Benjamin Parker
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- "Uncle Ben" redirects here. This article is about the Spider-Man comic book character. For the brand of rice and other foods, see: Uncle Ben's.
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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 that 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.
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[edit] Biography
Benjamin Parker had known his future wife May since their high school days, but she in turn was naively interested in a boy who was involved in criminal activities. When he came to her one night and proposed to her on the spot, Ben was there to expose him as a murderer, and to comfort the heart-broken May when the boy was arrested. Their relationship evolved into love, and they enjoyed a happily married life. When Richard and Mary Parker were killed, Ben (who was Richard's older brother) and May took in their orphaned son Peter and raised him.
Ben was eventually killed by a burglar (Mr. Carradine[1]), who had come to the Parker residence looking for a hidden stash of money (unaware that it had already been devoured by silverfish). Peter subsequently captured the killer, 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. Ben Parker's death was truly avenged when Carradine returned for the money once more, threatening Aunt May, and died from a heart attack upon beholding his old nemesis Spider-Man once again.
[edit] "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.
[edit] Notability
Uncle Ben was notable as one of the few comic book deaths that stuck. He was 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 revivals of both Bucky and Jason in 2005 led to the amendment, "No one in comics stays dead except Uncle Ben". 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 (in which he forces Peter to unmask in front of J. Jonah Jameson), 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 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 a random accident, leaving him to raise Peter. This alternate Ben came to the 616 reality as part of a plot devised by the Hobgoblin of 2211 to defeat the Spider-Men of different eras. Here he met the 616 version of May Parker, still alive. Confronting her, he ended up in a fight with Jarvis, with whom she at the time has a relationship with. Lacking direction, Ben wandered into an alleyway where he encountered a shadowy figure who told him that any action he takes would simply create another universe where he took the opposite action. After this Hobgoblin was erased from history by a Retcon Bomb of her own invention, the Spider-Man of 2211 met with what he presumed to be the same Ben Parker to take him back to his own timeline. In a surprise twist, deciding he rather wanted to "stick around for a while", this Ben Parker shot this future Spider-Man. At the same time, another Ben Parker was shown dead in the alley, meaning one Ben Parker had killed the other and taken his place.
[edit] Appearances in Other Media
In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, he was voiced by the late Brian Keith. He appeared in the series as a spirit talking to Spider-Man whenever he was frustrated in a mission or missions. The spirit of Uncle Ben first appeared in Mysterio's debut episode. It was revealed, like in the comics, in the second episode of the third season that Ben was killed by a crook Peter let go from a wrestling rink, causing him to turn into Spider-Man. In the series finale of the show, when Spider-Man had to stop the evil Spider-Carnage from destroying all reality, they were in a reality where Uncle Ben didn't die and Spider-Man used him to make Spider-Carnage reformed. Spider-Carnage turned good and prevented the destruction of reality. Unffortunately, he couldn't get rid of the symbiote. So he created a portal that would have anything that goes in there disintegrate and he jumped in, committing suicide. Seconds after Spider-Carnage's death, despite they lived in different realities, Spider-Man and Ben hugged, with Ben saying that he was proud of his different-reality nephew and Spider-Man said that he'll always have him in his heart.
In the successful film adaptation released in 2002, Ben Parker was played by Cliff Robertson and his character was killed off in the middle of the movie (as he is supposed to, since his death brings upon the origin of Spider-Man), 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. In vague hints that are pictures of Spider-Man 3, Sandman appears before Ben died.
[edit] Franklin Richards's Uncle Ben
Franklin Richards of the Fantastic Four often refers to Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, as "Uncle Ben". Franklin Richards and Peter Parker also have the same middle name, Benjamin, as the Thing and Ben Parker are their namesakes. Spider-Man is aware of this, and told Franklin, "Uncle Bens are always right."
[edit] The son of Spider-Man
In Amazing Spider-Man #500 , Spider-Man falls through time, encountering all of his enemies from the past, and sees himself in the future. The future Peter Parker tells him that he should tell Mary Jane and their son that he loves them every day. "Our son is called Ben", he says, "but it would pretty much have to be, wouldn't it?"
[edit] Spider-Girl's Uncle Ben
Like her father, Spider-Girl also has an Uncle Ben. However, unlike her dad, May never knew her uncle: Ben Reilly, Spider-Man's clone. If Spider-Girl has any children in the future, they too would have an Uncle Ben - May's baby brother.
[edit] References
- ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2005
