Uncle Ben

Comparision of the voice over actors who have been the voice of Uncle Ben with sound clips and images.

Uncle Ben Parker is a major supporting in the Spider-Man series who first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). During his lifetime, he had trained in the military, sang in a band and dated a high school acquaintance May Reilly, whom he would later marry and enjoy a life together. When his older brother Richard Parker and his wife Mary were killed, Ben took the couple's son Peter into their home and he and May raised him as their own. Ben looked after Peter as he grew up, becoming a permanent father figure to him. Tragically, Ben lost his life when a burglar tried to rob him and May. It was revealed that Ben's killer was the thief that Peter as Spider-Man didn't stop because he felt it wasn't his job. As a result, Peter felt responsible for his uncle's death and this event would forever drive Peter to fight crime as a superhero, heeding Uncle Ben's words, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Created by UltimateCharm on Mon Sep 3 2012, 31 Comments, Add Comment

Spider-Man (1967) (1967)

Tom Harvey

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981)

Frank Welker

Spider-Man (1994) (1994)

Brian Keith

The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)

Ed Asner

Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)

Greg Grunberg

EDITOR'S OPINION

I think all these actors did good as Uncle Ben. They portrayed the kindly father figure to Peter Parker just fine. The standouts to me are Brian Keith and Ed Asner.

UltimateCharm

Latest Comments

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coolgeek176
said at 10:17 PM on Wed Jan 9 2013

I'm going with Ed Asner. He fits the fatherly figure and sounds aged. Brian Keith is good too. Greg Grunberg is good for the ultimate version.

Music Meister
said at 9:34 PM on Thu Sep 20 2012

1 Shout Out!

At some points, Asner sounds like John Goodman

Patrick
said at 2:37 AM on Mon Sep 10 2012

John Stephenson From Spider-Man and his Amzing Friends

Nightmare Crusher
said at 5:34 PM on Thu Sep 6 2012

Wow, Brian Keith and Ed Asner are both REALLY good. It's a tough pick, but I'll go with Ed Asner.

ConfusedPhantom
said at 6:13 PM on Wed Sep 5 2012

Ed Asner, no contest, but I like Brian Keith too.

Starscreamsfan
said at 8:21 PM on Tue Sep 4 2012

That's Frank Welker, not John Stephenson!!!!!!

pete
said at 3:24 PM on Thu Sep 6 2012

@Starscreamsfan Thank You. At least I know I'm not going crazy and neither is Gotham Red.

NCZ (Admin)
said at 5:09 PM on Thu Sep 6 2012

@Starscreamsfan I agree. It doesn't sound like John Stephenson to me; it sounds much more like Frank's Garfield voice.

SmartyBoyboy
said at 12:02 AM on Sat Sep 8 2012

@Starscreamsfan Yep. I knew it sounds more Frank in my ears.

Music Meister
said at 12:38 AM on Sun Sep 9 2012

@Starscreamsfan Well he John was Shocker in that episode and it sounds like him to me

Starscreamsfan
said at 4:09 PM on Tue Sep 11 2012

@Music Meister Yeah, but if you see the Transformers episode The Ultimate Weapon, Welker provides the voice of the human grandfather that appears at the end of the first act. He uses the same voice with Uncle Ben

Music Meister
said at 8:54 PM on Tue Sep 11 2012

@Starscreamsfan I still hear John over Welker

Starscreamsfan
said at 8:13 PM on Thu Sep 13 2012

@Music Meister The only way to tell their voices is that Welker doesn't have the aging cracks that are more noticeable with Stephenson.

Music Meister
said at 12:20 PM on Tue Sep 4 2012

1. Brian Keith/Ed Asner- Both are great father figure roles, showing kindess and age without going overbroad. You feel that both have an impact on Peter's life.

2. Greg Grunberg- Okay he sounds a little more like a "fun uncle" then a father figure but not bad. Lacked the aged feel but the kindess and warmth of the character is there so not bad and is a good example of the voice work of US.

3. John Stephenson- Little bland but the aged feeling and the kindess is there. Wish he had more scenes so he could have shown some wisdom but not bad but he has done better.

4. Tom Harvey- Sounds too weak and forced. Also the fact that one scene he's in doesn't really make him seem like an important person to Peter, his one scene and he's not even talking to Peter. It's a shame really.

pete
said at 2:23 AM on Sat Jan 12 2013

@Music Meister THat's the way it was done in the 60's. A modern version would of course be different.

Music Meister
said at 9:22 AM on Sat Jan 12 2013

@pete What?

pete
said at 6:04 PM on Sat Jan 12 2013

@Music Meister I'm referring to your opinion of Tom Harvey. Cartoons didn't really go for a good script or anything. They just tried to do get the job done.

TheVengeanceKnight
said at 1:56 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

2 Shout Outs!

Can't go wrong with the great Ed Asner. :-)

pete
said at 1:03 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

Seriously am I the only one hearing Frank Welker in John Stephenson's take?

GothamRed
said at 8:00 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

@pete no i heard him too

D.A.V.E.
said at 12:47 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

3 Shout Outs!

All of these did fine, but I'm going with Ed Asner. He brings a great, fatherly warmth to the role without being too "old" or senile.

GothamRed
said at 12:12 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

3 Shout Outs!

I'm going with Ed Asner here, but to explain why I'll state my opinions on everyone:

Tom Harvey - Wow Tom made ben sound senile, not much wisdom in that voice.

John Stephenson - He's okay, kind bland, but he didn't have as much to work with.

Brian Keith - He's decent, really more gravelly than elderly, and is it just me or did he sound kinda sinister here. Didn't notice that when i watched this before.

Ed Asner - Really the most fitting voice for ben thus far. I has the perfect blend of age and wisdom, while not making him sound too feeble. Plus bonus points for actually defeating the symbiote he went up against (Suck it Brian).

Greg Grunberg - Yeah I know that this show is trying to give us a hip/young ben and may for a change, but I'm really not feeling it. He sounds more like an older brother for peter than for richard. Oh well, what're you gonna do?

pete
said at 12:44 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

@GothamRed Actually both Peter nearly destroyed the Venom and Carnage symbiotes but both survived but both of them survived as it was stated the Carnage symbiote would return if Season 6 of TAS was made. While Ed did get it removed that was the only difference.

GothamRed
said at 7:34 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

@pete that's all the difference you need. Scoreboard.

Anicomicgeek
said at 11:30 PM on Mon Sep 3 2012

3 Shout Outs!

I'm gonna go with Ed Asner for Uncle Ben. As solidejake said, he does sound like the voice of wisdom one would expect. That said, Greg Grunberg and the late Brian Keith were good, too.

Oh, and going ahead and getting this out of the way, much like Aunt May in both The Spectacular Spider-Man and Ultimate Spdier-Man cartoons, Uncle Ben in the Ultimate cartoon is based off of Ultimate Uncle Ben, who like Aunt May is quite a bit younger than classic Uncle Ben.

GothamRed
said at 12:14 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

@Anicomicgeek I don't think may in Spectacular was based on the younger ultimate version. She was still played as peter's aging aunt in that show.

Anicomicgeek
said at 12:34 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

1 Shout Out!

@GothamRed

She does have some of Utlmiate May's traits and even her actress stated she was younger than usual.

pete
said at 12:39 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

@Anicomicgeek I hear Classic Uncle Ben in Spectacular more.

Anicomicgeek
said at 12:59 AM on Tue Sep 4 2012

1 Shout Out!

@pete

Re-read what I said. I said that Ben in ULTIMATE was based on the Utlimate version. I did not say that was the case for Spectacular Ben.

pete
said at 11:12 PM on Mon Sep 3 2012

I'm going with Brian Keith. That scene where he comes in was greatly acted on his part(on Barnes's part as Spider-Carnage it wasn't as great when he broke into tears but still got the job done) I also like Ed Asner as he had a similar role to Brian Keith's as they both dealt with hoim removing a symbiote(Carnage in Keith''s, Venom in Asner's) Greg Grunberg's was used well and the voice gets the job done. Tom Harvey sounds like a stereotyical old man and John Stephenson sounds like Frank Welker so nothing really special about them. Also a shoutout to both Cliff Roberts and Martin Sheen in their live action versions who unfortunately never voiced them in the games based on their movies.