First Appearance of Scarlet Spider: Web of Spider-Man #118

The Scarlet Spider first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #118, cover-dated November 1994. In that issue Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker, beats Venom and is dubbed the "Scarlet Spider" by Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis (Wikipedia). PriceCharting also lists #118 as the first appearance of the Scarlet Spider.

The character behind the costume is much older. The clone first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975), created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru, and seemed to die in that same issue. He returned in Web of Spider-Man #114 (May 1994) and was first named Ben Reilly in Spider-Man #51 (October 1994) (Wikipedia). Collectors therefore look at two keys: #149 for the clone and Web of Spider-Man #118 for the Scarlet Spider name and costume.

Ben Reilly was made by Miles Warren, the Jackal, as a clone of Peter Parker. After his 1994 return he put together a costume from a red bodysuit and a blue spider hoodie bought at a museum; artist Tom Lyle designed the hoodie look, which Wikipedia says won unanimous approval from the creative team. He took the name after the Venom fight in Web of Spider-Man #118.

His story then ran through the Clone Saga, which Wikipedia dates from October 1994 to December 1996 across five Spider-Man titles running at the same time:

• He briefly replaced Peter Parker as Spider-Man, in a new costume designed by Mark Bagley with changes by Bob Budiansky.
• In Spider-Man #75 (December 1996) Norman Osborn mortally wounds him while he saves Peter, and his body breaks down, which confirms he was the clone.
• Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy #3 (December 2016) reveals he had been repeatedly resurrected by the Jackal, and he became the new Jackal.
• In The Amazing Spider-Man #93 (March 2022), after the Beyond Corporation altered his memories, he became the villain Chasm.

Wikipedia lists several characters who used the name:

• Ben Reilly: the original, Web of Spider-Man #118 (November 1994).
• Peter Parker: wore it for a short time when his own costumes were ruined while Ben posed as him in prison.
• Joe Wade: an undercover FBI agent turned into a cybernetic villain version, starting in The Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1.
• Michael Van Patrick clones: three clones on the Initiative's Red Team, in Iron Spider-style armor.
• Kaine Parker: the Jackal's first, failed clone of Peter. Kaine first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #119 (December 1994), the issue right after Ben's debut, created by Terry Kavanagh and Steven Butler; Wikipedia lists Scarlet Spider #2 (April 2012) as his first appearance as the Scarlet Spider.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Web of Spider-Man #118 (first Scarlet Spider): ungraded $80.77 (about one sale a year); graded 4.0 $23.32; 6.0 $50.10; 8.0 $66.66; 9.2 $199.00; 9.8 $435.00 (about six sales a year)
• The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (first appearance of the clone): ungraded $29.99 (about one sale a day); 4.0 $45.00; 6.0 $74.50; 8.0 $121.95; 9.2 $193.70; 9.8 $2,531.00 (about one sale a year)
• Web of Spider-Man #119 (first Kaine): ungraded $10.00; 9.2 $78.00; 9.8 $100.67

Two things stand out. The ungraded figure for #118 is higher than its graded 8.0 price and rests on about one sale a year, so the graded 9.8 price, with about six sales a year, is the steadier number. And in 9.8 the 1975 clone issue is worth close to six times the 1994 Scarlet Spider debut on the same date, while at 9.2 the two are almost equal. A mid-grade copy of either book is usually worth less than a high-grade 1990s copy, so check the grade before assuming the older book is the valuable one.

The Wikipedia articles on Ben Reilly, Kaine and the Scarlet Spider name that we checked do not describe any Scarlet Spider as LGBTQ. These questions usually lead to the wider question of Marvel's first LGBT character. Northstar is the usual answer. He first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) and said "I am gay" in Alpha Flight #106 (1992), an issue that sold out in a week; he married Kyle Jinadu in Astonishing X-Men #51 (June 2012), which Wikipedia calls the first same-sex wedding shown in mainstream comics. Book Riot notes he was the first superhero to explicitly come out on the page.

Ben Reilly appears as the Scarlet Spider in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, voiced by Andy Samberg as a member of the Spider-Society; the film was released in the United States on June 2, 2023 (Wikipedia). Wikipedia also notes that in Spider-Noir (2026), Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Noir uses "Ben Reilly" as an alias.

Photograph the front cover straight on, then the indicia (the small print on the first page or inside cover with the title, issue number and date). ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover from the photo, matches the likely issue with a confidence indicator you can correct by hand, and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick. For Web of Spider-Man #118, confirm the issue number and date in the indicia before comparing prices, because later reprints and collected editions reuse the same story. There are free scans every day; the range is a reference estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market, and a grade that trades about once a year can move a lot on a single sale.