Rendered unconscious as soon as he arrived, Spidey later woke up staring at a mirror image of himself. A joyous Jackal called from the bleachers, saying that he is a clone from Spider-Man's RNA, and that only the real Spider-Man could diffuse the bomb attatched to Ned Leeds. The two Spiders fought for a while, but later decided it was pointless and their main goal was to rescue Leeds. Neither Spider made it to Leeds, however. The Jackal soon had an epiphany (with the help of the cloned Gwen Stacy). He had been blaming everything he's done on the Jackal, not on himself where it belongs. In a last ditch effort to save his soul, the Jackal rescued Leeds. Though the later was safe, Jackal was not. The bomb soon exploded, killing the Jackal, and seemingly killing Parker's clone. Spidey later dumped the clone into the smokestack of an incinerator, callling him brother and swinging off.

The clone, however, was not dead, but unconscious. Waking up from his slumber, the clone saved himself just before he fell to his death. He made his way to Peter Parker's pad, "borrowing" some cash and clothes, and made his way to the bus station, leaving Peter to lead his life. In a short series called "The Parker Legacy", the clone discovers that even though his memories are programmed, he still has the infamous Parker luck and sense of responsibility. He decides to call himself Ben Reilly; Ben after his Uncle Ben, and Reilly, after Aunt May's maiden name. He traveled to the west, and made a small living for himself.

On return to New York, after hearing May had fallen ill, Reilly and Spider-Man ran into each other. Spider-Man, believing Reilly to be someone posing as Peter Parker, attacked. Reilly soon rendered KO'd Spidey and escaped. He later went on to save Peter from a man named Traveller.

Spidey and Reilly made their amends, and Reilly decided to leave NYC again. But it proved difficult. He later decided to become a hero once more, and dawning a solid red Spidey suit and a sleeveless, hooded sweatshirt from the spider exibit from a local museum, the Scarlet Spider was born! With all the skills of Spider-Man, plus a wider arsenal, including his paralyzing "stingers" and his "impact webbing", Scarlet Spider took on the likes of Venom, Kaine, and the Grim Hunter.

In Spider-Man #75, Ben Reilly, who had taken up the mantle of Spider-Man after Parker quit to start his family, the original Green Goblin returned to menace the brothers Spider. In the final battle on the George Washington Bridge, the Goblin launched a deadly spear toward Peter. Reilly, seeing that Peter was in a lethal situation, pushed him out of the way, taking the point of the weapon directly in his chest (much like the death of Green Goblin in Amz. #122). Ben Reilly, the clone of Peter Parker, died on that bridge, and soon disentigrated. The closest thing Peter had to a brother was now dead.

Peter later became Spider-Man again, and Ben Reilly has now all but dissappeared from the Marvel Universe.