The 'Spider-Man Beyond' era comes to a close in March 30's Amazing Spider-Man #93, and with it, the current volume of the title. 'Spider-Man Beyond' has been released weekly, focusing on Ben Reilly as the main Spider-Man working in the employ of the Beyond Corporation while Peter Parker suffered severe radiation poisoning.
Now, Ben Reilly's latest Spidey saga wraps up with some huge developments for both Peter Parker and his clone, setting the stage for Ben and Peter to cross paths again in the upcoming relaunched Amazing Spider-Man title, but his time not as 'brothers' or fellow Spider-Men, but as "deeply personal" archenemies, as Ben has transformed into the new Marvel supervillain Chasm.
Here's how it all went down in Amazing Spider-Man #93...
In recent issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Ben Reilly has been having psychological issues stemming from the degradation of his implanted memories of Peter Parker's life. With amnesia setting in, and Ben losing all connection to his humanity as a clone, he begins to resent Peter Parker for being his progenitor and the ultimate owner of the Spider-Man identity.
Ben's Beyond Corporation handler Maxine Danger offers him a solution, a special helmet that she claims, if worn by Peter Parker, will restore Ben Reilly's memories and make him whole again.
Peter arrives at Beyond in response to Ben rampaging through their headquarters as he tries to find out why he's suffering amnesia, clearly fraying and becoming more volatile. Ben confronts Peter about the loss of his memories, asking Peter to wear the helmet given to him by Maxine.
Skeptical that it could do what she claims, or that it would even help Ben, Peter refuses, saying he can get Ben help another way. But Ben becomes violent, attempting to subdue Peter and force the helmet on him, resulting in a full-on brawl between the pair.
As Peter and Ben fight, Maxine receives approval from the board of the Beyond Corporation to "liquidate" the Spider-Man program from their headquarters by literally destroying and somehow overwriting the physical matter of an entire portion of the building using "quantum-shifting polymers in a psycho-reactive medium."
Back in the lower levels of the headquarters, Ben's intensity continues to escalate, as he tells Peter "I hate you!" and blames him for his degenerative condition as a clone. But as the quantum polymers begin flooding and remaking the levels of the building in which Peter and Ben are fighting, Peter gains an advantage, sending Ben falling toward the floor which is quickly being ravaged by the chemicals.
Peter reaches out for Ben's hand, but Ben lays back into the quantum goo and disappears into the growing wreckage of the Beyond headquarters' basement levels - seemingly resigning himself to die in the chemicals.
In the aftermath of the fight, Peter's own life takes a turn as Mary Jane asks him to move in with her again full time, bringing their relationship back to the forefront once again. And as for Ben, his own paramour, Janine Godbe, finds his body in the rubble of the Beyond headquarters - though as it turns out, he's not actually dead.
Instead, he's been mutated by the "quantum-shifting polymers in a psycho-reactive medium," with strange green and black energy forming around his body. Janine takes him to her apartment, where he has a breakdown in her bathroom, declaring "Ben is dead," and sneaking out the window.
Out on his own, Ben's newly twisted Spider-Man costume is revealed, now in green, blue, and black with the same energy all over him, with Ben seemingly taking the new codename 'Chasm.'
The new codename, along with the ever-shifting nature of the quantum goo that altered him, seems to line up with Marvel leaning into Ben Reilly as something of an empty vessel, a villain to be shaped by his lack of human connection and memories the same way that Peter Parker became the hero he is thanks to the trials and lessons of his experiences and his relationships.
This idea is backed up when Ben looks at his own face in Janine's bathroom mirror and sees only the same strange void that took the place of people like Aunt May and Uncle Ben in his memories while suffering from amnesia. In this way, it looks a lot like Chasm is being set up as a new anti-Spider-Man of sorts.
Marvel has since confirmed that Ben will resurface as Chasm in the new volume of Spidey’s core title, which relaunches with a new Amazing Spider-Man #1 launching in April, followed by Amazing Spider-Man #900 later this summer.
Amazing Spider-Man returns with its new #1 on April 6.
Amazing Spider-Man #900 is just one of the releases planned to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Spider-Man's first appearance back in 1962. Stay on top of everything coming with our listing of all the new Spider-Man comics scheduled for release in 2022 and beyond.
