Chasm - AKA Ben Reilly is teaming up with a surprise Marvel supervillain
Spider-Man's newest supervillain Chasm - AKA Ben Reilly after his recent major heel turn will indeed return to menace Spider-Man, and when he does he's bringing a surprising ally in a long-time X-Men villain to partner in his ... now their ... plot against the Wall-Crawler.
The surprise supervillain team-up was revealed in Marvel Comics' Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom special released to comic book stores on May 7.
But in case you're planning on stopping by your local comics store and reading it yourself (and we suggest you do), we'll do that thing we do...
Spoilers ahead for Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom
Okay then, as expected per Marvel's recent teaser, Chasm-Ben will return in a story apparently called 'The Dark Web,' but what was newly revealed out of nowhere (well, almost) is that he's teaming up with Madelyne Pryor, AKA the X-Men villain the GoblIn Queen.
The new partnership was revealed on the final page of the FCBD Spider-Man story 'Lost in the Mail' by the Amazing Spider-Man creative team of Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.
For most of the short story Peter battled a US Postal Service street mailbox come to life as a talking, hungry monster. Trading banter with the mailbox in typical Spider-Man fashion, Peter eventually impales it with a parking meter, reverting it back to a standard mailbox, and Peter is left futilely trying to explain the scene to a Postal Carrier who arrives on the scene angry about the damage he caused to Federal property.
The final moments reveal Chasm and the Goblin Queen watching the scene from a nearby rooftop, with Ben amused by what he saw, and Madelyne implying a small demon possessed the mailbox at her instruction promising there are many more bigger ones desperate to serve their queen in aid of their plans against Peter.
Ben remarks that he thinks he and Madelyne (calling her by her name) will make a great team, to which she replies, "I should hope so, Ben ... we have a lot in common."
The commonality of course is that they are both clones of other superheroes created by supervillain mad scientists - the Jackal and Mr. Sinister, respectively. Ben is a clone of Spider-Man, of course, and Madelyne of Jean Grey, both of whom for a time enjoyed the life of their main counterparts before it was taken away from them, leading them to villainy.
We say the team-up came almost of nowhere because Marvel cleverly foreshadowed it just a couple of months ago.
In February 23's Spider-Man #90, Ben, then still Spider-Man, is battling the new villain the Queen Goblin, he quips unimpressed, "Pretty sure the X-Men have a way scarier Goblin Queen."
The FCBD story ends promising the storyline will continue in 'The Dark Web' but does not say when or where. And it will be interesting to see if Madelyne will be the only X-Men character crossing over to Spider-Man or if other mutants will become involved in the storyline as well.
Look for more information on Chasm and 'The Dark Web' when it's available and until then enjoy Free Comic Book Day 2022.
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