Forged by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch in the recent Ultimate Invasion limited series, Marvel's new Ultimate Universe will be home to radical transformations of our favourite heroes, and nowhere will this be more apparent than in the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man.
Written by Hickman and illustrated by acclaimed artist Marco Checchetto, this is the first ongoing series of the new Ultimate line and presents a startling twist to the Spider-Man mythos. After the Maker used time travel to create a world without heroes, Peter Parker lived a relatively normal life, marrying Mary Jane and building a family which includes two children.
Now, it’s time to set things right! Learning the truth behind his reality, Peter will step up to become the Amazing Spider-Man the world didn't know it was missing.
In this first look at Ultimate Spider-Man #1 ahead of its release in stores this Wednesday, we see that this world's Peter has finally grown up. However, as this version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider as a teenager, he isn't Spider-Man yet and will gain those spectacular powers as an adult.
It's an intriguing dynamic and one which means neither Richard nor May (his and MJ's children) will have spider-powers. We're not sure how Peter will balance being a husband and parent with becoming a superhero, though something tells us that will be part of the fun with this Ultimate Spider-Man relaunch.
For those of you wondering, this is a completely new Peter Parker in a cloned version of Earth-616 which The Maker - the evil Ultimate Reed Richards - remade in his image, rewriting history to stop certain heroes, like Spidey, from ever being created. Tony Stark/Iron Lad has set out to make things right, of course, hence why Spider-Man is finally swinging into action.
"When we decided that we were going to do a book about an older Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, we really wanted to lean into him starting his super hero life from a very different place than what's traditionally expected," Hickman previously said. "Peter and MJ being married is one of many decisions we made that underline this being quite a 'different' kind of Spider-Man story."
Check out this preview of Ultimate Spider-Man #1 below courtesy of AIPT:
Visionary writer Jonathan Hickman (House of X/Powers of X) and acclaimed artist Marco Checchetto (Daredevil) bring you a bold new take on Spider-Man, with this, the debut title of the new line of Ultimate Comics! After the events of Ultimate Invasion, the world needs a hero...who will rise up to take on that responsibility? Prepare to be entangled in a web of mystery and excitement as the all-new Ultimate Spider-Man comic redefines the wall-crawler for the 21st Century!
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art & Cover by MARCH CHECCHETTO
On Sale 1/10