Even though Ultimate Spider-Man #160 is polybagged for your protection, that hasn’t stopped Marvel from sharing the news with major media outlets like USA Today, who then printed it all over the place.
**RUSSELL ALERT** Spoilers after the jump! **RUSSELL ALERT***
UPDATE: NEW IMAGES AND FULL PRESS RELEASE NOW INCLUDED
Peter Parker dies at the end of a vicious battle between himself and the Green Goblin, who targeted Spidey for death after escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
With the help of Iceman and the Human Torch, he makes his last stand in Queens, saving Aunt May and Gwen Stacy before dying in Mary Jane Watson’s arms.
So there you go, and if you don’t believe the story has some gravitas, Brian Michael Bendis claims he cried for 45 minutes.
Ultimate Spider-Man #160, the polybagged edition, arrives in stores this week. And don’t forget kids, while DC is making a big deal out of their number one issues arriving in September, Marvel is also releasing Ultimate Spider-Man #1 featuring an all new Spider-Man in September as well.
UPDATE: THE FULL PRESS RELEASE AND ADDITIONAL IMAGES
PETER PARKER HAS SPUN HIS LAST WEB. In the storyline that has garnered the attention of fans and media worldwide, Marvel revealed that Peter Parker meets his tragic end in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160, hitting stores tomorrow (Wednesday, June 22nd). Concluding the critically-acclaimed, sold-out “Death of Spider-Man” story arc, the death of Peter Parker signals a major change for the Ultimate Comics Universe and sets the stage for the upcoming debut of an all-new Spider-Man.
“10 years ago, Brian Bendis and Mark Millar changed the way people saw super heroes with the birth of the Ultimate Universe. With ‘Death of Spider-Man’ the two have done it again, creating a story just as big, and something that would really resonate with fans.” said Mark Paniccia, Marvel Senior Editor. “But Peter’s death doesn’t signal the end of their larger plan—it’s the start of one of the most ambitious stories you’ve ever read in comics.”
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 debuted in 2000 and is widely considered one of the most important comics of the century. The progenitor of the Ultimate Comics Universe, in which Marvel’s greatest characters and stories were reinterpreted for modern audiences, Ultimate Spider-Man set records for trade paperback sales and its version of Spider-Man remains one of the most popular of all-time.
“We’ve never seen a world without Spider-Man, a world without Peter Parker, so his death is a significant event for the Ultimate Comics Universe and we’re going to see how quickly it changes everything. Readers are in for something very new…and surprising because everything that happens in Ultimate Spider-Man #160 and Ultimate Comics Fallout sets the stage for even bigger stories,” explained Axel Alonso, Marvel Entertainment Editor In Chief.
The story continues in July’s Ultimate Comics Fallout, picking up right after the death of Spider-Man and showing just what happens to the world without Peter Parker. New alliances! New enemies! Fans can’t afford to miss the dynamic debut of the new Spider-Man in the pages of Ultimate Comics Fallout—and you won’t believe who’s under the mask!
The future of the Ultimate Comics Universe begins with the death of Peter Parker this Wednesday, June 22nd, in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #160.
18 Comments
Some time later…
“We’ve done what you wanted. The whole world believes you’re dead. What do you want to do now, Peter?”
“Peter Parker is dead. Call me..Ben.”
SHARK JUMPED.
That kind of reminds me of Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4.
Not a hoax. Not a dream. Not an imaginary story.
Dead is dead.
Except when it’s not.
Well they still have a female clone of Peter Parker who got all of his memories. Now that he is dead once people will miss him a lot, this could lead to weird situations. :P
Looks interesting, if nothing else. Might actually get me to read an Ultimate book!
One question, though. Did Ultimate Spider-Man really change the way people saw super heroes? I mean, it was a reboot of 616, but no one went out changed Webster’s or anything…
The only thing that interest me is who’s gonna wear the cowl now? Isn’t the “Scorpion” clone still alive? Is that how we get to Ben Parker? If so, lame. Gimme something new. Give me an ethnic Spider-Man. Or a mutant Spider-Man. Or make him like Captain Universe. Just don’t do something you’ve already done. Like in Ultimate X-men with Kid Wolverine.
was there not a clone of Parker in Ultimate Comics: Avengers? looks like he might be stepping up. Its what Nick Fury and Carol Danvers wanted: A government controlled Spider-man
Ultimate Spider-Man failed on nearly every level for me as a reader. Most of the time was spent dealing with Peter Parker’s personal life rather than hm being a hero. It seemed like every story arc was the same with a new villain being introduce on the first cover of the arc, but not seen or dealt with until the final issue. The final confrontation was always disappointing with the villain learning who Spider-Man was and being defeated easily or just disappearing all together.
My two cents? Kill him. Kill the comic. Kill the who damn Ultimate Universe. They only Ultimate comic I felt was worth reading was the Fantastic 4; at least they were entertaining heroes in those comics.
For my money USM was the only books in the Ultimate Universe that would deliver on updating characters, putting new twists on them (like Moon Knight), or at least giving them a different look, even if it’s only slight (like Bagley’s first version of Ultimate Punisher), AND delivering with a good story.
Until Ultimatum.
Since then things have slowly gotten better (pretty much only in USM; the other books ranged from meh to suck).
Now this.
If Peter Parker is really dead. The Ultimate Line goes with him.
I’ll look into who the new guy wearing the new USM suit is, but if it ain’t Pete I’m walking away from the entire thing.
Is Bendis becoming a hack?
Wow… DC and Marvel are killing off all the “characters” forgetting characters are what people are reading. I understand the business side of it. Essentially the market has aged and they have to gain a younger market. Unfortunately they will be losing the aged market almost totally. With economic conditions what they are, the young market can not sustain the companies. September 2011 will market the killing blow to the comics industry as a print medium.
September 2011 will market the killing blow to the comics industry as a print medium.
You could be right, but I think that it’ll be YEARS before the real truth shakes down.
To my way of thinking, Marvel killed the “Spider-Man” titles years ago when they pulled the whole “Spider-Man is a Clone, no really!” Thing on us. Let my subscription lapsed and have never bought another issue. If Borders get the last issue of Spidey in, I may pick it up just so I can rip it out of the polybag and jump up and down on it until I can think of something else more unpleasant to do to it.
Next year, same time, same comic book: Mary Jane wakes up to find Peter under the shower. She recognizes, it was all a bad dream.
The big “shock” is not here at the moment of death… It’ll come _IF_ Peter stays dead. Call me in 3 or 4 years, if it sticks that long. :)
HAHA Russell alert. I miss that little fella!
I’m more receptive to this change than to the litany of rubbish that went into ‘Ultimatum’. I just wish they would try something genuinely different. I mean, if you really want to create plot opportunities not available to a white kid from Queens, why not make Spider-man an Algerian kid from a suburb of Paris? Wouldn’t that make for a more interesting “reboot”?
i got 2 copies