Bennett Brant

Bennett Brant was one of the top students in his law school. Unfortunately he got himself into quite a mess early on in his career when he owed a small-time criminal known as Blackie Gaxton a considerable gambling debt. Gaxton used this opportunity to think of a way to escape from jail. He told him to get Doctor Octopus to spring him from jail. Bennett told his sister Betty (Daily Bugle secretary for J. Jonah Jameson, and love interest for Peter Parker at the time) about his problems and Betty agreed to help him any way she could. She even gave Bennett all the money she had to try and pay off his gambling debt. The time came when Dr. Octopus was to be released from jail. Waiting for him outside the prison in a car, Betty drove the villain to Philadelphia. Unfortunately for them, they were seen outside by Spider-Man, who placed one of his tracers on the car. Arriving at his apartment, Bennett witnessed Dr. Octopus getting angry at his sister. His sister pleaded with him to help her. However Ock knew that Bennett was a weakling and would not dare attack for fear of his life. The time came when Dr. Octopus broke Gaxton from his prison. At that moment however, a couple of armed mobsters ordered Bennett and his sister to make their way to Blackie’s getaway ship. Bennett realised that he was a fool to trust that Gaxton would let them go free. Shortly thereafter, Gaxton and Doc Ock arrived on the getaway ship also. However, nobody realized that Spider-Man had been following them on the ship also. He managed to locate their whereabouts due to the tracer he left on Betty’s car. A battle shortly followed in which Spider-Man managed to defeat all of Blackie’s stooges. However, Blackie managed to pick up a gun on the floor and began firing wildly. Trying to protect his sister, Bennett was accidentally killed by one of the flying bullets. Initially blaming Spider-Man for Bennett’s death, Betty soon came to her senses. However she could not bear to see Spider-Man again in case it reminded her of her brother’s death. This was one of the first steps to the break-up of Peter and Betty’s relationship.