WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #88 by Zeb Wells, Michael Dowling, Bryan Valenza, and VC's Joe Caramagna, now on sale from Marvel Comics
Spider-Man has been through a lot over the years -- but even he has been horrified at the abuse levied at his clone, Ben Reilly. Even death wasn't the end for Ben, who's been tortured and experimented on by plenty of villains over the years. But it seems that the latest batch of changes courtesy of the Beyond Corporation may have truly broken the hero.
Amazing Spider-Man #88 sees Ben Reilly literally turn his back on a dangerous criminal, endangering Mary-Jane Watson and seemingly betraying the very ideal at the heart of Spider-Man. Regardless of what comes out of Beyond's machinations of the Wall-Crawler, it's clear that Ben's time in the role of Spider-Man is limited.
RELATED: Spider-Man: How Peter Parker Became Best Friends With One Of His Superior Foes
Ben Reilly has been in a dark place lately. After discovering the lengths the Beyond Corporation has gone to control him, it was revealed his memories are being targeted by the company. But on top of removing experience and trauma from Ben, it's also having a clear effect on his reasoning and logic. Ben Reilly has never been the most stable person to don the mantle of Spider-Man. He even spent some extended time as a villain during his period as the Jackal in the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline. Despite all these hardships, the identity of Spider-Man requires a certain level of resiliency. One of the fundamental aspects of the character is that regardless of the danger or the trauma, Spider-Man always acts like a hero. But Ben might have just tossed all that out the window.
After discovering that Janine -- Ben's girlfriend -- had escaped Beyond's clutches with evidence of wrong-doing, Maxine Danger unleashed the newly empowered Goblin Queen onto New York. Given the task to cause damage to the Daily Bugle as part of her cover of destroying the evidence, the Goblin Queen quickly found Janine and Mary-Jane Watson at the paper. Ben arrived as Spider-Man shortly thereafter but failed to protect the hard drive containing the evidence. Making matters worse, Ben whole-heartedly ignored Spider-Man's longtime commitment to always act responsibly with his powers. When Mary-Jane warns Ben about the continuing fight, Ben decides "that's not our problem," picks up Janine, and swings away -- leaving Mary-Jane at the apparent mercy of the Goblin Queen.
It's a harsh moment that Janine and Mary-Jane are both horrified by -- as it means that the Red Goblin doesn't just have MJ at her mercy, but potentially anyone else in the Daily Bugle building. At its very core, this is a fundamental betrayal of everything Spider-Mans stands for. Peter Parker became Spider-Man in the first place because of his decision to ignore a crime because it wasn't his problem -- resulting in Ben Parker's death. Now, Reilly has done something similar, leaving Mary-Jane to her fate. While it's very unlikely Mary-Jane is killed (considering her appearances in previewed storylines yet to come), it's still a massive betrayal by Ben.
Even with the amount of damage Beyond has done to his mind, it speaks to an inherent betrayal of the entire concept of Spider-Man, proving Ben isn't currently in the condition to carry on the title. If anything, his decision to abandon Mary-Jane will likely enrage Peter Parker and help set off the coming conflict between the two Wall-Crawlers that's set to determine who truly gets to be Spider-Man. In the process, Ben might have finally burnt his final bridge with his fellow Spider-Man and set himself up for a far darker path going forward.
KEEP READING:A Spider-Verse Hero Is Wielding Spider-Man’s Most Lucrative Power For Herself