Warning: contains spoilers for Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1!
With Spider-Man's current comic era coming to an end in Amazing Spider-Man #74, fans are getting ready for the 'Spider-Man Beyond' arc, which will see Ben Reilly (a heroic clone of Peter Parker) adopt the Spider-Man mantle. Fans got to see Ben in action (and a cool new suit) in Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1, which also confirmed that the 'Beyond' part of this new era is related to the Beyond Corporation - a front for the most dangerous and powerful villains in the Marvel Universe.
Ben is a clone of Peter created by the Jackal, possessing his early memories and drive to help others. Shaken by his true nature, Ben spent a long time as a much more morally dubious figure than Peter, though he recently earned redemption as the Scarlet Spider. Meanwhile, Peter has been facing the supernatural villain Kindred, who has recruited all the Wall-Crawler's deadliest villains to finally end his life. Promotional materials suggest Peter could yet survive, but that he may be badly injured, creating an opportunity for Ben to take over with the backing of the Beyond Corporation, which it's revealed is trying to establish him as "the real Spider-Man."
First appearing in Nextwave #1, the Beyond Corporation is a company run to further the ends of predatory, godlike beings from outside reality. These beings - strongly implied to be rogue Beyonders - enjoy "playing" with mortals for entertainment, and particularly enjoy meddling in the lives of superheroes, since they tend to be magnets for the kind of high drama and intense action they enjoy. Nextwave saw the Beyond Corporation kidnap and toy with a group of heroes including Monica Rambeau and Elsa Bloodstone, subjecting them to ludicrous (though harrowing) adventures in a pocket dimension.
In Captain America and the Mighty Avengers, Cortex Inc. CEO Jason Quantrell was possessed by the beings behind the Beyond Corporation after making contact with the space between realities where they reside. Though Quantrell only contained the smallest part of his near-omnipotent masters, his reality-warping powers made him undefeatable by normal means, and he was only stopped by Kevin Brashear, the son of the Blue Marvel, who sacrificed himself to drag Quantrell back outside Marvel's reality. Sadly, it's since been implied the Beyond Corporation still serves its absent masters, and could have plans underway to once again allow them back into their favorite "playground."
How Ben Reilly might fit into these plans is unclear, but the Beyond Corporation's entire purpose has long been simply to test and torture heroes, putting them through hell in order to amuse beings incapable of truly valuing human life. Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1's 'Test Drive' (from Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Alejandro Sanchez, and Joe Caramagna) sees Ben trying out the Beyond Corporation's support staff and new, armored costume before agreeing to work with the company as a hero in the public eye. Ben has long struggled with feeling like a fraud, and so the Beyond Corporation may be raising him up just for the fun of tearing him down later, but it's equally likely he's being used as a pawn to fully unleash the Beyond Corporation's all-powerful masters, or even set up as their new avatar.
One of Spider-Man's greatest strengths is how versatile he is as a character, chasing down magic tablets one minute and preventing street crime the next. It seems Ben Reilly's new role will see that continue to be true, as he starts a new job working with the corporate arm of merciless, reality-warping gods from outside time and space. Fans can check out Amazing Spider-Man #75 this October to see what the Beyond Corporation has planned for Ben Reilly's Spider-Man.