Uncle Ben

This article is about the Spider-Man comic book character. See also Uncle Ben's, a brand of rice and other foods.

Benjamin Parker, often called Uncle Ben was a supporting character in the Marvel Universe’s Spider-Man stories. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.

Parker was the uncle and adoptive father of Peter Parker, Spider-Man’s alter ego. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) and, in that issue, was killed by a burglar Spider-Man declined to pursue earlier. This incident forever propelled Spider-Man into the role of superhero.

Although his history as a supporting character was very brief, Uncle Ben is an overshadowing figure in Spider-Man’s life, often appearing in flashbacks.

Contents

1 Biography
2 \"With great power comes great responsibility\"
3 Notability
4 Appearances in Other Media
5 Franklin Richards's Uncle Ben
6 Spider-Girl's Uncle Ben
7 External links

Biography

When Richard and Mary Parker were killed, Richard's older brother Ben and his wife, May, took in their orphaned son Peter and raised him.

Ben was eventually killed by a burglar; Peter subsequently captured the burglar, and was horrified to realize that it was the same burglar who he could have captured earlier that day, except that he had chosen to not get involved. As a result, Peter considered himself morally responsible for Ben's death, and resolved to fight crime as a superhero, vowing to always take his responsibilities seriously.

\"With great power comes great responsibility\"

The often-quoted Spider-man theme of "with great power there comes great responsibility" is widely attributed to Uncle Ben. However, this was not initially true. In Amazing Fantasy #15, the phrase appears in a narrative caption in the comic's last panel, not as spoken dialogue. In fact, Ben has only two lines in the entire comic.

However, later stories and flashbacks that took place when Ben was still alive retroactively made the phrase one of Ben's many homilies he would lecture Peter with. Recent reinterpretations of Spider-Man, such as the Spider-Man movie and the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, depict Ben as using this phrase while he is still alive.

Notability

Uncle Ben was notable as one of the few comic book deaths that stuck. He is a member of the "Big Three", referring also to Jason Todd and Bucky whose notable deaths, along with Ben's, gave way to the phrase "No one in comics stays dead except for Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben". Later, the recent revivals of said characters led to the amendment, "No one in comics stays dead except Uncle Ben, Ted Kord and Scott Lang". In fact, if one includes the Ultimate Marvel rebooted continuity, Uncle Ben is the only one to have stayed dead across all major continuities.

There have been examples of Uncle Ben remaining alive, including stories featured in Marvel's What If and a storyline of the 1994 Spider-Man animated series featured a universe where Uncle Ben had never died, and Peter Parker became a successful industrialist, having never really bothered to use his powers responsibly as everything always seemed to work out for him. This fact is used to defeat the rampaging Spider-Carnage by exposing him to the one person he will trust and listen to; the Uncle Ben of that reality. Fans have speculated that Uncle Ben will probably remain dead for the future, since his original death was in an origin story. Many feel that having him return would seriously damage Spider-Man's origin, akin to reviving Batman's parents.

A recent storyline in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has suggested that Ben may be alive. This Ben, however, was actually from an alternate timeline where Aunt May died in an random accident, leaving him to raise Peter. It has not yet been revealed how this alternate Ben came to the 616 reality, but it seems to be related to a plot devised by the Hobgoblin of 2211 to defeat the Spider-Men of different eras.

Appearances in Other Media

In , he was voiced by the late Brian Keith.

In the successful film adaptation released in 2002, Ben Parker was played by Cliff Robertson, and appeared in the sequel in a brief dream-like sequence when Peter contemplated giving up his Spider-Man identity. He will return in either a flash back scene or another dream sequence in the third film.

Franklin Richards's Uncle Ben

Franklin Richards of the Fantastic Four often refers to Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, as "Uncle Ben". Interestingly, Franklin Richards's middle name is Benjamin—the same as the middle name of Peter Benjamin Parker, Spider-Man. This is not entirely coincidental; Ben Parker and the Thing are, respectively, the namesakes of Peter Parker and Franklin Richards. Spider-Man is aware of this, and told Franklin "Uncle Bens are always right."

Spider-Girl's Uncle Ben

Like her father, Mayday also has an Uncle Ben. However, unlike her dad, May never knew her Uncle Ben. May's Uncle Ben, is Ben Reilly, the Spider-Man clone. However, when Mayday asked her dad about him, Peter left out the fact that Ben was really Peter's clone.

Also, if Spider-Girl had any children in the future, they too would have an Uncle Ben - May's baby brother, and Peter & MJ's second child. However, it is unknown after who the young Ben was named after - As Peter & MJ named May after Peter's Aunt May, Mayday asked which Uncle Ben the new born was named after, her Uncle Ben, or his (Peter's) Uncle Ben. Peter then asked if it really mattered, which May responded to with "I guess not".

External links

[Uncle Ben's Profile at Spiderfan.org]

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