Marvel certainly like to reveal plot details in nationally read news outlets. Today, one such establishment, the New York Post revealed details on what’s going on in Ultimate Spider-Man after the current “Death of Spider-Man” storyline. While it’s unclear is Spider-Man/Peter Parker actually dies, there is apparently a new webhead on the block. Here’s what the Post article has to say about the matter.
Marvel Comics’ most popular character is getting a hip new look – and a new person wearing the webs.
“That’s not Peter Parker,” Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso told The Post. “There’s going to be someone new wearing the costume.”
The new webslinger and the new look – a sleek black and red costume revealed here for the first time – will make their debut at some point this summer, after the conclusion of the ominously titled “Death of Spider-Man” storyline in June’s Ultimate Spider-Man No. 160.
The comic will be polybagged, and will shake the comic book world to the core. “It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before,” Alonso said.
The shakeup marks the first time someone else will be catching thieves just like flies in the “Spider-Man” titles besides Peter (or a clone of Peter – don’t ask) in the character’s almost 50-year history in either the traditional “Marvel Universe” or the more recent “Ultimate Universe.”
Alonso wouldn’t reveal much more about the new wallcrawler – “there’s significance in the color scheme,” he teased – but the image’s release is another bad sign for Peter Parker, who in the ten-year-old Ultimate line of comics is still a Queens high school student.
The perpetually hard luck teen was shot through the gut by anti-hero the Punisher at the close of last week’s issue while trying save Captain America. Comic fans have been burning up the internet speculating whether Peter might survive the storyline, even if his web slinging days are over. Alonso wouldn’t reveal his ultimate fate, but said, “We did call it ‘The Death of Spider-Man’ for a reason.”
An adult Peter Parker will still be manning the role of friendly neighborhood wall-crawler in the regular Marvel Universe “Amazing Spider-Man” title.
And here’s a better look at the new Spider-Person…
Now, I don’t begrudge Marvel wanting to get this news out to a public that may not actually read the comic books, but it still irks me for a few reasons. First, even though it specifies in the article that it’s Ultimate Spider-Man in the story, the man on the street doesn’t know the difference between two versions of the same character. Second, Axel Alonso’s claim that this will “shake the comic world to the core” smack of hyperbole, and not the good Stan Lee kind of hyperbole. Lastly, there is a new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon debuting soon. In the name of corporate synergy, I can see this lasting anyway.
Apologies for the rant, there are some positives. I really like the costume, for one. The fact that Alonso is being kind of cagey and wording things carefully in my mind, makes me think that only “Spider-Man” dies, not Peter Parker. Time will tell I suppose. What do you all think?