What the Appearance of a Certain Character in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 Could Mean
We’ve seen a lot of familiar faces in the Spider-Verse storyline but this one could have a bigger impact.
Spider-Man is currently in the middle of the biggest crossover comic book event in his career. With Morlun and his clan, the Inheritors, Spider-Men and -Women from across the mulitverse have found themselves hunted and killed. As the different Spider-Totems have started coming together, things look rather bleak but the appearance of one character in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 could have some big repercussions in the story and beyond.
The issue has been released for a couple weeks now and we wanted to give you all a chance to read it to avoid spoilers. Just in case you still haven’t, be aware we will be discussing the details below.
Apart from simply feeding on the different Spider-Totems, we’ve discovered there are some that stand out from the others. These special ones seem to have a special role for the Inheritors. It was Old Man Spider that told Peter, moments before he died, to protect the Bride, the Other, and the Scion. Cindy Moon (Silk) is apparently the Bride, Kaine is the Other, and Benjy Parker (the baby brother of Mayday Parker, Spider-Girl from the MC2 universe).
In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12, the Master Weaver, behind the backs of the Inheritors, passed some scrolls with “the prophecies” on the three along with “something else” to Jessica Drew. One question is, what, or who, could this “something else” be? The big revelation at the end of the issue is when they all gather on Earth-3145, an Earth that has been ravaged by a nuclear war. In a fall-out shelter similar to the one Spider-Man found Silk in, designed (by Ezekial to hide Spider-Totems from Morlun and the others, Peter gets a surprise upon seeing this world’s only survivor.
Uncle Ben is back—sort of.
We can assume this is an alternate Earth Uncle Ben. The big question is, why is he the only survivor of this world. Also, at this point in the story, revealing his presence is bound to have an impact on the story.
It would seem that for Spider-Man to see his Uncle Ben alive again, the whole reason and motivation for becoming the hero he is today out of the guilt over his death, Spidey could either get a new sense of inspiration or relive the guilt he’s felt ever since his death. One thing to consider, this wouldn’t be the first time Peter saw an Uncle Ben from an alternate reality. In Peter David’s FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, an alternate Uncle Ben ended up on Earth-616 and was killed shortly after.
For Uncle Ben to be the only survivor, perhaps he is this “something else” written in the prophecy. He could be the one holding the key to defeating the Inheritors. It’s likely he ended up in the bunker for a specific reason other than simply trying to avoid nuclear fallout. We don't know (yet) if he's just a regular "Uncle Ben" or could he possibly be the "Spider-Man" of this world?
A crazy thought we had was what if this Uncle Ben does survive SPIDER-VERSE and ends up in the regular 616 universe? It would be a bold and controversial move to have Uncle Ben “back” but it’s not like we haven’t seen the occasional bits of controversy in Spider-Man titles in recent times.
There could be some interesting moments to explore. Would Peter get over his guilt? Would he feel he could give up being Spider-Man or would spending time with Uncle Ben give his heroic nature another jump start and keep him on the road of trying to protect the innocent?
Of course there would be the question of what would Aunt May’s reaction be? This wouldn’t seem like a likely avenue to pursue since she hasn’t been seen too often in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN or the previous SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. She’s married to J. Jonah Jameson Senior and has moved away. She also saw the alternate Ben Parker in FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and wasn’t too happy to see an “impostor.”
This lone survivor of Earth-3145 will likely have to make a sacrifice to save the day. Uncle Ben's remained one of the very few characters that hasn't fully returned from the dead. The alternate version from before doesn't really count. Sure there could be some crazy sort of way that the true 616 Ben Parker ended up in the 3145 world but that might be even too crazy for comic books.
This is what is fun and exciting about comics. Every so often we get a curve ball thrown to us. There's likely to be some that would frown upon the return of Uncle Ben in any way or form but it's not often we have a feeling of the unknown in what a writer might have planned next. It's not likely we'd see this, or any, Uncle Ben for too long. So we can enjoy it while it lasts. I'm ready for Uncle Ben to become the hero of the day rather than the victim.
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