[Criticism Corner] Top 10 Uncle Ben Deaths (Patreon)

I'm not going to lie.  I had WAY more fun writing this than I was expecting.

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You saw the title and thumbnail so I guess we’re here to talk about Uncle Ben’s death.  Don’t worry, I hate me too.

That being said, it was surprisingly hard to come up with ten good Uncle Ben deaths because in most continuities, we don’t actually get to see him die.  Usually, Peter will just come home to the bad news or the material glossed over it as a whole.

It’s also super difficult since most of the portrayals kind of just suck and that INCLUDES the original comic.  Oh yeah, you’d be surprised to know that in the original Amazing Fantasy #14 in 1962, we don’t see Uncle Ben getting killed or even the body.  Not to mention that it was later retconned that the reason Ben was shot was because the thief broke into the Parker’s house in hopes of, I kid you not, finding buried treasure beneath it.  That’s just dumb.  It's dumb and it's canon. (Amazing Spider-Man #200 - 1980)

So let’s take a look at my favorite portrayals of this iconic scene.  There’s no particular order, but you can make your own down there in the comments.

Also, I don't have a great segue into this, but I want to quickly thank today's sponsor, NordVPN.  I don't know if Uncle Ben was very tech savvy, but I know he would want us to use the great power of the internet responsibly.

Anyway, back to the video.

Ultimate Universe

In the Earth-1610 Ultimate comics, Uncle Ben is fleshed out a whole lot more than his mainstream counterpart.  I like this hippy take on the character.  Ultimate Uncle Ben was super nice and really seemed like he was a good dad.  Although he and Peter had just had a fight after Ben found his nephew at a party, when an intruder entered his home, he handled it super well.

The burglar demanded their money, but Ben calmly replied that they were poor and didn’t have any.  Even though the tension escalated, Ben just laughed and told the robber that he probably had more money than they did.  Yet, that set the dude off and that’s why he shot Ben.

Although it ended up being the thing that got him killed, I think this version of Ben trying to calmly deescalate the situation with humor is a nice touch.

Raimi Trilogy

This is arguably the most famous Uncle Ben death of them all, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.  This has everything we needed.  Previous time to build up the relationship, Peter letting the robber get away, Ben dying in Peter’s arms, and of course, crying Tobey face.

Now the retcon in Spider-Man 3 of Sandman accidentially killing Ben is pretty dumb in my opinion, but similarly to Ultimate Uncle Ben calmly descelating the situation, I like knowing that this Ben tried to do the same thing.  Either way, it’s a lot better than whatever this was supposed to be in the Amazing Spider-Man reboot.

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Spider-Man Noir

In what has the be the most gruesome Uncle Ben death of them all, lets hop to Earth-90214, the world of Spider-Man Noir.

This universe’s Uncle Ben was a pilot in World War I, but despite receiving medals, he didn’t see it as a just conflict.  Ben hid his uniform away and became a social activist with his wife, May, believing that “If those in power can’t be trusted, it’s the responsibility of the people to remove them.” (Spider-Man Noir #2 - 2009)  This got the attention of a crime lord who calls himself “The Goblin” who was most likely paid by the mayor of New York to off Parker.  Ben’s nephew, Peter, found his uncle’s body mutilated and lifeless.  There were rope marks around his neck and it was clear that Ben was beaten and torn up by wild dogs before his death.

Only it turns out though that the bites were actually the work of The Vulture, one of The Goblin’s henchmen who had razor sharp teeth and a taste for human flesh. (Spider-Man Noir #1 - 2009)  Obviously, this was a grisly demise which makes sense considering that this universe’s version of Spider-Man is a lot more brutal.  However, he does have a bit of a sentimental side.  In fact, his costume is actually a modified version of his uncle’s pilot uniform. (Spider-Man Noir #3 - 2009)  It’s a really cool touch.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Video Game)

Next up, let's talk about the Spider-Man game on PS4.  What?  You don't remember an Uncle Ben death in it?  Oh, we're not talking about this Spider-Man for PS4.  No no, we’re talking about the Amazing Spider-Man 2! ... For PS4.

This is a terrible game based on a widely hated movie, but I decided to include it for the interesting detail in that you actually get to play through and experience Uncle Ben’s death.

Literally after you select your difficulty setting, the game opens up with Peter not stopping the robber.  You get to walk down this gross New York street and listen to other people's weird conversations.

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And then bam, gunshot.  You as the player rush over to see Uncle Ben die and it feels weird that you’re somewhat in control of the situation.

As a test, I decided to see if I could just stand still and miraculously prevent his death.  I waited around for five minutes and no gun shot.  I moved further down and waited another five minutes.  No gunshot.  Walked a little bit more… *Gun shot*

This game forces YOU to kill him.  That’s messed up.

Spider-Man India

This death comes from the Spider-Man India series on Earth-50101.  In this continuity, there are characters that I know I’m going to mispronounce.  I’m so sorry.  Pavitr (Pah-vi-trah) Prabhakar (Pruh-bah-kur)  Pavitr…  Pavitr… Pavitr Prabhakar.  Screw it, I’m letting Google Translate handle that one for me.

Anyway, Pavitr’s Uncle Bhim (Beam) and Aunt Maya moved out of their village so that Pavitr could attend a highly prestigious school in Mumbai, despite their economic standing. (Spider-Man: India #1 - 2004)  While we don’t get much time with Uncle Bhim before his passing, I thought he seemed pretty alright.  Later in the first issue, Pavitr was granted powers and a costume from a being called the Master Weaver which he obviously thought was pretty cool.  As this new Spider-Man, Prabhakar was excited to get home and test his newfound abilities, but as he swung across the city, he overlooked a mugging going on below.  After all, that was a job for the police.

Well Uncle Bhim happened to be in the area and stepped in, but was stabbed in the process.  Pavitr only turned around when he recognized his uncle’s voice crying out in pain.  After only taking a moment to find out which way the criminals ran off, Spider-Man lept into action for some rage filled revenge.  Spider-Man stopped after reflecting on his uncle’s wisdom about power and responsibility, deciding in that moment to become a hero.

While this almost directly parallels the arc of the mainstream universe, I really like how Bhim actually stepped in to fight the muggers.  Definitely seems a lot more heroic than just being a victim.

Takuya’s dad.

As you might remember from one of my previous videos, there was a Japanese Spider-Man show in the 70s called Supaidaman.  Since the main character, Takuya Yamashiro, isn’t a Peter Parker or even an obvious stand in for him like Pavitr, this isn’t technically an Uncle Ben death, but it functionally is!  ...Okay look, I just really wanted to talk about Supaidaman and can you blame me?!  This show is nuts and I love it.

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Takuya’s dad is a scientist that was investigating an object that landed on Earth.  While exploring, he was attacked by Machine Bem creature called Boukunryu (Bow-coon-ryu)  that was also sent by the villainous Professor Monster to also investigate.  When he found out that his dad was in trouble, Takuya quickly hurried over and found his father on his last legs.  After a bit of mild exposition, the old man passes and we get this show’s equivalent to the crying Tobey face.

God, this show is so cheesy and overacted that it’s amazing.  I hope y’all understand why I needed to bend the rules a bit and include it.

Mangaverse

Keeping with the Japanese theme, let’s look at Earth-2301, the Marvel Mangaverse.  Yeah, remember when manga started to get popular in the early 2000s and Marvel desperately tried to cash in on it?  Because I do!

This Peter Parker is a member of the Spider-Clan, a nearly extinct order of heroic ninjas.  Among the remaining few is Peter’s uncle Benjamin who also acts as Peter’s sensei in the ways of martial arts.

Benjamin was killed by his stepson, Venom, who he had trained since birth alongside Peter.  The bad news for Benjamin is that Venom had defected from the Spider-Clan and later became a sellsword.  Venom was hired by the Kingpin to kill Peter and Benjamin, but he only able to get the old man. (Marvel Mangaverse: Spider-Man #1 - 2002) Now, we only get to see Benjamin’s death in a dream which is fitting because he frequently comes to Peter in his sleep to impart wisdom and continue his nephew’s training.  

...Which I guess doesn't make him super dead, but like only mostly dead.

The Mangaverse, especially the Spider-Man portion of it, is massively convoluted and I want to make a dedicated video in the future diving into it, but I actually really liked this death because it feels extremely reminiscent of cheezy old school martial arts movies which I’m hoping is what they were going for.  They were going for cheezy and non-serious… right?

Infinity Wars

During the Infinity Wars event, Gamora fused the universe’s population together which led to all of Marvel’s heroes turning into amalgamations.  Spider-Man was fused with Moon Knight to become Arachknight.  Interestingly though, Uncle Ben and Aunt May seemed to have not been fused with anyone at all.  I guess it was mostly reserved for the big names like you know… Moon Knight.

I mean sure, I love him and I'm sure people will pretend like they have always been a fan of him once the show drops on Disney+, but yeah, I'm kind of surprised that the Infinity Wars mash-up still decided to keep Peter, May, and Ben as the Parkers and not the Specters.

Okay, griping aside, after taking their nephew to the World Science Festival, the family decided to cut through Central Park as a shortcut home.  Suddenly, Peter was attacked by a beast called Goblin-by-Night, an amalgamation of Green Goblin and Werewolf-by-Night.  Ben lunged at the creature, but was killed in an instant.  When May tried to put herself between the Goblin and Peter, she was similarly stuck down.  The only reason why Peter lived was because he was bitten by a magic spider that turned him into its avatar and even then, he barely managed to get away.

At this point, you know that I don’t like Uncle Bens just being a victim so standing up to defend his family gets THIS Ben a gold star in my book!

Earth-3145

This version of Ben Parker hails from Earth-3145 and here, HE was the one that was bitten by the radioactive spider and not Peter.  After discovering his newfound powers, Peter built his uncle a costume and web-shooters, allowing Ben to become the crime fighting hero, Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3 #13 - 2015)

Unfortunately, one of Ben’s enemies, the Emerald Elf, discovered his identity and bombed their house, with May and Peter perishing inside of it.  From that moment on, Ben retired from being Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3 #13 - 2015), that is until he was encouraged to get back into the game during the Spider-Verse event. (Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3 #13 - 2015)

Afterwards, Ben joined up with a team called the Web-Warriors.  They’re a bunch spider-people who patrol the universes that lost their spider-folk during Spider-Verse.  The main adversary of the Web-Warriors are a bunch of versions of Electro from throughout the multiverse and they’re led by The Battery, a hivemind consisting of a bunch of said Electros. (Web-Warriors #3 - 2016)  Although the two groups clashed several times, it was Ben who ended to the conflict when he merged with The Battery and “infected” it with his ideals of power and responsibility, thus causing the Electros to give up. (Web-Warriors #11 - 2016)  Although this Ben isn’t technically dead, he’s become one with The Battery so for all intents and purposes, he’s gone.  I know it sounds super dumb, but Web-Warriors is actually a pretty solid read and I’d recommend checking it out.

Turn Off the Dark

I’m going to end things off with one of the most infamous musicals to have ever existed.  Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is the most expensive play in Broadway history and it’s… it’s something.

Now since official recordings of the play don’t exist because the industry is terrible about that,  plug for Sara Zed’s amazing video explaining the topic, I had to rely on watching a bootleg here on YouTube from an account called Looplena.  I don’t think there’s anything I can say about this that would be better than actually showing you how they handled Uncle Ben’s death so… here.

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So there you go, my personal favorite handlings of the passing of Uncle Ben.  I had to look though a LOT of stuff to make this video and I hope you enjoyed it.