BANG! It figures that the weekend I decide to catch up on some gaming, television and reading, I fall behind and miss out on all the exciting news for Ultimate Spider-Man. By now everyone should know about the shot heard round the Ultimate world, as well as Axel Alonso’s follow up announcement that we’ll see a new character take up the mantle of Ultimate Spidey. In a spiffy new costume too. Exciting things ahead for Ultimate Spider-Man for sure. But for now, Pete’s in the crossfire of the Avengers and New Ultimates grudge match.
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #157
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Andy Lanning
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Art: Mark Bagley & Justin Ponsor
Plot: Spider-Man swings away from the battle between the New Ultimates and Avengers. After having just been told that Norman Osborn is alive and loose, he has no other choice but to return home and make sure his family is safe. Osborn, along with five of Spidey’s most dangerous foes, is taking refuge in an empty apartment. The villains remark that they are fortunate to have escaped at the same time the battle is being shown on the news and then they discuss their next course of action.
Norman shoots down any idea of fleeing the city and claims that they still have business in New York City. Otto Octavius approaches Norman, scientist-to-scientist, and respectfully tells him that he does not want to be part of Osborn’s plans. Otto tells his colleague that Peter Parker is their greatest achievement and they should leave him alone. Osborn takes offense, transforms into his behemoth, flaming goblin form and attacks Otto. Norman sends Otto crashing through the window and he plummets toward the busy street below.
Otto’s mechanical limbs shoot out from his body as he falls and prevent him from crashing into the pavement. Enraged, Dr. Octopus calls out Norman, who hurls himself off the balcony of the apartment to meet his adversary. The remaining villains – Sandman, Electro, Kraven and the Vulture – look on from above.
Chaos breaks out in the streets as the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus trash the buildings and cars around them. Octavius loses the upper hand and pleads with Norman to stop. The Goblin is angry that Octavius would quit on him after all he had done for the scientist. The Green Goblin then kills a defeated Dr. Octupus in the burning streets.
Aunt May and Gwen are at home ordering something small and pink over the phone. Peter enters the living room in his Spidey garb and tells them to pack their bags and leave the city because Norman will come looking for them. May asks Pete to come with them but he turns down the offer saying he needs to stay and stop the escaped villains. Peter hugs his aunt and Gwen and then swings away from his house.
Mary Jane calls Peter and informs him that the Green Goblin has murdered Dr. Octopus, and that is was broadcast on television. Spider-Man finds the fiery destruction left by the battle between his two archenemies, as well as the body of Dr. Octopus. Spidey searches the apartment where the feud began but, sure enough, finds no one inside.
Spider-Man returns to the bridge where the Ultimates are fighting. At the top of the bridge, Spider-Man sees the Punisher level his sniper gun with Captain America in its sights. Spider-Man dives towards Captain America and shoots a web line at the Punisher. The gun goes off and Spider-Man pushes Cap out of the line of fire, taking the bullet himself.
*
Hot to the Torch: Despite not doing a whole lot, Peter Parker comes off pretty well in this issue. One of my favorite narrative methods for Pete is his inner monologue. Who else will you talk to if you’re always alone web swinging through the city? It’s not used a lot in this issue, but in the opening splash page Bendis uses the narrative boxes to show Peter’s inner struggle between joining the fray at the bridge and warning his family about Norman.
Spider-Man doesn’t appear in a lot of action shots in this issue either, but I believe Bagley has a knack for capturing Spidey in motion. Whenever Spider-Man swings away, or swings towards the reader, he’s always breaking free from the panels of the page. He’s always yanking down on a webline and pulling himself along in an acrobatic-like quick pace. That speed comes in handy when Spidey needs to race between his home, the bridge and the scene of the Osborn/Otto fight several times.
The Sinister Six have yet to take action other than within their own ranks. Electro continues to impress by displaying a surprising understanding of what’s going on around them and what the Ultimate fight at the bridge means for the bad guys. I was never under the impression that Electro was anything more than a high-voltage hot-head but Bendis is giving Ultimate Electro a little bit more of a leadership mentality.
The two villains who take center stage in this story are the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus. Otto shows some good development by respectfully trying to walk away from Norman’s plans. Norman appears even more crazy and mad when he attacks his teammate. The fight that ensues is a matchup of heavy weights and is captured wonderfully with large explosions, loads of collateral damage and a satisfying ending, albeit an unfortunate one for Dr. Octopus.
*
The Ice Cold: The fight between Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus was pretty much the only action in this issue. While it was fun and packed with good moments, like the Goblin’s flaming fist smashing into the cold, metallic tentacle of Dr. Octopus, it only lasted for a few pages. That’s not a lot of action when the rest of the issue is just Spider-Man swinging from one place to the next. I hope that in a story dubbed “The Death of Spider-Man,” we will actually get to see Spider-Man in action.
As far as the whole dying thing goes, I am not convinced that the bullet Spidey intercepted at the end would kill him. The shot pierced the lower part of his upper body and unless it hit a major organ, I can’t see that being the killing blow. Especially when you consider that we’re still early in this storyline and the Sinister Six (five now, I guess) have yet to strike. Also, why didn’t Spider-Man go after the Punisher first instead of trying to reach Captain America before the shot was fired? This appears to be more of a red herring than an actual fatal shot.
Aside from all the Spidey-related moments, what was going on with Aunt May and Gwen? I would love to know, but not really, what little pink item they were ordering over the phone. Hopefully it was a Snuggie or something, because I’d rather not picture Aunt May in a tube top or something else more suited for a teenage girl.
*
The Ultimate: Even though the action was pretty light in this issue, the Green Goblin versus Dr. Octopus fight was one for the ages. It looked to me as though Norman’s goblin form was getting more and more evil-looking as he fought the redemption-seeking scientist. To his credit, Otto held his ground and returned as much pain as he received, at least up until the end.
I liked seeing Otto’s scientific side reemerge in his attempt to start his life over and rid himself of his corrupt past. Bagley does a good job of showing a defeated man resigned to the brutal fate he was soon to meet in the final shot of Otto before he was killed.
*
Rating: Good, art, character development. Meh, story and writing. Poor, action. 3.5/5 Ultimate Spidey Friends
“Remember that one time during the fight when it looked like you might actually win? No? Me neither.” – Marvel vs. Capcom 3
“Did I mention I beat up Firelord once? No, seriously. Firelord.” – Ultimate Alliance 2
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@Everyone wondering about where the Dr. Octopus turn came from – Spiderman saved Doc Ock’s life during the Ultimate Doom arc. Doc Ock then helped him and Shield defeat Reed Richards. Dr. Octopus’s good turn there wasn’t a big character wipe, but partly gratitude to Spiderman for saving his lfe, partly to win curry points with Shield, and partly because Reed Richards almost got him killed. There were even hints at the arc end that Shield could end up using his expertise, in an imprisoned Thunderbolts type situation.
I don’t think Dr. Octopus had reformed, per se, but he probably realized with his super-genius skills he could get more done, and more compenations for his skills, without being the megalomaniac taking on the world himself.
When looking back at this issue, when Brian says that “why didn’t he go after the “Punisher?” I think there was one panel where Spider-Man tried. I think he tried to web the gun, but missed. Either that, or he just commited to get Captain America away from the bullet.
It was on the plane scene. Otto was yelling at Peter. Blaming him and Osborn for getting in his way of a normal life. He was not as calm as he was in this issue, though.
Yeah, I read Hollywood… I was refering to not being familiar with the Doom War or Clone Sage stories. I remember Ock not being happy that they were making a movie about him, mad enough that he murdered some poor lady in her house if I recall correctly. Then he kidnapped poor Spidey and took him to Argentina or something, that wasn’t very nice either. So maybe some seeds of seeking redemption were forming in that issue but not enough to make me think he was on the path to good.
So does that mean you’re reading it in order? If so, that means you passed the Hollywood arc, if i’m not mistaken.
I’m doing it by the Trades and have read up to the Carnage storyline… I have the next trade after that, which I can’t recall what it is, but then I need to go and pick up some more whenever I get the moneys.
@Brian Bradley- Have you bee reading the early Ultimate Spider-Man? If so, what storyline are you up to?
Perhaps Otto could have used a bit more development before the turn, I’m not familiar with either of those stories DCMarvel mentioned above. But sure, getting a little more insight into a characters motives is never a bad thing. I like his explanation though that he sees Peter Parker as their greatest achievement and wanting to let it flourish instead of always trying to destroy it.
@DCMarvelFanGuy – I’ll take your word for it, then. I’ve read all those stories but it’s been a long while so my recall is spotty at best. With the exception of Ultimate Doom, which I read recently and hated.
@spideytothemax
Otto has always wanted to go back to a normal life as a scientist, there’s plenty of stories that show this such as, Hollywood, Clone Saga, and Ultimate Doom. I can see how Otto wouldn’t like this life anymore. In fact, I think Ultimate Doc Ock is one of the best, most developed Doc Ock’s ever.
Personally I didn’t care for the Doc Ock moment. It just wasn’t given enough explanation. What exactly prompted this maniac to have a sudden change of heart? Other than being a reason for Norman to fight and kill him, I mean?
I’ve been underwhelmed with Death of Spider-Man so far. I’m looking forward to the confrontation between a wounded Peter and the Sinister Six though. If it’s epic enough it could make up for a whole lot for me.
I think that fight was HUGE. I like how Ock was becoming repentant and, like you said, wasn’t brought down by Kaine, but the Green Goblin. It would be the equivalent of the Joker killing the Penguin as opposed to Bane killing Penguin. Or Killer Moth 😉 To me, the Green Goblin is the top of the Spidey villain heap, so at least he got taken out by the best and Ultimate Norman is probably stronger than his 616 counterpart. Bagley continues to impress and this seems to be his best work to date!
Yeah, but at least it was a major character and not some secondary character nobody cares about. My guess is that Peter Parker isn’t going to die and then in order to give this story an actual, meaningful death they have to kill off someone else of that level. I thought it was a real good moment for Ock. He was finally getting control of his inner demons and trying to move on with his life. Norman is the complete opposite of that and he and Otto are like complete opposites in that sense. I think if Dr. Octopus actually walks away from that confrontation the big change in character wouldn’t be as important. Who knows, maybe if he lives and is just knocked up in the hospital for a bit he still could have been a path of not-so-evil scientisty. It wasn’t a heroic redemption by any means, but it was at least a personal redemption for Otto. Now I kind of feel bad giving the action a Poor rating because I feel the fight between the two former colleagues was pretty monumental.
Yeah I didnt like Ock getting killed like that. IMO he went down like a chump.
The only thing I disliked about this issue was what happened to Doctor Octopus. that’s because he is like Doctor Octopus should be. Maybe not as villainous, but he looked like Doc Ock. He doesn’t look like Gaunt from the end of the Clone Saga. I think he’s the most wasted villian ever in the regular Spider-man books. He deserves more.
I like the last couple issues I’ve read overall.
@Brian – Dude, I don’t know. Keeping up with ONE universe is hard enough.
For some reason my comments aren’t posting today… what a bummer.
Yeah, there was some good sarcasm in that post, just forgot my /sarcasm tag. I dont mind the fake killing of the characters just because thats what comic books do, it’s all the rage. I’m glad the Ultimate universe tends to let the characters stay dead for the most part. I’d find it pretty hard to explain how the Wasp is able to survive getting eaten by the Blob so somethings are just best left buried. Didn’t Beast die in Ultimate X-Men only to come back at some point?
oh sorry, I forgot the tag:
/sarcasm
Yeah, I was wondering about Ultimatum. Didn’t Beast ‘die’ once in Ultimate X-Men? Thought he came back at some point. Ultimate definitely does seem to stay away from ressurecting characters from what I’ve seen, but when you kill someone off by having them getting eaten by the Blob… thats gotta be a really tough death to come back from.
@Brian – I detect some sarcasm in that last comment.
If I understand it correctly, they keep the resurrections in the Ultimate Universe to a minimum. That’s why you haven’t seen a bunch of people that died in Ultimatum come back.
@Masterwslinger… they can kill whoever they want since we know they have no problem with bringing people back from the dead. Like Norman, and like how Spider-Man won’t really be dead most likely. His head was beaten to a bloodly pile of flaming pulp though so they’d have to get pretty creative with how they brought him back.
@Jason… its only a kidney, he can always just harvest a new kidney from one of his clones.
@Mike-El… i think new readers will be confused no matter which Spidey story they choose to follow. He’s wearing a different costume in every other issue, jumping from one team to the next and then of course there’s the whole blind spot nonsense. Ultimate Spidey must be trying to catch up with Amazing as far as fake deaths and costume changes go.
I can’t figure out the point of this whole ‘Death of Spider-Man’ event. Ultimate comics are supposed to take Marvel characters back to their simpler roots. Here, we have the Ultimate universe imitating a regular Marvel-style fake-death event, all for a character that isn’t the ‘real’ Spider-Man anyway. Why don’t they just cancel the line and focus on Marvel-616 instead of confusing new readers?
my guess is that better will be paralyzed a la batman:knightfall. Also someone else will take his place calling himself “the spider” with parker acting as technical support.
Speaking of bullet wounds, wasn’t Peter shot before? Then again that was in the shoulder. The bullet seemed to enter in through his kidney and exit through his stomach. I don’t like the idea that we could lose a very well-rounded version of a classic character. Question is, does Brian-the-risk-taker have the balls to axe Spider-Man?
They can’t kill Ock. Why not lower ranking ones like Sandman or Electro? Why Ock? 🙁 If Norman wasn’t ‘dead’ from bullet wounds, why would Otto be? Unless he was bludgeoned to death. Still sounds epic though.