The original incarnation of Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe lived (and basically died) on Ultimate Spider-Man. Brian Michael Bendis’ run on that book with a number of artists including Mark Bagley, Sara Pichelli and plenty more was so consistent that it remained a bright spot among the larger messiness of its home universe. And in the same way that much of the Avengers draws on the Ultimates incarnation from by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, the same is true for the webhead: pretty much everything connected to Spider-Man in the last decade has been pulling from Ultimate book.
Marvel’s gearing up to bring the Ultimate line of comics back, beginning with Ultimate Spider-Man by Avengers writer Jonathan Hickman and Daredevil artist Marco Checchetto. If you weren’t already aware of how different this book is meant to be compared to other Spider-Man books starring Peter Parker, the new trailer really underlines it. Unlike the previous Ultimate version of Peter, this one is a grown man who’s only recently gotten his powers as a result of the classic spider bite. So instead of navigating high school woes, we’ll be seeing Peter balance being a hero with his marriage to Mary Jane Watson and being the father of an unnamed son and daughter.
Despite the appearance of Spider-Man mainstays like Mary Jane, Kingpin and J. Jonah Jameson, there’s some notable shakeups as seen in the trailer. Both Aunt May and Norman Osborn are dead after some widespread event that took the lives of many, and in the case of the latter, that means our Green Goblin may end up being Harry instead (or his Ultimate equivalent). And it also appears that this Ultimate Peter will be due for a costume change sooner than expected—swapping from the classic Spidey suit to the Black, 2099, and Sensational Spider-Man ones teases some interesting possibilities in what’ll likely be an eventful first year (or more) for the book.
Hickman and Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man will begin on January 12, 2024.
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