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This article, Benjamin Urich (Earth-61615), is property of MarvelousMarty. |
Mrs. Urich (mother; deceased), Arnold Urich (brother),
Doris Miller-Urich (wife),
Kenneth Urich (nephew),
Phil Urich (nephew; deceased),
Timmy Urich (adopted son)
Spider-Man Vol 1 1
Defenders Vol 3 22
History
In this marvelous world of masked knights and menacing knaves, I'm just an ordinary man who wants to find the truth... The truth the rest of us deserves to hear...
- — Ben Urich
- — Ben Urich
Early Years
Benjamin "Ben" Urich (born around 1961, died early 2026) worked as an investigative journalist at the New York Bulletin who specialized in writing exposes on the criminal empires in New York City, mainly in Hell's Kitchen, resulting in the arrests of many high-ranking gangsters and mobsters, which also got Ben encountering almost every superpowered vigilante that helped stop every emerging form of villainy and corruption all crime had been sprouting across the state by the start of the 2000s—most notably Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Jessica Jones—despite Ben's initial skepticism on their masked agendas. When his wife Doris became sicker overtime from a chronic life-threatening illness, Ben found himself more stressed and hopeless, becoming less motivated in continuing his works until Karen Page, who covertly represented the law firm Nelson and Murdock, asked for his help exposing a new criminal empire that had appeared in New York City.
Ben focused much of his time and efforts in finding the truth, despite clashing with his chief editor Mitchell Ellison and all those who doubted his claims. When he came close to bringing the truth to the people when he found out the mastermind behind the interconnected illegalities to be the Kingpin, Ben was inevitably fired from the Bulletin, not knowing that one his colleagues had working for the crimelord as a mole. Ben had the help of the Defenders in taking down the Kingpin and exposing his empire over the following years with enough concrete evidence, and while their conclusive goal of legitimately incarcerating the Kingpin has yet to be accomplished in the meantime (due to his political connections and diplomatic immunity), Ben nevertheless got a second chance on his journalistic life when he got an exclusive offer at the Daily Bugle (courtesy of Peter Parker), who were impressed by his writings, mainly on recent works on vigilantes and the first successful against the Kingpin, which unveiled the latter's identity as the mysterious Wilson Fisk.
The Daily Bugle
Around the early to late 2000s, a younger Ben notices the rapid rise of superpowered heroes, vengeful vigilantes, and criminal overlords in New York City
Continuing his publishing passion and investigative career as well as regularly earning a heftier sum of salary in the Bugle to support the bills and treatment of his sick wife; his most notable stories were about the groundbreaking Battle of New York in the Chitauri Invasion in the late 2000s, the incident which helped exposed the newly-formed Avengers to the public through online platforms and media outlets, albeit still crediting the heroic involvement of the Defenders, whom Ben had known and trusted longer. While no longer working for the New York Bulletin, Ben still saw his former employers as purposeful allies and valuable intel to his investigations once the mole colleague (the one working for Kingpin) was finally put into prison along with the fact that Karen Page started working there as a fair and upright reporter, inspired by Ben's journalistic boldness.
Ben and Karen were known to often work hand-in-hand as partners in more serious investigations regarding unresolved crimes in New York, with their final collaboration of investigating the public disappearance of Norman Osborn and Oscorp's morally questionable controversies as a part of a larger conspiracy would be inconveniently interrupted since it would lead to the events of Ultimate War. In the global conflict, Karen was unfortunately one of the millions of victims who lost their lives at the hands of the sadistic assassin Bullseye, something that their heroic allies had failed to intervene but was able to retaliate. Ben was heavily distressed by Karen's untimely death, though he proceeded to finish their journalistic investigation on Osborn which was proven to be fruitful against the figure's diabolical agenda Dark Reign of the United States. Besides his primary objectives, Ben's motivation has driven him to write the new and best articles the Bugle could offer as he covered events such as the Superhuman Civil War, the Secret Invasion, and the threat of Thanos's genocidal, universal quest.
His literary influence and critical acclaim in the journalist world, despite still basing in New York, has even led to him becoming a great mentor in his workplace, most especially to Mary Jane Watson the moment she began working for the Bugle. The teacher-student relationship between the two would essentially mold Watson from a local reporter into becoming one of the most renowned foreign correspondents the contemporary world has ever seen. Aside from being the chain-smoking yet efficient journalist that he usually was, Ben had taken another responsibility as a father when he and a positively recovering Doris had adopted a child named Timothy "Timmy" Lange, whom they learned were rescued by Karen Page in her apartment floor moments before her passing during Ultimate War.
Kingpin's Final Move
When the recently politically inclined Wilson Fisk ran for the next mayor of New York City and easily won for the position by late 2024, Ben was one of the only few citizens who sense the fishiness of the situation, primarily due to the fact that Fisk has committed and was responsible for countless of crimes, which he and his clandestine empire have either deviously concealed or have gotten away from, most tremendously being one of the secret heads of the Movement Alliance during Ultimate War. As Mayor, Fisk shared most of his criminal title, power, and influence as the Kingpin with other crime lords across the east coast of the United States as one united empire, gaining control over the criminal underworld in the east coast. Unfortunately, it was around 2026, when Ben came close to bringing out the diabolic truth to the people of New York about the past and present crimes of their incumbent mayor via a personal blog, when he was personally murdered by Fisk in his own home after finding out how much Ben knew about Vanessa's unveiled crimes.
Despite killing Ben and burning his apartment as a way to cover up his grim side or any other documents that could be used against him, Ben knew the worst would happen, and even in death, he had given his closest allies a secretive way to retrieving his remaining latest work on Fisk so they could complete their same pursuit of justice and in the end, ensure a lifetime worth of imprisonment that the Kingpin justifiably deserves. As an act of desperation, Fisk's subordinates were paranoid enough have his subordinates kidnap Ben's child and nephew, who were living in Ben's apartment at the time, an incident would serve as a leverage and opportunity to expose more of Fisk's true colors to the authorities. Ben's loved ones' were rescued by NYPD detective Misty Knight with her team, who found herself confronting and apprehending the perpetuators: new federal corrupt agents and officers working for the Kingpin, the infamous title that was revealed to have been used by a few other crime lords besides Fisk in the past two to three years before the latter's time as mayor, and his overall conspiracy in New York.
Marvelous Legacy
Only a few days after his assassination and the ultimate incarceration of Wilson Fisk which followed the subsequent collapse of his collective criminal empire with other Kingpins, a funeral was later held for Ben with Father Marco Cathal delivering his eulogy and his wife Doris, his son Timmy, his nephew Ken, and his younger brother Arnold Urich, along with Matt Murdock, Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker, Felicia Hardy-Parker, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Glenn Grant, Betty Brant, Ned Leeds, Jenny Royce, Jessica Jones, Jessica Drew, and Mitchell Ellison among the many more in attendance. When his death was addressed to the media afterwards, Ben was praised and credited due to him leaking and exposing the Kingpin's serial crimes among his many other accomplishments, overall being respected and remembered as one of the greatest journalists and most accomplished writers in the 21st century, although on the more personal aspect, Ben would be valued and cherished for being the most caring, persistent, and supportive friend, mentor, uncle, husband, and father by those who knew him dearly his whole life.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
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Abilities
- Master Journalist
- Expert Reporter
- Talented Writer
- Indomitable Will
- Trained Combatant
Strength level
Class 6
Weaknesses
None known.
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- Various owned technology
- Cellphone (formerly)
- Personal USB (formerly)
- Personal Laptop (formerly; destroyed)
- Various owned documents
- Journal
- Notebooks (formerly; destroyed)
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.
Notes
- No special notes.
- ↑ Modern Comics: Defenders Vol 3 12
Trivia
- Throughout his constantly distressing yet reputable and truth-seeking journalistic career, Ben Urich has written the best contemporary stories and articles both the New York Bulletin and the Daily Bugle could ever offer as he covered the following notable local and global events in his world:
- The Hulk and the Battle of Harlem (mid-2000s)
- The Rise of New York's Knights: The Defenders (2000s)
- The Rise and First Fall of the Kingpin (late 2000s)
- The Chitauri Invasion's Battle of New York (late 2000s)
- The First Formation of the Avengers (early 2010s)
- The Ultimate War (spring 2015)
- The Superhuman Civil War (early 2016)
- The Skrull Empire's Secret Invasion (2017)
- The Norman Osborn's Osborn's Dark Reign (2018)
- The Threats of Thanos' Infinity Quest (2019)
- The Defenders vs. The Genetic Vendetta (early 2026)
- The Final Rise and Fall of the Kingpin (summer 2026)
- Ben was an avid tobacco/cigarette smoker whenever he took a break from work, but has since quit after adopting Timmy Urich and having his runaway nephew, Ken Urich, momentarily live in his apartment.
See Also
- Appearances of Benjamin Urich (Earth-61615)
- Character Gallery: Benjamin Urich (Earth-61615)
- Quotations by Benjamin Urich (Earth-61615)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Ben Urich · Benjamin Urich · Benjamin Urich (Earth-61615)
Links and References
- None.