{"id":1112295,"date":"2026-01-29T21:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=517917"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:02:25","slug":"i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/","title":{"rendered":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Peter
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man<\/em><\/a>, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For one, his spider powers came from a mysterious interdimensional spider that appeared from a portal seemingly conjured by Doctor Strange. For another, his high school BFF is none other than goth queen Nico Minoru. And though this version of Peter Park is slightly MCU adjacent, in that Peter has a super rich mentor figure to help finance his spider-activities, instead of Tony Stark, it\u2019s Norman Osborn.<\/p>\n

With all these tweaks to Peter\u2019s story, there\u2019s possibility for anything, really, and I have one big theory<\/a> that might just shake the foundations of the Spider-Man story: I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hear me out! Unlike in the typical version of Peter\u2019s story from the comics<\/a> and various movie adaptations<\/a>, Uncle Ben is absent before<\/em> Peter gets bitten by the spider. Also, in the first two episodes, no one actually says<\/em> Uncle Ben is dead. May and Peter just kinda talk about how he\u2019s \u201cnot around.\u201d Which leads me to believe that there\u2019s a specific reason that the showrunners have decided not to explicitly say he\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen Uncle Ben die many, many, many times in movies <\/a>and TV shows<\/a> and it\u2019s always specifically so that Peter can wise up and realize he needs to use his powers for good. We don\u2019t necessarily need to see that story<\/a> play out again, but it is jarring that he\u2019s already out of May and Peter\u2019s lives before the spider. It\u2019s even more<\/em> jarring when everyone\u2019s kinda talking around what happened to him. I get that maybe it would be clunky for Peter to go \u201cMan, when Uncle Ben got shot by that mugger last year, things were rough for me and my aunt,\u201d but also, every mention of Ben seems to be deliberately ambiguous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what happened to Ben? Did he leave May? Does he have a secret family in the New Jersey suburbs that he decided to live with full time? Or did he get kidnapped or disappear in some sort of super-powered incident? Has he been recruited by SHIELD to go deep undercover? Or is he in jail? Or did he get a job that relocated him to a different borough and now he can\u2019t make the commute to see his wife and nephew, because damn, do you know how annoying it is to get from Brooklyn to Queens via public transport?\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re only two episodes into the show, but I am side-eying the vagueness around Uncle Ben and will keep an eye out for any further Ben mentions that confirm or deny my theory. <\/p>\n

\n

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0first two episodes are now streaming on Disney Plus. New episodes drop every Wednesday.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For one, his spider powers came from a mysterious interdimensional spider that appeared from a portal seemingly conjured by Doctor Strange. For another, his high school BFF is none other than goth queen Nico Minoru. And though this version of Peter Park is slightly MCU adjacent, in that Peter has a super rich mentor figure to help finance his spider-activities, instead of Tony Stark, it\u2019s Norman Osborn. With all these tweaks to Peter\u2019s story, there\u2019s possibility for anything, really, and I have one big theory that might just shake the foundations of the Spider-Man story: I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead. Hear me out!…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1112296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1112295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nI don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":498,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/\",\"name\":\"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":270,\"caption\":\"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News","description":"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News","og_description":"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":270,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man","datePublished":"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/"},"wordCount":498,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/","name":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-29T21:02:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Your Friend Neighborhood Spider-Man, Disney Plus\u2019 new Spider-Man animated series, takes a lot of creative liberties with Peter Parker\u2019s backstory. For","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man.jpg","width":480,"height":270,"caption":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/i-dont-think-uncle-ben-is-dead-in-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I don\u2019t think Uncle Ben is dead in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1479515,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112295\/revisions\/1479515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1112296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}