The defining moment of the Spider-Man mythos has always been the death of Ben Parker, which still serves as the crux of his superhero origin. Famously, losing his beloved uncle in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Amazing Fantasy #15 teaches the young hero the idea that great power must always come with great responsibility.

But even though the Marvel Universe is full of resurrections, Uncle Ben is one of the few characters who has never fully been brought back. However, Marvel has teased the idea of Ben's return on a few occasions. Now, we're taking a look back at all of the ways that Marvel almost brought Uncle Ben back from the dead.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Amazing Spider-Man Uncle Ben

In J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.'s The Amazing Spider-Man #498, Dormammu and an army of his Mindless Ones invaded New York City on Peter Parker's birthday. The attack led to the demise of most of the heroes of the Marvel Universe. However, Spider-Man was among the few to survive the opening salvo, although he was forced to watch as his wife Mary-Jane was killed by the horde. Spider-Man ended up accidentally getting caught up in a spell being conducted by Doctor Strange and flung through the time-stream. After seeing the moments that led to him become Spider-Man and a possible future that contained his final moments in Straczynski, John Romita Sr. and Romita Jr.'s Amazing Spider-Man #500, Peter was able to resist the temptation to change his life and instead allow history to play out.

To return to the right time-period and warn the heroes so they could avoid falling for Dormammu's trap, Spider-Man is forced to relive some of his greatest battles and losses. Spider-Man succeeds in the end and is able to keep the other heroes from getting themselves killed. As a thank you to Peter for his heroism and resilience, Doctor Strange rewards Peter with a birthday present -- a restored Uncle Ben. From Ben's perspective, no time has passed since his death. The two briefly talk and get a moment together, where Peter tells Ben that he's happy with the life he's earned. But the spell turns out only to be temporary, and Ben fades away back into the ether, letting Peter know how proud he is of him as he goes.

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CHAMELEON 2211

Uncle Ben vs Jarvis

In Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7, Peter David and Roger Cruz introduced a version of Ben Parker who came from another world in the Marvel multiverse. Shortly before the events that would end in his life in many worlds, this version of Ben Parker lost his version of May Parker to a household accident. Ben was heartbroken and shocked to then learn that his nephew was the superpowered entertainer Spider-Man. He briefly served as Spider-Man's entertainment agent, but eventually lost contact with Peter after he got more consumed by his acting career. Left alone with the occasional royalty check being his only contact with his nephew, this version of Ben was dragged to the core Marvel Universe by the Hobgoblin of the year 2211.

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The time-traveling and reality-hopping villain wanted to use Ben as a weapon to attack the original Spider-Man who had inspired a legacy that her father -- the Spider-Man of 2211 -- had embraced. Ben met the Marvel Universe version of Spider-Man and even briefly got the chance to see the Marvel Universe version of Aunt May but ended up in a fight with her then-romantic interest, Jarvis. The awkward conversation ended with Ben alone in an alleyway - where the Chameleon of 2211 murdered him and took his appearance as a way to lull Spider-Man 2211 into a false sense of security so he could kill him. This villain kept the appearance briefly before he tried to kill Spider-Man but was defeated by Spider-Man teaming up with Sandman.

DEAD NO MORE

Ghost-like Uncle Ben and Spider-Man starting at something in Marvel Comics.

Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy centered around the new Jackal, who planned to use advanced cloning technology to bring back countless people who had died around Spider-Man's life over the years. He even found a way to infuse the cloning with the memories and experiences the original person went through as an intrinsic part of the new clone. This meant that instead of being a blank slate and easily manipulable, these clones had their own sense of agency and personality. Despite getting to see some of his late friends like Gwen Stacy again as a result of the technology, Spider-Man and his allies feared the potential ramifications of the technology -- such as the deadly Carrion Virus that had infected other worlds that had gone through similar crises -- all jumpstarted by Peter deciding to work with the Jackal.

Spider-Man was ultimately shocked to find that the Jackal wasn't actually Miles Warren, the old foe who used that name. Instead, it was Ben Reilly, the former Scarlet Spider and one of the clones of Spider-Man created by Warren. Reilly revealed that other versions of Spider-Man across the multiverse began working with the Jackal of their worlds because it could bring Ben Parker back to life. While Peter is tempted by the chance, he tells off the Jackal. Before the crossover's final battle, Peter tells the Jackal that he hasn't had the courage to restore Ben because he would consider this an irresponsible use of his power, which shows just how much Ben's famous words still resonate with him.

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