Costume Rating 109: Ben Reilly Spider-Man

[Podmark]

When it was believed that Ben Reilly was the real Spider-Man and Peter Parker was in fact the clone, and with Mary Jane pregnant, Peter decided to retire as a superhero. And thus Ben took on the identity of Spider-Man with a new costume:

[BentonGrey]

3: It's alright, but it suffers from tweaking one of the more-or-less perfect costumes.  It's a bit busy, and the shins with the webbing just look odd.

[Ouflah]

Come to think of it, those cheverons on his shoulders reminds me of the Spider-Man suit in the MCU.

[Tomato]

4. As a design, I like this slightly more than I do Scarlet Spider's costume, but admittedly I don't have the fondness for it I do for that design. It's also a very busy, proto-typical 90s design, and certain elements (gloves, boots) do more to hurt it than to help. There's nothing wrong with it though: It does the job it was supposed to do, and it's still pretty iconic.

[Podmark]

I gave it a like. It's an alright costume, but kinda busy.
I find it looks much better on May Parker, Spider-Girl. Something about the line work just seems to fit the female form much better.

[oldmanwinters]

I didn't read Spider-man back in the 90s, so I always associate this costume with the one featured in the Marvel vs. DC crossover mini-series.  I love it, and it's hard to impress when you're trying to tweak a costume that's practically perfect already, like Benton said.  The upper body portion is probably the best part, with the exciting 90s attitude but without going 90s overkill.  It looks a bit strange below the belt, but credit with avoiding the traditional "tights/briefs" before everybody started avoiding them.  I don't like the loss of symmetry in the ankle/feet design, because it makes the costume look too much like kid's onesie pajamas.  He doesn't seem to be wearing any shoes, just long tights.

[daglob]

Any costume with webbing on it is going to be busy. If they had really thought about it, Stan and Steve would have nixed Webhead's webs. This one tries to avoid that, then gives it back to us with the weird "gloves" and "boots". They want to have a Spider-Man costume that is obviously Spidey, but not the one Steve Ditko and/or Jack Kirby designed. The "chevrons" on the shoulders are extensions of the chest emblem legs... but Ouflah is right; they look more like a separate design element.

It looks like hey were told "you gotta have this, this, and this in the costume, and it has to be these colors", and this is what they designed. Not the worst costume, though. Still, the web shooters on the outside of the costume look kind of clunky after 30 years of smoother, more elegant ones hidden from sight. They look better on The Black Widow, because they have always been on the outside of her costume.