What would a rebooted Ultimate Spider-Man look like?

[Kevinroc]

Marvel Writer Donny Cates expressed an interest in doing something with the Ultimate Universe in response to a fan question on twitter.

https://www.newsarama.com/43851-donn...-universe.html

My question is... What would this mean for Ultimate Spider-Man. Would it be a continuation of where Bendis left the title? Would it be a full on reboot of the concept? Would Peter even be the lead?

[Frontier]

The ending of Spider-Men II seemed to be teasing a return of the Ultimate Universe with Peter back as Spider-Man, but that was just a Bendis thing that I don't think another writer has to feel obligated to follow up on.

But it does beg the question what kind of purpose the Ultimate Universe would have now that the main comics line seems to be trying to capture what the Ultimate line was meant to do from aesthetics, jumping on points, to even certain versions of characters.

I guess it could just be a universe where you can get away with stuff you could never do in the main universe, but I'm not sure how far that would go.

[WebLurker]

But it does beg the question what kind of purpose the Ultimate Universe would have now that the main comics line seems to be trying to capture what the Ultimate line was meant to do from aesthetics, jumping on points, to even certain versions of characters.

To continue itself. There are quite a few of us who got our comics start there and for a good chunk of us, that specific universe and/or specific series is the "real" Marvel universe.

I say if there is a restart, it should be a continuation building off of Spider-Men II; it'd be interested to see old characters having progressed from where we left them (like an adult Ultimate Spider-Man) and to introduce new versions of characters created after the line ended.

[Inversed]

I feel like the only reason to bring the Ultimate universe back would be because of Ultimate Spider-Man. Nobody really cares about all the other versions of the main heroes, Ultimate Iron Man, Cap, Thor, etc., and I'm not really sure what else you could really do with them. However, most people still love Ultimate Spider-Man and that iteration of the character, and it wouldn't feel redundant because of how used we are to other "Spider-Verse" stories.

I do think if they do bring him back, they would have to go back to before what happens in Spider-Men II, and show how Peter (and the other Ultimates) came back, if people still remember his identity, dealing with the Miles question, etc. Just having the universe rebooted after Secret Wars with a new continuity like nothing really happened would be really cheap.

[Snoop Dogg]

can someone finish spencer's ultimate x-men plot please

[Frontier]

I feel like the only reason to bring the Ultimate universe back would be because of Ultimate Spider-Man. Nobody really cares about all the other versions of the main heroes, Ultimate Iron Man, Cap, Thor, etc., and I'm not really sure what else you could really do with them. However, most people still love Ultimate Spider-Man and that iteration of the character, and it wouldn't feel redundant because of how used we are to other "Spider-Verse" stories.

I don't think Spider-Verse would have anything to do with it, it would more just depend on the writing and storytelling to make a new Ultimate Spider-Man book stand-out among all the other Spider-Titles.

But I do wonder if there's a point to going back to Ultimate Peter without Bendis writing him.

[Inversed]

I don't think Spider-Verse would have anything to do with it, it would more just depend on the writing and storytelling to make a new Ultimate Spider-Man book stand-out among all the other Spider-Titles.

But I do wonder if there's a point to going back to Ultimate Peter without Bendis writing him.

What I meant by "Spider-Verse" is "non-616 Spider-Man stories". With stuff like the old Spider-Girl series, Renew Your Vows, Spider-Gwen currently, Spidey and any other AU Peters, we have grown more accustomed to seeing every version of Spider-Man as their own unique character, which includes Ultimate Spider-Man. Whereas all the other characters will always be compared more closely to their 616 counterparts.

I think just simply continuing his story and seeing what happens next would be good enough for most people to wanna be interested.

[Mister Mets]

I'm guessing Cates' story would be more about the larger universe.

An Ultimate Spider-Man reboot is going to be tough since the series has enough of a history that even if Marvel's not doing anything with it now, there is the worry that it would close off future stories. There is the question of what to do with Miles.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I don't think there's a need for any more Ultimate Spider-Man. And certainly not without Bendis and Bagley.

The original impetus was "this is the 21st Century", and to do a teenage Spider-Man in a fresh take and allow for changes and shifts you couldn't do in 616. So Peter never became older and so on. But at the end of Spider-Men II, Peter is now an adult and a leader of the Ultimates, so aside from following Spider-Man in a world where he's beloved and people know his identity there's not a lot to do with him.

If you want you can do a New Ultimate Universe, i.e. do another ground-zero reimagining of Peter and his world but again what's the point when you have Miles Morales in 616 already covering all that ground.

[Personamanx]

It would be hard to do, that's for sure. At least in any way that wouldn't make you wonder why it's called the Ultimate Universe if it isn't a continuation. The Ultimate line absolutely made many marks over the years, having influenced the mainstream universe comics, as well as a number of cartoons, and movies. But it largely was always just re-imagining elements, and characters that already existed. It's a not a bad thing as it allowed diversion, reinterpretation, and of course wasn't bogged down by too much history (It got there eventually) so it was easier for new readers to get into. I have no issue with that being attempted again, but I don't see reason in re-using the name.

But now if they were to really do it, and create a another line of comics very deliberately modeled off of themes found in the original line.... I think making Miles Morales the one, and only Spider-Man* is a must.

*As well as the original in this universe.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

If I were to do it, I'd experiment by doing Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe a little different from how he was from the perspective of a long-term continuation.

One thing that would be cool to do is do Spider-Man like DC...i.e. instead of setting it in New York, set it in a fictional city. Call it Excelsior City or Stan Lee City or whatever. But obviously the name would be better and improved. This would allow you to do an abstact, timeless, take on Peter you don't have to deal with pesky stuff about keeping pace with New York's social dimension and it would be a genuine challenge to see if Peter and Spider-Man can work in such a context.

New York used to be the big skyscaper city but now it's Dubai with its giant hotels, you also have them in Shanghai and Taiwan, so maybe put in an Asian influence.

The elevator pitch is what if Peter Parker and his origins, supporting cast and others grew up and transpired in Gotham City, or a city like that. New York for instance isn't a hellhole teetering on the abyss like it used to be in the 60s and 80s (which is what allowed Frank Miller to pretend Hell's Kitchen is basically Gotham City located in a few blocks of Manhattan) but with a fictional city you can do that.

[CrimsonEchidna]

But it does beg the question what kind of purpose the Ultimate Universe would have now that the main comics line seems to be trying to capture what the Ultimate line was meant to do from aesthetics, jumping on points, to even certain versions of characters.

I feel like that's kind of the crux of the issue too, Spider-Man's status quo both in comics and medium awareness wise is way different than it was back in 2000 when Bendis and Bagley launched the book. Ultimate Spider-Man was really lightning in a bottle because by that point, Peter Parker had had years of continuity ingraining him as an adult, now married. So by contrast, Ultimate Spider-Man doing a "back-to-basics" story of a teenaged Peter Parker was a fresh jolt in the arm.

Now though? Peter is single again in the core comics, we're now on the third iteration of live action movies with a Teenaged Peter Parker, we've been through multiple cartoons with a high school Peter Parker, have had multiple attempts at launch new teen Peter Books in the comics (Marvel Adventures, Spidey, and now the current IDW series). It's like, you could do a new Ultimate Spider-Man book, but I don't think they'll be able to make lightning strike twice.

[Dragonick]

There really wouldn't be much of a point to it, because it wouldn't really add anything different from the comics we already have. We have a young spider, we have an alternate universe spider, we have a Peter that's single, we have a Peter that's married, and as Crimson said we've had multiple attempts at another teen Peter book. There's nothing that a new Ultimate Spider-Man book could do to set it apart from the other spider books out right now.

[WebLurker]

If you want you can do a New Ultimate Universe, i.e. do another ground-zero reimagining of Peter and his world but again what's the point when you have Miles Morales in 616 already covering all that ground.

Because Miles is Miles and not Peter? Neither is an acceptable substitute for the other.

[Digifiend]

I feel like the only reason to bring the Ultimate universe back would be because of Ultimate Spider-Man. Nobody really cares about all the other versions of the main heroes, Ultimate Iron Man, Cap, Thor, etc., and I'm not really sure what else you could really do with them. However, most people still love Ultimate Spider-Man and that iteration of the character, and it wouldn't feel redundant because of how used we are to other "Spider-Verse" stories.

I do think if they do bring him back, they would have to go back to before what happens in Spider-Men II, and show how Peter (and the other Ultimates) came back, if people still remember his identity, dealing with the Miles question, etc. Just having the universe rebooted after Secret Wars with a new continuity like nothing really happened would be really cheap.

That's a good point. Ultimate Peter's secret identity would be kaput because it was revealed when he died. 616 Peter only briefly had a public identity. A few months later One More Day happened and that was that. So I think a Peter with a publicly known identity would be a fresh angle.

As for other characters, we already saw that something incapacitated Iron Man (which must've happened differently compared to 616 since Ultimate Carol Danvers is powerless) and Riri took over. How would her path have been altered by being with the Ultimates instead of the Champions? Speaking of which, where are the rest of the young heroes? The Young Avengers except Cassie and Kate (Kate is a member of Hydra, so she's a villain in 1610) and Champions except Miles and Amadeus never existed in Ultimate. And Miles is gone (because he was shifted to 616) and Amadeus is another one who doesn't have his powers (though that's probably just because he gained them in 616 after Secret Wars). Kamala Khan unfortunately cannot get an Ultimate counterpart without major backstory changes, as New Jersey was destroyed in Cataclysm, and the terrigen bomb never happened in Ultimate. So if her backstory matched 616, she'd be dead having never got her powers. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for a few other members of both teams to exist as well. The Young Ultimates we know disbanded, as Miles and Bombshell migrated to 616 and Jessica joined the adult Ultimates. Who would be on a new version?

Then there's the X-Men. Jimmy Hudson went over to 616, and Logan is dead. So there's no Wolverine. Maybe introduce Laura Kinney?