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

[Vordan]

Maybe someone else can find the charts (I'm too lazy to spend more than 90 seconds looking), but the Spider-Man IP (books, movies, tv shows, toys, etc.) makes more money each year than any other superhero IP.

And it's not even close. The charts were dramatic.

Yes the crown went back to Spider-Man thanks in part to the MCU and the Insominac games.

[Kevinroc]

https://prhcomics.com/book/?isbn=75960620796100114

USM 1 is getting a fourth printing.

[lalalei2001]

I don't know where it'll go from here, but it'll be great to find out!

[Lee]

Spider-Man is always gonna be portrayed primarily as a teenager/young adult in the live-action movies and cartoons because Spider-Man is very popular amongst kids, even moreso than other superheroes (Take into account Spider-Man dwarfs even Batman in terms of merchandising).

Sure, there's Spider-Verse but that's mainly just because it's Miles. I don't see Sony pulling the trigger in a live-action movie.

Spider-Verse is a good indicator of where the film studios' interests lie. If any of this middle-aged Spider-Man stuff gets adapted, it'll center his kids. Sony already has their own Spider-Man & Daughter to work with, they have no incentive to introduce a new one. If there's anything they want to use from Ultimate Spider-Man, it makes more sense for them to fold those ideas into the version they already have.

Yes the crown went back to Spider-Man thanks in part to the MCU and the Insominac games.

The widely cited report about Spider-Man being the most profitable super-hero for licensed products was from 2013, when Andrew Garfield was Spider-Man.

https://www.gamingbible.com/news/pla...-ever-20210911

He was already on top shortly before he was in the MCU and before the Insomniac games.

[Kevinroc]

Spider-Verse is a good indicator of where the film studios' interests lie. If any of this middle-aged Spider-Man stuff gets adapted, it'll center his kids. Sony already has their own Spider-Man & Daughter to work with, they have no incentive to introduce a new one. If there's anything they want to use from Ultimate Spider-Man, it makes more sense for them to fold those ideas into the version they already have.

Tom Holland isn't going to be playing Peter Parker forever.

Do you think the next time they reboot Peter Parker they won't even think about Hickman's USM as something they could use as inspiration?

[Kaitou D. Kid]

It will absolutely have an impact. It's only a question of how much.

At minimum, the ASM book under the next writer will (very, very likely) return to at least the Spencer status quo of Peter and MJ being together as an unmarried couple. I just don't see a way around that. The writing is on the wall. Retailers will absolutely be putting pressure on Marvel to get Peter and MJ back together after the success of USM.

At most, it will eventually lead to an OMD undoing and impact the adaptations the way OG Ultimate did. It might even get a direct adaptation. Certain ideas might also be brought into 616 the way certain ideas started out in the original Ultimate and then navigated over. But it's too early to call any of these.

Do you think the next time they reboot Peter Parker they won't even think about Hickman's USM as something they could use as inspiration?

I know your question is for Lee, but the idea that no one will even entertain looking at Hickman's USM for the next reboot is unfathomable.

We know from the Sony leaks that for a second they considered making Andrew a high school teacher like in JMS' run. Hickman's USM right now is selling just as good as JMS' run in the 2000's, if not way better.

The idea that no one will even think about Hickman's USM for the next reboot is absurd.

[Mister Mets]

Tom Holland isn't going to be playing Peter Parker forever.

Do you think the next time they reboot Peter Parker they won't even think about Hickman's USM as something they could use as inspiration?

Honestly if Holland plays Spider-Man for a long time, an adaptation of Hickman's USM makes sense.

Although come to think of it, the idea of a Peter Parker who wasn't Spider-Man was done pretty well in Slott/ Bagley's End of Spider-Verse.

[Kevinroc]

Honestly if Holland plays Spider-Man for a long time, an adaptation of Hickman's USM makes sense.

Although come to think of it, the idea of a Peter Parker who wasn't Spider-Man was done pretty well in Slott/ Bagley's End of Spider-Verse.

Given there are already rumors floating around about Miles Morales, I doubt Holland is sticking around for a long time.

[Frontier]

It will absolutely have an impact. It's only a question of how much.

At minimum, the ASM book under the next writer will (very, very likely) return to at least the Spencer status quo of Peter and MJ being together as an unmarried couple. I just don't see a way around that. The writing is on the wall. Retailers will absolutely be putting pressure on Marvel to get Peter and MJ back together after the success of USM.

At most, it will eventually lead to an OMD undoing and impact the adaptations the way OG Ultimate did. It might even get a direct adaptation. Certain ideas might also be brought into 616 the way certain ideas started out in the original Ultimate and then navigated over. But it's too early to call any of these.

I think that really just depends on the writer and editorial, I don't think they have any kind of absolute incentive to do that with USM currently running unless they want ASM to sell even more (and I don't think just having MJ around will matter sales wise otherwise it already would have mattered).

[Kaitou D. Kid]

I think that really just depends on the writer and editorial, I don't think they have any kind of absolute incentive to do that with USM currently running unless they want ASM to sell even more (and I don't think just having MJ around will matter sales wise otherwise it already would have mattered).

There already is an incentive IMO. Retailers will definitely be pressuring Marvel to not just include MJ, but have her and Peter together after the success of USM.

I'm sure there are other people at Marvel who would be asking why they're leaving so much money on the table with ASM by not having Peter and MJ together. Marvel isn't a monolith of opinion and questions like that are going to influence who gets picked as writer and editor in the future.

I also think the editors at Marvel that argued Peter x MJ aren't a factor in sales no longer have plausible deniability after the success of USM and the (seemingly) low sales of Wells' run. They still had plausible deniability from 2008-2017; not so much now.

[Mister Mets]

Given there are already rumors floating around about Miles Morales, I doubt Holland is sticking around for a long time.

I think Sony is very happy with the idea of alternating Peter Parker and Miles Morales live action films (with team-ups every now and then.)

They tried to turn Madame Web and Morbius into franchises, and Kraven's coming out soon. (In fairness, Venom worked out pretty well so far.)

So it's not like they wouldn't mind releasing a Tom Holland film in 2026, a Miles Morales film in 2027 and keep going on from there.

[Kevinroc]

I think Sony is very happy with the idea of alternating Peter Parker and Miles Morales live action films (with team-ups every now and then.)

They tried to turn Madame Web and Morbius into franchises, and Kraven's coming out soon. (In fairness, Venom worked out pretty well so far.)

So it's not like they wouldn't mind releasing a Tom Holland film in 2026, a Miles Morales film in 2027 and keep going on from there.

There is nothing to indicate they will alternate between live-action Peter Parker films and live-action Miles Morales films. The fact is that Holland won't be doing the role forever and has already openly mentioned stepping down from the role someday.

Assuming Sony will still have the Spider-Man film rights in the future (and there is nothing to indicate they won't), they will reboot Peter Parker again one day. Is it really hard to believe when that day comes that they might take inspiration from this very successful Spider-Man run?

[Spider-Tiger]

I think this shows that adult/married Spidey is still a viable potrayal of the character, and I think we'll get more adaptations and spin-offs with an adult and/or married Peter Parker in the coming years. I think this also further cements MJ's popularity and place as Peter's primary romantic interest.

But I don't expect a teenage Peter Parker to ever really go away. I think once they've exhausted the adult stuff, we'll eventually see a return of more teen Peter Parker comics and adaptations like the 2000s- 2010s. And vice versa.

[Frontier]

There already is an incentive IMO. Retailers will definitely be pressuring Marvel to not just include MJ, but have her and Peter together after the success of USM.

I'm sure there are other people at Marvel who would be asking why they're leaving so much money on the table with ASM by not having Peter and MJ together. Marvel isn't a monolith of opinion and questions like that are going to influence who gets picked as writer and editor in the future.

I also think the editors at Marvel that argued Peter x MJ aren't a factor in sales no longer have plausible deniability after the success of USM and the (seemingly) low sales of Wells' run. They still had plausible deniability from 2008-2017; not so much now.

I dunno, I mean...Spencer didn't really advertise it was going to be a PeterxMJ centered run or get them back together, it was just a surprise in the first issue, I'm not seeing that as something they would use to market ASM. Especially when ASM is still selling.

Though obviously they marketed a married Spider-Man in promoting Ultimate quite a bit.

I think this shows that adult/married Spidey is still a viable potrayal of the character, and I think we'll get more adaptations and spin-offs with an adult and/or married Peter Parker in the coming years. I think this also further cements MJ's popularity and place as Peter's primary romantic interest.

But I don't expect a teenage Peter Parker to ever really go away. I think once they've exhausted the adult stuff, we'll eventually see a return of more teen Peter Parker comics and adaptations like the 2000s- 2010s. And vice versa.

My only concern about adult Peter stuff is they'll feel obligated to shove in Miles and Gwen too. One thing I appreciate about Ultimate is (other than Green Goblin) it's solo Spidey which feels rarer these days.

[Spider-Tiger]

My only concern about adult Peter stuff is they'll feel obligated to shove in Miles and Gwen too. One thing I appreciate about Ultimate is (other than Green Goblin) it's solo Spidey which feels rarer these days.

They feel obligated to include multiple Spider-people in everything nowadays post Spider-verse. Including the few cartoons where Peter has actually been younger.

I think eventually the whole Spider-verse/multiversal thing will have run its course, but I don't see Miles Morales going anywhere.