10 Spider-Man Costumes More Effective Than The Original

Arguably one of the only good things to come out of the “Clone Saga” the Scarlet Spider costume is usually associated with Peter's clone, Ben Reilly, although Peter wore it for a while as well.

Ben Reilly was introduced as Peter’s clone in a single issue from the ‘70s, having survived after being seemingly killed at the story's conclusion. Ben shared Peter’s personality and all of his memories up until their first meeting, taking the moniker Ben Reilly after his Aunt May’s maiden name and Uncle Ben.

Ben started operating as a superhero in a makeshift costume consisting of a red bodysuit and a tattered blue hoodie featuring the spider symbol. He also had a mullet because this was the ‘90s and we didn’t know any better. What makes his suit better than the original, aside from being a bit warmer, are the web-shooters. Ben modified the original design to add three new features: impact webbing which shoots a small blob of fluid that expands and encases the target on impact, stinger darts thats contain a non-lethal paralytic agent, and tracer discs that adhere to the target and tracks their movement.

Ben was meant to replace Peter permanently but fans weren't too receptive to the idea that the Spider-Man they had grown up reading about was a fake. Marvel scrambled to try to correct their mistake, ironically muddling Spidey’s canon even further. Fanboy’s opinion of Ben Reilly has softened over the years, however. He was reintroduced as Scarlet Spider recently in his own book with a different costume, but due to fan outcry, the blue hoodie is back.