Cut to the last paragraph if you want to skip the details. Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider died in Spiderman #75 which was published in December 1996. For a view of this issue and info. pertaining to related issues, go here: http://www.samruby.com/SpidB/spid075.htm Went a little clone crazy at Marvel in the late 90s! Peter Parker once dated a girl named Gwen Stacey while he was in college. She was the first girl that he really fell for. There relationship was tough. Gwen's father was a police captain who was killed while saving a child during one of Spider-Man's battles with Dr. Octopus. Gwen blamed Spider-Man for his death. Peter could not reveal his alter ego to her. Months later Gwen was killed by Norman Osborn aka The Green Goblin. Peter did not know it at the time, but his professor, Miles Warren, was secretly in love with Gwen. Warren blamed Peter and Spider-Man for Gwen's death. He obtained genetic material from Gwen and made a clone of her. He also made a clone of Peter. The first clone was Kaine, but he was rejected by Warren. The second clone was Ben Reilly. Warren engineered a fight between Parker and his clone. Peter won and thought his clone was dead. He threw the body of his clone into a smokestack. However, the clone did not die. The clone survived the battle and set out on the road for 5 years. He did not want to interfere with Peter's life. He did not consider himself a real human, and wished he had what Peter had. The clone adopted the name Ben Reilly ( Ben after his Uncle Ben, and Reilly after Aunt May ). He was befriended by a scientist named Seward Trainer, whom he met in Rutland, Vermont. Trainer saw something special in Ben and gave him a job as his assistant. He learned how special Ben was when he ripped open a sealed door with his bare hands to get a vital computer disk. It was at this time Ben told Seward his whole story. Ben continued to travel the country and kept in contact with Seward. He also met Kaine during his 5 year exile. When Ben had learned that May had a stroke and was in a coma, he returned to New York City. Ben returned to help Peter who was going through his "I Am the Spider" phase. He eventually created a new costume and was dubbed the Scarlet Spider by Ken Ellis of the Daily Bugle. He proved to be just as great a hero as Peter. Then Peter and Ben got shocking news by Seward Trainer. They discovered that Peter was the clone. Peter was so distraught that he joined up with Miles Warren. However, Ben helped Peter to realize that he was just as much of a man as Ben was. Peter moved to Oregon with Mary Jane and Ben stayed in New York. ***Ben was eventually framed by the second Dr. Octopus ( who just happened to be Seward Trainer's daughter, Carolyn). Ben was eventually killed by Norman Osborn. Osborn/Green Goblin resurfaced and revealed he was the behind the Jackal all this time. Whew. Osborn/Green Goblin tries to impale Peter/Spiderman, but Ben heroically dives in the gliders path and gets impaled, flew several feet in the air, and then dropped onto a car from the top of the skyscraper above. Parker runs to Bens body, and as he dies, he turns to dust, which reveals that Ben was the clone all along, and that Peter is the legit Spidey.***