WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from The Amazing Spider-Man #92, on sale now.
Ever since his debut, Ben Reilly has struggled to find his place in the world outside of Peter Parker. He tried being his own hero and now he’s tried to be Spider-Man. For his efforts, he has been used, abused, and now tossed aside.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #92 (by Kelly Thompson, Jed MacKay, Fran Galan, Sara Pichelli, Ze Carlos, Brian Reber, VC’s Joe Caramagna), while on the hunt to restore his memories, Ben came to the realization that even if he was missing a part of who he was, he could still decide to be a good person. It’s not because of his connection to Peter Parker either, but because of his love for Janine. That motivation may change how Ben perceives himself and lead to him living a life Peter never could.
Ben was hellbent on tearing through the Beyond Corporation to force Maxine Danger to restore the memories she stole from him. Without them, Ben doesn’t have the context to understand how to use his powers in an ethical way. He has abandoned his friends and used his full force on the guards standing in his way. He can’t separate right from wrong anymore. Then he saw Janine. He may not have Peter’s memories to know where the line is, but his memories of her were untouched and he remembered that Janine deserves good people in her life. So whether he can’t remember his original morals wasn’t relevant anymore. He has and always will strive to be someone worthy of her.
That conviction is something outside of what Peter’s life gave him. He is still motivated to take down Beyond, but thanks to Janine he’ll do it the right way. Peter has always been motivated by a sense of moral obligation and perhaps a bit of guilt in relation to how he uses his powers. For a time Ben did as well. But now he’s seen what he’s like without that context, and it made it possible to find his own motivation for being a hero: Striving to be his best self, not to live up to his genetic template, but so he can be worthy of the life he’s built for himself.
In short, Ben is fighting for his family and their future together. This newfound direction might even lead Ben to do what Peter never could: retire. Ben and Janine have actively admitted that they’ll probably end up on the run, but between the two of them, that’s feasible. Ben could actually leave behind the struggle of being a superhero and just focus on the life he wants to live instead of the one his memories make him feel he should be living.
It’s something Peter can never do. He will always be motivated by the memory of Uncle Ben to keep fighting for what’s right and to use the gifts that he has been given to make the world a better place. Ben used to feel the same way too, motivated by the memory of a man he’d never even met but considered family. Now he has a chance to truly start fresh and it seems as though he’s going to take it.
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