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    Ben Reilly

    Character » Ben Reilly appears in 697 issues.

    The second and most successful clone of Spider-Man created by the Jackal. A superhero known as the Scarlet Spider, Reilly later replaced Peter Parker for a time as Spider-Man after he found out that all this time he was the original and not Peter. Ben met his ultimate demise in the fight against the Green Goblin which led to Peter becoming Spider-Man once again, after he found out that he is the real Spider-Man after all.

    Why did people like him?

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    ComicStooge

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    I know Ben Reilly was literally a clone of Peter Parker, but from what I read of the character, he literally seemed like a carbon copy of Peter with better webshooters.

    Is that the case or am I missing something?

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    Phaedrusgr

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    Well, it's generally accepted that the Clone Saga was a ridiculous era for Spider-man stories, nevertheless, spidey-fans, me included became attached to these characters like Ben Reilly and Kaine. I can't properly explain it, cause I used to dislike what I was reading back then, all these stories who's the real deal etc etc. Let's just say that from something bad, something really, really good came up. Some times the things that were happening were kind of interesting (to be completely honest). Weird thing...

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    Prospero_Locke

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    @comicstooge: I know this is an older question, but I think a reason a lot of people like Ben Reilly is due to the fact that he was around for a long enough time to make an impact on the reader, but not long enough to get butchered or watered down by a writer as a character. He was fresh in a way that comics these days mostly lack

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    bat22

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    Even though Spider-Man will always be Peter Parker, Ben Reilly is appealing for the same reasons he was tapped to try to replace Pete. He's basically Spidey without the history or personal ties. There's little point in teasing Peter with Black Cat or Jessica Drew when he's tied to MJ, and also to familiar supporting cast mates from the Bugle and his rogues gallery. Ben offered a bachelor figure capable of exploring new rogues or reigniting old rivalries that had mellowed out during Peter's time.

    But I do prefer the Scarlet Spider persona. Recent creators seem to treat him like Diet Deadpool but in the 90s he struck me as a more somber verson of Peter, and the air of mystery made him kind of the Racer X to Parker's Speed Racer.

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    McFlicky

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    Because he has cool costumes

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    bat22

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    @mcflicky: That too. And he stepped up for Marvel against DC's Superboy. And for the crossover with Backlash, one of my favorites from Image.

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