BEN TESHIMA / JADE-SPIDER

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BASIC INFO

NAME: Benjiro "Ben" Teshima (born Chrysler)
AGE: 21
BIRTHDATE: 1st of January, 2004
HEIGHT: 5´10
OCCUPATION: College student, freelance videographer/video editor/photographer, superhero/vigilante
DIMENSION: Earth-04
ETHNICITY: Japanese-American
NATIONALITY: American
SEXUALITY: Neptunic
ALIASES: Ben, Benji, Jade-Spider, Spider-Man

POWERSSuperhuman Equilibrium
Enhanced Immune System
Superhuman/Spider Physiology (Strength, Durability, Speed, Stamina, Agility, and Reflexes)
Spider-Sense
Wall-Crawling
Organic Webbing Generation
Photographic Reflexes/Adaptive Muscle Memory
Spider-Camouflage/Invisibility
Regenerative Healing FactorPHOTOGRAPHIC REFLEXES/ADAPTIVE MUSCLE MEMORY
The superpower that separates Ben from other spider-people is his photographic reflexes. He can watch another person's physical movements and duplicate them without any practice or training, no matter how complex. Ben is able to duplicate almost any physical activity after seeing it done by someone else only once. He can use this ability to master complex gymnastics routines and acrobatic maneuvers, play difficult pieces of music, or even duplicate Michael Jackson's dance moves. But above all, he mainly uses this ability to copy the combat skills of expert martial artists from around the world, becoming incredibly skilled at fighting, blocking and attacking. By reviewing recordings of movements and practicing them frequently, Ben has countless moves and skills stored into his muscle memory.ORGANIC WEBBING GENERATION
Ben has the ability to organically produce silk webbing from glands within his forearms, limited by his body's health and nutrition. These organic webs have many of the same properties as Peter Parker's artificial webs, such as incredible tensile strength and electric insulation/conduction, and are released from spinnerets in his wrists.

ABILITIES:

Gifted Combatant/Martial Artist: Ben is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Thanks to his photographic reflexes, he's also learned various advanced techniques and methods from watching other expert martial artists in action, and martial arts movies - as well as witnessing both heroes in villains in combat. Additionally, he has received martial arts training from both his mentor, a former Black Widow named Lía Carlos and his older sister Akari, formerly a ninja, and has become incredibly proficient in several martial arts such as taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing, kung fu and karate. However, Ben's favorite styles are taekwondo and boxing, having mastered both of them with one allowing him to take full advantage of his enhanced strength, agility and speed with its emphasis on fast, powerful, dynamic and acrobatic kicking techniques, and the other allowing for faster and more powerful punches, as well as more precise and better defensive and evasive capabilities. During combat, Ben's style is primarily taekwondo and boxing combined and used in tandem with his powers, allowing for a balanced fighting style that is equal parts fast, agile and powerful in its strikes, and makes him an incredibly evasive opponent, further enhanced thanks to his enhanced agility, speed, reflexes and Spider-Sense, allowing for acrobatic maneuvers to avoid strikes and attacks of any kind - making him an incredibly formidable opponent.Proficient Swordsman: Thanks to training from his older sister Akari and photographic reflexes, Ben has become quite proficient in using his katana, being able to go toe-to-toe with her in a sword fight and several other expert swordsmen.Expert Marksman: Ben is also highly accurate when he projects his webbing, partly thanks to having used his photographic reflexes to obtain the impeccable aim of heroes such as Hawkeye. He usually shoots to blind, silence, or restrain his opponents in battle.Gifted Combat Tactician: Thanks to his photographic reflexes, years of combat experience and training from both a Black Widow and his older sister (who was previously a ninja), Ben has become a formidable combat tactician, being able to come up with strategies for fights quickly and put them into practice when needed. His tactician abilities frequently come into play when he is able to predict an opponent's next move, thanks to his photographic reflexes.Master Acrobat: Thanks to his great strength, phenomenal equilibrium and photographic reflexes, Teshima is an excellent athlete, excelling in all gymnastic fields and being able to perform every acrobatic stunt ever performed, including others that can never be performed by even an Olympic acrobat.Inventor/Engineer: Ben has learned engineering and mechanics from Peter Parker, being able to build his own gadgets and fix his webshooters and armors. However, it is important to note that he's not nearly as smart as the latter, only just barely being able to make upgrades to his modders and new suits on his own.Bilangual: In addition to speaking English, he can also speak fluent Japanese.Skilled Photographer: Ben has a passion for photography and videography, and has honed his skills in photography for years.Gifted Video Editor: Ben is a freelance video editor.

EQUIPMENTWeb-Modders: Wrist-worn devices that instantaneously specializes and modifies his webbing whenever he needs to. When Ben releases his webs out of his wrists, they enter a small pipe and into the device itself. Once inside, it will be instantly specialized and come out of the modder's nozzle as specialized webbing; long story short, regular webs go in, specialized webs come out. Initially created for the purpose of Taser Webs, he has now with help upgraded it to contain more features. Current specializations are Impact Webs, Web Bombs, Trip Mines, Taser/Electric Webs, Flame Webs, and Ice Webs. Additionally, he can also modify it to fire webs such as Splitter Webs and Ricochet Webs.Katana: For his 19th birthday, Ben received a custom-made katana from his sister. Though he is proficient in its use, he rarely brings it out on patrol as he has no need for it, and only brings it along when fighting enemies he thinks warrant its use, such as Hand ninjas or the Scarlet Spider, and even then limits it to mostly defense and non-lethal attacks.Oscorp Dimensional Travel Watch:
In December 2018, Ben's first exposure to the multiverse was through Green Goblin's scheme to travel through other dimensions to steal DNA from alternate Spider-People, in order to further enhance his creation of genetically engineered spiders, and Doctor Octopus built several Dimensional Travel Watches in case Ben managed to destroy the Goblin's means of interdimensional travel. Ben stole one of these to follow the Doctor in an attempt to foil him, and after destroying the weapon, he has held on to it ever since, occasionally making a visit to the multiverse with it in order to explore the different realities, indulge in photography, videography, or to meet new Spider-People and befriend them.

SUITS

CLASSIC SUIT

The first suit designed by Ben and manufactured by SHIELD. Shortly after completing Lía's training, she gifted him a suit based on sketches and doodles of the kind of superhero suit he would like. Sending the designs to SHIELD engineers, the Classic Suit was made and thus became the first proper spider-suit worn by the Jade-Spider. Considered to be an iconic design.

STEALTH SUIT

Designed and created by his best friend Peter Parker, this suit was made to enhance Ben's stealth capabilities, featuring sound-absorbent shoes and gloves for crawling around, infrared-thermography-vision lenses to identify targets, Spider-Tracers and Spider-Drones for surveillance and espionage.

IRON SPIDER

Pictured design is Mark II, but Mark I designed and built by Peter Parker. A highly armored suit, this comes with features such as a highly advanced heads-up display, four retractable spider legs deployed from the back of the suit and bulletproof plating. Mark II was designed and created by Ben, and came with artificial recreations of most of his powers as this was built when his powers were gone. The recreations included digital Spider-Sense, adhesive boots and gloves with super strength, web shooters, and camouflage mode to name a few.

UPGRADED SUIT

Design by Giuliazobeide (https://www.fiverr.com/giuliazobeide/draw-your-own-spidersona) and DispenserSoda (Instagram), reference sheet by DispenserSoda.

Manufactured in early-mid-2022, this is an upgraded version of the Classic Suit, taking elements from his previous suits and fusing them together to create what can only be described as Ben's favorite and definitive suit. Features and capabilities include: heads-up display, infrared vision, and built-in glider wings (dubbed the Web Wings) that Ben can deploy at any time. This is his current suit.

PROGRAMMABLE MATTER SUIT

Being owed a favor from the Tinkerer and the Underground after saving them from death, Ben cashed in the favor in 2023 by asking the Tinkerer to build a suit to help combat his clone, Scarlet Spider, who at the time was bonded to Venom. The suit materializes in a fashion similar to nanotechnology, is highly durable (bulletproof plating) and is equipped with Anti-Venom weaponry, including four spider-arms that are deployed from the back, similar to the Iron Spider suits, that are capable of firing webs, as well as sonic pulse blasts and beams. However, the suit has a limited amount of sonic energy.

LEGACY SUIT

A suit designed by Ben and manufactured using the Spider-Society's resources. This suit was worn to the final battle with a brainwashed Scarlet Spider, with the final aim of snapping her out of her brainwashing and bringing back her true personality once and for all. The suit retains multiple features from suits past, such as the Web Wings, a heads-up display and four spider-arms deployed from the back, with similar functions to the Programmable Matter Suit's arms - except that the suit fires webs and electricity instead of sonic energy. He has two variants of this suit: one with a color palette and pattern closer to his traditional black and green, and another with white, black and green. The white is meant as a tribute to his late parents, as it was their favorite color.

PERSONALITYBen is a usually very sociable person. His usual demeanor is characterized by a friendly and upbeat mood. Though appearing to be mostly extroverted, he's better described as an ambivert: confident and outgoing in most situations, although requiring some moments alone from time to time. It is notable that his more sociable side is in control most of the time, though.While he's quite sociable and not really introverted, as Jade-Spider he shows a much more extroverted and confident side to him, frequently interacting with civilians and cracking wise in the middle of battles. More often than not, he does it to throw enemies off balance and to mess with them, but sometimes he uses it to mask his own insecurities. But much like other Spider-People, whenever he gets serious, he drops the quips and does whatever it takes to achieve his goal.Ben possesses a strong desire to help people, as well as a strong sense of responsibility and justice, always seeking to do what is right simply because it's the right thing to do. He believes, much like other spiders, that with great power, comes great responsibility, and has devoted himself to living by that motto, believing that if somebody has the power to do something to help, it is their responsibility to do so. He is incredibly selfless, and will rush in and risk his own life to save others without a shadow of hesitation.He is also fiercely protective of his friends and family, and will do anything he can to keep them out of harm's way. As a young man who's lost a lot of things and people, he does his best to make sure no one else close to him will have to die. Although, he fully trusts those who he knows can take care of themselves, such as his former legal guardian Lía Carlos or more recently, his older half-sister, Akari (also known as the Ronin).However, this protectiveness can sometimes also become overprotectiveness, and also doubles as a huge flaw of his - namely his fear of losing the ones he loves, and having to feel the pain of grief all over again often making bad decisions out of fear of losing them, often detrimental to his goals and sometimes costing him essential victories as Jade-Spider. One such decision can for example be barring someone close to him from helping him out during a fight by pushing them away - this can be done in several ways, such as restraining them with webs so he can fight them alone, or even knocking them out with a pressure point strike learned from his sister. He may know that this person is most likely essential to winning a fight against someone and will not be able to take them on alone, but even with this knowledge, if he genuinely believes that someone will not survive a fight he will do whatever he can to keep them out of it, even acting outright hostile just to keep them out of the fight. However, this flaw is in remission following his final skirmish with the Scarlet Spider - he still fears losing those close to him, but he does not let it affect his judgement as strongly as it did previously.Additionally, he has a bit of a tendency to live in the past - often dwelling about his failures, most notably failing to save his loved ones and losing them, directly tying into his fear of loss and fueling it.He also has a bit of a workaholism streak - whenever a highly dangerous, huge, or deeply personal threat comes along, his sense of work-life balance starts to fade away, neglecting and pushing away everything else, instead prioritizing Jade-Spider and eliminating the threat as soon as possible and however he can to the point where it affects his own life, such as his grades and GPA slipping, or losing freelance gigs he was hired for.While not easy to anger, his rage isn't something you should try your luck with. Ben shows a much more darker side of him when pushed to the limit of his anger, and he gets notably more violent and brutal, going as far as breaking bones in his worst cases (though he always refrains from crossing the line by killing). Additionally, his rage can sometimes also be a flaw, as he may sometimes stop thinking rationally and begin acting off of his emotions - also leading him to make impulsive decisions or leaving plenty of room for someone to catch him off guard in a fight if he doesn't hit them first.To summarize: friendly, confident and sociable most of the time, although prone to having introverted moments. But most importantly: selfless, compassionate and courageous, with an indomitable desire and will to save people and protect the city he loves, much like the other spiders spread out across the multiverse.

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CHARACTER HISTORY

BACKGROUND / 1998-2004

Ben was born on the 1st of January 2004 to an American father and a Japanese mother, Cade Chrysler and Junshi Teshima.Cade was a field agent of SHIELD, while his mother was a private investigator in Japan. After the latter gave birth to Ben, they both retired so their son could have a normal life as possible when he was born. However, their retirement plans were cut short when Ben was only 3 years old, when both of them suddenly rejoined SHIELD (with his mother being recruited in as well) as intelligence officers.Before Ben was born, Junshi lived in Japan and was married to another man and had a daughter: Akari. However, Junshi's work investigating what she believed was more than a mere Yakuza faction had put her directly in the crosshairs of the Hand, a ninja clan who valued power and control over all else, and had the alleged ability to resurrect the dead. After coming dangerously close to exposing them and their existence, they sent ninjas to her home to kill her and her family. Junshi survived, but her husband was killed and the Hand almost succeeding in abducting Akari. Believing herself unable to protect her daughter, she faked her death, forged a new identity for her and sent her away to keep her out of the Hand's crosshairs.Overwhelmed by the loss of her family, Junshi quit her career as a private eye, walking around for years with constant self-loathing following her around before eventually meeting Cade. After a while, the two fell in love, and Junshi decided to give parenting a second chance, giving birth to Benjiro Chrysler (Ben would go by the Teshima surname in his later years).All the while, Junshi regularly kept tabs on her daughter - though she no longer had her with her, she still wanted to ensure her daughter was safe - and desired to eventually be reunited with her. But when Akari was 8 years old and Ben was 3, she vanished without a trace. Devastated and desparate, Junshi joined SHIELD, believing her to have been kidnapped and hoping to use its resources to track down her missing daughter.

ORIGIN / MAY 2017

For 13 years, Ben lived a normal life, developing a special interest in movies, filmmaking, videography, photography, and video games. Amongst his favorite franchises and characters growing up were Star Wars, the DC Universe (Superman, Green Lantern and Batman in particular), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ben 10, looking up to them and regarding them as role models while also spending countless hours watching their TV shows and movies. Though his parents were busy from time to time due to their work with SHIELD, he loved them both dearly - and also had a close relationship with his grandfather on his mother's side, often seeking him out when his parents weren't available. However, during his time growing up, there was always something that felt missing - ever since he was told Akari's story and fate by his parents, not a single day of Ben's life went by where he didn't think of his sister, and the siblinghood he could have had with her, wishing that he'd gotten to know her and mourning his chance at doing so.One day in May of 2017, however, his life would be irreversibly changed when a genetically engineered spider crawled out of the sewers and into a subway station, it crawled onto Ben's shoes, drawn to their green color - following him home. Ben would later discover the spider on the green lighting of his bedroom wall - and when attempting to snap a picture of it with his camera, the spider ended up biting him. Soon, he developed spider-like abilities, including the ability to crawl on walls, fire webs from his wrists, camouflage and mimic any physical action after watching it being performed once.Initially, Ben was confused and afraid - unsure of how to handle or use these new powers. However, having Akari's abduction in mind and wishing to make a difference much like his childhood heroes (particularly the Ninja Turtles) had, Ben resolved to use his powers for good - to help the people of New York and make the streets safer, and so he could prevent others from suffering his sister's fate. Thus, he put together a homemade suit, and used his photographic reflexes while rewatching some old favorite movies and TV shows to learn some acrobatics and how to fight, and thus, New York's Spider-Man was born.Within a short amount of time, Spider-Man went viral, and became famous and quickly admired - however, Ben slowly found himself letting his newfound attention getting to his head, becoming overconfident and often exploiting his fame and attempting to maintain it. This would eventually cost him, when notorious supervillain Mysterio publicly challenged Spider-Man to try and stop him. Seeing an opportunity to cement himself as a true superhero in the eyes of the public and believing he could take him down, Ben set his sights on the villain and intercepted what he believed to be his next heist. However, it turned out to be a trap - Mysterio had no intention of robbing any banks, but instead to fight him, claiming he wished to prove that he stood no chance and humiliate him. During the fight, Ben was pushed to his limits and ultimately failed to defeat Mysterio - though interestingly, Ben was deliberately spared after the fight.And the reason became clear shortly after - news stories of Spider-Man robbing banks and and pulling off major crime heists started circulating, and his reputation plummeted overnight. Thus, Ben set out to clear his name whilst trying to avoid being arrested by the police.The next time "Spider-Man" pulled off a bank heist, Ben tailed the impostor as he made his escape - all the way to a warehouse linked to Spoiler Studios, the production company of his idol: famed filmmaker Quentin Beck, much to Ben's confusion and shock.Inside, Ben would find evidence clearing his name and proving Mysterio responsible for the heists - and after a hard battle, Ben escaped with the evidence, though in his preoccupation to clear his name forgot to bring with him the evidence linking Spoiler Studios to Mysterio. Realizing he had lost sight of why he became Jade-Spider in the first place and where his new obsession with attention had led him, he resolved to focus on helping people and stopping crime, whilst also starting to investigate Spoiler Studios.Shortly after clearing his name, one day Ben came home to find someone else in his bedroom waiting for him: Lía Carlos of SHIELD - a former Black Widow who had been experimented on in the Red Room as part of project to make their Widows superhuman, and had gained similar powers to Ben's as a result. Suspicious and curious of the boy's powers, she interrogated him, asking him about the origin of his powers and why he chose to become Spider-Man. Knowing his heart was in the right place, she then seemingly left him alone and had SHIELD back off him too - though not too long after the meeting, Lía gifted him with a proper suit - one based off his own sketches and doodles for his ideal superhero suit (now known as the Classic Suit), so he could do his work not only with appropriate attire, but also with style. Donning it, Ben then set out as Spider-Man to do what he originally meant to do - to protect the people and streets of New York.

EARLY DAYS / MID-LATE 2017

Ben's first order of business as Spider-Man was to properly restart his investigations into Spoiler Studios, doing extensive research both into the company itself and its founder, Quentin Beck, all while also focusing on keeping the streets safe from crooks and criminals. And as a result of his investigations, he had several bouts with Mysterio - trying to find out something new every time, though not with much luck. As a result of their frequent battles, Mysterio became Spider-Man's very first arch-nemesis.During this time, Ben would also come to develop a close friendship with this reality's Peter Parker, both being in the same grade and school. Parker had also been able to deduce Ben's identity within short time of them becoming friends, leading him to become one of the few he could confide in regarding his duties as a superhero. Peter would also help Ben, occasionally serving as something of a "guy in the chair" for him.As time went on, Ben's investigations into Spoiler would slowly but surely start to bear fruit, partly thanks to Peter's assistance as he started noticing a pattern between crime and heist sprees from Mysterio and movies from Spoiler either being announced or going into production. Additionally, several of the locations he'd battled Mysterio at had links to the film studio - but Ben needed proof. Fortunately, it would come to him in the form of a field trip to Spoiler Studios' headquarters in late 2017.Whilst his classmates were getting the tour, Ben snuck into the headquarters utilizing his invisibility, searching tirelessly for evidence that linked back to Mysterio in some way, even running into founder Quentin Beck along the way - though overjoyed he got to meet his idol, it wouldn't last, as when Ben finally gained access to confidential information, it wasn't just confirmed that Spoiler was indeed funded by Mysterio, but that Quentin Beck WAS Mysterio, having taken on the persona not only to gain fame and notoriety, but also to secure funds for his films whenever major studios turned down his movies.Not only that - but Ben had discovered another reason behind Mysterio publicly challenging him. As it turned out, it was to test the full extent of his powers, to record them - and report them back to Norman Osborn, founder and CEO of Oscorp, and the man responsible for the genetically engineered spider that bit him. A redacted international organization had commissioned Oscorp to produce spider-themed superhuman enhancements - and the spider that bit Ben was the first successful model. In his early exploits as Mysterio, Beck had been approached by Osborn, offering to invest in his production company and continue to fund it in exchange for a share future profits, either via box office income or heists, and the occasional favor here and there. Thus, Mysterio had been sent by Osborn to fight Spider-Man and gauge the strength of his abilities by any means necessary - additionally, he had stolen a sample of Ben's blood and given it to Osborn in the process. With the success, Osborn could start producing more spiders for his client. Thus, Ben made it out of the studio with a flash drive full of the evidence intact, intent on handing it over to SHIELD - but in his hastiness had forgotten to cover his tracks on his way out, allowing Quentin to find out that his company had been breached and for him to deduce Spider-Man's true identity.Initially, Ben delivers the evidence to SHIELD - leading them to suspect that the organization that commissioned Oscorp was the Red Room, the organization responsible for training Lía and giving her powers. Upon hearing the Red Room's story, Ben then wonders the possibility of the Red Room being responsible for Akari's disapperance.However, any chance at acting upon the evidence provided was shot down quickly afterwards - in retaliation, Mysterio had abducted Ben's grandfather and demands the flash drive as ransom, exposing his identity to his parents in the process. Thus, Ben impulsively goes against SHIELD and returns the flash drive. However, Beck wanted to retaliate against Ben for interfering with his affairs and coming dangerously close to exposing him - plus, he never had any intention of returning his grandfather, as Naruhito already knew too much after being kidnapped. So Mysterio ended up killing him anyway before Ben's eyes, threatening to do the same to everyone else he cared about if he ever interfered again. Not only realizing that he could have saved his grandfather if he hadn't acted impulsively, but also horrified by the possibility of losing anyone else, Ben was overwhelmed and distraught, and in his grief and guilt deemed himself unfit to be a superhero and quitted being Spider-Man as a result.

REBRANDING AS JADE-SPIDER / 2018

Months passed after the death of Naruhito Teshima, and Ben, now 14, remained broken and unwilling to return to his duties as Spider-Man out of guilt over the loss of his grandfather, and out of fear that he would get someone else close to him. Additionally, his relationship with his mother had grown more strained, due to pushing both her and Cade away as a result of the shame of being both unable to save her father, and indirectly responsible for his death.However, after being convinced by Lía and his parents, having been told that there was still a chance to seek justice for Naruhito's murder and take down Spoiler and Oscorp, as well as being reminded of the good he had done over the last year, Ben finally donned the mask again and resumed his activity as Spider-Man in mid-January of 2018.His campaign against Spoiler Studios restarted, and had now expanded to include investigations into Oscorp for the production of the genetically altered spiders.However, Ben found himself increasingly focusing on bringing down Spoiler and Oscorp to the point of neglecting regular street crimes, obsessed with bringing his grandfather's killer to justice. Not only that, but Ben remained haunted by the memory of Naruhito's death, feeling he could have prevented it if he hadn't acted so impulsively - and obsessively felt the need to become a better hero, a better Spider-Man.These personality traits would later be amplified in March, when Ben found himself bonded to an alien symbiote that altered his suit and significantly enhanced all of his attributes such as strength, speed, and agility. Feeling like it made him a better Spider-Man, Ben decided to keep the suit around - but in the process, severely amplified his negative emotions, particularly rage and hatred, slowly turning his desire for justice into a desire for revenge. Days and weeks passed and the symbiote gradually corrupted Ben, acting increasingly distant and hostile to his loved ones, until he finally recognized its influence during a fight with Mysterio where he had come dangerously close to killing him - and subsequently freed himself of it, before profusely apologizing and reconciling with his family and friends.Though, his troubles with the symbiote weren't done - shortly after, the symbiote found itself bonding to none other Mysterio himself, significantly increasing his rage, hatred, and own desire for vengeance after almost being killed by Spider-Man. Utilizing his newfound aesthetic thanks to the alien, he orchestrated a city-scale illusion on the New York to torment its citizens and kill Spider-Man once and for all. However, Ben was eventually able to defeat him, destroying the illusion and removing the symbiote from Mysterio, managing to trap it, though not without Mysterio escaping in the process.In the aftermath, Ben wished to rebrand his image as Spider-Man, wishing to truly develop his own style. Thus, he began training under Lía, being given proper combat, stealth and acrobatics/traversal training. In the process, he ended up gaining several new lifelong hobbies - namely martial arts, tricking and freerunning/parkour. Finally developing his first proper fighting style (being a mix of taekwondo and boxing), and improving his web-swinging by incorporating tricking, freerunning and parkour stunts and movements into his swinging style, he also chose a new superhero name: Jade-Spider, named after a jade necklace his grandfather had given to him on his 13th birthday.And once he was ready, Jade-Spider set out to finish what he started, and continue his crusade against crime.

For Ben's history from mid-2018 until the present day, click the button below.

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EXTENDED CHARACTER HISTORY

MID-2018 - MID-2019

WIP!!

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EARTH-255

NEW YORK CITY

Earth-255's New York City differs from most other dimensions in quite a clear way: namely its eco-friendly/urban-solarpunk aesthetic, mixing together urban and green lifestyles to make New York City the greenest city in America. It's characterized by several key traits: green buildings, infrastructure and architecture, with most (if not every) building in the city incorporating and integrating greenery in some way (such as in the form of green walls/vertical gardens), more car-free streets and pedestrian-friendly zones, with several streets having been replaced with outdoor spaces, and a greater focus on public transport; in addition to buses and the subway, New York also has its very own tram system for every borough. And to top it all off, the city runs almost entirely on renewable energy sources, such as hydropower from the Hudson River, and wind power from wind turbines/an offshore wind farm.

New York's massive transformation can be owed largely to this universe's Future Foundation, an organization dedicated to better serving humanity's future founded by Reed Richards in the early-to-mid 1960s - with the Fantastic Four having been founded and debuting at the very start of the decade (1960). In the buildup leading to and during the very first Earth Day protests of 1970, the Foundation lobbied for an eco-friendly transformation for the city, with several propositions being made in an attempt to show the world that blending together green lifestyles and urban lifestyles was possible.

In addition to this, the Earth Day protests left a bigger impact than they did in most universes - within no time, multiple states began taking more initiatives for green building and infrastructure, such as tax credits and mandates for water and energy consumption, with New York being among them. The new initiatives introduced, coupled together with the Future Foundation's lobbying, led the city's mayor to announce a green transformation of the street surrounding the Flatiron building (pictured below), turning it into a pedestrian-friendly green space - with surrounding buildings, including the Flatiron, integrating greenery and planting more trees around the area. The transformation essentially served as a test drive for the Foundation's vision for the future.

Image credit: https://www.watg.com/green-block-flatiron-a-vision-for-a-new-new-york-city/

The transformation was incredibly well-received, and Flatiron became a popular new spot for citizens and tourists alike. The makeover provided more space for exercise and leisure for pedestrians, with walkers and cyclists taking full advantage of it, and local businesses such as shops and restaurants thrived as a result of the increase in people stopping by the Flatiron (which led to them, too, beginning to take a more green approach in their business, such as using and selling green products, outdoor dining and shoppping, etcetera). As a result of the reception, the mayor embraced the Future Foundation's proposal for New York and announced plans for a citywide transformation.

New York City then spent the next two decades transforming into the United States' green capital. By the mid-70s, construction had begun - new buildings were mandated to add either green roofs or a solar photovoltaic system, while existing buildings were adapted to match the newer buildings as well, with practically every roof in New York incorporating a sustainable roof. In addition, most buildings also began incorporating greenery and plants, with several adding vertical gardens/green walls. Multiple streets were redesigned and transformed, adding more pedestrian-friendly zones and green spaces, as well as putting an even larger emphasis on public transportation. A brand new tram system was designed, and construction was quick to begin.

The city also began integrating wind power, with an offshore wind farm beginning planning and construction after NASA began to develop wind turbines. Hydropower was also integrated, using water from the Hudson River. With combined solar power, hydropower and windpower, a sizable portion of New York's energy supply became renewable. By the 1990s, the city had completed its transformation, becoming a vision and ideal for other cities worldwide to strive for in terms of sustainable urbanism, and even today, the city continues to look for further solutions to improve and continue its work.

ART STYLE/DESIGN

As a dimension in the Spider-Verse, Earth-255, much like others, has its own distinct art style and design to help separate it from other universes; and in this case, Earth-255 sports a line-and-wash style.

Image credit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CApTKPbnuRZ/?utmsource=igembed

As such, it sports similar elements to that of Earth-65, Spider-Gwen's dimension: most notably a watercolor aesthetic. However, it also contains some differences that separate it from Stacy's universe: first and foremost, unlike 65, 255 does not have a mood ring aspect, and as such, New York does not change colors in accordance to Ben's current mood. Instead, it features naturalistic colors as opposed to abstract ones and an overall more washed out appearance. Another key difference between 255 and 65's artstyle is its added focus on outlines - thus making it more than just watercolor, and earning the label of line-and-wash.

Image credit: https://dougjacksonartwork.com/what-is-line-and-wash.html#/

Though there is no mood ring aspect for the New York of Earth-255, it still has a unique trait similar to that of Earth-65 - though it cannot be perceived by dimensional natives, the color of the city's street lights and skyscraper lights during night can change in accordance with what spiders are active, and operating in what area. Primarily, the city's lights stay green to signify Jade-Spider's activity, but it has also changed to red to signify the Scarlet Spider's presence in the city. However, as of August 2023, the city's lights have primarily been red, green, and blue - looking quite similar to the pixels of a TV-screen close up. And the number in the RGB coloring system required to show these colors are 255 - hence, Earth-255. As such, the green, red and blue skyscraper lights represent Jade-Spider, and his protege, Spider-Woman.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT EARTH-255

Additional information about Earth-255 worth mentioning is its notable residents and organizations. In NYC's criminal underworld, the three largest organizations are the Hand, the Underground, and the Goblin Nation.A ninja organization seeking immortality and power, the Hand is a clan that has endured for centuries with their reach and influence. They previously held several people and groups within their grip, and operated internationally; although most of their assets were located in New York City. However, the clan has been effectively wiped out and dismantled since June of 2023, with the Scarlet Spider having murdered most of its members and leaders. the clan has overall very little influence and power left in New York, but multiple of their assets and remnants remain, including the Nail - a squad of four elite female ninjas spearheading an effort to try and put what's left of the clan back together. In the meantime, they also spend their time constantly ambushing Jade-Spider and his allies during patrol - with very limited degrees of success.The Underground are the biggest suppliers of illegal weapons and supervillain tech in New York, and practically lead the city's illicit gunrunning operations. Led by Phin Mason, they operate from multiple hidden locations, while also having set up multiple businesses as both legitimate sources of income and fronts - the most notable of these being the Loot Box, a night club for college students who also have an affinity for gaming. The Underground's soldiers regularly commit crimes such as theft, hacking, infiltration of legitimate businesses, extortion, money laundering, and of course, black market weapons sales, illegal high tech weapons sales and supervillain tech commissions. And much like their variants on Earth-1048, they also use programmable matter in their weapons and technology.The Goblin Nation is one of NYC's biggest drug dealers, led by Norman Osborn. After Jade-Spider defeated the Sinister Six, The Green Goblin never came back to Oscorp, instead fleeing to try and rebuild his resources after having practically lost everything. In the process, he was able to sell old yet successful protoypes of the Globulin Green, recruiting followers to his side and building up the Goblin Nation to become NYC's biggest drug trafficker. He sells slightly less powerful variants of the Globulin Green to those who want superpowers, those who want to feel big and strong - indeed, the serum gives them power, but at the cost of their sanity.