Warning! This article contains spoilers for Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2
During the events of a Marvel Comics series that picks up right where a ‘90s storyline left off, Marvel secretly brings Spider-Man’s first video game into the comics. Scarlet Spider has been the center of major controversy since his ‘90s introduction. His existence sparked the entire Clone Saga which has become one of the most hated comic book storylines by fans. In an all-new run featuring Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man during the time of the Clone Saga, Marvel hopes to fill in some of the gaps of his life that were left open-ended during his original Scarlet Spider series. It seems Marvel is taking a trip back into Spider-Man’s past both in the comic and video game worlds as the two are seemingly merged in this latest issue.
In Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2 by J.M. DeMatteis and David Baldeon, Ben Reilly is speaking with a psychiatrist about a recent traumatic experience he endured involving a well-established Spider-Man villain. As Reilly explains, Scorpion broke into his apartment and challenged Spider-Man to a fight. While a battle with a villain like Scorpion usually isn’t something Spider-Man gets worked up over, Ben was shaken to his core because Scorpion discovered his secret identity. While the issue itself goes deeper into Ben Reilly’s mental state, the inclusion of Spider-Man’s first video game into the comic book world is fittingly revealed during the main action sequence.
When Scorpion breaks into Ben Reilly’s apartment, the villain throws Ben his Spider-Man suit and screams, “Let’s play!” insinuating that he wanted Spider-Man to chase him across the city. The chase sequence is incredibly similar to the first villain a player faces in the PlayStation Activision video game Spider-Man, which is also marked as one of Spider-Man’s first console games. In the game, Scorpion is the first costumed villain players go up against, and the level leading up to the Scorpion boss fight is a timed pursuit across New York where the player has to get to the Daily Bugle within a certain amount of time before Scorpion kills J. Jonah Jameson. Scorpion being the first villain seen in the Spider-Man video game is mentioned in the comics, as Spider-Man tells his psychiatrist, “Mac Gargan was one of the first–and most dangerous–costumed lunatics I ever fought” referencing both his comic book and video game history.
While the references to Spider-Man’s PS1 video game are prevalent in this issue, Spider-Man snaps readers back into the continuity of his comic book and out of the video game mindset. When Spider-Man catches Scorpion, he swings him around by his tail and screams, “This is not a game!” establishing to both the villain and the readers themselves that the impacts of this story go way beyond the trivial nature of a twenty-year-old video game.
Even though Ben Reilly seemingly didn’t want to it it, the events of his latest comic played out nearly identical to the Activision’s Spider-Man PS1 video game. From the Scorpion chase sequence and reference of the villain-appearance order in the game to the fact that Scorpion literally shouted, “Let’s play!” it becomes clear that Marvel secretly brought ’s first video game into the comics.
