Ultimate Spider-Man
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Ultimate Spider-Man is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series is a modernized reimagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise. Ultimate Spider-Man is set outside the Marvel Universe continuity, in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, which it introduced.
Ultimate Spider-Man first saw print in 2000 under veteran Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley and writer Brian Michael Bendis, who expanded original 11-page origin story into a 180-page story arc. This duo has been collaborating to this day. Upon completion of issue #103, the two will break the record for the longest continuous collaboration between a writer and an artist on one title, a record previously held by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Fantastic Four.
Commercial and critical success
After the commercial and critical failure of , a previous attempt at rebooting continuity, the expectations for Ultimate Spider-Man were not too high'Ultimate Spider-Man #1 was voted ninth greatest Marvel Comic of All Time in 2001 by readers of . In addition to critical success, Ultimate Spider-Man grew to outsell the flagship Spider-Man title, Amazing Spider-Man (reference: Diamond Comics [link]).
Characters
Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Fifteen-year-old Peter Parker is a shy, intelligent high school student who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May Parker. On a science field trip to Osborn Industries, a genetically altered spider bites Peter. Instead of dying as expected, Peter inherits the spider's abilities, including increased strength, agility, and reflexes, the ability to cling to walls, and a precognitive "spider sense" that warns him of danger. During a fight at his school, Peter accidentally breaks a boy's hand. He earns money to pay off the resulting medical bill by wrestling professionally in a costume the promoters provide. A burglar Peter refuses to stop later kills Peter's uncle Ben, and Peter, wracked with guilt, modifies his wrestling costume and dedicates his life to fight crime. Peter tries to balance school, a job, a girlfriend, his aunt May, and his life as Spider-Man, which proves to be difficult.For detailed plot synopses, see Ultimate Spider-Man (story arcs).
Supporting cast
- May Parker is a pillar of strength for Peter. She is a very independent woman in her 50s who works as a secretary. She regularly sees a therapist to deal with her feelings after Ben's death. May hates Spider-Man because he has no regard for innocent bystanders and hides his face behind a mask.
- Ben Parker is a gentle, intelligent man who tells Peter that power comes with responsibility. He is killed by a burglar in the series' first story arc.
- Mary Jane Watson is Peter's best friend and next-door neighbor. She is the first person Peter tells about his being Spider-Man, and she sews Peter's spare costumes. Although Peter and Mary Jane love each other, Peter's life as Spider-Man is a burden on their relationship.
- Harry Osborn is the troubled son of Norman Osborn. He witnesses the accident that turns his father into the Green Goblin. His father brainwashes him into repressing memories. Disturbed by witnessing his father's "death", he begins to "see things", turns into an orange monster, and is defeated by Spider-Man. As the Hobgoblin, his powers are similar to the Green Goblin's.
- J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Bugle who hates Spider-Man and runs a smear campaign against him.
- Robbie Robertson is Jameson's right-hand man and the voice of reason when Jameson's anti-Spider-Man agenda goes too far.
- Ben Urich is the Bugle's star reporter whose articles helped take down the Kingpin.
- Gwen Stacy is streetwise girl who befriends Peter and Mary Jane. Her father is killed by a criminal in a Spider-Man suit, and she blames the real Spider-Man for his death. May opens her and Peter's home to Gwen after Gwen's mother refuses to take her. While living with the Parkers, Gwen is killed by Carnage, which instills Peter with even more guilt.
- John Stacy, Gwen Stacy's father, is a hard-nosed captain in the NYPD who has romantic feelings for Aunt May. He us killed by a criminal dressed as Spider-Man.
- Fred "Flash" Thompson is a bully who torments Peter.
- Kenny McFarlane ("Kong"), Flash Thompson's best friend, joins Flash in picking on Peter, but he is a big fan of Spider-Man.
- Kitty Pryde is a member of the X-Men who dates Peter after he breaks up with Mary Jane. Kitty wears a green and yellow masked costume so that she can fight alongside Peter as Spider-Man.
- The Black Cat, Felicia Hardy, the blames her father's death on the Kingpin. Taking revenge, she steals a priceless artifact that he was going to use on his comatose wife. Hardy is interested in Spider-Man romantically, but when she sees that he is a pimply 15-year-old boy, she vomits on his costume.
- Nick Fury, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., wants Peter to join the Ultimates when he is an adult. He is tough, powerful and connected.
- Dr. Curt Conners is a professor at Empire State University who sponsors Eddie Brock's Venom project. He tries to re-grow the arm he lost in the Vietnam War with lizard DNA, and he accidentally becomes the Lizard. Using a sample of Peter's blood, he inadvertently creates Carnage.
- Jeanne de Wolfe is a captain in NYPD. She offers support and comfort to Peter whenever the strain of being a crimefighter becomes too much for him. She is secretly working for the Kingpin.
Villains
- Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, is the unscrupulous CEO of Oscorp. He develops an experimental drug called "OZ". After witnessing Peter's spider bite and seeing the resulting effects that OZ has on him, Osborn injects OZ into his body. He is changed into an insane, powerful monster
- The Kingpin Wilson Fisk is the head of New York corporate crime. Fisk's wife is in a coma.
- The Enforcers are a group of henchmen that includes "Mr. Big" Frederick Foswell, lasso-wielding "Montana" Bale, strongman Bruno "Ox" Sanchez and gunslinger "Fancy Dan" Rubinstein.
- Electro, one of the Kingpin's hitmen, gained his powers from genetic tampering.
- Doctor Octopus, Dr. Otto Octavius, is one of Osborn's scientists and an industrial spy. The four cybernetic arms he uses to manipulate hazardous matter were permanently melded to his flesh in the explosion that turns Osborn into the Green Goblin.
- Kraven The Hunter, Sergei Kravinoff, is the host of an action reality show. He wants to kill Spider-Man to boost his ratings. After his defeat, he tampers with his DNA to become a gruesome wolf-like monster.
- Venom, Eddie Brock Jr., is a university student who was Peter's childhood friend. He is the son of Peter's father's long-time collaborator on an experimental power-increasing balm code-named Venom. Eddie comes into contact with Venom and becomes a super-strong monster. He goes insane and is gunned down by the police.
- Carnage is a vampiric abomination created when Dr. Curt Conners experiments on Peter’s blood and some of the material from the Venom project. Needing to feed on others constantly to repair his damaged DNA, he kills Gwen Stacy.
- Deadpool is a mercenary employed by the mutant-hating island nation of Genosha to hunt and kill the X-Men. He abducts and fights Spider-Man as a bonus.
- Silver Sable is a mercenary who leads a group called the Wild Pack. Sable had a troubled childhood, ignored by her father and abused by her alcoholic mother. Her father hunted Nazis, and she forgave him at his deathbed and decided to follow in his footsteps.
People who know Peter Parker is Spider-Man
In Ultimate Spider-Man, quite a few people know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. The people who know Peter's secret include Dr. Curt Conners, Dr. Strange, Nick Fury and high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the Ultimates, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, Eddie Brock, Norman Osborn, Dr. Octopus, Electro, Kraven, Sandman, the X-Men, and Mary Jane Watson. People who unmask Spider-Man but do not know his name include Kingpin, Black Cat, the Enforcers, Morbius, Silver Sable and her Wild Pack and Donald RoxxonVideo game
- Main article: Ultimate Spider-Man (video game)
In the game, we learn that Peter still has some of the Venom suit in his cells from when he first tried it on in Vol. 6, Venom. For this reason, Venom begins hunting Spider-Man in order to absorb the part of the suit that is in Peter. At the same time, Trask Industries (the corporation that stole the rights to the Venom suit from Richard Parker and Eddie Brock, Sr.) hires Silver Sable (in her first appearance in the Ultimate universe) to hunt down Venom. However, upon capturing him, only to have him escape, she decides to capture Spider-Man instead and brings him to Trask, where they experiment on him and introduce another sample of the Venom suit into him. This process inadvertently creates another copy of Carnage, who then escapes. Carnage encounters Venom, who defeats and absorbs him; as a result of this, Eddie Brock gains control over the suit and becomes more powerful, growing the classical white black widow insignia.
Other segments in the game include the first appearance of Ultimate Beetle, an armored mercenary with Latverian connections and unknown motives who steals a vial labeled "SANDMAN" from Trask Industries; Alex O'Hirn, a Trask scientist who wears the R.H.I.N.O.2 battlesuit; and Silver Sable's mercenary crew, the Wild Pack.
Marvel promoted issues 86-88 of the comic book as the story that would deal with the fallout of the video game. However, these comics suggest that many of the game's events never actually occurred -- for example, Silver Sable seemingly has no idea who Spider-Man really is, even though she learned his secret identity from Eddie Brock in the game. Many fans wondered if these issues were actually an adaption of the game's storyline, including Spider-man and Silver Sable's first encounter, rather than a continuation of it. But as the story progressed, this did not appear to be the case either. As in the game, Silver Sable was hired by a large corporation to capture Spider-man, but this time the corporation was Roxxon and their reasons for wanting Spider-man had nothing to do with the Venom suit. Also, in the game, Peter and Mary Jane are still a couple, while in the comics, they have broken up.
[In a recent interview,] Bendis has confirmed that these issues were not an adaption of the game, but were indeed a completely separate story arc that took place long after the events of the game. According to Bendis, the video game's storyline took place between issue's #36 and #46 of the comic book. While this does clarify that issue's 86-88 were not meant to "replace" the events of the game, it does not explain why Silver Sable no longer knows Spider-man is Peter Parker. This may be explained in a future issue, or alternately, it may simply be a continuity error.
Trivia
- Bendis has stated that issue #13 (featuring a watershed moment in the life of Peter and Mary Jane) is his favourite issue [link], because it showed the support Marvel had for him and his interpretation of Spider-Man.
- "Hollywood" (#54-59) was obviously written as a parody/appetizer for the 2004 film Spider-Man 2. In the arc, an unauthorized film was being made about Spider-Man with Dr. Octopus as the main villain (with Mysterio as a secondary villain). The story arc featured male lead Tobey Maguire, director Sam Raimi and Marvel-movie head Avi Arad in cameo roles
- In the Double Trouble arc, a reporter called "Eddie Brock" is mentioned as a reporter for the Daily Globe. Later, in the Venom arc, Eddie Brock appears as a college student who - after Peter tells him about his job - states he would really want to work at a newspaper. In the German version of Ultimate Spider-Man, this was explained that these two were two different persons sharing a fairly common name, and that the first Eddie Brock was a nod to the mainstream, adult Eddie Brock. Bendis has stated that when the Double Trouble arc came out, he was still unsure how to portray the Ultimate version of Eddie, and he thought about making him a reporter like in the Marvel Universe. However he later changed his mind and explains the Double Trouble Eddie Brock like the German version does. That said, when looking up Eddie on the Internet White Pages, Peter comes up with only one result, the Eddie Brock who eventually becomes Venom.
- In fact Marvel were not initially sure Sony would let them do a parody of the Spider-Man movie, so they made alternate plans to have the parody movie star "Arachno-Man" (with a yellow costume) and even had issue 54 all drawn up before they got the go-ahead for the parody. Issue 54 was later re-released as a limited edition "Arachno-Man variant" with Arachno-Man in the movie instead, and Arachno-Man is an unlockable costume in the Ultimate Spider-Man game.
- Writer Brian Michael Bendis seems to have some difficulties naming his secondary characters consistently. Mary Jane's father is sometimes called "Greg", then "Craig", and Kenny McFarlane was first called "Clifford Harlan" and then "Kenny". His nickname was once referred to as King Kong and never again. Peter's dead father has also been called Ray and Richard, although Ray is sometimes used as a nickname for Richard.
- Patsy Walker has made four notable cameo appearances, once as a spokeswoman for a security firm (#11), then as a swimsuit model for Maxim magazine (#14), presenting a biography on Doctor Strange(#70) and finally she presents a chat show that can be seen under Kraven the Hunter's TV show in issue 16.
- The Hobgoblin arc issues #72-78 (2005) marks nine months since Peter was bit by the genetically altered spider in Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2000) Bendis has stated that he would like to age Peter a year every 100 issues.
- In Issue #88, when Peter is being asked to open his bag, a policeman can be seen searching another student's bag and finding a copy of Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' Trade Paperback. The ''Watchmen copy is later blacked-out in the collected edition.
Marvel references and cameos
Brian Michael Bendis works many references to both Marvel staff Marvel Universe characters into the scripts for Ultimate Spider-Man. Ross Andru is the principal of Peter's school. Ross Andru was a long-time Spider-Man artist. Avi Arad, Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire appear as themselves in the Hollywood arc. In issue #88, Mark Raxton mentions that he plays in a club called "The Romita". John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr. are long-time Spider-Man artists. In the Learning Curve arc, Peter writes an e-mail using the name Arthur Simek. Simek was a Silver Age letterer for Marvel Comics. He gets a reply from someone named Sam Rosen. Sam Rosen is Marvel's other prominent Silver Age letterer. In the Ultimate Spider-Man Annual, Peter receives an e-mail from someone named Ralph Macchio. Macchio is the series' editor.Tandy Bowen (Dagger) appears as the student council president of Peter's school. Patsy Walker is mentioned frequently: as a security firm's spokeswoman in issue #11, as a Maxim swimsuit model in issue #14, on TV presenting a biography of Doctor Strange in issue #70, and as the host of a talk show in issue #16. In issue #53, Peter Parker browses the names of known cat-burglars, and it includes a number of names for Marvel Universe characters: Abner Jenkins (Beetle), Benjamin Poindexter (Bullseye), Carradine (the burglar who kills Uncle Ben), Cletus Kasady (Carnage), Dmitri Smerdyakov (Chameleon), Hobie Brown (Prowler), Rick Lawson (Prowler II), Thomas Fireheart (Puma), and Martin Blank (Gibbon). In issue #78, Mary Jane meets Mark Raxton, who in the Marvel Universe is the villain Molten Man. At a concert, he plays the song "You are my Molten Man". In the "Hobgoblin Story Arc, Harry enters his father's secret hideout, and the Green Goblin masks from Ultimate Spider-Man, the Marvel Universe titles, and the Spider-Man films are visible.
Bibliography
- Ultimate Spider-Man #1— ,1/2, Annual (October 200— )
- Ultimate Spider-Man video game
| Title | Material collected | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| Volume 1: Power and Responsibility | Ultimate Spider-Man #1-7 | ISBN 078510786X |
| Volume 2: Learning Curve | Ultimate Spider-Man #8-13 | ISBN 0785108203 |
| Volume 3: Double Trouble | Ultimate Spider-Man #14-21 | ISBN 0785108793 |
| Volume 4: Legacy | Ultimate Spider-Man #22-27 | ISBN 0785109684 |
| Volume 5: Public Scrutiny | Ultimate Spider-Man #28-32 | ISBN 0785110879 |
| Volume 6: Venom | Ultimate Spider-Man #33-39 | ISBN 0785110941 |
| Volume 7: Irresponsible | Ultimate Spider-Man #40-45 | ISBN 0785110925 |
| Volume 8: Cats & Kings | Ultimate Spider-Man #47-53 | ISBN 0785112502 |
| Volume 9: Ultimate Six | Ultimate Spider-Man #46; Ultimate Six #1-7 | ISBN 0785113126 |
| Volume 10: Hollywood | Ultimate Spider-Man #54-59 | ISBN 0785114025 |
| Volume 11: Carnage | Ultimate Spider-Man #60-65 | ISBN 0785114033 |
| Volume 12: Superstars | Ultimate Spider-Man #66-71 | ISBN 078511629X |
| Volume 13: Hobgoblin | Ultimate Spider-Man #72-78 | ISBN 0785116478 |
| Volume 14: Warriors | Ultimate Spider-Man #79-85 | ISBN 078511680X |
| Volume 15: Silver Sable | Ultimate Spider-Man Annual; Ultimate Spider-Man #86-90 | ISBN 0785116818 |
| Volume 16: Deadpool | Ultimate Spider-Man #91-96 | ISBN 0785119272 |
Ultimate Spider-Man also has been collected in the following harcovers:
| Volume # | Material collected | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ultimate Spider-Man #1-13 | ISBN 078510898X |
| 2 | Ultimate Spider-Man #14-27 | ISBN 0785110615 |
| 3 | Ultimate Spider-Man #28-39, 1/2 | ISBN 0785111565 |
| 4 | Ultimate Spider-Man #40-45, 47-53 | ISBN 0785112499 |
| 5 | Ultimate Spider-Man #46, 54-59; Ultimate Six #1-7, | ISBN 0785114017 |
| 6 | Ultimate Spider-Man #60-71 | ISBN 0785118411 |
| 7 | Ultimate Spider-Man #72-85 | ISBN 078512148X |
Future developments
- Peter will turn 16 in issue 100 (it will lead into a 3-part storyline involving Kitty and Mary Jane.)
- A new version of the contoversial Clone Saga has also been announced to begin in issue 97 and end in issue 104. Scorpion, Tarantula, Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman and an unrevealed character will be making their Ultimate debut. Also mentioned by Bendis is that the blood sample being snuck out by Ben Reilly as well as the blood sample taken from Norman Osborn in the first story arc will play a central role. The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and The Ultimates will all make appearances and have active roles in trying to help Peter-or stop Peter-from whatever's going on.
- Brian Michael Bendis has confirmed that Kitty Pryde will play a major role in Spider-Man's future romantic plots, setting up a love triangle with Peter standing between her and Mary Jane Watson. The Ultimate X-Men comic has acknowledged this connection between the two heroes, though they only touched on their relationship briefly.
- Bendis also said that Peter will learn more of the plane crash that claimed his parents' lives [link].
- Ultimate Spider-man Annual #2 will feature the Kingpin, Daredevil, The Punisher,and Moon Knight. It will also feature the Ultimate debut of Ultimate Kangaroo.
See also
External links
- [Ultimate Spider-Man on www.spiderfan.org]
- [Ultimate Spider-Man overview at Spyder-25.com]
- [Crawl Space, All Spidey, All The Time]
- [Ultimate Spider-Man @ ULTIMATE X]
- [Spider-Man fan page]
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