trouble when he sees it or his spider-sense goes off with sufficient intensity. This leads to occasional heroics against criminals and villains, including the demon D'Spayre and a psychopath called Wild Whip. For a short time during his third year of travels, Ben acts as a vigilante in Salt Lake City while working as a teaching assistant for a local college.

During a particularly bleak period, Reilly works in dead-end jobs and does not interact with others, allows some to conclude he is mentally handicapped. After his spider-sense prompts him to save a family from being killed during a robbery, he accepts that he cannot give in to despair and must try to make a difference whenever he can. Following this, he lives for a short time in Italy and works as an English teacher, but is forced to leave after a Mafia boss investigates his past. At one point, Reilly works as assistant to scientist Damon Ryder. Ryder's experiments with dinosaur DNA cause him to mutate into a man/dinosaur hybrid. A later attack by Kaine causes a fire that kills Ryder's family, forcing Ben to flee.

Scarlet Spider

Five years after leaving New York City, Ben Reilly discovers May Parker suffered a stroke and may not recover. He returns to New York City and visits her in the hospital, leading to a confrontation with the original Peter Parker, who at this time is bitter, angry, and prone to violent rages following several tragedies. The two briefly fight then part ways.

The two meet again when there is a hostage situation at Ravencroft mental hospital. Though initially suspicious of Reilly, Peter is touched by the clone's morality and humanity, showing him how far he's fallen into anger and despair. Reilly is himself very impressed with how formidable Peter is, thinking himself "out of shape" in comparison. The two work together to contain the chaos in Ravencroft, fighting enemies such as Wild Whip and Carnage (Cletus Kasady). At the end of the affair, an explosion occurs, leading Peter to wonder if his clone was caught in it and killed. Reilly survives and considers what do to next.

Reilly wanders New York, wondering if he can find some way to return to the life of a hero but on new terms rather than becoming Spider-Man again. When Venom (Eddie Brock) goes on a rampage, Reilly to don a makeshift costume of a red bodysuit and a spider hoodie he buys at a museum. Armed with improved web-shooters he developed, he fights and defeats Venom. Reilly is dubbed the "Scarlet Spider" by Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis. Reilly quickly encounters more villains from Spider-Man's rogues gallery and accumulates new enemies of his own.

Driven by flashes of memory of his clone birth, the Scarlet Spider goes to the Catskills and encounters other Spider-Man clones. Peter, experiencing the same mental flashes, senses Ben in trouble and tracks him. The two heroes meet for the first time since their encounter at Ravencroft, then find a hidden lab where the Jackal is alive, now living in a superhuman body and claiming the Miles Warren who died five years ago was himself a clone. The Jackal toys with Peter and Ben, teasing them that Ben could be the original while also declaring more than once that they are both in fact clones. After the Jackal escapes, the two conclude the Jackal was only playing mind games with them.

Murder victims of Kaine's are found and the evidence leads to Peter Parker (who shares his fingerprints and DNA). So Parker can investigate the truth, Reilly switches places with him in jail. Peter's respect for Ben rises with this action, and he is impressed when he temporarily adopts the Scarlet Spider identity and sees his clone's improved web-shooters. Eventually, Kaine reveals himself as the killer and proves it in court, leading to all charges against Peter being dropped.

At Ben's request, Seward Trainer examines Mary Jane, who is now pregnant. Trainer says he discovers evidence of "genetic drift" and then examines cell samples from both Peter and Ben. Further tests are done and the results say Ben is actually the original Peter Parker and the man who has been Spider-Man for the past five years and married Mary Jane was the clone the whole time. Enraged and shocked, Peter leaves. Later, it will be revealed that Trainer arranged for the tests to deliver these false results under order from Norman Osborn, who hoped to drive Peter insane with the "revelation" that he was the clone.

The crossover Maximum Clonage has the Jackal appear again, hoping to eliminate the human race with a new version of his Carrion virus and replace them with his genetically improved clones. Initially feeling lost, Peter works with Jackal and his new henchman, an evil clone of Peter called Spidercide. Eventually, Peter joins Ben in fighting the Jackal, who seemingly falls to his death. Peter and Ben then cement their friendship, and Ben concedes that he has no desire to be Spider-Man again since he has evolved into a different person.

After working with them to stop the Carrion virus, Scarlet Spider joins the New Warriors for a brief time. Despite his heroics, the Warriors don't fully trust Ben since he refuses to reveal his identity (not knowing that he fears doing so would also reveal Spider-Man's secrets without his consent). During this time, Ben develops an attraction to teammate Firestar.

After a few more adventures, Peter is nearly killed and only survives because Ben helps save him. Peter decides he doesn't want to continually put his life at risk with a baby on the way. He and Mary Jane leave New York City. Soon afterward, during gang warfare between the second Doctor Octopus and Alistair Smythe, a holographic version of the Scarlet Spider ruins Reilly's costumed reputation with a vicious rampage. Disheartened by this and deciding he had rushed into being a superhero again, Reilly decides to drop the Scarlet Spider identity.

Ben Reilly as Spider-Man

Ben Reilly as Spider-Man, wearing the costume designed by Mark Bagley. Art by Dan Jurgens and Klaus Janson.

With Peter gone and the Scarlet Spider reputation ruined, Ben adopts the Spider-Man identity and updates the costume. In his civilian life, he dyes his hair blonde and starts working at a cafe called the Daily Grind (later on, he and Peter explain their resemblance by claiming to be cousins). Only the Black Cat, Venom, Silver Sable, the Sandman, the Human Torch, Daredevil and Firestar realize this is a different Spider-Man, although the villain Mysterio later tells Daredevil that he also concluded from Spider-Man's slightly different behavior, costume, and fighting style that there was a substitute. Several X-Men also realize this is a new hero when they learn Reilly is unaware of a team-up they had with Peter.

Though he still mourns Janine Godbe, Reilly starts dating again. He first dates Jessica Carradine, a student at Centennial University, then discovers that her late father was the burglar who killed Ben Parker. After Jessica finds out Ben and Spider-Man are the same and learning his past, she concludes that his life and her connection to the burglar means their relationship won't work. Ben later briefly dates Desiree Winthrop, a Centennial student he had been tutoring while dating Jessica.

DC vs. Marvel

During the DC vs. Marvel intercompany crossover storyline, Ben Reilly winds up in the parallel reality of DC Comics. Not sure how to return home, he temporarily gets a photographer job at the Daily Planet, using the name Peter Parker, and meets top reporters Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Eventually, two cosmic entities reveal themselves as the reason why Ben and others have been displaced. The two entities then force fighters from both realities to engage in a series of duels. Reilly is chosen to fight Superboy, the hybrid-clone of Superman and Lex Luthor, and wins. Later, he and Superboy are temporarily merged into Spider-Boy, a hero of the Amalgam Universe created by a fusion of DC and Marvel realities. At the end of the crossover, the universes are restored and Ben is returned home.

Spider-Carnage

File:Spider-Carnage.png

Ben Reilly as Spider-Carnage, from The Amazing Spider-Man #410.
Cover art by Mark Bagley.

During the "Web of Carnage" story arc, Ben Reilly is bonded with the Carnage symbiote when it escapes from Ravencroft Institute, where its psychopathic host Cletus Kasady is being held. Struggling to be free of its control, he has John Jameson place him in a cell designed to hold Carnage and subjects himself to a potentially fatal dose of microwave radiation, hoping to kill the symbiote. The alien survives and returns to Kasady. Meanwhile, Seward Trainer disappears and Reilly's bank account is frozen and his possessions stolen. The Daily Grind is burned down and Reilly is framed for its arson.

The Hobgoblin is revealed to be behind many of these events on orders of Spider-Man's old enemy Gaunt and the company Multivex. Reilly's former lover Janine Godbe is revealed to be alive, forced to fake her death years ago by Kaine as a means of hurting Ben. After Ben rescues Janine from police custody in his 'Salt Lake' disguise, the two lovers go on the run. After another violent confrontation, Kaine accepts that he has been avoiding responsibility, which is against the core of Peter Parker. He finally turns himself over to the authorities to atone for his crimes. Inspired by this action and Reilly's words, Godbe does the same, submitting to police custody to answer for the death of her father.

Death

During the Onslaught crossover, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and others seemingly died. Soon after, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson (still pregnant) return to New York. Peter and Ben further cement their relationship, regarding each other as brothers and joyfully recalling shared childhood memories. The two men contemplate the possibilities of both of them operating as Spider-Men to compensate for the recent loss of heroes. They also

Reilly and Parker are attacked by Gaunt and then his secret boss, the long-thought dead Norman Osborn. After beating Ben into unconsciousness and giving Peter the original Spider-Man suit, Osborn reveals he has accelerated healing and was able to recover after his apparent fatal wound years ago following his murder of Gwen Stacy. Rather than continue his war with Peter, he had hoped his son Harry would take up the Goblin mantle and so left for Europe to pursue new schemes of crime and power. Harry's later apparent death drove Norman to return to the US and begin pushing more chaos into Peter's life. Working from afar, Osborn was behind Trainer and the Jackal, hoping to drive Peter into madness through repeated manipulation and forcing him to doubt his own humanity when in fact he was always the original and Ben was the clone. Now seeing that Peter has withstood his many trials, Osborn has lost patience and decided to directly act again. Donning the Green Goblin costume, Osborn attacks the Daily Bugle, which he has rigged with explosives.

While Mary Jane goes into labor, Parker battles the Goblin and Reilly attempts to evacuate the Daily Bugle, suffering further injuries while protecting Flash Thompson from a bomb. While he helps Parker remove bombs from the building, the Goblin tries to spear the original Spider-Man with his goblin glider. Reilly throws himself into the path of the glider, taking a fatal wound to the back, and falls several stories to the ground. As he lies dying, Reilly asks that Parker resume the role of Spider-Man and tell his soon-to-be-born daughter about her "Uncle Ben." Reilly dies and his body decomposes rapidly, confirming he was actually a clone. Following Ben's death, Peter learns that his and Mary Jane's daughter died in stillbirth. After consoling Mary Jane, Peter reclaims the Spider-Man identity.

Post-mortem

During the 1998 "Spider-Man: Identity Crisis" storyline, Norman Osborn puts a bounty on Spider-Man, so the hero temporarily sets aside his normal costume and adopts four new temporary identities. In one of his new identities, Hornet, Peter uses an adaptation of Ben's sedative stingers. The Hornet identity and weapons are later used by Spider-Man's successor of that identity, Eddie McDonough. The aftermath of the story reveals Spider-Man upgraded his regular web-shooters based on Ben's so he can fire his own version of impact webbing without making the shooters bulkier. During the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Peter's identity is public and he is wanted as a criminal for being an unregistered superhero, so he briefly uses the pseudonym Ben Reilly and a holographic disguise device given to him by the Beast.

While on a mission to remove Spider-Man's powers, the Initiative employs three clones of the hero "MVP" to aid in the capture of the Sinister Syndicate. These clones adopt the identities of the Scarlet Spiders, wearing high-tech "Iron Spider" suits designed by Iron Man. Later on, the villain Mister Hyde gives Spider-Man's powers to a person who wears Ben's Scarlet Spider suit.

Ben's old associate turned enemy Damon Ryder, using the alias "Raptor", attacks Peter Parker, mistaking him for Reilly. Ryder blames Reilly for the accidental death of his family, his mind warped by his mutation, but Spider-Man defeats him.

"Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy"

A resurrected Ben Reilly as the new Jackal. Interior artwork from Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy vol. 1, 4 (Jan, 2017 Marvel Comics)
Art by Jim Cheung

Ben Reilly appears as part of the 2015 All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, in the form of the mysterious man in a brilliant red suit with an Anubis mask. Characters and readers were initially led to believe this was the original Jackal alive again. It is eventually revealed that Miles Warren did survive Maximum Clonage and later collected Ben's remains after the hero died at the hands of Norman Osborn. Warren clones Ben again, transferring all his memories including his death. However, the new body has problems with cellular degradation, and so Warren kills Ben and tries again. He does this over two dozen more times, with Ben's memory transfer ensuring he now recalls each death leading up to his stable 27th body. Driven mad by the trauma of 26 deaths, Ben breaks free of imprisonment and decides to take over Warren's technology and operation to prevent anyone else from suffering the tragedy of death, either for themselves or having to grieve a loved one.

After improving on Warren's process, Reilly creates Miles Warren clones mentally conditioned to act as his loyal staff and even brainwashes the original into believing he too is a clone. Now free with a number of Miles Warren clones and the original as his servants, Ben then adopts the Jackal identity, choosing to wear a mask of Anubis because he is a jackal-headed god of death.. Ben then approaches several of Spider-Man's enemies, recruiting them with an offer to revive a lost loved one if they follow his orders. He also resurrects certain enemies of Spider-Man's such as the original Dr. Octopus, having them join his operation. Because his process is improved and involves a complete memory transfer, Reilly chooses to see the new creations as "reanimates" who are continuations of the original person rather than seeing them only as copies or clones. However, the reanimates have a form of the Carrion virus within their cells and suffer cellular degradation and die in just a day unless they take a daily pill medication.

Publicly, Reilly uses the new company New U Technologies to offer cutting edge organ replacement for people, even those with terminal conditions. Peter Parker, head of Parker Industries at the time, becomes curious about the company and suspects something sinister after realizing his spider-sense is activated when he encounters people who have been helped by New U. Spider-Man later infiltrates New U Technologies and is shocked to find not only the Jackal (not realizing it's Reilly), but also Gwen Stacy and Doctor Octopus. The Jackal shows him around, explaining this is not a sinister scheme but a plan to eliminate death and pain. Peter then realizes that the Gwen clone he is speaking to is not a clone but actually Spider-Gwen of Earth-65, an ally from the Spider-Verse crossover who has infiltrated New U and is secretly working with Kaine. She and Kaine help Peter escape and explain that multiple Earths exist where New U Technologies unleashes a new form of the Carrion virus, causing humanity to fall. Kaine and Spider-Gwen decided not to tell Peter initially and investigate on their own because those other Earths all had a version of Peter seemingly using his Parker Industries resources to help unleash the plague.

Ben Reilly finally reveals his true identity to Peter and explains he deliberately focused on resurrecting people whose deaths have caused Spider-Man guilt, not only villains but friends such a Jean DeWolff, George Stacy and Sally Avril, all of whom now live in a neighborhood-like facility called "Haven." Reilly asks Peter to join him and offers to bring back Ben Parker. Although tempted, Peter declines to join and remarks that the new Jackal would have already brought back Ben Parker if he wanted to, but won't because he knows that Uncle Ben would tell Ben Reilly his plans are morally wrong, that he is using power without responsibility. Enraged, the Jackal orders the reanimate clones to kill Spider-Man.

Peter's colleague Dr. Anna Maria Marconi comes to the New U labs and, working with her former love Dr. Octopus, realizes how to halt the cellular decaying process in the clones. In exchange for this secret, Reilly offers to transfer her mind into a genetically superior "Proto Clone" body the lab has been engineering, remarking that this will be an improvement since Maria has dwarfism. Doctor Octopus is enraged by Reilly's offensive ableist comments and attacks, realizing during the fight that this Jackal is not Miles Warren but actually a clone of Peter Parker. Feeling betrayed, Dr. Octopus activates the Carrion virus in Reilly's clones. But unlike the previous version, this virus not only causes the clones to degrade but is contagious and airborne, breaking down the cells of normal humans as well. Peter realizes his spider-sense automatically activated each time he met one of the new clones because he could sense the new Carrion virus in their cells. Rather than consider defeat, Reilly decides he will simply replace all of humanity at once after the virus removes them. If Peter won't join him, then he will simply remove Peter and assume his identity, taking over Parker Industries.

Spider-Man and Anna Maria send out a signal that arrests the Carrion virus and prevents the clones still alive from decaying further. Although this saves humanity, it is already too late for several clones who are reduced to dust, including the clones of Ben Reilly, Doctor Octopus, and Gwen Stacy. Ben Reilly saves himself using New U Pills and Webware Technology. He returns to his safehouse (designed after Peter's childhood home) only to find the true Miles Warren waiting for him. The original Jackal sets the safehouse ablaze before Ben defeats him in battle, leaving the mad scientist to die. Ben then leaves, pondering what he is going to do with his life. It is later revealed that Dr. Octopus also survived, implanting his mind into the Proto Clone body and becoming "Superior Octopus"

New U scientist Dr. Rita Clarkson is later met by Ben Reilly, who now bears scars from the cloning process he used to save his life. Ben still believes their work was for the good of humanity and asks Rita for a loan as he is without any resources. She refuses but reconsiders after Ben saves her from people wishing revenge for New U Technologies nearly causing a plague. She gives Ben a kiss before he leaves.

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider

Relocating to Las Vegas, the disfigured Ben steals a variant Spider-Man outfit from a cosplayer, whose costume looks similar to Spidercide. Still believing his plan was good and simply misunderstood, Ben wants to leave behind the judgments of others and starts a new life. He acts as a hero again but now asks for payment from those he helps. Eventually, one of his former New U Technologies clients Cassandra Mercury, owner of the Mercury Rising casino, tracks him down, recognizing him as the Jackal. She wants revenge for him promising and failing to cure her daughter Abigail's debilitating disease, who is now near death. Although he believes the condition is incurable, Ben buys time by telling Cassandra he can develop a cure in exchange for a lab and other resources. He then lives and works in the Mercury Rising casino, only identifying himself as "Peter."

During his initial days in Las Vegas, Ben is haunted by hallucinations of either his old self telling him he needs to be more heroic or his Jackal self defending their actions. Later on, Reilly meets a group of Spider-Man fans who attempt to confront criminals in Las Vegas while dressing up in replica costumes of different Spider heroes. After one of them is killed in Cassandra's casino, Ben intervenes and tells them to stop looking for trouble. Annoyed when they criticize his new costume, he trades with the fan wearing a costume identical to his original Scarlet Spider outfit. Ben continues to operate part-time as a vigilante, occasionally using harsh methods against criminals, including sometimes using a gun to deliver nonlethal shots.

Reilly is later confronted by Kaine Parker, who tracked him down after questioning Rita in San Francisco. Kaine desires Ben's death for his actions as the Jackal, but Reilly argues he is genuinely trying to cure Abigail Mercury's terminal condition. Kaine allows him to continue but Ben rushes his research and administers an untested serum to Abigail Mercury, killing her. Kaine attacks once again only to then be seemingly killed by the embodiment of Death, appearing in the form of Marlo Chandler. Death explains she has an "interest" in Ben, as no other person has been brought back to life so many times. Death reveals Ben's many deaths have corrupted his soul and warns that even one more resurrection will likely cause enough spiritual damage to shatter his soul for good. She then offers Ben the chance to restore Abigail or Kaine to life before she departs. Instead, Ben asks her to save both and kill him instead, as both are worthier of life than him. Impressed by Reilly's honesty, Death heals both Kaine and Abigail and then removes Ben's scars, remarking that he is already on the road to redeeming his sins.

During a later battle, Ben delivers a savage beating and takes satisfaction in it, only to then find he immediately regains serious scarring around one of his eyes. Death appears again, explaining that until Ben truly redeems himself, he is still being tested and will manifest more of his clone scars again if he engages in corrupt behavior.

Ben later gets a blood sample from the angel Gabriel and is told this will save Abigail. The demon lord Mephisto creates a complex deception to convince Ben not to save Abigail because this 'cure' will condemn her to an unwanted immortal existence at her current age. Ben desperately delivers the cure but is told by the demon lord that it's too late. Mephisto then convinces Kaine and Cassandra that Ben has the cure but withholds it for his own profit, teasing Reilly that they will believe this for an hour and so he has only to make sure he survives for 60 minutes. An enraged Kaine attacks Reilly. Reilly considers killing his attacker but finds he can't do it and doesn't blame Kaine for not understanding the situation. Finally, Kaine kills him.

Despite Mephisto's claim that it was too late, Abigail is cured and ascends to an angelic level of existence. After confronting Mephisto and forcing him to leave, she saves Ben's soul and promises to resurrect him since the demon lord overstepped his bounds by interfering with fate and arranging for Reilly to die earlier than he should. Ben refuses, remembering Death's words that his soul will be shattered and convinced he will be evil. Abigail assures him this is not the case because he's still a hero at heart. Ben continues to protest only to awake in a body bag inside an ambulance, immediately escaping.

Leaving his residence at the Mercury Casino behind, Ben later confronts and stabs Kaine several times, telling the man to leave Las Vegas if he lives through his injuries. Reilly then disappears to a rooftop, where he laughs and sobs in the rain, shaken by his experiences.

Spider-Geddon

During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, Superior Octopus becomes the Superior Spider-Man again and recruits Kaine to help fight the Inheritors, vampiric beings who feed on the life force of animal totems, particularly Spider heroes across reality. Overhearing that the Inheritors plan to use New U Technologies to rebuild their cloning machine to ensure they can't die, Ben follows the Superior Spider-Man and Kaine and volunteers his services, wishing to prevent his technology from causing more harm.. Otto initially refuses, still holding a grudge over Ben's actions as the Jackal, but Ben explains his desires to redeem himself and take responsibility for his actions int he past, something he thinks Otto should understand. Otto begrudgingly agrees and Ben joins the team. Later on, Otto offers Ben to the Inheritors in exchange for leaving other Spiders alone.

The Inheritor called Jennix kills Ben by absorbing his life force, but in the process absorbs the experience of his 27 deaths and is driven insane, just as he and Otta had planned. Otto then resurrects Ben a 28th time by Otto. Ben now believes his mind and sanity have been restored after having sacrificed himself to save the lives of other Spider-Totems. Returning to Las Vegas, Ben Reilly continues to operate as the Scarlet Spider, now feeling mentally stable and back to his old heroic self but still wishing to make amends for his acts as the Jackal.

Powers and equipment

As Spider-Man's clone, Ben Reilly possesses proportionate spider-like abilities and traits identical to Peter Parker's, including superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, resiliency, and agility, along with the ability to crawl on and cling to almost any surface granted by instinctive manipulation of the van der Waals force by consciously choosing which part of his body he wants to cling to the surface. Reilly's reflexes and stamina operate up to 40 times faster than those of a normal person, while his strength allows him to lift 150 times his own weight (around 10-15 tons), although he has lifted more during times of great stress and adrenaline. He can leap thirty feet into the air from a standing position and balance himself upside down on only one finger if he wishes. Ben's healing abilities and resiliency to injury are not on par with heroes such as Wolverine, but his superhumanly strong muscles and body are more resistant to injury than the average human and will recover from injuries a few times faster and with greater efficiency.

Like Peter, Ben has a precognitive "spider-sense" that warns him of incoming danger or something that could directly prove a threat. Ben's spider-sense cannot tell him there is a bomb in a room or someone with a gun who may intend him harm, but the presence of either will cause a buzzing in his head that will increase the closer he is to the threat. In battle, the spider-sense will activate much more strongly to warn Ben of incoming attacks and he can allow it to guide his reflexes so he can dodge. This doesn't make him invincible because he may think he already knows the threat source and choose not to move, be distracted, or might not have the opportunity or freedom to react properly.

Because Reilly was not in the role of Spider-Man for five years while traveling, and then later didn't engage in combat during his time as the Jackal, his fighting style is less polished than Parker's. Kaine notes that Reilly is more reliant on tactics rather than his physical skill and is a calculating and cunning combatant. Ben's traumas and hardships, both due to his shared memories with Peter and his personal experiences of realizing he was a clone and the battles he went through during his travels, have left him with a strong will, enabling him to resist possession by the Venom symbiote.

Ben possesses Peter Parker's genius-level scientific intellect with particular talents towards applied science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, mathematics, and mechanics. While Peter had to focus on his Spider-Man activities and other responsibilities along with his grad studies, Ben was able to spend more time improving his scientific knowledge and experience during his years of travel, particularly when he acted as Dr. Seward Trainer's research assistant. As a result, he came to surpass Peter in some fields, leading to him improving on the biological cloning techniques of Miles Warren, as well as Peter Parker's original web-shooters.

Like Peter Parker, Ben is armed with web-shooters that hold a "web-fluid" chemical mixture that solidifies on exposure to air and can be fired as an expanding net, a thin web-line, or an adhesive, malleable goo. Reilly's web-shooters used more advanced triggers and a piezoelectric valving instead of a nozzle adjustment ring like Parker's. Reilly added "impact webbing," web-pellets that fired out and exploded on impact, instantly encasing a target within a web cocoon to immobilize them. Reilly also added "stingers," small, diamond-shaped darts coated with a temporary paralyzing chemical agent to incapacitate opponents. Ben's web-shooters can fire "mini-dot" tracers, lighter than Peter's original spider-tracers and 1/4" of the size, shaped like red diminutive Frisbees. When Reilly temporarily assumes the role of Spider-Man, he adds spider-legs to his tracers. Due to these advances and added weapons, Reilly's web-shooters are bulkier than Peter Parker's and so he wore them on the outside of his costume in both his Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider identities. Like Parker, Reilly wears a belt carries spare web-fluid cartridges.

While acting as the Jackal, Ben wears a scarlet business suit and an Egyptian-style Anubis mask. After relocating to Las Vegas, Ben steals a cosplayer's Spider-Man-themed costume that resembles the appearance of Spidercide that included a blue hood over a red mask. After being criticized for this outfit's design, he takes a replica of his original Scarlet Spider costume from a Spider-Man fan who wanted to act as a "real-life superhero."

Following the events of Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy, Ben had scarring on his face and body. After his encounter with the cosmic entity Death, Ben's scars were removed. Scarring returned around one of his eyes after he used unnecessary and unjustified force to assault someone committing robberies, and Ben learned more scars would return if he behaved in a corrupt way compromising his heroic status. Following his resurrection in Spider-Geddon, these scars are completely gone.

Other versions

MC2

• In the alternate future known as MC2, Ben Reilly's "niece" May Parker (Spider-Girl) wears his version of the Spider-Man costume and webshooters, having been raised on tales of her heroic "Uncle Ben". Like her father, May has an Uncle Ben. However, May never knew her uncle. Reilly's last words before his death are about her: "Take care of my niece, Peter...tell her about...her Uncle Ben". May Parker keeps Reilly's costume and webshooters in storage since his death, and uses them herself. When May asks her father about Reilly, however, Parker does not tell her that Reilly was a clone, but tells her that he was a cousin.
• Ben Reilly had a son by Janine Godbe (Elizabeth Tyne), named Reilly Tyne, who becomes a superhero called Darkdevil. Kaine's efforts to save his "nephew" from cellular degeneration resulted in him being partly possessed by the demon Zarathos and the spirit of the deceased Matt Murdock. Later in the series, Kaine reformed.
• Felicity Hardy, the daughter of Felicia Hardy (Black Cat), assumes the Scarlet Spider identity in an attempt to become partners with Spider-Girl. Peter Parker is angry at what he considers an inappropriate use of the identity.

Marvel Zombies

See also: Marvel Zombies

Ben Reilly is one of the heroes on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier who survived the zombie plague. He is seen battling the zombies; however, this plan falls apart. Reilly's fate is unknown.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Ben Reilly is an African-American scientist who worked with Dr. Curt Connors at Empire State University. He combines a sample of Spider-Man's DNA with the Lizard's and the Venom symbiote to create the Carnage organism, and steals a second sample of Spider-Man's DNA from the lab. Reilly later works with Doctor Octopus, creating five clones of Spider-Man while employed by the CIA. One clone has Kaine's insane personality and facial scars and wears a makeshift version of Ben Reilly's costume.

What If?

• What If? #30, "What If Spider-Man's Clone Had Lived?", depicts a world where, after the Jackal's bomb explodes at Shea Stadium, both Spider-Men are knocked unconscious and the clone awakens before the original. The clone, believing that he is the original Peter Parker, puts Parker into stasis in one of the Jackal's clone-growing devices and attempts to continue with life as normal. However, the clone has no memories from the time before the cell samples he had been grown from were taken, and is confused and lost in the world of the real Peter Parker. This memory gap and the discovery of the Jackal's notes on his cloning process, leads the clone to realize what he truly is, and he frees the real Parker just in time for both of them to confront a threat from the Kingpin. Afterwards, the clone prepares to leave to seek his own fortune, but accepts an offer from Parker to co-operate in "shifts", switching between being Parker and Spider-Man. In this story, the clone never establishes a separate name for himself, and is referred to as "Spider-Clone", "brother", or "bro" by the original Parker.
• What If? (vol. 2) #86, "What If Scarlet Spider Killed Spider-Man?", gives an alternate ending of the "Clone Saga". During the time Spider-Man is under the Jackal's control, the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man fight until there is an explosion. Reilly's body is later found washed ashore and Peter Parker is believed to be dead. Reilly awakens in hospital and finds Parker's friends and family, who believe he is Parker, around his bed. The following year, Reilly and Mary Jane discover that their baby, May, is dying of blood poisoning. One night, Reilly wakes to find that May has been kidnapped. Ben searches for her and meets the Green Goblin, who reveals that he is behind the "Clone Saga" and needs May's blood for a serum. The two fight atop the George Washington Bridge, where Gwen Stacy was killed. During the struggle, they both fall into the river below. Reilly resurfaces with the Goblin's mask and the serum and is met by Mary Jane. Reilly discovers that she knows that his true identity is Ben Reilly. Mary Jane thanks Reilly and tells him to find his own identity.

Spider-Man: Life Story

Spider-Man: Life Story features an alternate continuity where the characters naturally age after Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man in 1962. Miles Warren was ordered by Norman Osborn to create clones of Norman and Peter. In 1977, Norman convinced Harry to attack Miles after discovering that Warren had created a clone of Gwen as well. Harry deduces that Norman had Miles clone Peter because Norman still viewed Peter as a more worthy successor over him and blows up the containment tubes with the clones. Peter's clone was the only survivor thanks to inheriting Spider-Man's powers. However, Miles reveals that the "Gwen" Peter was with was actually her clone while the real Gwen died in the explosion. A year later, Peter and Gwen's clones rename themselves as Ben and Helen Parker (later Reilly) and move out of New York for a second chance at life.

Ben eventually becomes a photojournalist in Chicago, where he also operates as the hero known as "the Red Mask". In 1995, he and Peter are kidnapped by Doctor Octopus and taken to Oscorp so Otto could learn how to extend his life by cloning. In the process, Otto discovers that Peter is supposedly the clone, while Ben was the original. Ben lashes out at Otto for the revelation before Otto attempts to kill them both and ends up murdering Harry instead. As Ben begins to have an identity crisis, Peter gives him a folder detailing his own life from the last 20 years and allows Ben the opportunity to retake his life as "Peter Parker" once more. It is later revealed that Peter found out that Norman had manipulated Otto into kidnapping them and rigged the results, meaning that Ben is still the clone. However, Peter allowed Ben to take over his life so he could live quietly with Mary Jane and his children.

In 2006, Ben is murdered by Morlun, as Peter ignored Ezekiel's warnings about him in this timeline, prompting Peter to return to New York to reveal that he is the true Peter Parker so he could prevent Morlun from coming after his family and stop Tony Stark from taking over Parker Industries.

Spider-Man: The Clone Saga

In September 2009, a six-issue miniseries based on the Clone Saga comics of the 1990s, titled Spider-Man: The Clone Saga, was issued. The purpose of the miniseries was to tell the story as it was initially conceived. It is a condensed version of the Clone Saga without the plot points involving Traveler, Scrier, and covers several months of a fictional time period. The first issue introduces readers to the characters Ben Reilly and Kaine, and addresses Mary Jane's pregnancy and Aunt May's hospitalization. Reilly and Parker bond after Kaine attacks them, and Reilly decides to stay in New York, pretending to be Peter's blonde-haired cousin so that he can build his own life. Reilly adopts the identity of the Scarlet Spider and begins working at the Daily Grind.

Reilly and Parker later work with Kaine to reach the lair of the shadowy figure responsible for infecting Mary Jane and Aunt May with a deadly genetic virus. The mysterious villain is revealed to be the Jackal, who captures all three and reveals his plans to make an army of Spider-Man clones in order to take over the world. Since Reilly is the only stable clone, the Jackal takes a sample of his blood to perfect his cloning technique. When the Jackal reveals another stage of his plan, to clone Gwen Stacy and another unknown figure, Kaine goes berserk and breaks himself, Parker and Reilly free. During the subsequent fight, the clones dissolve and the Jackal plants the first seed of doubt over who is the original Peter Parker. After Kaine kills the Jackal, Reilly and Parker escape with the cure for Aunt May's and Mary Jane's virus. Parker retires and hands the Spider-Man identity to Reilly. Reilly spends several months in the role, while Parker gets ready to become a father. Reilly is shown as a less-polished Spider-Man and is somewhat insecure due to his relative inexperience because of his exile. Eventually, Mary Jane gives birth, Allison Mongrain kidnaps the baby, and later gives it to Kaine.

When Reilly goes searching for the baby, he is attacked by the Green Goblin, who is revealed to be Harry Osborn and working with Kaine. Though Reilly appears to gain the upper hand in the ensuing fight, the Goblin impales him in the back with his Goblin Glider. Miraculously, Reilly survives the attack. Osborn had been plotting his revenge against Parker since his apparent heart attack. Osborn creates a clone of his father, Norman, to help him defeat Parker and Reilly; however, Norman jumps in front of Harry's Goblin Glider as it is about to hit Parker and is impaled in the back. Afterwards, Kaine returns baby May to Parker and Mary Jane, Aunt May survives and wants to help raise the child, and Ben Reilly leaves once again to travel the world and find a life for himself.

"Spider-Verse"

During the 2014 "Spider-Verse" storyline, Ben Reilly of Earth-94 was recruited into a team of multiverse Spider-Totems who were teaming up to fend off the Inheritors, who were trying to devour each and every Spider-Totem. In this particular universe, Peter Parker's powers did not return, with Peter remaining in Oregon while Ben has developed into a far lighter character without the burden of Peter's past, particularly aided by the string of successes that he had as Spider-Man, including saving Marla Jameson from Alistair Smythe and preventing Doctor Octopus from taking his body.

This version of Ben Reilly lead a team featuring fellow clones Kaine of Earth-616 and the Jessica Drew of Earth-1610 who are sent on a mission that requires their 'expertise' as clones of Spider-Man. Their mission sends them to Earth-802, a world conquered by the Inheritors and ruled over by the Inheritor Jennix, whose efforts to clone Spider-Totems failed to clone the Spider-Essence itself. Despite their best efforts to infiltrate said world, the Spider-Clones would end up doing battle with the dimension's versions of Iron Man and the Human Torch, as well as Jennix himself, before Reilly later sacrificed himself to destroy the Inheritors' cloning facility; which they used to resurrect themselves if they fell during their trips to other worlds.

In other media

Television

• An evil clone appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 1970s television series. He was seen in the episode "Night of the Clones".
• The Scarlet Spider made a non-voiced appearance in the X-Men The Animated Series episode "One Man’s Worth, Part One".
• The Scarlet Spider made another non-voiced cameo appearance on the 1990s Fantastic Four animated series. In the episode "Nightmare in Green", his shadowed figure can be seen hanging underneath a building ledge.
• The Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) made his first official appearance in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes. In an alternate reality from the main series reality, it begins with it being unknown whether the Scarlet Spider is Spider-Man's clone or vice versa as Miles Warren had "robbed them of their pasts". Due to the confusion, one is Ben Reilly (wanting to just escape the mystery of Peter Parker's life) and adopts the Scarlet Spider alias. After some help from his friends, Ben discovers that he is indeed the original after so much mystery. Although relieved to learn he was the true Peter Parker all along, he still chooses to keep up his new life as Ben Reilly, feeling it just became who he was meant to be. The other (revealed to be the clone from the start) discovers the truth himself some way and meets up with the Scarlet Spider at the Kingpin's lair, only he is there to kill Ben and be the only Peter Parker, driven mad by jealousy. The Carnage symbiote emerges from an open inter-dimensional portal and bonds with the Spider-man clone, and is driven completely insane, turning into Spider-Carnage. In the series finale where numerous versions of Spider-Man from different realities team up to stop Spider-Carnage, the Scarlet Spider tells his origin to Spider-Man who remarks "This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!". Spider-Carnage nearly destroys the entire multiverse, but the Beyonder and Madame Web are able to rewind time enough to gather Spider-Men capable of stopping this destruction, with the Scarlet Spider being among them.
• The Scarlet Spider is featured in Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister Six, voiced by Scott Porter. Shown to have stingers under his arms and a personal vendetta against Doctor Octopus, this version's costume is Kaine Parker's from the original comics, but has Ben Reilly's name. The running gag is this series is when someone (usually Spider-Man) tells a lame joke, he will groan in frustration and sometimes facepalm at the same time. The Scarlet Spider's personality is a mix of Kaine's aggressiveness and Reilly's loyalty and dedication. When first introduced, he refers to himself as 'the first spider' and 'not of [this] world' as he reluctantly works in the Web Warriors alongside Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Flash Thompson as Agent Venom, the Iron Spider (Amadeus Cho) and Miles Morales as Kid Arachnid. His origin and identity are deliberately left vague until his name is given to him by May Parker when unmasked and shown with a scar on his face. The Scarlet Spider plays a central role in "The New Sinister 6" two-part episode. During the Sinister Six's attack on the Triskelion, it was revealed that the Scarlet Spider was Doctor Octopus' spy in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy as the Sinister Seven's secret member. The Scarlet Spider defeats, then unmasks Peter in front of Doctor Octopus. It is apparently revealed that Doctor Octopus took the Scarlet Spider in and is behind his powers. The Scarlet Spider watches as Doctor Octopus uses the invention to turn HYDRA Island into Octopus Island. When May gets captured, the Scarlet Spider is persuaded by May to help Spider-Man, thus Ben fights off his former master for Peter and May. When Octopus Island starts to implode, Ben shoots an escape pod with Spider-Man and May out of Octopus Island, and then pilots Octopus Island to crash into the harbor; Spider-Man was unable to find the Scarlet Spider's body. In reality, Ben is actually alive but decides to stay in the shadows from his allies and enemies alike, yet soon becomes suspicious of his actual origin and decided to confront Doctor Octopus for this further information, which is later continued in "The Spider-Slayers" three-part episode where he takes Doctor Octopus with him to HYDRA Island and tells Spider-Man and Spider-Woman not to follow him. He learns the truth about being a synthezoid with Spider-Man's DNA and who is also the Spider-Slayers' leader. Following a graduation ceremony, the Scarlet Spider becomes a S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy teacher in the series finale.

Film

• The design for Peter Parker's homemade suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming pays homage to Ben Reilly's original Scarlet Spider suit. Concept art by design artist Ryan Meinerding depicts an alternative version of the suit that was intended to be a representation of the Scarlet Spider.
• The design of the Iron Spider suit in Avengers: Infinity War bears a striking resemblance to Ben Reilly's Spider-Man suit.
• In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the appearance of the Peter Parker/Spider-Man of Miles Morales' dimension, having blond hair, is a homage to Ben Reilly's dyed blonde hair during his run as Spider-Man.

Video games

• Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man costumes can be worn by Spider-Man (Peter Parker) in the 2000 Spider-Man video game and Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro.
• Ben Reilly's Spider-Man and Spider-Carnage costumes can be worn by Spider-Man (Peter Parker) in the Wii version of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
• The Scarlet Spider's costume is one of Spider-Man's alternate costumes in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, and the 2018 Spider-Man game.
• Spider-Carnage's costume can be unlocked in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
• Ben Reilly is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online as both the Scarlet Spider (voiced by Chris Cox) and Spider-Man (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal).
• Ben Reilly appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited as the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Carnage.
• Scarlet Spider is a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.

Toys

Action figures of the character have been released over the years, including some released after the character's death:

• 1996: The Scarlet-Spider (Ben Reilly) as an action figure by ToyBiz in the "Marvel OverPower Card Game – PowerSurge Invincibles" toyline.
• 1996: Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) with venom containment gear, featured as an action figure by ToyBiz.
• 1997: Spider-Carnage featured as an action figure by ToyBiz in the Spider-Man/Venom – Along Came a Spider toyline.
• 2002: The Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) was a KB Toys exclusive in the Spider-Man Classics toyline.
• 2004: The Spider-Man Classics range from ToyBiz featured a Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) figure, which is slightly oversized compared to other figures in the range, is missing his wrist-mounted web-shooters, and comes with a missile launching backpack.
• 2004: Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) featured as a Kubrick in a five-figure Spider-Man box set released by Medicom Toy.
• 2005: The Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) featured as a Kubrick in Medicom Toy's Marvel Super-Heroes Series 4 toyline.
• 2005: Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) and Spider-Carnage Minimates were available in Series 10.
• 2007: A Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) Minimate was sold with the Hobgoblin.
• 2008: Ben Reilly, in his redesigned Spider-Man costume, was featured as a figure in the Ares Build-A-Figure series of Marvel Legends. Although he is in his Spider-Man costume, his figure is labeled as "Scarlet Spider" to differentiate him from the Peter Parker versions. Additionally, just one of the pictures on the package is Ben Reilly, being one art from the cover of Spider-Girl #94, and another from The Amazing Spider-Man #509.
• 2009/2010: Marvel's Super-Hero Squad range features both a Scarlet Spider figure (named "Ben Reilly Spider-Man" and packaged with Bullseye) and one of his re-designed Spider-Man costume (packaged both individually and with Carnage).
• 2016: Marvel's Marvel Legends was packaged as "Ben Reilly Spider-Man". This figure came with four sets of interchangeable hands, including a Spider-Carnage set and a Spider-Carnage interchangeable head. The packaging is the same as used with the Spider-Gwen action figure in the same line.
• The Lego set 76057 Spider-Man: Web Warriors Bridge Battle features a Scarlet Spider minifigure.

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	ISBN
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 1: Back in the Hood	Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #1-5 and material from Clone Conspiracy Omega #1	978-0785194583
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 2: Death's Sting	Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #6-10, Slingers (1998) #0	978-0785194590
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 3: Slingers Return	Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #10-14	978-1302911157
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 4: Damnation	Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #15-19	978-1302911164
Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 5: Deal With the Devil	Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider 20-25	978-1302915049

External links

• Bring Back Ben Petition
• Ben Reilly Tribute
• Life of Reilly
• Ben's Profile at Spiderfan.org
• Brief Bio at Insania 1998
• Brief Bio at SamRuby.com
• Ben Reilly on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki