Benjamin "Ben" Reilly is a major character within the Spider-Man franchise of Marvel Comics, being a clone of Peter Parker/Spider-Man himself. Originally used as a brainwashed minion of his creator Dr. Miles Warren/The Jackal in the original Clone Saga story arc, he would later return as the heroic Scarlet Spider. However, despite being a hero, several storylines would lead Ben into becoming a villain.
He was the main antagonist of the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline as Jackal II, the anti-hero protagonist of the Spider-Man Beyond storyline, and one of the main villains of the Dark Web event as Chasm, having been disfigured by toxic waste and mostly amnesiac, and teaming up with Queen Goblin (a cloned Ashley Kafka mutated with the Goblin Serum) to take vengeance on Spider-Man and his allies.
Biography
Ben Reilly was the second clone of Peter Parker created by Dr. Miles Warren. Ben would briefly be knocked out and survive an attempt by Peter to cremate him after believing him dead, breaking out of the smokestack and fleeing New York to make sense of his life. He would later return as the Scarlet Spider, albeit butting heads with Peter as he was distrusting of Ben's intentions. They'd be menaced constantly by the villain Tarantula, who'd be revealed as Kaine, the true original clone of Peter, and the Jackal on several occasions.
It would be confused (thanks to a conspiracy by both Jackal and a still-alive Norman Osborn) various times who was the clone and the original man, which eventually drove Peter insane and resenting Ben, not wanting to give up his life at the prospect of not being the true Spider-Man, culminating in them coming to blows. However, Peter would eventually regain his senses and at an instance of his powers beginning to fluctuate, would gracefully retire as Spider-Man and hand over the mantle to Ben, who'd dyed his hair blonde and became the Sensational Spider-Man. However, after a few brief adventures, Ben would be ambushed and pummeled by the returned Green Goblin, revealing himself as Norman Osborn, having survived his impalement by hid Goblin Glider via the Goblin serum's healing properties and secretly orchestrated the various disasters involving Jackal, Judas Traveller, the Scriers, and other villains, and would attempt to repeat the same sneak-attack maneuver with the glider on a battered Peter, only for Ben to jump in the way and get skewered. Ben would die in Peter's arms urging him to take care of Mary Jane and continue on, before disintegrating into dust, ascertaining without a doubt that he indeed was a clone and Peter was the genuine article, to which he proudly re-donned his costume and resumed as the true Spider-Man. However, like everyone else who'd died in his life, Ben's death would weigh on Peter's conscious and haunt him in the many following years. Kaine would later be murdered in kind by Sasha and Ana Kravinoff, the wife and daughter of Kraven the Hunter, in order to resurrect Kraven following his suicide, albeit Kaine would be resurrected and possessed by The Other and be kidnapped mutated into a Man-Spider by the Jackal, but would be cured and become the Scarlet Spider II to honor his deceased "brother".
However, at an unknown point, Jackal would secretly reobtain Ben's disintegrated remains and use them to clone and resurrect him, only to begin torturing him by killing him and repeating the process over and over, eventually causing Ben to snap in rage, breaking out and pummeling him to near-death, only to stop short and, in a misguided pursuit at fixing his and Peter's shared life, he would resolve to utilize the new cloning technology to resurrect anyone who'd died across Peter's year-spanning career as Spider-Man, namely Gwen Stacy and her father, as well as Jean DeWolffe, Marla Jameson, and Hobie Brown/The Prowler, founding the pharmaceutical company New U Technologies and becoming the second Jackal, donning a red-and-black tuxedo and wearing an Anubis mask. His plans would be foiled after Ghost-Spider and a returned Scarlet Spider (Kaine) would reveal that Ben's plans would lead to a bad future of zombie-esque mutants created by the Carrion Virus, and thus sought to tear down New U and stop Ben's plans, joined by a cloned Doctor Octopus who would transfer into a engineered superhuman body modeled after Peter's, and escape, while all of the clones of all the dead heroes, villains, and civilians would dissolve and return to rest.
Following this, Ben would then resume actual superheroics once again as Scarlet Spider in an attempt to make amends for playing God, but would find himself coming to blows with a vengeful and distrusting Kaine, who now hated him for his borderline-villainous actions. However, eventually after an encounter with Mistress Death, they would forgive each other and regain amicable terms. However, following Secret Empire, King in Black and War of the Realms, Ben would be approached and manipulated by the Beyond Corporation and their headmistress, Maxine Danger, to become the acting Spider-Man corporately sponsored and employed by them after Peter is horribly injured and rendered comatose after a previous disaster. However, to further place him under their control, Maxine would brainwash Ben by wiping half of his memories, leaving him paranoid and distrustful, and would eventually once more come to blows with Peter after he awoke and recovered and resumed as Spider-Man, resentful to Peter stifling his efforts to regain his memories. He would beat Peter into submission but would then save him as Beyond HQ collapsed around him, becoming submerged in radioactive biowaste and seemingly perishing once more. However, Ben would survive yet again and, now with an imposing purple-and-black suit and most of his original personality erased, he would become the villain Chasm.
Powers and Abilities
Ben Reilly has the powers of Spider-Man being a clone of him possessing superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and durability. He also is super smart being able to make web shooters and crawling on walls. He also has become a scientist capable of cloning.
