10 Times Spider-Man Was A Real Jerk

2. The Ben Reilly Freakout - Spectacular Spider-Man #226

Spider-Man Carol Danvers
Marvel Comics

In Peter's defense, learning what he does in Spectacular Spider-Man #226 would rattle anyone, but that doesn't really excuse how he chooses to express that.

In what was the latest of a laundry list of twists to the infamous Clone Saga to try and bring the whole mess to something resembling an end, Peter and Ben learn the shocking and not at all thought up at the last minute twist that Ben had been the real Peter Parker this whole time, and Peter was the clone.

This sends Peter into a rage, wherein he quits being Spider-Man, declares his marriage to Mary Jane is false, and then smacks her across the face for good measure.

Apparently Marvel's plan to get people on board with Ben being the new Spider-Man and the original Peter Parker all along was to make the Peter we'd been following for decades be a colossally loathsome jerk. Yeah, as you can imagine, it didn't work, and eventually Peter returned. But this moment remains in infamy.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?