Peter Parker and Ben Reilly come face to face as Dark Web heats up in Amazing Spider-Man #16

Amazing Spider-Man #16 art
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Amazing Spider-Man #16 heats up the current Spider-Man/X-Men: Dark Web crossover with the first full-on clash between Peter Parker and his clone Ben Reilly, who once took Peter's place as Spidey but is now a villain known as Chasm.

So far Dark Web has involved an evil Christmas tree covered in demon poop, new superpowers for Mary Jane Watson, and the climactic tale of Norman Osborn trying not to go "Goblin Mode" as the forces of Limbo take over New York City.

Now Amazing Spider-Man #16 by writer Zeb Wells, artists Ed McGuiness, Cliff Rathburn, and Marcio Menyz, and letterer Joe Caramagna gets closer to the big turning point of the story with the first battle between Spider-Man and the newly christened Chasm. 

So why the malice between usual allies Peter Parker and Ben Reilly?

As Ben himself states in a new set of interior pages that show off the start of the fight between Chasm and Spider-Man, he blames Peter Parker for the loss of his memories and the change in his personality which took place in the aftermath of the story Spider-Man Beyond.

Here's a gallery of the pages:

Now, in the current Dark Web event, Chasm has teamed up with his fellow clone Madelyne Pryor AKA the Goblin Queen, leader of the Hellish dimension Limbo, to steal the souls of Peter Parker and Jean Grey, from whom Madelyne Pryor is cloned, to make themselves the "true" versions of their progenitors.

There's a lot more to the story, and you can get caught up with our rundown of everything you need to know about Spider-Man/X-Men: Dark Web.

Amazing Spider-Man #16 goes on sale January 4.

Stay up to date on all the new Spider-Man comics Marvel has planned.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)