Midnight Spider-Man Makes Uncle Ben’s Death More Personal Than Ever (And More Horrifying Than You’d Think)

Skip to content Add Us On Google Uncle Ben’s death is one of the most important catalysts in Spider-Man becoming a hero in the Marvel Universe. However, in Midnight Spider-Man, Ben’s apparent death comes in a way that is both horrifying and personal. It will cause this version of Spider-Man to become more of a monster than he ever could be a hero. Midnight Spider-Man is one of three new comics from Marvel’s new Midnight Universe imprint that reimagines legendary heroes in a very different, terrifying manner. Midnight X-Men is a vampire story, Midnight Fantastic Four is a Lovecraftian horror tale, and Midnight Spider-Man is pure body horror, which includes Uncle Ben’s demise.

In Midnight Spider-Man, Peter Parker isn’t bitten by a spider during a trip to a science exhibit. Instead, he is bitten at home after he signs on to work for Oscorp and a spider ends up in his backpack. Before Peter is bitten and changes, the spider gets his Uncle Ben first, and what happens next is terrifying.

Uncle Ben’s Death Is Horrifying in Midnight Spider-Man Image Courtesy of Marvel The story behind this Spider-Man origin is Peter Parker learning from a young age that power creates monsters, a lesson his father, Richard Parker, taught him after Peter’s cat was killed by a dog. In the present day, Peter lives seemingly alone with his Uncle Ben, as it appears that Aunt May is not in his life during this timeline’s events. The main theme here, though, seems to be unchecked power, and that is especially true with Oscorp. HAMMER agents run the streets, abusing their power as law enforcement officers, and Uncle Ben is someone who believes in fighting a corrupt system. He even tells Peter that it is important to pick the right fights.

Oscorp is overly powerful here. The company murders its own employees in the name of scientific research, and one of those failed experiments plays out in this first issue. This makes Peter’s decision to sign on to work for Oscorp after company VP Felicia Hardy recruits him such a bad idea. Peter believes that power creates monsters, but he also feels that if he gets inside the company, he could responsibly use that power. That is the worst mistake that Peter ever made, and it cost him his uncle and his own humanity.

Peter comes home from his interview after signing on with Oscorp and goes to bed without speaking to his uncle. While Peter is in bed, a spider that had gotten into his backpack gets out and bites Uncle Ben. This leads to a disturbing moment where Ben watches as his leg horrifically mutates, almost instantly, into a grotesque form, and as he reaches for his phone to call Peter for help, he collapses to the floor. The man earlier in the issue had the same type of reaction that the spider bite causes for Ben. While Ben’s fate is left unseen in the end, enough is shown to reveal this death is much more horrific than anything that happened to him in the Earth-616 origin story.

In Spider-Man’s classic origin story, he made a selfish choice. He wanted to use his powers to be a celebrity, and he refused to stop a thief who ran past him in the hall of the television studio. That same thief shot and killed Uncle Ben, and Peter blamed himself. Guided by his uncle’s lesson about power and responsibility, Peter became a superhero who was determined to save everyone. That isn’t going to happen in Midnight Spider-Man. In this storyline, Peter learns that power makes monsters, and while he wants to use his new power responsibly, his decision seemingly causes his uncle’s horrific death and his own mutation.

Here, Spider-Man becomes a monster, just as his father had predicted years before with his comments about power. This isn’t a moment of Peter Parker being selfish and immature. This is a moment when Peter wants to gain power to help his uncle and do good things, but he chooses to dance with the devil in Norman Osborn and his company. As a result, his uncle isn’t shot and killed, but dies in a horrific and painful manner, and it is all Peter’s fault, whereas the classic origin had Peter only feel responsible. When Peter finally sees what happened to Uncle Ben and realizes he was to blame, the nature of the death will turn Spider-Man into a monster, physically and mentally, and saving lives won’t be anywhere near the top of his mission statement.

What were your thoughts on how Midnight Spider-Man changed Uncle Ben’s death? Let us know what you want to see from this horror series in the comments below.