Fans anxiously awaiting the animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have received a seemingly substantial preview of the Scarlet Spider.While news on the sequel to the 2018 animated smash hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has been slow-going, sporadic tidbits occasionally escape from unassuming places. The latest such instance provides a first look at the upcoming movie's design for the original Spider-Clone himself, Ben Reilly, a.k.a. the Scarlet Spider. The leaked design has arrived from tweeted images of a special edition of the board game Trouble, which is manufactured by toy company and longtime Marvel licensee Hasbro. Indeed, the revelatory aspect lies in the photos of card pieces showing the character design for a comic-book-accurate rendition of the Scarlet Spider's earliest crime-fighting costume -- ripped blue hoodie and all.
Consequently, it appears that Across the Spider-Verse is filling in gaps when it comes to the array of Multiverse versions of Spider-Man. However, this particular Spider-Man doppelganger will uniquely arrive as a clone of the original Peter Parker. While the character became the center of the fan-divisive 1994 comic book storyline known as the Clone Saga, his roots actually go back to the Bronze Age, specifically The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (1975), in which former biochemistry professor-turned villain the Jackal created clones of both Peter Parker and -- pertinent to Spider-Verse's Spider-Gwen -- his late love, Gwen Stacy, with whom the Jackal was fixated. Thus, the villain set up a battle between Spider-Man and his confused clone, culminating with the latter being presumed dead.
However, the clone eventually reemerged in the '90s storyline, now called Ben Reilly (a combination of Uncle Ben's first name and Aunt May's maiden name), eventually becoming a Wall-Crawling hero in his own right under the Scarlet Spider name. The character was spun off into his own adventures, but the stigma of controversy managed to stick, and he was killed off in 1996. Yet, in true comic fashion, he would eventually return only to meet death again in the 2018 Spider-Geddon storyline. Nevertheless, the power of nostalgia helps the Scarlet Spider maintain a fanbase that welcomes his numerous returns.
Of course, Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider won't be the only 1990s concept set to manifest onscreen in Across the Spider-Verse. That's because another cult favorite in the genetically modified inhabitant of the far future, Miguel O'Hara , a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099, will join the universe-crossing fray. Plus, the movie will see the involvement of the eccentric, guitar-rocking, head-spike-sporting Spider-Punk, whose presence was similarly confirmed by leaked merchandising, in this case toy masks that hit retail pegs prematurely. Moreover, fans are still trying to make sense of the arguably horrifying rendition of Cyborg Spider-Woman, a movie character revealed from images of movie tie-in toys. Regardless, the Spider-People will eventually consolidate their efforts to battle a new villain called the Spot, a disturbingly nimble nemesis whose entire body is inconveniently (albeit poetically) covered in dimensional portals.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is not scheduled to hit theaters until June 2, 2023.
Source: Twitter