Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Poster Reveals the Spider-Man '90s Fans Have Been Waiting For
Sony has revealed a new poster for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse featuring the many Spider-Mans from throughout the Spider-Verse that appeared in the recently released trailer for the film, including Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Woman, Ghost-Spider, and others. It also introduces one of the Spider-Man characters that fans were most disappointed didn't appear in the trailer: Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider. Ben has a complicated history in the Marvel comics, which is almost ironic since he's one of the few Spider-Man "variants" that doesn't come from an alternate universe. Instead, he's a clone who gained a cult fan following when he became the Scarlet Spider, a second Spider-Man patrolling the streets of New York, eventually replacing Peter Parker as the "real" Spider-Man.
A villain called the Jackal created Ben as Spider-Man's Spider-Clone, first appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #149 in 1975. Spider-Man believed Spider-Clone had died at the end of that story, and readers assumed the same for 20 years.
Then the clone, going by Ben Reilly, reappeared, having lived a life in secrecy for years. When Aunt May became ill, he returned to New York City, befriended Peter Parker, and became the Scarlet Spider, working with Spider-Man to keep New York City safe.
That kicked off the notorious Spider-Man story called "The Clone Saga," the crux of which was that Ben was the original Peter Parker and the Peter who had been Spider-Man for the past 20 years was the actual clone. Accepting this, the two changed places. Peter retired, and Ben became Spider-Man. However, the end of "The Clone Saga" revealed that this was false and that Ben was the clone after all.
More recently, Ben returned in the 2016 "The Clone Saga" sequel The Clone Conspiracy, taking on the mantle of his creator, The Jackal. He found his way back and became the Scarlet Spider again, and even once again donned the mantle of Spider-Man during the Spider-Man: Beyond saga last year, only to again fall into villainy. He is now known as Chasm and is teaming up with X-Men villain The Goblin Queen in a crossover called Dark Web.
There are some other new reveals as well. The poster provides our first look at Spider-Punk, and what may be the first look at Julia Carpenter, another Spider-Woman.
In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, "After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most." Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens in theaters on June 3rd.