Summary

  • Marvel's new Ultimate Spider-Man subverts expectations and flips the script on the character's history.
  • The new Ultimate Spider-Man is a grown-up Peter Parker with a family and stable life.
  • The new Ultimate Spider-Man title points the way to how the character can progress in the mainstream Marvel Universe.

Warning: contains spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #1!

Marvel’s new Ultimate Spider-Man beautifully subverts everything fans thought they knew about the character. Late last year, Marvel launched a new Ultimate line, spearheaded by writer Jonathan Hickman. Set on an alternate Earth, a new heroic age is emerging after decades of oppression. With this new age of heroes comes a new Spider-Man, one who wonderfully flips the script on 60+ years of history.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 is written by Hickman and drawn by Marco Checchetto. Fans meet a grown-up Peter Parker, married to Mary Jane and proud father of two kids. He works at the Daily Bugle…alongside his Uncle Ben, who is also best friends with J. Jonah Jameson. Peter has no powers yet, but deep down he feels something is missing. Peter then encounters a recording from Tony Stark, made six months in the future. The recording explains the current world situation and tells Peter he was supposed to have gained powers years ago.

Comic book : A bearded Ultimate Peter Parker looks at himself in the mirror.

He is then presented with a spider in a jar, who bites him—transforming him into Spider-Man.

Marvel's New Ultimate Line Honors the Spirit of the Original

Uncle Ben sits in his office at the Daily Bugle

Marvel’s first Ultimate line launched with Ultimate Spider-Man in late 2000, and it quickly became a hit with fans and critics. Designed to entice new fans, the book took Spider-Man back to his roots, tweaking his origin and bringing it into the modern era. The first Ultimate line ended in the early 2010s, but Marvel has dusted the concept off once again. The Maker, one of the last survivors of the original Ultimate universe, found a new Earth in the multiverse, one that he shaped to his liking—and one of his first acts was to sabotage the accident that gave Peter Parker his powers, causing him to lead a normal life.

This was only the beginning of the new Ultimate Spider-Man’s subversion of the character. Uncle Ben’s death was a watershed moment in Spider-Man’s life, in both 616 and the Ultimate Universe, but here he is alive and well, and is a stabilizing presence in Peter’s life. On the other hand, Aunt May is dead, as is Norman Osborn. Peter’s life is also going well: he has a stable job, is happily married and a family man. He enjoys a good relationship with J. Jonah Jameson as well. All of this makes the new Ultimate Spider-Man a far cry from his Earth-616 counterpart.

Featured Image: Comic book Spider-Man lifting mask and crying (let); Toby MaGuire film Spidey crying (right)
Related
Marvel Confirms Spider-Man Has It Rough Across the Entire Multiverse

An omnipotent, all-seeing being confirms what Peter Parker had already suspected, and hoped wasn't true...but the Ultimate Universe could fix.

Spider-Man Could Be So Much More if Only Marvel Would Let Him

Ultimate Spider-Man 2, Peter stands against a cityscape backdrop in his all-black costume

With so much of what fans know and love about the character being upended, there is a possibility for the new Ultimate Spider-Man book to go off the rails, but in Hickman and Checchetto’s hands, it succeeds wonderfully. Hickman and Checchetto immediately sell fans on the idea of a successful Peter Parker. They also manage to do something that might approach blasphemy for some Spider-Man fans: they keep Uncle Ben alive, but manage to make that work as well. In many ways, the new Ultimate Spider-Man title points the way to how the character can grow and progress in the mainstream Marvel Universe.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!