Ultimate Spider-Man (2024)

Ultimate Spider-Man is an ongoing comic book series about Spider-Man, part of the Ultimate Universe imprint, written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Marco Checchetto. It began publication in January 2024. The series follows an older Peter Parker who becomes Spider-Man for the first time later in life, already a father of two children (Richard and May) and married to Mary Jane "MJ" Watson-Parker, as opposed to his early/late teens like in the mainline. The series is part of the new Ultimate Universe timeline of Earth-6160, which puts several Marvel characters in a radically altered sociopolitical status quo, including elements of alternate history.
Ultimate Spider-Man is the first ongoing series from the Ultimate Universe imprint, following the Ultimate Invasion miniseries that introduced it. Despite the similar name, it has no relation with the Ultimate Spider-Man comic that ran from 2000 to 2011. The former comic was a reinvention of the Spider-Man character as a teenager still attending school, in contrast with the older character from the main continuity. The new comic uses a similar angle, but makes Spider-Man older instead of younger, and also married and with two kids. Hickman said that he was inspired by the version of the character seen in the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Another significant departure is that Uncle Ben, a character that usually dies during Spider-Man's origin story, is alive in the new continuity. Although Harry Osborn keeps the Green Goblin identity in the new continuity, he is reimagined as a superhero, closer to the classic portrayal of Iron Man.
Following the "Ultimate Invasion" plotline, Peter Parker is a married man living in New York City with his wife Mary Jane "MJ" Watson and his two children Richard and May. His Aunt May has recently died as one of the casualties of a false flag attack orchestrated by the Maker's Council on Stark Tower, with the media framing Tony Stark as a terrorist and the culprit. Stark reveals to Peter that he was supposed to be bitten by a radioactive spider and become a superhero in his youth. He has retrieved the spider and offers Peter a chance to become a hero. Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson and Peter's uncle Ben Parker have resigned from the Daily Bugle over their creative differences to set up their own investigation into a series of apparent assassination attempts on the Daily Bugle's owner Wilson Fisk. Later, Peter reveals his identity as Spider-Man to armored vigilante, the "Green Goblin", who unmasks to show himself as Harry Osborn. Harry is married to Gwen Stacy-Osborn who works in PR. As Peter reveals his identity to MJ, she suggests calling himself "Spider-Man".
Now friends, Harry Osborn introduces Peter Parker to Dr. Otto Octavius who tells Harry and Peter that their suits are based on Stark/Stane designs and run on the same network, along with Iron Lad - Tony Stark. Meanwhile, the Kingpin and his assistant James Wesley meet with Kingpin's lieutenants Black Cat, Kraven the Hunter, Mister Negative, Mole Man, and Mysterio and discussing the issue with vigilantes Spider-Man and Green Goblin interrupting their plans. J. Jonah Jameson and Ben Parker launch "The Paper" including their investigation into the different crimes being stopped by Spider-Man and Green Goblin while using former co-worker Robbie Robertson as their inside person. Elsewhere, Otto offers Spider-Man and Green Goblin a way to free themselves from Stark/Stane, only for the pair to be ambushed by Black Cat. During the fight, Black Cat is blasted off the building by Green Goblin and is loaded into an ambulance. Jameson and Ben meet with Wesley in an attempt to arrange a negotiation with his boss. Then they speak to Gwen Stacy about how Stark/Stane was sold off cheap. Later that night while having dinner with Peter's family, Ben speaks to MJ about their meeting with Gwen. Two days later, Harry visits "The Paper" and advises Ben and Jameson not to write the Osborn story. He does cave in on the identity of those who actually killed Harry's parents and Ben's wife while giving them a USB drive about it. Under Harry's advice, they write out the story under the alias of "Ben Reilly" as they begin to run it. After brainwashing some people at the bank into attacking Spider-Man, Mister Negative tells Wilson Fisk and his fellow lieutenants about it as Black Cat recuperates in a wheelchair. After Mysterio is told by Walter that he has not given up his seat yet, Walter reveals that he brought his daughter Felicia Hardy to act in his place. While visiting Memorial Park, Peter learns that Uncle Ben knows about his Spider-Man activity when Harry Osborn visited "The Paper". He allows Peter to continue his and Harry's fight against Fisk. On December, Uncle Ben and J. Jonah Jameson attend the Parker family's Christmas party with Madeline Watson, Anna Watson, and Gayle Watson present. MJ keeps avoiding calls from Gwen Stacy while dealing with Gayle being bitter that she and Parker is still married while Gayle is going through a divorce. When MJ starts answering the phone, Gwen tells her that she hasn't heard from Harry lately. When MJ taps Peter, she finds that Peter is actually his sentient picotech suit who then quotes "Merry Christmas". It is then shown that Peter and Harry are captives of Kraven the Hunter.
Richard Parker is later trained by the picotech's A.I. in operating as Spider-Man at the time when his father was missing as he can't track Peter down. Below Staten Island, Mole Man learns from Kraven the Hunter that he has Peter and Harry in his clutches where he will have his great hunt on them in Subterranea which is now filled with dinosaurs and other strange creatures. Mysterio crashes their meeting wanting to see his captives. Kraven the Hunter takes them back to the surface to see Peter and Harry who have bomb collars on them and feeding them their last meal before the hunt. In addition, he revealed their true identities to Mole Man and Mysterio. Kraven the Hunter begins the hunt to determine the fate of their loved ones and even encourages them to try to take him out. Upon being dropped into Subterreanea, Peter and Harry's bomb collars come off as they start dodging the Velociraptors. Meanwhile, Richard is confronted by Felicia Hardy as she introduces herself as the new Black Cat and the daughter of the first Black Cat. Amidst the hunt in Subterranea, Harry is apparently killed by Kraven the Hunter while Peter survived and got away. He does learn that Richard had used his Picotech suit and encountered Black Cat. As Peter and Richard vacation in Bryce Canyon National Park, they have an encounter with Sandman who attacks them. Upon tracing a signal to a nearby tower, Spider-Man destroys it and enables Sandman to return to his human form of William Baker. William informs both Spider-Men that he was investigating some illegal experimentation at an A.I.M. facility where they captured him and turned him into Sandman. Both Spider-Men are thanked by Sandman who takes his leave.
Following its release in September 2024, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Married With Children entered ICv2's monthly graphic novel chart at number one. It remained top of the chart in October, and only slipped to second place in November. It finished the year as the third bestselling graphic novel of 2024, despite only being on sale for four months.
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 sold out three times in just two months. If sales for the comics with the standard cover and alternate covers are taken separately, it got 8 places in the top 10 most sold comics. Critics and fans praised the art and story, and compared it favorably to the main Spider-Man comics, which some felt have grown stagnant following the decision to end Peter and MJ's marriage in One More Day. Those sales are higher than those of Ultimate Invasion and the Ultimate Universe one-shot published before it. Ultimate Spider-Man outsold the Spider-Man comics from the main continuity for 11 of the 12 months within the first year of release (failing only to do so in July 2024).