Following yesterday's teasers, Marvel Comics has announced that Kelly Thompson, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, Patrick Gleason, and Zeb Wells are teaming up to "shake up the Spider-Man mythos in ways no one will see coming." Kicking off in Amazing Spider-Man #75, this new direction will see Ben Reilly return to take back the mantle of Spider-Man.
Backed by the Beyond Corporation, the clone of Peter Parker is determined to be the best version of Spider-Man there ever was. However, Marvel points out that "this could have fatal consequences for Peter Parker." Something tells us that his battle with Kindred could be deadlier than we imagined, and we can't help but wonder if he'll be dragged to hell for reneging on that deal with Mephisto.
"The whole point of working on Spider-Man is trying to put new unliftable weights on top of him—physical, metaphysical, emotional, psychological—and seeing if he can lift them. But what if that weight truly is too heavy? What if someone with the exact same skills and formative years could do better?" teases Amazing Spider-Man Editor Nick Lowe.
"Ben Reilly is back and, with Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s lessons in the back of HIS mind as well, he’s here to step in where Peter Parker failed. Can he accomplish things the original Spider-Man never could? These questions are what sold me on this story."
"When Zeb Wells started building this story it became apparent that it needed a narrative velocity and a team of the best of the best to make it happen. So we gathered some of the greatest writers and artists in comics to join us and the story got even better and bigger and more surprising."
Our first glimpse at these plans for Amazing Spider-Man will be revealed in the pages of Free Comic Book Day 2021: Spider-Man/Venom on August 14, and Marvel Comics has promised that they'll be announcing the title's new team of artists soon (one of them has to be John Romita Jr., surely?).
Fans of Ben's adventures are going to be really pleased with this news, but the majority will surely be wondering why Peter isn't around - perhaps his story will play out elsewhere in the Marvel Universe?