Ben Parker

A kind, working-class man from Queens, New York, Ben Parker raised his orphaned nephew Peter alongside his wife May. A former U.S. Army Military Police veteran, Uncle Ben instilled in Peter a defining moral code — his words about power and responsibility ultimately shaping the hero Spider-Man.

Few figures in Marvel history cast as long a shadow as Ben Parker, who made his debut in the Silver Age classic The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), brought to life by the legendary team of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Over an extraordinary six decades of publication — from 1964 all the way to 2026 — Ben has appeared across 169 catalog entries, including four key collector issues, cementing his place as one of Marvel's most enduring and consequential presences. His name is woven through the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Amazing Fantasy, where he keeps company with icons like May Parker, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, and J. Jonah Jameson. The sheer longevity of his appearances is a testament to how deeply Ben Parker is rooted in Marvel's DNA — a character whose importance to the mythology only seems to grow with time.