Marvel (Finally) Apologizes for how They’ve Treated Ben Reilly…Kind of
In a brand new note from the editorial page of the latest Amazing Spider-Man #93, Marvel apologizes for how they’ve treated Ben Reilly…kind of.
It is no secret, that one of Marvel’s most tragic heroes in their vast history has been none other than Ben Reilly.
His tragedy, however, didn’t derive from his intended backstory, but from the curse of Marvel’s attempts to reimagine their most iconic and beloved character.
It is no secret that Peter Parker is the most popular comic book character of all time, and is loved on a level reserved for few the genre has ever produced.
Reilly was the entity punished for that love, as his character’s participation in the clone saga led to Marvel’s uncertainty about how they would ever use him moving forward.
It was that uncertainty that led to Reilly- a character who had every memory that Peter Parker had, and truly believed he had lived that life- alone and without anyone that he loved.
With Zeb Well’s Beyond Arc in The Amazing Spider-Man brinign Ben back into the spotlight, the final issue of that run introduces a new, villainous, Ben Reilly; with Peter Parker returning to the matnle.
In the Letters/ Editorial page of the book, Marvel apologizes for how they’ve treated Ben Reilly…well, kind of; the letter states:
Special mention to Danny Khazem, who isnt in the Spider-Office anymore, having taken the Kessel RUn tot eh Star WArs office. Danny was our in-hosue Ben Reilly superfan and expert (and editor of ASM #88.BEY) and was a hufe assed to waht we did here.
With Danny in mind, I wanted to thank and… apologize isnt quite the right word… to the Ben Reilly fans out there. Ben is an incerible characte rwho didnt really ahve a place in teh Spider-Landscape anymore.
Peter Parker isnt going anywhere, an dMiles Morales is here to star, so Ben has been a challenge for us, and we thought this sotry gave us an oppurtunity to not only give Ben a last turn as Spider-Man and to do a rare thing in the world of super hero comics-a tragedy.
With most of our characters locked into eternal roles, a truly tragic story is very rare, and we hop ewe did Ben justice with it. Asyou just read in our ‘Days’ story, we may not have seen the last of Ben Reilly.”
The final sentence is referring to the introduction of a brand new Ben Reilly- Chasm- who will likely be the villainous new archnemesis of Peter Parkers Spider-Man.
For as much as we adore Ben Reilly, it will be fantastic to see a world in which he confronts Peter Parker with all of that very tragedy that has made him so compelling over the years.