The Beginning

The clone of Peter Parker, who would later become Ben Reilly, was the 2nd successful clone created by The Jackal. The Jackal's first Spider-Man clone turned out deformed and was later dubbed "Kaine". The 1st successful clone was a clone of Gwen Stacy.

The Jackal kidnapped Spider-Man, when Spider-Man awoke in Shea Stadium, he found himself next to his clone and both are dressed in the Spider-Man costume. The two fought briefly before deciding to team up to save the Gwen clone. The Spider-Man clone seemed to have died while trying to save Gwen, and fearful of questions raising about a dead Peter Parker body, Spider-Man threw the "dead" clone into the smokestacks.

The Lost Years

Ben confused

The clone was if fact, not dead and climbed out of the smokestack. He named himself Ben Reilly (Ben after his uncle's first name, and Reilly after his aunt's maiden name) and left New York deeply depressed. Ben was hit by influenza and met Seward Trainer (who was being black mailed by the Green Goblin to keep on eye on him). Trainer helped Ben back up on his feet and find a job, all while Kaine was hunting Ben believing Ben to be the real Peter Parker and hates his "brother" for it.

Three years have passed and Reilly has been working in Salt Lake City as a research and teaching assistant, thanks largely to Trainer's references. Reilly met Janine Godbe who at first did not want to be involved with Reilly, but later reveals that her name is actually Elizabeth Tyne and she is a child abuse victim, killed her abusive father, changed her name and ran away to escape her crime. Reilly accepted her and even trusted her enough to reveal to Tyne that Reilly was actually a clone of Spider-Man, Tyne also accepted Reilly for who he is.

When Kaine killed a corrupt policewoman named Louise Kennedy, the Police believed that Reilly was the murderer because Kaine has the exact same fingerprints. Reilly and Tyne were on the run together for a year until Kaine forced her to leave Reilly, dropping a dead clone of her off a bridge to make Reilly think she had died.

Return to New York

just like brothers

Two years later, Reilly received news that Aunt May had a stroke and is currently ill, he returns to New York. While trying to visit Aunt May he runs into Peter Parker, who was not happy to see that his clone was still alive. The two exchange blows, but Spider-Man would later be captured by Judas Traveller. Reilly would come to save Peter and the two team up to defeat Traveller.

Reilly would eventually don the Spider-Man mantle when he finds a sweater with the spider symbol on it, combined with that and an extra pair of spandex, Ben Reily went out and the newspapers began to dub him "The Scarlet Spider". Scarlet Spider fights various enemies during his time protecting New York such as Venom, Carolyn Trainer (Lady Octopus) and Alistair Smythe.

The Real Deal?

When Seward Trainer revealed to the Parkers and Ben Reilly that Ben was in fact the original one, Peter became extremely depressed and moody. Peter would eventually ask Ben to take over as Spider-Man for New York while Peter and Mary Jane move to Portland to try and raise their baby in a normal life.

New Costume

As Ben is now the only Spider-Man, he fights various villains, both new and old. In the Web of Carnage storyline, the Carnage symbiote escapes from Ravencroft in search of a stronger host. It eventually found and merged with Ben Reilly to become Spider-Carnage and he was forced to try and kill Peter Parker and other innocent people. With the help of Dr. Ashley Kafka and John Jameson, they were able to remove the Carnage symbiote.

Ben became then involved with a girl named Jessica Carradine, who was the daughter of the burglar that killed Uncle Ben. When she discovered that Ben was Spider-Man, it became a problem because Jessica believed that Uncle Ben was the one with the gun (who accidentally shot himself in the stomach) and that Spider-Man had killed her father to keep the truth from surfacing. Jessica went as far as almost mailing a picture of Ben in the Spider-Man costume to the Daily Bugle. But she had a change of heart when she saw Spider-Man save many innocent lives.

It soon became clear that Ben's life was involved in a conspiracy when a skeleton of a Spider-Man clone was found in the same smokestack that he had once occupied, Seward Trainer disappeared, and Ben has his bank account frozen and his apartment's possessions stolen before finally the Grind (the place where he works) was burnt down and Ben was framed for arson. The Hobgoblin reveals that he is the man behind everything but it was later that the original Green Goblin, Norman Osbourne, reveals that he is the true mastermind.

Ben eventually dies while saving Peter Parker by jumping in front of the Goblin Glider that was aiming for Parker. Right before he died, Ben tells Peter that, "clone or not, Peter is now Spider-Man and would have to carry on for Ben. When Ben died, his body decomposes rapidly, revealing Seward Trainer's hypothesis about clones to be true that when a clone dies, the body decomposes. Peter then says "Rest easy... brother".

Powers and Equipment

Ben Reilly, being a clone of Spider-Man, has all of the spider-based powers. The only difference is that his spider-sense can sense the presence of Venom as Peter's spider-sense cannot. That is because Ben was created prior to Peter being possessed by the Symbiote.

Ben wear a special kind of web-shooters different from that worn by Peter. Instead of being hidden inside the costume, Ben's web-shooters are worn outside his costume. He also has different kinds of web cartridges for any situation, such as "impact webbing", a web that engulfs a enemy into a cocoon to immobilize him and "stingers", miniature web missiles that explodes on an enemy.

Alternate Versions

MC2 (Earth-982)

Spider-Girl wore her "Uncle" Ben Reilly's second costume as her primary costume.

Ben Reilly had a son with Elizabeth Tyne, named Reilly Tyne aka Darkdevil.

Felicity Hardy wore Ben Reilly's first costume as she want to be Spider-Girl's sidekick, but she said she doesn't need one and warns Felicity that she might get hurt.

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

In this reality, Ben Reilly is not a clone of Spider-Man, but he a African-American laboratory assistant of Curt Conners (Lizard). He took a blood sample of Spider-Man and used it to blend with the "Venom" suit. The end product is the Carnage. Ben refers to the Carnage suit as "little Ben".

Marvel Zombiverse (Earth-2149)

Someone wearing a Scarlet Spider costume is seen as a zombie in this universe.

Mutant X (Earth-1298)

In this reality, the clone of Spider-Man is not called as Ben Reilly but he shares the 6 armed mutation of the original and has taken his identity when Peter retired. He was killed along with the Green Goblin by the Goblin Queen (Madelyne Pryor) when they became suspicious about her goal of world domination. The Brute (this reality's version of Beast) was charged for the murder and he pleaded guilty, and was therefore executed.

Earth X (Earth-9997)

In this reality, a version of Peter Parker's daughter was raised up by Ben Reilly

What If?

In this reality, Peter died during an explosion while he was fighting his clone inside the stadium. Ben woke up in the hospital with Peter's friends and family thinking that he is Peter. When Ben and Mary Jane discovered that their daughter has blood poisoning, the Green Goblin kidnapped her as he needed her blood. Ben fought the Green Goblin where Gwen Stacy died, with Ben being victorious. But when Mary Jane found out the Ben is not Peter, She left him and asked him to find his own identity, something that he hasn't done in his whole life.