Marvel’s latest take on its Ultimate line of comics is acting as a major reboot, rather than a continuation of the 1610 universe that died (and lived again) after Secret Wars. That means there’s a certain number of opportunities to reset the Ultimate heroes… and in Peter Parker’s case, give him a chance at something his 616-self has often had taken from him.
Last night Marvel Comics revealed that the Peter Parker fans will meet in former X-Men architect Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man series next year, with artist Marco Checchetto, is a hero who came to his powers at an older age—and in a very different life situation from the young nerdy teen we often see in Spidey origin stories. Not only is Mr. Parker older and wiser, he’s a husband and dad, and happily married to Mary-Jane Watson.
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“When we decided that we were going to do a book about an older Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, we really wanted to lean into him starting his super hero life from a very different place than what’s traditionally expected,” Hickman said in a statement to Marvel.com. “Peter and MJ being married is one of many decisions we made that underline this being quite a ‘different’ kind of Spider-Man story.”
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No further details about Peter’s family—beyond two currently unnamed children, a boy and a girl—were made clear yet, beyond an invitation to “Meet the Parkers” when Ultimate Spider-Man relaunches in January 2024. But the news comes at a time when fans of the ongoing Amazing Spider-Man are more disgruntled than they have been years (which is saying something, as generally being an ongoing reader of Amazing Spider-Man involves largely being upset at things occuring in Amazing Spider-Man)—especially when it comes to the relationship between Peter and MJ.
After the infamous “One More Day” storyline in 2007 erased Peter and Mary-Jane’s marriage from continuity, the duo have had a long on-and-off relationship for years now—outside of a 2016 multiversal miniseries Renew Your Vows that took place explicitly outside of mainline continuity, and saw a married Peter and MJ raising their daughter Annie together as a family of superheroes. Back in 2018 under writer Nick Spencer, things seemed like they were moving toward Peter and MJ being a couple again for the first time since “One More Day,” in more recent times that potential has been well and truly scuppered in the current run on Amazing, which broke Peter and MJ up again for… let’s just say reasons. Either way, Amazing Spider-Man fans: generally unhappy about something most of the time!
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At least this push to give at least one ongoing Spider-Man series a continuity where fans get what they’ve been asking for is actually coming to fruition. Time will tell how long it lasts: whether fans support Ultimate Spider-Man when it returns next year, or whether some of that classic Parker luck comes to much about with Peter and MJ’s happily ever after in yet another universe.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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