Warning: contains spoilers for Amazing Fantasy #2!
After over 60 years in comics, Uncle Ben has finally reunited with Peter Parker - and he absolutely hates his nephew's decision to become the superhero known as Spider-Man. Peter has always idolized his late uncle, who was infamously shot as a direct result of Peter's actions in Spider-Man's debut issue. Now in Amazing Fantasy #2, written by Kaare Andrews (also the artist of the issue), Peter meets Uncle Ben face-to-face - and the conversation isn't cordial.
The world of Amazing Fantasy is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Multiple heroes have been plucked from different times and locations: Captain America from a naval battle in 1943, Black Widow from her harsh training in the USSR, and Spider-Man from a fight with the Green Goblin in Manhattan. Each are spirited away to a massive landmass in the middle of space - but to them, it's an island inhabited by many fantastic creatures from myth and legends. The most surprising native is Uncle Ben - who explains his presence to Peter by simply saying "Oh, Peter...you're dead. We're all dead."
In a strange village, Peter wakes up and meets Fay, another woman in the village. Uncle Ben sees his nephew trying to talk to her and chastises him for it; the island is a purgatory, and Uncle Ben believes he's here because he never taught Peter how to be a man. Peter attempts to tell Ben what he's learned as Spider-Man, but Ben stops him - to him, Spider-Man is simply Peter dressing like a freak. "If I had stopped you from running around like an idiot, neither of us would be here...and now I'll never hold May again."
For Peter, hearing his uncle - the man who raised him for most of his life - dismiss all his accomplishments as Spider-Man as "dressing like a freak" must be devastating. Contrary to popular belief, Ben and Peter's relationship was not strained or difficult in the comics (that misconception comes from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film from 2002), and Peter thought the world of his uncle. Purgatory or no, this reunion is certainly bittersweet, especially considering another instance in comics when Uncle Ben was (temporarily) brought back to life by Doctor Strange; Ben admitted he was proud of him, and even forgave him for Peter's role in his death.
Much of the mechanics of the Amazing Fantasy world is still unknown, and perhaps this Uncle Ben is not someone brought back from the dead at all, but rather a figment of Peter's thoughts and imagination. If that's truly the case, this exchange is even more tragic - this is how Peter believes Uncle Ben would truly react if he saw him as Spider-Man. Regardless, it's quite a depressing moment for Peter: Uncle Ben dismissing his Spider-Man heroics as nothing more than dressing like a freak.
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