Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen)

Uncle Ben
Name:	Benjamin Parker
Sibling(s):	Richard Parker
Spouse(s):	May Parker
Portrayed by:	Martin Sheen
First appeared:	The Amazing Spider-Man
Appears in:	1 Film

"Your father lived by a philosophy, a principle ... Not choice, responsibility."

―Uncle Ben

Ben Parker, commonly known as Uncle Ben, is a fictional supporting character from the Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in 1962. He was portrayed by Martin Sheen in The Amazing Spider-Man. He is also set to appear in some capacity in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.

History

The Amazing Spider-Man

After Ben's brother Richard Parker and his wife left their son Peter in their care, Ben and his wife May took the boy in after his parents disappeared. The two would act as parents to Peter. They lived normally until Peter gained superhuman powers, these which would lead him to become the masked hero Spider-Man, but, because of this, Peter would come home late at night, often to his aunt and uncle's questioning toward this.

In school, Peter is put in detention after using his new abilities to humiliate Flash Thompson. His uncle changes work shifts to meet with the principal and asks Peter to walk Aunt May home for him that night. Peter forgets to do so, distracted while at Oscorp helping Dr. Curt Connors regenerate the limb of a laboratory mouse with a new serum. Angered, Ben tells Peter about his father's philosophy involving responsibility. In anger of being reminded of his father abandoning him, Peter leaves and Ben goes after him. Peter then goes to a grocery store, where a thief robs it and Peter refuses to stop him to spite the clerk that works there. Unbeknownst to Peter, Ben confronts the thief, whose gun falls out in front of him. They struggle for the weapon until Ben is eventually is shot in the torso and dies. Peter is devastated by this and begins his vigilante career as Spider-Man trying to find Ben's killer, but failed to do so.

Throughout the movie after Ben's death, Peter listens to Ben's voicemail on his phone about how he understands that things have been difficult for Peter, apologizes, and that he loves him. His infamous phrase about power and responsibility is not present in the film, but Uncle Ben does inform Peter that he, like his father, has a responsibility to be mature.

See Also

• Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson)