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This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot This character is non-canon to Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
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- Looking for another article with the same name? Check out the Ben Parker disambiguation page.
Ben Parker is the deceased uncle of Peter Parker that taught him about responsibility. He sppeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man television series.
History
Early life
Not long after Peter Parker got his spider powers Ben Parker took him to the library across from a wrestling arena unaware that Peter really intended to go to the arena to wrestle as Spider-Man. Before Peter exited out of the car he asked his Uncle Ben if it was alright to use his talents to make money. Ben advised Peter that it would depend on what talents he had and that just because he had talents and that "Just because he can do something it doesn't mean he should." That was when Ben taught Peter that with great power there must also come great responsibility.
At the wrestling arena Peter failed to stop a burglar that later went to the Parker house and killed Ben. After learning this Peter went after the man that killed Ben and began to use his powers to help others as Spider-Man.
Helping Peter
Years later as Peter learned that the alien symbiote was making him more aggressive he went to a church and attempted to use the bell in the tower to remove it from his body. However, the symbiote fought back and encased Peter in a cocoon made from the symbiote. Inside his mind Peter relived his memories. In these memories he interacted with Ben Parker. As Ben woke Peter up Peter was shocked and happy to see him (unaware that these were just memories). Peter attempted to spend time with Ben. However, Ben realized that Peter was late for school and sent him on his way.
Peter then found himself at the Empire State University field trip and was bit by the spider that gave him his powers. Now known as Spider-Man, Peter entered a wrestling match and let a thief go after the manager refused to pay him. Upon returning home Peter remembered back to the day when he discovered Ben had been killed.
Spider-Man then tracked the burglar to a warehouse and held him out of the fourth story window of the warehouse. As light shined on the burglar's face Spider-Man saw that it was the same thief who he let escape earlier at the wrestling arena. The symbiote then appeared to Peter within his memory and told him that the world took Uncle Ben from him and that it wasn't his fault he was killed. The symbiote then told Peter that if he permanently bonded with him they could have anything they wanted. As Peter reached out to the symbiote Peter's conscience then manifested in the form of Ben Parker and stopped them from bonding. The symbiote then told Ben that they didn't need him anymore. However, Ben replied that since Peter still had his memory both Peter and the symbiote were stuck with him.
Ben then took Peter to his memory of when he droped Peter off at the library but really went to the wrestling match. As Ben told Peter that with great power comes great responsibility the symbiote appeared and said that the lesson he learned from Ben did him no good because he still let the burglar escape and then killed Ben. The symbiote then told Peter that the burglar still took Ben away from "us." At that moment Ben corrected the symbiote by saying that the burglar took him away from Peter not the both of them.
Ben then took Peter and the symbiote back to the memory of when Spider-Man confronted the burglar and held him out of a window. As the symbiote and Ben watched Spider-Man drop the burglar out the window the symbiote was confindent that the burglar would die and that this would prove nothing. However, Ben said that the symbiote should watch more closley. As Spider-Man dropped the burglar he caught him with a web line and left him for the police. Ben then reminded Peter that capturing the burglar was only the beginning and showed him other memories of times he saved others as Spider-Man.
In a last ditch effort the symbiote tried to convince Peter that despite all his efforts to be a hero he has no real friends except for him. As the symbiote began to surround Peter, Ben pulled him away and reminded him of all the great people in his life. With Ben's help Peter was able to fight back and separate from the symbiote.
In the comics
During the Great Depression, Ben Parker worked at Coney Island as a carnival barker. Ben loved May Reilly. However, May loved a man named Johnny Jerome who clearly had more money then Ben. Ben warned May that Jerome was actually a criminal. However, May dismissed what Ben said about him as a jealous slander.
One day, however, Jerome unexpectedly confronted May and proposed to her on the spot, saying that he wanted them to leave together right away. May heard the police out on the street and realized that something was wrong. Then, an angry Ben came in and told her that Jerome and some accomplices had just robbed a jewelry store and had shot a man who tried to call for help. May realized that Jerome was indeed a criminal and told Jerome she could never marry such a man. Jerome left and was almost immediately captured by the police outside. Ben comforted the weeping May in his arms. Jerome was convicted for murder and burglary.
Ben and May later got married and raised their nephew, Peter, after his parents died in a plane crash. Several years later Ben was murdered by a burglar.
Appearances
The Spectacular Spider-Man
- Survival of the Fittest (As a photograph)
- Natural Selection (As a photograph)
- Group Therapy (As a photograph)
- Intervention
- Nature vs. Nurture (As an illusion)
- Blueprints (As a photograph)
- Reinforcement (As a photograph)
Trivia
- In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ben Parker was voiced by Ed Asner who also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.