Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)

Ben Urich
Name	Benjamin "Ben" Urich
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Daily Bugle staff
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′10″ (1.78 m)
Weight	150 lbs (68.04 kg).
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Brown
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-1610
Place of Birth	Unknown
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Reporter, novelist
Education	Unknown
Base of Operations	Daily Bugle, New York City
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Jemas, Mark Bagley
First	Ultimate Spider-Man #6 (February, 2001)
First	Ultimate Spider-Man #6 (February, 2001)

 I've got to say, I think you made the front page of your paper... or whatever they call the front page of the website. 

—Ben Urich

History

Beginnings

Ben Urich is the veteran star reporter for the Daily Bugle, armed with an incisive mind and an uncanny knack for being where the story is. His many confidential sources include a General who tipped him off about the Hulk's first New York rampage before it happened. Willing to consider stories others write off as outlandish, such as monsters in the sewer system, Urich's main challenges include getting Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson to print his weirder findings, and enduring frequent disrespect from city officials. A longtime foe of organized crime, Urich learned the identity of the city's Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, researching stories such as the "Murdock Case" to seek proof tying Fisk to his crimes. When Spider-Man first appeared, Jameson ordered Urich to set aside his "family tree of organized crime" and investigate this newcomer instead; ironically, Spider-Man soon provided Urich with the evidence he had sought, when the crimefighter anonymously delivered surveillance recordings showing Fisk murdering Frederick Foswell, the criminal underboss known as Mr. Big, with his bare hands. Urich's subsequent story forced Fisk to flee the city, and garnered Ben a book deal, which he later lost when the evidence was deemed inadmissible and Fisk returned to the city.

Ben's greatest strength lies in being able to connect the pieces of the puzzle; investigating a particularly brutal murder, Urich soon deduced that the supposedly deceased scientist Otto Octavius was the killer, and that Octavius had somehow become a dangerous superhuman. Shortly thereafter, Urich was present at the press launch for Justin Hammer's Big Apple Energy Dome when Octavius, now calling himself Doctor Octopus, attacked it, proving Urich's theories. Later, when Octopus fought Spider-Man outside an illegal Hammer genetics lab, Urich first saw the wall-crawler in person.

A keen observer, Urich saw through the disguise of a Spider-Man-costumed bank robber, noting the imposter's different body language; but Jameson ordered him to cover the story without including this speculation. Later, after Spider-Man had been cleared, Urich got his first, brief interview with the hero, getting his side of things after Spider-Man assaulted would-be do-gooder Danny Rand (Iron Fist).

After the Kingpin returned, the evidence against him dropped, Urich interviewed prospective D.A. Sam Bullit. Jameson wanted a fluff piece since the Bugle endorsed Bullit's anti-Spider-Man campaign, but Urich swiftly noted a connection between Bullit and the Kingpin, and tricked Bullit into admitting his mob connections. Enraged, Bullit destroyed Urich's tape recorder and threatened him, unaware the canny reporter had a second such device hidden on his person; with this evidence, Urich convinced Jameson to revoke the Bugle's support of Bullit, and wrote a scathing piece that effectively ended Bullit's political career. Soon after this, Jameson assigned Urich to mentor young Peter Parker (ironically Spider-Man's secret identity), taking Parker along on certain stories; the first such instance was when Jameson sent them to interview celebrity sorcerer Doctor Stephen Strange. Urich later started to cover the first shots in the growing gang war between the Kingpin and Hammerhead.

Post-Ultimatum

Following the events of Ultimatum, Urich, Jameson and Robbie Robertson were the first staffers to return to the Daily Bugle. Urich learns from Robbie that Jonah had finally realized that Spider-Man was a true hero, after witnessing him saving people from the flood from his own office. Despite the conditions, the three continued to write the news, in which Ben provides Jameson a flashdrive containing his own writings on Spider-Man, which proves to remove Jameson's previous besmirching of the web-crawler.

Death of Spider-Man

Urich was present at the DailyBugle.com offices when Peter showed up at the request of Jameson, but his busy schedule only permitted him to give a brief greeting to Peter.

Attributes

Power Grid

Abilities

Ben Urich is an exceptionally astute reporter, with numerous valuable contacts.

Notes

• During his first appearance, Urich was apparently working on a "Murdock case" and something related to Kingpin.
• Ben wrote an award winning book about the downfall of the Kingpin called 'Kingpin Falls'.

See Also

• 33 appearance(s) of Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)
• 2 minor appearance(s) of Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)
• 2 mention(s) of Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)
• 6 image(s) of Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Benjamin Urich (Earth-1610)

Links and References

• Benjamin Urich on Wikipedia.org