How will the success of Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) impact the franchise?

[Huntsman Spider]

Pretty much. Deep down...that seems to be what they actually want. Peter being an actual functioning adult is what OMD was meant eliminate.

Alas, yeah.

[Garlador]

Exactly. Whether Marvel likes it or not...Peter has aged...and he'll continue to age because everyone else in 616 is. Even characters that are canonically younger than him like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee...are now adults...and in Jubilee's case an adoptive mother. The only way around this for Marvel...would be to just dump Peter in a pocket dimension where he and all of his contemporaries are in back in high school for all eternity.

It's the ever-growing obnoxious elephant in the room.

An example for me is my personal favorite Marvel hero, Nova - Richard Rider. He's canonically much younger than Peter is.


However, the way Richard has been written in comics the last decade-and-a-half has had him elevated to an upper-echelon hero, burdened with leadership, fighting on the frontlines of cosmic war and looked to as a leader and mentor to others. He's the "old guy" to the new generations of heroes like The Champions.


Nova's treated as a matured, responsible adult who outgrew his toxic immaturity and irresponsible nature to step up and lead by example. And he's great. He's not flawless, and he's still learning, but few look at him and demand he get the "Archie" treatment or revert to his more annoying "teen hero" characteristic. He's a different - and better - hero because of the development he was allowed to undergo.

And, I emphasize again, he's canonically younger than Peter by quite a wide margin, yet fans referred to him as "grown-ass MAN Nova" when Sam came along for a reason.


I desperately want this for Peter again.

...Is this another shameless Nova plug? ... YOU BETCHA.

[Frontier]

It's the ever-growing obnoxious elephant in the room.

An example for me is my personal favorite Marvel hero, Nova - Richard Rider. He's canonically much younger than Peter is.


However, the way Richard has been written in comics the last decade-and-a-half has had him elevated to an upper-echelon hero, burdened with leadership, fighting on the frontlines of cosmic war and looked to as a leader and mentor to others. He's the "old guy" to the new generations of heroes like The Champions.


Nova's treated as a matured, responsible adult who outgrew his toxic immaturity and irresponsible nature to step up and lead by example. And he's great. He's not flawless, and he's still learning, but few look at him and demand he get the "Archie" treatment or revert to his more annoying "teen hero" characteristic. He's a different - and better - hero because of the development he was allowed to undergo.

And, I emphasize again, he's canonically younger than Peter by quite a wide margin, yet fans referred to him as "grown-ass MAN Nova" when Sam came along for a reason.


I desperately want this for Peter again.

...Is this another shameless Nova plug? ... YOU BETCHA.

I guess part of it is also that Rich isn't an A-lister so that offers more freedom and less forced creative control to fit him into a box or cater to editorial's whims.

Just look at what the Guardians that he used to be associated with got turned into.

[Garlador]

I guess part of it is also that Rich isn't an A-lister so that offers more freedom and less forced creative control to fit him into a box or cater to editorial's whims.

Just look at what the Guardians that he used to be associated with got turned into.

That's a whole rabbit hole I won't get into right now (I seriously should do a podcast and just vent my thoughts, lol), but I certainly have seen a correlation between characters evolving and maturing into better, more interesting characters when they're not considered sacred cows with a spotlight shown upon them. I can't imagine a book like Moon Knight or Nova or even Venom stagnating for nearly 20 years to protect some nebulous "golden era" from 50 years prior. As a parent, I understand wanting to be overly protective of your kids and keep them young forever (I literally joke with my daughter "I didn't give you permission to grow up!" every time she goes up shoe size), but I also know the best thing for her to reach her full potential will be for me to step back and let her forge her own path eventually. "These characters take on a life of their own," to paraphrase DeMatteis. And a good writer knows when and where to let organic growth occur and not panic if it's something new and different than the same-old routine.

[Huntsman Spider]

It's the ever-growing obnoxious elephant in the room.

An example for me is my personal favorite Marvel hero, Nova - Richard Rider. He's canonically much younger than Peter is.


However, the way Richard has been written in comics the last decade-and-a-half has had him elevated to an upper-echelon hero, burdened with leadership, fighting on the frontlines of cosmic war and looked to as a leader and mentor to others. He's the "old guy" to the new generations of heroes like The Champions.


Nova's treated as a matured, responsible adult who outgrew his toxic immaturity and irresponsible nature to step up and lead by example. And he's great. He's not flawless, and he's still learning, but few look at him and demand he get the "Archie" treatment or revert to his more annoying "teen hero" characteristic. He's a different - and better - hero because of the development he was allowed to undergo.

And, I emphasize again, he's canonically younger than Peter by quite a wide margin, yet fans referred to him as "grown-ass MAN Nova" when Sam came along for a reason.


I desperately want this for Peter again.

...Is this another shameless Nova plug? ... YOU BETCHA.

I guess part of it is also that Rich isn't an A-lister so that offers more freedom and less forced creative control to fit him into a box or cater to editorial's whims.

Just look at what the Guardians that he used to be associated with got turned into.

That's a whole rabbit hole I won't get into right now (I seriously should do a podcast and just vent my thoughts, lol), but I certainly have seen a correlation between characters evolving and maturing into better, more interesting characters when they're not considered sacred cows with a spotlight shown upon them. I can't imagine a book like Moon Knight or Nova or even Venom stagnating for nearly 20 years to protect some nebulous "golden era" from 50 years prior. As a parent, I understand wanting to be overly protective of your kids and keep them young forever (I literally joke with my daughter "I didn't give you permission to grow up!" every time she goes up shoe size), but I also know the best thing for her to reach her full potential will be for me to step back and let her forge her own path eventually. "These characters take on a life of their own," to paraphrase DeMatteis. And a good writer knows when and where to let organic growth occur and not panic if it's something new and different than the same-old routine.

This. All of this. The whole damn thing.

[Mister Mets]

It seems clear that family man Peter will be part of the inter dimensional crossovers that became a major aspect of Spider-Man comics.

[Huntsman Spider]

It seems clear that family man Peter will be part of the inter dimensional crossovers that became a major aspect of Spider-Man comics.

Could be interesting, if only to see how the other Peter Parkers, such as they are, react to a Peter that became Spider-Man well after being a family man, as opposed to them starting out as teenagers forced to take up adult responsibilities sooner than they would have liked or anticipated and perhaps becoming family men well after they've been Spider-Men.

[Knightsilver]

Could be interesting, if only to see how the other Peter Parkers, such as they are, react to a Peter that became Spider-Man well after being a family man, as opposed to them starting out as teenagers forced to take up adult responsibilities sooner than they would have liked or anticipated and perhaps becoming family men well after they've been Spider-Men.

That certainly makes this Peter unique in the Spiderverse. And I imagine Ultimate Peter will be equally surprised that most versions of himself have been Spider-Man for years. Though he does know the Maker screwed with his timeline...it would probably still be a surreal experience.

[Huntsman Spider]

That certainly makes this Peter unique in the Spiderverse. And I imagine Ultimate Peter will be equally surprised that most versions of himself have been Spider-Man for years. Though he does know the Maker screwed with his timeline...it would probably still be a surreal experience.

Indeed, it would be.

[Frontier]

It seems clear that family man Peter will be part of the inter dimensional crossovers that became a major aspect of Spider-Man comics.

Personally I'm tired of Spider-Verse.

[Huntsman Spider]

Personally I'm tired of Spider-Verse.

I can respect that. The multiverse, to me, works at its best as a trope when it's more about the characters themselves and how they react to or deal with seeing their lives as they could or would --- or even perhaps should --- have been. Spider Wars, back in TAS's finale, nailed that aspect, and to an extent, so did the Spider-Verse films asking what exactly it meant to be Spider-Man in the first place. When it's just baiting for nostalgia and throwing a lot of concepts at the wall to see if it sticks or crawls up, the emotional investment is a lot more difficult.

[Daibhidh]

I can respect that. The multiverse, to me, works at its best as a trope when it's more about the characters themselves and how they react to or deal with seeing their lives as they could or would --- or even perhaps should --- have been. Spider Wars, back in TAS's finale, nailed that aspect, and to an extent, so did the Spider-Verse films asking what exactly it meant to be Spider-Man in the first place. When it's just baiting for nostalgia and throwing a lot of concepts at the wall to see if it sticks or crawls up, the emotional investment is a lot more difficult.

Also, the characters need to be in a situation where they can have emotionally relatable reactions to how their past might have turned out differently. As opposed to 'the love of my life and I were pulled into another dimension by a random magical villain and when I rescued her I found that due to time dilation she'd moved on'.

[Huntsman Spider]

Also, the characters need to be in a situation where they can have emotionally relatable reactions to how their past might have turned out differently. As opposed to 'the love of my life and I were pulled into another dimension by a random magical villain and when I rescued her I found that due to time dilation she'd moved on'.

Oh, yeah. That, too.

[Refrax5]

I can respect that. The multiverse, to me, works at its best as a trope when it's more about the characters themselves and how they react to or deal with seeing their lives as they could or would --- or even perhaps should --- have been. Spider Wars, back in TAS's finale, nailed that aspect, and to an extent, so did the Spider-Verse films asking what exactly it meant to be Spider-Man in the first place. When it's just baiting for nostalgia and throwing a lot of concepts at the wall to see if it sticks or crawls up, the emotional investment is a lot more difficult.

That's exactly how I feel about it. I think the multiverse can be a fun way to bring back beloved alternate versions of characters that would otherwise fade into obscurity, but it really works when it examines the characters from other angles and shows us paths not taken. I think that's one of the reasons something like Age of Apocalypse is so loves. You see a world without Xavier but where Magneto never went bad. You get to see all the horrors Xavier and his team prevented and the impact of their existence and what would happen if Magneto founded the X-Men instead. That's a super interesting concept that shows us as readers a lot about all of the characters and who they could have been under different circumstances.

So I've always been a fan of the multiverse concept because of that creative freedom and the ability to examine the character from different angles.

I do think Spider-Verse has strayed from that concept. Lately it feels like it's basically just an attempt to create random new OCs that have no real connection to Peter or Miles but are just there to see if one catches on so corporate can market a new IP. I miss when it felt like a celebration of Spider-Man in all his various incarnations over the years with a few new ideas tossed in (like Bruce Banner as a gamma powered Spidey). Now it's just an IP farm.

I did like Weapon VIII, though.

[Coop]

Personally I'm tired of Spider-Verse.

I'm with you. I don't mind showing alt universes every now and again but there's so much multiverse stuff out there and only a few great ones. I love the Spider-Verse movies but I haven't loved any of that stuff in the comics.

I hope Ultimate Pete can stay away from a few years at least.