The new Ultimate Universe is a twisted reflection of Earth-616 where The Maker prevented the creation of many of the world's superheroes and formed a secret council to rule the world from the shadows.
Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Lad, has set out to make things right and sent Peter Parker - now a married father of two - a package containing the radioactive spider meant to bite him and a mysterious "picotech" suit which seems to have a lot in common with a symbiote.
At the end of Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Peter let the spider bite him and we learn in issue #2 that, well, he's not very good at this superhero stuff.
The wall-crawler is struggling to get to grips with his newfound abilities after spending so much time as a regular guy and a clash with Shocker shows just how naive the hero is. After being caught attempting to rob a bank, the villain claims to have learnt the error of his ways...only to then blash Spidey into a dumpster below.
Returning home, May, Peter's daughter, catches him in costume and learns her father is secretly the mysterious hero who has made the front page of The Daily Bugle (and yes, Pete took the photo). He's not told MJ yet so, for the time being, it's their secret.
Later, Spidey clashes with Shocker for a second time and actually manages to overpower him; however, he tells the hero a sob story about his wife having cancer, only to reveal he's lying before blasting the web-slinger off the roof all over again.
We see the Green Goblin - who has been targeting Kingpin - watching from afar and when Peter returns home, his daughter has drawn a red and blue spider for him, seemingly inspiring what will become his new look after she previously described his all-black suit as scary.
Jonathan Hickman is definitely taking an unconventional approach to Spider-Man's new origin story and it feels like the series will be something of a slow burn with Peter's journey to becoming an "amazing" and "spectacular" superhero.
THE MOST SURPRISING SPIDER-MAN STORY OF THE 21ST CENTURY CONTINUES! Spider-Man faces his first super villain! J. Jonah Jameson's quest to uncover who is really pulling the strings of this new Ultimate Universe leads to a shocking revelation! And New York City welcomes its newest hero…the Green Goblin!
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #2
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art & Cover by MARCO CHECCHETTO