Just the one this time around. We tried two in the last game and it was a little bit controversial, so I opted to just avoid crossing that particular bridge.
Totally understandable, I can see where problems could arise!
I think the allure/idea of a second character is more fun than in actual practice in these games, at least as we've gotten older and time now comes as a premium.
C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y
_________________________________________________________ Benjamin 'Peter' Reilly _________________________________________________________ 25 | Single _________________________________________________________ Manhattan | American
N O T A B L E A B I L I T I E S N O T A B L E A B I L I T I E S
A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ SUPERHUMAN PHYSICALITY Enhanced twice over, once by his mutated genetics and again by the Reach's experiments at his creation, Ben is stronger, faster, more durable, more agile, with faster reflexes and more stamina than any non-metahuman individual could ever imagine, and rivalling or even surpassing many other powered beings as well. This additionally extends to his body's injury response, able to heal and regenerate far quicker than humanly possible, recovering from wounds in a matter of minutes and hours, rather than days and weeks.
◼ WALL-CRAWLING Thanks to the genetic changes brought on by the spider's toxin, Ben is able to cling to any surface - regardless of orientation - and crawl or climb along or up without risk of losing purchase or falling. Ceilings, walls, metal, plaster - it doesn't seem to matter how it's laid out or what it's made of; Ben can adhere and navigate as easily as putting one foot in front of the other.
◼ SPIDER-SENSE Ben possesses a psuedo-precognitive alert ability, dubbed 'Spider-Sense', that warns him of any incoming danger and allows his reflexes to enable him to dodge, evade, or counter any blow, projectile, or even more esoteric forms of danger or harm that may attempt to befoul him. Working in a full 360-degree span around him, the strength of the alert response is also proportional relative to the severity of the danger; the most extreme responses can react intensely enough to cause physical pain. While it does not trigger while unconscious, it remains while Ben is sleeping, or when stunned or otherwise paralyzed but still conscious. To a certain extent, Ben can also wilfully exert his spider-sense and tune into his surroundings, through walls, floors, ceilings, or around corners, and 'probe' for potential threats and individuals, although this is hazier and not as fine-detail as the reflexive alert response, and required significant mental concentration to achieve and maintain.
◼ WEBBING Part of the Reach's improvements to Ben's cloned biology, the experiment that lead to his creation also introduced natural, organic web-spinners to his body, able to secrete upon demand a natural and proportional reproduction of spider-silk. With adhesive qualities and tensile strength rivalling steel wire, this silk enables Ben to swing - his main method of transportation - as well as quickly zip-line to other points, and can additionally be used as an entrapment, weaving, or sculpting substance to suit many, many requirements. -
N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S
S K I L L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ GIFTED INTELLECT Peter had a natural talent and aptitude for the sciences, marked as one of the single most well-graded students in the history of his high school and flagged for an Oscorp internship and research role before his abduction; Ben has inherited this great mind, gifted with one of the keenest intellects on the planet, though slightly atrophied from the half-decade abduction, experimentation, and clone-growth process.
◼ MASTER ACROBAT Mostly provided by the combination of his physical enhancements, Ben is the premier acrobat and gymnast on the face of the Earth, able to twist, turn, balance, swing, and stunt beyond limits thought possible. -
T A L E N T (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ PHOTOGRAPHY With am inherited passion, a keen eye, and the ability to get places and angles others can't, Ben is inadvertently quite the dab hand at photography, capturing images that dazzle and amaze; something he's used to his advantage in a world growing ever-more-obsessed with the activities of particular notable individuals... -
T H E S T O R Y S O F A R... T H E S T O R Y S O F A R...
Peter Parker, 15, a young and exceedingly clever high-school student in Queens, is invited to an exclusive guided tour through the Oscorp research centre in Manhattan, attending a program created for the best and brightest, intended to afford New York's most intelligent youth a window into the foremost scientific hub in New York State, and a lifeline opportunity to join their ranks upon completion of their studies. Unbeknownst to either Oscorp or Peter himself, a spider - subject to genetic research and experimentation within the bowels of the site's laboratory, aided by early technological exchange with the Reach - escaped its enclosure. It found Peter, using its final gasps of life to deliver a single bite, and introduce a toxin to Peter's body that would prove to be the fateful pivot upon which his entire life would spin.
Struck down by a debilitating illness, Peter spent weeks wracked with agonizing pains, migraines, nausea, fading in and out of consciousness as his very genetic makeup was rewritten, pulled apart and knitted back together. When he finally recovered, he found himself in possession of strange, unexplained powers; stronger, faster, tougher; quicker reflexes, and and ability to cling to any surface regardless of orientation; most peculiar of all, an almost pre-cognitive warning of incoming danger or harm, allowing him to twist and react to evade or counter. Giddy from what these new powers meant for him, Peter was reckless; he bounded into the city, engaging in nothing more than simple play around the urban landscape of Manhattan, a new sandbox opening up before him. Visions of a reinvented life swam before him: the Amazing Spider-Man! Stronger than you, faster than you! Witness his incredible wall-crawling! Laud his inability to be hit! See how he swings from web of his own creation! Watch how robbers and bullies cower at his feet, and the ladies swoon beneath him! Spectacular, Sensational, Superior...!
And then Uncle Ben was murdered. And then Aunt May had a stroke. And then Peter Parker was abducted as the Reach War erupted.
Five long years took their toll on a teenager. Kept in a half-conscious state of suspended animation, Peter's DNA was harvested again and again for hideous experiments into neogenics, the Reach sure that this mutated boy's cells held the key to turning the tide of the war and conquering Earth. All manner of tests and trials were held; reproducing the original spider, creating biologic serums out of Peter's genetic makeup, direct transfusion, even cross-gene grafting. Frustrated by failure at every turn, the Reach rounded on a new avenue; direct genetic cloning. The logic held up: Peter, by some unknown quantity or quality, had accepted and melded with the original spider's toxin, an against-the-odds alchemy that improved him beyond the scope of Human, rather than destroy him at the cellular level like so many other subjects since. Reproduce that, and the Reach had an army that could seamlessly hide within Humanity's ranks, under their direct control, and ready to destroy their enemy from within. The science was agreed on; the experiment approved. The cloning began.
The plan never saw itself realized; five years into the crisis, the Superman appeared, and the Reach were driven from Earth entirely. In the carnage, Peter awoke from his suspension, five years older and his memories murky and muddled since the abduction. He broke containment easily, assisting and rescuing others as he escaped the research station amidst a distracted and routed Reach - including, to his distress, a solitary, perfectly identical copy, withered half-lame from incomplete growth, and equally confused. Together, they returned to Earth, and watched the sky clear of their tormentors, fleeing on their heels faced with the might of Earth's new defender.
And then the bomb went off.
Only in the wake of fresh calamity was the truth revealed; this wilted, languishing Peter was no half-finished clone, no incomplete experiment. This was the original Peter Parker, the abductee, drained and harvested and picked at for the Reach's heinous purposes; the Peter who had escaped, who had broken containment and rescued the others, was the singular successful, stable reproduction in their myriad cloning attempts. The original begged the clone to understand - he was stronger, faster, tougher, a Spider-Man Improved, a terrible reckoning created by the Reach but never utilized. He had to be better; he had to be greater. He had to take to heart the lessons the Reach had not, the lessons Peter had learned so dreadfully, the lessons the Superman demonstrated so nobly.
With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.
Peter was buried with his Uncle and Aunt. Ben Reilly attended from a distance, and then disappeared into New York City. He spent five years travelling, discovering the Earth that only existed in memories that weren't even truly his; five years discovering himself, and what he stood for. Five years watching the consequences of the meta-bomb, of the Reach's incursion against the planet. Five years watching men like Maxwell Lord wash over society and stain everything they touched.
After five years, Ben returned to New York City, ready to face whatever the teeming masses had to offer. In his first week, he stopped a mugging, then a burglary; and it had been so easy. So natural. A piece of biology embedded even further than his abilities; even five years post-mortem, Ben was reminded where he came from. And Peter had been proven right: there had to be a Spider-Man. Ben couldn't ignore it. Whether they wanted it or not, the people needed a protector.
But it would have to be on his terms.
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
I love Spider-Man but honestly, Ben Reilly and the Scarlet Spider have always been cooler. The identity struggle, the suit, even the alias are all just a bit more interesting and have a bit more edge on the age-old tale of Peter Parker. My main issue with ever writing a Spider-Man story is also what do you write that hasn't been written already, with what's one half of the two most successful comic book properties on the planet? I don't have anything for Peter and re-doing a classic origin would put me to sleep; but Ben? Ben's cool. Ben's trying to fill a hole Peter never had the chance to drill in the first place. Ben's trying to figure out who he is, if he's not Peter. With Peter dead, maybe he is Peter, just by default. But does he want to be Peter? Does he want to be Spider-Man? I don't know, but we can sure find out.
This has been revised slightly - a couple paragraphs added to the end of the bio - to account for the missing five years from Superman's emergence and the Reach's retreat until the start of the IC. Apologies. Ready for re-review.
I was hoovering the old house today and there was a great big house spider in one of the rooms and it just kept circling the skirting boards as I hoovered and I kept my eye on it the whole time (because I am deathly scared of spiders) and I thought ‘wow, this really isn’t going to come up in my Scarlet Spider posts at all, what a waste of an anecdote’.
