The New Ultimate Spider-Man Is Revealed

I don’t read Spider-Man, but I think this is quite nifty.

Black and gay: the same thing. Wat

He could have just been Black AND Hispanic. Especially if he’s from NYC. Just make Dominicano Spidey. Shout out to the new Power Man.

This would be really hot if it were main universe. As it is we have Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle, Jackson Hyde as Aqualad, Ryan Choi as the Atom, Michael Holt as Mr. Terrific, and lots of other POC inheritors of mantles in the real deal universe. But good on them for not just going with the Ben Reilly Redux storyline.

He looks like Spider-Man!  I know that’s a weird thing to say.  Just, he has a very gentle and sort of timid face, which is how I think of Spider-Man.  He’s not some big, tough, hardened hero; he’s just a regular kid who happens to have super-powers.  

I just paid $ 23.86 for an iPhone and my girlfriend loves her Dell laptop that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 42 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 665 which only cost me $ 62,81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, GrabPenny.com

I think I’m going to really like this.

What are you talking about?

A black or gay hero will be considered normal. I suppose prejudice is as prejudice does, but I feel like there are varying degrees that have been glossed over here.

I’m sure it says something about how cynical I am that I thought to myself, “Wow! Here’s a brand new minority legacy superhero, joining the proud lineup of interesting minority legacy superheroes that come along and get tossed onto the ashpile of history the second the company decides to go for a cheap hit of nostalgia by bringing back the Silver Age version of the character! Wonder if this one will be killed, crippled, or just fade into obscurity?”

I just can’t get excited about these things anymore. Minorities deserve better than glorified publicity stunts that don’t even make it to the five year mark. They should have made Donald Glover into Spider-Man for the ASM movie.

Here’s to the day when non-super-hero comics will drive everyone’s attention on any subject, instead of the super-hero ones.

They’re both discriminated against. They both shouldn’t be discriminated against. They’re both underrepresented in comics. Why make an issue over the distinction?

Why headline an article with whether they’re going to ruin Ultimate Spider-Man by putting a brand new black character in the costume rather than a brand new white character in the costume? Why not just say, “They’re going to ruin Ultimate Spider-Man,” period.

One level of nitpicking is just as nonsensical as any other. 

Yeah. Diversity equals good storytelling! Then they could all do battle with the newly revamped, (White) Power Man! He dresses like a ghost to be spooky!

Man. Dammit. Good point. But still. Argh. Good point.

They should make a NEW character that stands the tests of time, not fish for headlines against DC’s Flashpoint crap. No matter what this kid accomplishes, he’ll be the Black (and Hispanic) Spider-Man. Hell, in continuity even, he’ll always and forever be inspired by a white kid. That’s an odd little message to send, no?

Boo. Go read a BOOK, then, Mister Fancy.

Seriously, though, I’ve been reading Heavy Metal…which I’ve never read before…and its bothersome that Europe gets mature, sophisticated science fiction comics and America gets tights and capes.

*Puts monocle on*

Pretty much. I will only be impressed when real-life years pass by and Peter Parker remains dead. Love his Ultimate version as well as the original one, but I never liked Super-Hero Heaven’s revolving door.

If this stays the way it is, I will be far more impressed than the fact that they put a black kid in his uniform.

I’ve always been entertained by the possibility that either DC or Marvel would eventually create a maxi-series that would chronicle their universe in “real time” where an issue equals a month or so, or the last sixty years of comics actually happened on a real timeline…but they haven’t done it yet.

I’d buy the hell out of that book. You got me sold.

Seriously. People need to stop acting like race = gender = sexual orientation. There are social problems associated with all of them, but they’re not the same thing and don’t need to be treated like a salad bar.

Sometimes these characters go on to have very successful lives of their own. Ms. Marvel is MUCH more popular than Mar-Vell. Spider-Woman has her own thing going on. 

The Truth book told the story of the black test subjects of the super-soldier serum, which is similar in that the main character just dresses up as Cap for a bit, but then it went on to become a rich part of the Captain America history and gave us Patriot.

Not to mention all of the Robins that have their own separate fan-bases. I could see Miles being Spider-Man for a bit and then getting his own costume and identity down the line.

The Ultimate line has been pretty good at keeping characters dead, but I think this might be the one that breaks that since it seems like a redux of the Death of Spider-Man / Ben Reilly story. But up until now, pretty good track record.

I actually didn’t realize there was a “new” Power Man (though I find it difficult to believe that he isn’t just a phony since Luke Cage is still around to give pretenders a beat down) when I sarcastically introduced the idea of a new white Power Man…

…and thanks to two weeks of arguing whether the new Ultimate Spider-Man has been Diversified (totally sounds like some kind of raygun Marvin the Martian would have) for either storytelling or agenda-specific reasons, I must now ask whether the new Power Man has NOT been made into a white guy simply because it would instantly BECOME racist.

After all, the best way to revamp a character is to spin the color wheel because new ethnicity equals all-new, all-hip, and edgy! Malibu’s Most Wanted should be the new Power Man. Just sayin’.

Also, this reminds me of something else that has been bugging me. For a time, there were two Atoms…multiple Batmen…Robins up the wazoo…two Wolverines…now, two Power Men.

At the very least, I’m glad they knocked off Ultimate Peter Parker before introducing a new Spider-Man. How many damned Spider-People does New York need?

…now then, what’s this Spider Island crap I’ve been hearing about?

Since I have obviously turned into the bitchy fanboy that is absolutely never ever happy with anything that anyone does (though, I swear, this is a recent devolution), I’ll argue that it would be more interesting if Miles were to stay Spider-Man and Ultimate Peter Parker never returned to the role.

Luke Cage hasn’t gone by Power Man in… 15 years. The new character is Vic Alvarez, he’s Dominican-American (which will probably put people’s mind through the wringer because he’s both black and Hispanic without being half anything). 

His dad used to run with Luke Cage and an explosion gave him sweet chi powers. He has the blessing of both Luke and Iron Fist and has become Iron Fist’s protege/employee. Basically they wanted to have a new Power Man & Iron Fist book, but realized that Luke Cage had outgrown the old title.

Also, even if we changed the backgrounds of a dozen characters, there would still be HUNDREDS of white characters in comics and barely dozens of non-white characters. This would make sense if these books were set in Iowa, but they’re all set in NY, LA, SF, etc. All places where white folks are in the minority.

One thing that you’re definitely right about is that this means he can never headline a movie, TV show, etc. His origin story is too intertwined with another character now. It’s not even as independent as the new Blue Beetle’s origin, which is the rare baton pass that can stand on its own.

For example, Ms. Marvel is only going to make it on TV on the Avengers cartoon and on the upcoming AKA Jessica Jones show (how she got a show before Luke Cage is another story entirely). Her origin would require bringing up the origin Mar-Vell, who isn’t exactly a household name.

I agree. It’s probably maintained so well because it has always been Bendis writing. Not that he’s the be-all, end-all, of course.

I imagine they could write a TV series starring a Spider-Man of any origin. After all, they rewrite the X-Men every time they animate them. My gripe has always been with the particular Spider-Man and the particular circumstances. There’s already a Japanese Spider-Man, a hispanic Spider-Man (2099), a total loser Spider-Man (616), a Toby Maguire, and so on.

Meant to reply here (not down below): Since I have obviously turned into the bitchy fanboy that is absolutely never ever happy with anything that anyone does (though, I swear, this is a recent devolution), I’ll argue that it would be more interesting if Miles were to stay Spider-Man and Ultimate Peter Parker never returned to the role.