These days, it’s all about the multiverse. Just look at various entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse film. With multiverse travel, though, comes the introduction of characters, aliases, and variants that many viewers aren’t too familiar with — like the sleeveless hoodie-wearing Scarlet Spider.
Several characters, namely Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, have used the Scarlet Spider alias, making the character’s history a bit more complex than most. Ahead of the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, here’s everything to know about these sometimes villainous, sometimes heroic clones that go by the name Scarlet Spider.
Is Scarlet Spider Peter Parker?
Let’s get this out of the way first: no, Peter Parker is not Scarlet Spider. However, the Scarlet Spider alias is used by a few different Marvel Comics characters, including Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker. To be fair, Peter Parker did wear the Scarlet Spider suit in one arc, but only briefly. Very briefly. After all of his other Spider-Man suits were ruined — impressive, Pete — Parker donned the Scarlet Spider suit and identity so that he could continue his web-slinging and day-saving activities. This was purely a matter of necessity and convenience, though. Once his Spidey suit was replaced Peter returned to the mantle we all know.
Is Scarlet Spider a Clone?
Okay, so if Peter Parker isn’t the Scarlet Spider, who is the Scarlet Spider? Well, although Peter Parker might not be the Scarlet Spider, he does have a strong connection to the person who takes up the mantle. Created by Gerry Conway, Scarlet Spider goes by the name Ben Reilly — a combination of Peter Parker’s late uncle’s first name and his Aunt May’s maiden name. Grown in a lab by Professor Miles Warren — a.k.a. the revenge-obsessed Jackal — Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker who first appeared in 1975’s The Amazing Spider-Man #149.
Why did Jackal clone Peter Parker? After Gwen Stacy’s death, Jackal, who was obsessed with Stacy, blamed Peter/Spider-Man. To exact revenge, he went on a cloning bender, replicating not just Peter, but Gwen, too. Although nameless in his original appearance, Ben Reilly was meant to fight Peter Parker. In this first appearance, however, he seemingly dies alongside Jackal.
In the “Clone Saga,” a controversial arc from the 1990s, the clone of Peter Parker returns. Evidently, he’d been living under the alias of Ben Reilly, but, after hearing of Aunt May’s declining health, ventures to New York City. This storyline also puts forth that Reilly assumes the guise of Scarlet Spider, and teams up with Parker. In a rather bizarre turn of events, the Spideys take genetic tests that suggest Reilly is the original, while Parker is the clone.
The shocking discovery comes at a particularly chaotic time in Peter’s life — Mary Jane Watson is pregnant and the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) has been resurrected. Later, it's revealed that Osborn switched the results of the genetic test to mess with Peter — a truth that’s later confirmed when Ben Reilly dies protecting Peter Parker and his body crumbles into dust. (This, of course, is typical clone behavior.)
Who Is the Real Scarlet Spider?
While Ben Reilly may have been the first to take up on the Scarlet Spider alias, he isn’t the only Marvel Comics character to do so. Kaine Parker, the Jackal’s first somewhat-successful attempt to clone Peter Parker, later takes on the Scarlet Spider alias. But before all of that, he ends up embroiled in the whole Peter-and-Ben clone drama. The Jackal all but tosses Kaine away when the clone starts to show signs of degeneration.
Feeling he’s been abandoned by his “father,” Kaine has a jaded outlook on life. Of course, the degeneration doesn’t help either. After falling victim to the Green Goblin’s whole switcheroo ploy, Kaine also believes Ben is the real deal and that Peter is the clone. He follows Ben to Salt Lake City, falls in love, murders that love interest, and messes with Ben’s life. To Kaine, Ben is the problem; he wrongly thinks Peter is also a clone. Eager to help his fellow clone out, Kaine commits a series of murders and has them pinned on Ben. Of course, this backfires a bit: Peter Parker ends up in prison — all of their fingerprints match, after all — but Ben Reilly takes Peter’s place.
Kaine Parker appears in several other comic book runs, often alongside Ben Reilly. Before his 2011 Scarlet Spider solo run, Kaine is forcibly changed into Tarantula — a literal Man-Spider — by Jackal. Thankfully, he’s cured of his monstrous mutation in the Scarlet Spider solo run, and, hoping to start fresh, heads south to Mexico.
While in Houston, Texas, Kaine attempts to rob some criminals, only to find that they’re running a human trafficking ring. He ends up saving a young girl, Aracely, and taking her to a hospital — where she’s, of course, attacked by an assassin, Salamander. Kaine dons a scarlet suit, much like Spider-Man’s, and defeats Salamander, who dubs him “Araña Escarlata.” Of course, Kaine’s would-be short stint as a vigilante turns into something much more, and the city begins to count on him and his Scarlet Spider heroics.
Scarlet Spider History: Other Characters Who Use the Name
While Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker are the most notable characters to take up the name Scarlet Spider, there have been others. In one story, Carolyn Trainer (a.k.a. Doctor Octopus the second) tries to discredit Ben by trapping FBI agent Joe Wade in a virtual reality chamber and forcing him to power a hard-light hologram of Scarlet Spider. Ben has to stop the fake Scarlet Spider, but the name’s reputation ends up thoroughly trashed.
In Spider-Girl, which centers on teenage May Parker and her titular alias, Felicia Hardy — the daughter of Black Cat and Flash Thompson — wants to be Spider-Girl’s partner in crime-fighting, and uses the Scarlet Spider alias for a brief time.
Avengers: The Initiative introduces three heroes — all clones of Michael Van Patrick — who learn to replicate Spider-Man’s movements (thanks, Taskmaster). Named Michael, Van, and Patrick — very creative, right? — each clone wears a different version of the suits Tony Stark makes for Spidey. For a brief time, the trio call themselves the Scarlet Spiders — a catchy name used again when Ben Reilly and Kaine team up in the Spider-Verse run.
Even Flash Thompson briefly goes by Scarlet Spider in an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors. So, yes: the name Scarlet Spider may have one of the strangest, twistiest legacies in Marvel Comics — and that’s saying something.
Is Scarlet Spider Good or Bad?
Both Ben Reilly and Kaine started off as “bad guys” — or that was the path Jackal intended for the Peter clones. While Ben pretty quickly teams up with Peter, Kaine remains involved in criminal activity for a bit, eager to bring Peter down by framing him for said crimes. Later, when he takes up the Scarlet Spider mantle in earnest, Kaine is a vigilante-turned-hero of sorts.
Much like Kaine, Ben Reilly suffers from some serious trauma: not only is he a clone born for nefarious purposes, but he was also forcibly transferred into new clone bodies several times by Jackal in 2017’s Dead No More story. All of that dying and being reborn took a real toll. After he’s defeated by Spidey, Reilly turns to his Scarlet Spider identity once more. In Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider, the anti-hero goes on a journey of redemption, which comes to fruition in 2018’s Spider-Geddon.
For a time, Ben Reilly even took up the Spider-Man mantle: Ben served time on Peter’s behalf after Kaine framed Parker for a series of murders, and, after the trial concludes, Peter offers Ben his Spider-Man suit. At first, Ben Reilly continues to operate under his Scarlet Spider alias, but eventually builds a life as the new Spider-Man. But, more recently, a memory-purged, villainous Ben goes by King Chasm. So, yeah, it’s not all black and white when it comes to Peter’s clones.
How Strong Is Scarlet Spider?
A clone of Peter Parker, Ben Reilly possesses the same powers as the Spidey we all know, including superhuman strength, stamina, speed, durability as well as the character’s infamous wall-crawling and Spider-Sense. Like Peter, Ben also developed web-shooters, though he made some interesting modifications.
Due to his degeneration, Kaine noticed some differences between his powers and Peter’s. For starters, he has a precognitive sense — an amplified Spider-Sense that shows Kaine flashes of the future — as well as the “Mark of Kaine” ability, a burning touch that stems from Peter’s wall-clinging ability. Adept at hand-to-hand combat, Kaine also possesses a limited healing factor, the ability to produce his own silk webbing (he doesn’t use web-shooters), a knack for connecting with spiders and other insects (though not on the Ant-Man level), and, since he’s a clone, an immunity to Peter’s Spider-Sense.
As far as Earth-616 is concerned, Scarlet Spider — both Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker — are roughly as strong as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. When it comes to the Multiverse, the title of strongest Spider-Person might be up for grabs.
Is Scarlet Spider in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse?
Later this year, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters. A sequel to the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Across the Spider-Versepromises to feature even more Spider-People. So far, Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (voice of Oscar Isaac); Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (voice of Issa Rae); and Hobart "Hobie" Brown/Spider-Punk (voice of Daniel Kaluuya) have all been confirmed as main players, but other Spider-People are set to appear, too. Reportedly, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will feature both the Kaine Parker and Ben Reilly versions of Scarlet Spider.
Catch Miles Morales and both versions of Scarlet Spider on the big screen when Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 2, 2023.