Scarlet Spider Facts Hey guys!
Welcome back to Top 10 Nerd, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Scarlet Spider has gained a lot of popularity in recent years.
While the clone saga was convoluted as hell, it did bring us Ben Reilly, and the Scarlet
Spider.
While the mantle of Scarlet Spider has been held by many individuals like Kaine and Peter
Parker, I’ll be focusing on the Ben Reilly version, as it’s the most prevalent version
and has had a recent reboot.
Just a quick warning, I will be discussing the more recent comics as well, so if you’re
worried about spoilers… be careful.
Now get ready, here are the Top 10 Facts About Scarlet Spider – Ben Reilly edition!
Number 10: He worked at a coffee shop.
While Ben was acting as Spider-Man for a time when Peter and MJ had moved to Portland, he
got to enjoy a new kind of life: a relatively normal one.
Sure the web-slinging and bad guy beating isn’t exactly normal, but he did get a job
at a coffee shop called The Daily Grind.
And he actually did a pretty good job, as far as I can tell.
He also dyed his hair blonde, which was kinda lame, but who didn’t dye their hair blonde
at some point in the ‘90s?
Plus it kinda suits him.
But it looks kinda weird for me, because as I learned from How I Met Your Mother If I’m
killed tonight, a blond guy did it.
Number 9: He’s named after his Aunt and Uncle.
When Ben needed to make a new identity for himself, he decided to name himself after
the two most significant figures in Peter Parker’s past; his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
The Ben part’s pretty obvious, but what many people don’t know is that Aunt May’s
maiden name was Reilly, which is where he got inspiration for his last name.
It should be mentioned that in a later comic it was claimed that May’s maiden name was
Fitzgerald, but most people assume this was either a made-up name or a mistake on the
part of the writer.
So Reilly still holds, as far as I know.
Number 8: Impact webbing.
When Ben Reilly took on the role of Scarlet Spider, he made some modifications to Peter
Parker’s original webbing.
Ever the perfectionist, he continued upgrading the webbing tech even in exile.
His impact webbing fires a ball at his enemies that explodes when it reaches them, trapping
them in a cocoon.
This can be further strengthened with more web.
It’s a pretty creative improvement, and he uses it to great effect against many of
his stronger baddies, even using it to separate the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock by firing
it into Venom’s mouth.
Cool!
Number 7: He doesn’t seem to need to make everything look like a spider.
As we all know, gadget-wielding heroes like Batman and Spider-Man tend to build their
gadgets with their theme in mind.
Batarang, Bat Shark Repellent, Spider-Tracer, etc.
But the thing with having a relatively large, red tracer shaped like a spider is… people
find them.
And take them off.
And are no longer being traced.
So Ben Reilly said “screw that, I’ll just make mine a tiny dot” and created his microdot
tracers.
This desire for function over looks speaks to Ben as a character, and honestly it makes
me so happy.
When the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, you can’t afford to make your stuff worse
just because you like Spiders.
Number 6: Scarlet Spider, unlike Spider-Man, can sense Venom.
If you’re a fan of the comics, you’ll know that because the symbiote attached to
Peter Parker, it gained the ability to sneak up on him without triggering his Spidey Sense.
However, while Ben Reilly remembers the incident with the symbiote, it didn’t actually happen
to him, so his Spidey Sense was unaffected.
This is super useful, as it allows him to have an easier time of it when fighting Venom.
Sadly, the same can’t be said of Carnage, because…
Number 5: Ben Reilly hosted the Carnage Symbiote.
In a particularly lousy time of Ben’s life, he became the host of the Carnage symbiote,
becoming Spider-Carnage.
Yeah, the name maybe could have been slightly more creative, but it is what it is.
He took on the symbiote, protecting others from being taken over, and was barely able
to maintain control long enough for John Jameson to use microwaves to send it running back
to Kasady.
It was a short visit, but it was enough to stop Ben from being able to sense Carnage
with his Spidey-Sense in the future.
Number 4: He actually tells his girlfriend about his powers.
This is the one thing that bugs me so much about superheroes.
They never frickin tell their significant others that they’re a hero!
And the significant other inevitable gets kidnapped.
I get that they want to protect their loved ones, but I think keeping them in the loop
is the best way to go, and apparently Ben agrees with me because when he started dating
Janine Godby, he fessed up pretty quickly about his past and his powers.
It was so satisfying to see, and was just great to not have to be yelling at the comic
“Just tell her!
Just frickin tell her!
She’s gonna find out and be angry, just tell her!”
Good on ya, Benny boy.
Number 3: He was the Jackal for a time.
After being resurrected in a way by Miles Warren, then killed, then resurrected over
and over driving him frickin crazy…
Ben eventually bluffed his way into taking on the mantle of the Jackal, hoping to use
the cloning/resurrection technology for good.
But he kinda goes too far and becomes a villain, even recruiting villains like Rhino and the
Lizard, and creating a clone Doc Ock.
He later takes his villainy to a new height, sending his cronies against Spider-Man, and
later going so far as to try to eliminate the population of the world using the Carrion
Virus, with the intention of bringing them back by cloning them.
Pretty messed up.
And this brings me to my next point… Number 2: He has to take New U pills.
Following his time as the Jackal, Ben’s body was in a constant state of degeneration,
due to the flawed cloning process.
This pill prevents his body from breaking down, and has to be taken daily.
The necessity of the pill worked in the Jackal’s favour, since it forced his clones to be dependent
on him, but since Ben left the Jackal it’s become something of an annoyance.
It’s kind of inconvenient, but taking one pill a day to not die is a pretty decent trade.
Although his face is pretty damn messed up.
And this point is super relevant because…
Number 1: Ben Reilly is back… but he ain’t right.
Following his failure as The Jackal, Ben Reilly returned recently to once again take on the
mantle of Scarlet Spider.
But while it’s great to see him back, his change in attitude is a bit unnerving.
Learning that he stole his new costume from some cosplayer whom he left naked in a bathroom,
not to mention the fact that he revealed this to an imaginary version of himself, has led
many to believe that he may not be completely back in fighting form.
Plus, you know, he shoots people with guns now apparently.
He’s starting to act a lot more like Deadpool, which matches his new appearance I guess.
And heck, as a lover of Deadpool, I kinda love it!
But I do hope that Ben sorts his life out, because I worry about the kid.
That’s it for today!
Hope you enjoyed!
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more videos!
Let me know if you’d like to see other videos on Scarlet Spider, I’d be so down to do
a list about the Kaine Parker version!
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Top 10 Nerd.
Later nerds!
He takes a more measured approach to crime-fighting than Peter Parker.
He turns to dust when he dies.
Scarlet Spider revitalized Spider-Man.
Spider-Man was seeing a significant dip in popularity in the mid-‘90s, largely due
to his increasing maturity and adult-ness.
He was settling down with MJ, and was carrying an awful lot of baggage from his recent adventures.
Enter Ben Reilly.
He proved to be exactly what comic fans wanted, a return to a more juvenile hero with a new
attitude and experiences.
Sales went up soon after the introduction of Scarlet Spider, and he earned his place
in Spider-Man history.