Ben Urich - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Urich first appeared in Daredevil stories, where he investigated Wilson Fisk, a businessman who was secretly the Kingpin, the head of the New York mafia.

Urich plays a vital behind-the-scenes role in the Punisher limited series Circle of Blood (drawn by Mike Zeck). When a younger, less experienced Punisher mistakenly believes his quest of killing the Kingpin is over, he leaves a message for Urich. The resulting story results in the murders of several mafia men and the deaths of many innocent people, teaching the entire community how vital Kingpin unfortunately is.

Ben learns the secret of Daredevil's identity but refuses to divulge it. He is drawn into the circle of revenge the Kingpin has planned for Daredevil. Ben tries emotionally overcome the intimidation but the threats come closer to home. His fingers are broken and he hears the death of a witness over the phone. His courage crumbles but he rallies back. Despite a threat against his wife, Urich uses public support to destroy the Kingpin's empire.

Urich later takes on another criminal businessman, Norman Osborn, commonly known as the Green Goblin. After Osborn's presumed death, Urich writes an expose book on the man's many crimes, title 'Legacy of Evil'. During the course of research for the book, Ben helps Spider-Man and the Molten Man save Liz Allan's son from kidnappers who resembled the Green Goblin. His research helped the trio go through the Goblin's history and eventually discover what had really gone on. When Norman returns from the dead (or rather, Europe) he was able to discredit Urich and the book, going through great effort to clear his name.

During the period where Daredevil's identity was exposed in print, Ben refused to confirm it to J. Jonah Jameson on the principle of protecting his sources and his status at work suffered for it. However, Jameson was able to move beyond that argument when he assigned Ben to the new supplement, The Pulse. During this assignment he reveals to Peter Parker that he knows his identity as Spider-Man. It is also around this time that Matt Murdock sets up a meeting with Ben to privately announce that he is ending their professional relationship to avoid for anyone else to discover this connection and using Ben to get to Murdock.

Ben Urich turned out to be right when he originally exposed the Green Goblin, as Daily Bugle research would show, and conclusively when the Green Goblin was publicly unmasked by Luke Cage and sent to jail. Plans for a re-release of Legacy of Evil were discussed at that point; however, nothing further has yet been mentioned in any subsequent story arc of any title. Although the Green Goblin is currently at large again, he can no longer walk around free as he was before.

Later, Ben was approached by the Kingpin to act as journalist covering the Kingpin brokering a deal with the FBI for release and reinstatement of his wealth, in exchange for proof that Daredevil is in fact Matt Murdock. To Ben's horror, he was the one that was forced to lead the FBI to Daredevil's location. Matt Murdock was recovering at the Night Nurse's clinic, of which Ben Urich knew the location (he had written an article on her), and he was forced to give that information to the FBI, thanks to the manipulation of the Kingpin.