Today's Article - Benjamin Parker

This article is for quizzes on Tuesday September 27th...

Benjamin "Ben" Parker, usually called Uncle Ben, is a supporting character in the Marvel Universe's Spider-Man stories. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. Modeled after American founding father Benjamin Franklin, this character portrays an influential role in the Spider-Man mythos.

The murder of Uncle Ben is notable as one of the few comic book deaths (along with the death of Gwen Stacy) that has never been reversed in terms of official continuity. He was a member of the "Big Three", referring also to Jason Todd (an associate of Batman) and Bucky (an associate of Captain America) whose notable deaths, along with Ben's, gave rise to the phrase: "No one in comics stays dead except for Bucky, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben". Later, the revivals of both Bucky and Jason in 2005 led to the amendment, "No one in comics stays dead except Uncle Ben". The violent killing of Uncle Ben, done by a common street criminal, also shares multiple similarities to the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne, the parents of Batman, which sometimes is included in the saying.

There have been examples of Uncle Ben remaining alive in alternative timelines, including stories featured in Marvel's What If (one of which he forces Peter to unmask in front of J. Jonah Jameson), and a storyline of the 1994 Spider-Man animated series featured a universe where Uncle Ben had never died, and Peter Parker became a successful industrialist, having never really bothered to use his powers responsibly as everything always seemed to work out for him. This fact is used to defeat the rampaging Spider-Carnage by exposing him to the one person he will trust and listen to: the Uncle Ben of that reality.

A story-line in the official series Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man seemingly suggested that Ben may be alive. This Ben, however, was actually from a parallel universe where Aunt May died in a random accident, leaving him to raise Peter. This alternate Ben came to the planet Earth of regular Marvel comics (the 616 reality) as part of an evil plan devised by the Hobgoblin of 2211 to defeat the Spider-Men of different eras.