What the Appearance of a Certain Character in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 Could Mean

We’ve seen a lot of familiar faces in the Spider-Verse storyline but this one could have a bigger impact.

Spider-Man is currently in the middle of the biggest crossover comic book event in his career. With Morlun and his clan, the Inheritors, Spider-Men and -Women from across the mulitverse have found themselves hunted and killed. As the different Spider-Totems have started coming together, things look rather bleak but the appearance of one character in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 could have some big repercussions in the story and beyond.

The issue has been released for a couple weeks now and we wanted to give you all a chance to read it to avoid spoilers. Just in case you still haven’t, be aware we will be discussing the details below.

Apart from simply feeding on the different Spider-Totems, we’ve discovered there are some that stand out from the others. These special ones seem to have a special role for the Inheritors. It was Old Man Spider that told Peter, moments before he died, to protect the Bride, the Other, and the Scion. Cindy Moon (Silk) is apparently the Bride, Kaine is the Other, and Benjy Parker (the baby brother of Mayday Parker, Spider-Girl from the MC2 universe).

In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12, the Master Weaver, behind the backs of the Inheritors, passed some scrolls with “the prophecies” on the three along with “something else” to Jessica Drew. One question is, what, or who, could this “something else” be? The big revelation at the end of the issue is when they all gather on Earth-3145, an Earth that has been ravaged by a nuclear war. In a fall-out shelter similar to the one Spider-Man found Silk in, designed (by Ezekial to hide Spider-Totems from Morlun and the others, Peter gets a surprise upon seeing this world’s only survivor.

Uncle Ben is back—sort of.

We can assume this is an alternate Earth Uncle Ben. The big question is, why is he the only survivor of this world. Also, at this point in the story, revealing his presence is bound to have an impact on the story.

It would seem that for Spider-Man to see his Uncle Ben alive again, the whole reason and motivation for becoming the hero he is today out of the guilt over his death, Spidey could either get a new sense of inspiration or relive the guilt he’s felt ever since his death. One thing to consider, this wouldn’t be the first time Peter saw an Uncle Ben from an alternate reality. In Peter David’s FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, an alternate Uncle Ben ended up on Earth-616 and was killed shortly after.

For Uncle Ben to be the only survivor, perhaps he is this “something else” written in the prophecy. He could be the one holding the key to defeating the Inheritors. It’s likely he ended up in the bunker for a specific reason other than simply trying to avoid nuclear fallout. We don't know (yet) if he's just a regular "Uncle Ben" or could he possibly be the "Spider-Man" of this world?

A crazy thought we had was what if this Uncle Ben does survive SPIDER-VERSE and ends up in the regular 616 universe? It would be a bold and controversial move to have Uncle Ben “back” but it’s not like we haven’t seen the occasional bits of controversy in Spider-Man titles in recent times.

There could be some interesting moments to explore. Would Peter get over his guilt? Would he feel he could give up being Spider-Man or would spending time with Uncle Ben give his heroic nature another jump start and keep him on the road of trying to protect the innocent?

Of course there would be the question of what would Aunt May’s reaction be? This wouldn’t seem like a likely avenue to pursue since she hasn’t been seen too often in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN or the previous SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. She’s married to J. Jonah Jameson Senior and has moved away. She also saw the alternate Ben Parker in FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and wasn’t too happy to see an “impostor.”

This lone survivor of Earth-3145 will likely have to make a sacrifice to save the day. Uncle Ben's remained one of the very few characters that hasn't fully returned from the dead. The alternate version from before doesn't really count. Sure there could be some crazy sort of way that the true 616 Ben Parker ended up in the 3145 world but that might be even too crazy for comic books.

This is what is fun and exciting about comics. Every so often we get a curve ball thrown to us. There's likely to be some that would frown upon the return of Uncle Ben in any way or form but it's not often we have a feeling of the unknown in what a writer might have planned next. It's not likely we'd see this, or any, Uncle Ben for too long. So we can enjoy it while it lasts. I'm ready for Uncle Ben to become the hero of the day rather than the victim.

I like Dan Slott, but honestly with this style of story telling it wont mean anything. It will mostly be for the fan service like when Jameson got powers in Spider-Island.

Maybe even have a big self sacrificing moment where he gets to say "With great power comes great responsibility" again.

And with this, the following statement has officially been proven false.

"The only people who stay dead in comics, are Bucky, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben."

I don't see the big deal, is it really so far fetched to see him show up again? and we all know he's gone after this event.

@micah: as far as we know, Uncle Ben is STILL dead. Also, I pointed out this wasn't the first time we've seen an Uncle Ben from an alternate reality. If this does turn out to somehow be the 616 Ben, then it's a different story.

I'm sure that he is a spider totem, maybe one of the most powerful ones ever.

But Uncle Ben is suppose to always stay dead!

~MiB

Before we know it there will be a new ongoing called "Spider-Ben."

@captainmarvel4ever: I don't get it ether when he showed up i was like meh hell I think a lot people were expecting Ben to show up in this multiverse story

@darknightspideyfanboy: I know right, its like in the 90's cartoon when he shows up in the alternative dimesion

I'm sure Silk said that he's a Spider-totem.

That would be cool.

@eamon542000: omg I remember that lol

@darknightspideyfanboy: Talks down Spider Carnage, such a cool moment

Yeah I don't feel like this is that big a deal.

Hopefully this Uncle Ben isn't the real one.

@micah: Its even worse considering Thomas Wayne has become Batman and Gwen Stacy is Spider Woman

I think people are being pretty hard on the whole Spider-Verse issue. I'm diggin it.

@captainmarvel4ever: Yeah the instant I saw Spiders who weren't Peter (Gwen), I expected a Spider-Ben.

@comicking7: @g_man: Might be too soon to call it, but I think we have a strong possibility of this guy coming back to the 616.

Obvisously Ben cant fight inheritors..... he's an old man. He's either the totem of that world or he just survived in that strange new place they found.

I dont see 616 spidey bringing him back but you never know

@micah: That was kind of the inspiration for this article. I brought it up to Corey before a podcast. Would Marvel actually bring him back to the 616 for more than a weird simple storyline like in FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN? You would think not but who would've thought they'd "kill" Spider-Man and replace him with an enemy? If it did happen, I don't think it'd be the true Ben but you never really know these days.

So it just occurred to me, as a current non-reader of Spider-Man, that the last time I personally heard of Julia Carpenter was in Daredevil. She was the Shroud's ex-girlfriend or something along those lines, and the Owl kidnapped her IIRC, and the Shroud went off looking for her at the end of the arc. It was sort of implied that we'd hear more about this in DD, but haven't yet.

Has Julia been in this whole Spider-verse deal? I would think she'd have to be. If so, what's been going on with her?

That's funny and your right....nothing is off limits these days. I don't know how I'd feel if they did bring him back to the 616 since his death is such an important part of Spider-Man's mythos, IMO if this did happen I would be interested to see what Marvel decides to do with him and the possible doors that will open up because of it.

He's probably evil or some terrible entity taking the form of uncle Ben. I'm always suspicious of a sole survivor.

Speaking of dead characters, I want to see Spider-Gwen. Let's face it, every other superhero has a dead girlfriend, Spider-man angst isn't special as it was back in the early 70's. Now everybody's doing it. But not everyone has an alternate reality girlfriend who has the same angst and the same powers and similar complexes. Let's see that!

@hexthis: It could be that he's the Ben Parker from another world. Maybe Ezekiel brought him to 3145 for safekeeping.

YES! Omfg. I've wanted Uncle Ben in the 616 for so long now! I really hope it happens!

If this is an alternate Uncle Ben...I'm okay with that. If this is some loophole, 616, "Uncle Ben is back, baby!"....Then we have *achem* issues.

I'm thinking that this is an alternate reality uncle Ben because Dan slott would need to pull off a really good excuse to pretty much completely alter peter's origin and have uncle Ben be alive

i was into spiderverse at first, but with every issue, im more and more turned off. And this was the icing on the cake for me, i hated it.

I actually had thought a while back that Old Man Spider was possibly Uncle Ben, or one of the others. I like this though, and I'd like to see what happens. Most likely he'll be the inspiration and motivation needed to get Peter back on track.

He's being used to get Mayday back on track in Team-Up#3 (though it's being hinted this is not "our" Mayday)

This wasn't much of a shock. It's an alternate Uncle Ben who was bitten instead of Peter, just as it was hinted at earlier on. I don't see the big deal.

That Ben was what inspired him to be Spiderman is true, but that is not what keeps him in the suit.

I always see a single trauma as an impulse into some action. What happens after the trauma is what will define the character.

Peter Parker has had a LOT of trauma as Spider-Man that would keep him from stopping.

Earth 2 even points out how Thomas surviving was not enough to stop Bruce from his mission after he started.

I always saw the persistence of these questions as a symptom of ignorance of all the stuff that the character has done.

If Pa Kent came back from the dead would Superman stop being superman? No. Because what he does is needed and he is the only one he feels confident is up to the task.

F*** THAT.

First Bucky and now this?? NO. Divergent Uncle Ben, clone Uncle Ben, robot Uncle Ben, doesn't matter. I have no interest in making mine Marvel. I'll stick to Image, Dark Horse, and even DC. The House of Ideas? Obviously, it's bloody closed.

Even if that universes Ben would be an evil conqueror made of mucus and the Ten commandments, he`d still count. Because it would have an impact on the characters. And because that version is basically the 616-Ben, it counts as a rebirth. In a symbolic sense.Even if I`ve had minimum of interest for most of Slotts run (I didn`t hate the post BMD-issues I read, but was underwhelmed), I`ll probably read these stories.What astonishes me is, that I willingly spoiled the big surprise for myself, for checking this article.
Then again, I`d have to be invested to the story to be angry. No, I wouldn`t I wouldn`t. I`ve grown accustomed to spoilers. Either it`s a twist I`d expect, or a big reveal like this. And big reveals are always spoiled, by everyone who`s read the story. They blab about in the net, reference it when they talk about something else. Then someone`s gonna be pissed, `cause they`ve wanted to read it, and now too much of the wow-factor is gone. If you complain, the referencer will make a snarky comment about how it`s an X amount of years old, and only the rules of the jungle apply, now. That`s an unfair justification. Even if they`ve spoiled something for this person, it doesn`t (necessarily) mean the`re angry, but dissappointed. If the former, they`ll (probly) forgive that person.But there`s a lot of what ifs (?) in my argument. Me, I say, don`t let anyone in the thread know you`ve been spoiled.

only the people on this forum. most of the people who complain post more. people are whining before they even know what it means.

@christianrapper: I've seen plenty of other places moan about the issue, broaden your horizons

yea,i was excited for Spider-Verse the event and just donno with how Amazing Spider-Man has been and the event also just been just meh to me.Then again I am a new reader to Marvel and Amazing Spider-Man is honestly my first Marvel comic that I picked up and was hoping it would help me get into their series,but may drop Amazing Spider-Man and see what else Marvel has.

Well, it doesn't matter how this ends now. 616 is going to be destroyed in four months!

Obviously I would prefer that this Ben just be an alternate Universe Ben.

But with this Ultimate New-616 coming, I would actually like to see a take on Spidey were Ben SURVIVES the mugging, & HATES Spiderman just as much as JJJ does. Or the mugging never happens, & he hates the idea of costumed characters. Maybe even have the new version of JJJ actually LIKE Spiderman. You know, actually have the balls to take a character in a NEW direction, instead of just rehashing the greats, & adding diversity to appear modern & new.

I hope someone revives me after I die......Jus' Sayin'..........

Interesting