Spoilers ahead for Amazing Spider-Man #16. You’ve been warned.
If you were to describe Marvel’s current ongoing event Dark Web with one word, it’d be weird, which is very much the case with Spider-Man’s new spider-sense ability. More specifically, Chasm, aka Ben Reilly, has a unique spider-sense ability, and it changes it from a defensive power to an offensive one.
Throughout the years’ Marvel has given Spider-Man upgrades to his spider-sense, or in some cases, taken it away too. The latter happened when Peter Parker set off a device to eradicate an artificial insect sense used by the Spider-Slayer’s soldiers, forcing Peter to learn Spider-Fu from Shang-Chi. This occurred during the “Revenge of the Spider-Slayer” story arc.
From Amazing Spider-Man #654.
Courtesy Marvel
Regarding “improvements,” Ben Reilly and Peter Parker faced off against Spider-Man clone Kaine during the Clone Saga, who had a broken spider-sense resulting in traumatic visions of the future. This all connected to the Web of Destiny which is how Madame Web can see the future and how spidey characters move through dimensions in the entire Spider-Verse saga. We learned in Spider-Verse #1, written by Jed Mackay, the technical name for spider-sense is “arachnofrequency,” and that it is tied to a cosmic force known as the Web of Life and Destiny.
One would think Ben Reilly’s improvement–or is it an augmentation–on the spider-sense in Amazing Spider-Man #16 is due to dark magic given to him by the Goblin Queen. In this issue, we see Chasm wield magic, throwing around a green energy ax, and in one scene, standing still and letting his spider-sense do the work.
Courtesy Marvel
Courtesy Marvel
The spider-sense spikes look like a similar green energy Chasm uses for his ax.
Courtesy Marvel
It turns out, that ability has nothing to do with the Goblin Queen, but with the green goo Ben was engulfed in at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #894. It’s unclear how he would gain abilities like this, but as you can see from the panel below, it changed him molecularly.
Courtesy Marvel
Whether Peter can save Ben or not remains to be seen, but given the ending of Amazing Spider-Man #16, there are new trials for Peter to beat before he can even get face to face with Ben again. I recommend you read the entire issue, it’s visually stunning, and the cliffhanger is equally funny and exciting.
What do you think, reader? Should the spider-sense be a defense-only power, or would you like to see more augmentations on it? Let us know in the comments.
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