PETER PARKER and MILES MORALES To Meet In ‘SPIDER-MEN’. Oh Marvel.
Well, it’s happening. The Ultimate and 616 universes are somehow interacting, an event that Joe Quesada once said would only happen when Marvel was out of ideas. Which you know, makes it seem like perfect sense that its happening now.
Details and artwork after the jump.
Comics Alliance:
Miles Morales was introduced to Ultimate Comics readers following the popular “The Death of Spider-Man” storyline, which of course saw the Ultimate version of Peter Parker kick the ultimate bucket. Inspired by Parker, Morales — who also became possessed of spider-like powers — stepped up to become New York’s new friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and with some success. Meanwhile, in Marvel’s main publishing line (sometimes known as the 616 universe), in Amazing Spider-Man, the adventures of Peter Parker continued apace.
Nothing is known as to how Parker and Morales negotiate the imagined distances between their realities, but Marvel.com’s Ben Morse reports that Spider-Men will also feature the Ultimate Universe versions of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, the Ultimates, and some “surprising” villains from both lines.
Associate Editor Sana Amanat offered some thematic details:
“Peter Parker is Miles’ hero,” states associate editor Sana Amanat. “[A version of Peter Parker] is the reason Miles has taken up the Spider-Man mantle, so it will be interesting to see what Peter can teach him. Peter will also see the impact of the Spider-Man legacy and the influence it can have. Ultimately these characters will really help inspire and empower one another.”
She continued:
“Miles gets to meet his hero and Peter confronts a world where he’s been killed and another Spider-Man has taken his place.” shares Amanat. “You can’t deny the long term effect that will have on both characters.”
For longtime Marvel fans, the big news is that Spider-Men finally opens the door for interaction between the 616 and Ultimate universes, something the publisher has resisted in the 13 years since it launched the Ultimate line. Addressing readers at San Diego’s Comic-Con International in 2006, previous Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada indicated such an event would never happen, saying it would mean that Marvel had “officially run out of ideas.” That was of course many years ago, before Miles Morales hit the scene and grabbed headlines throughout the mainstream media, and as Quesada remarked not long after, a person has the right to change their mind. According to Senior Editor Mark Paniccia, it was actually Quesada himself — now serving as Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer — who pitched the Morales/Parker meeting. “Looking at the big anniversaries we had coming up in 2012, Joe Quesada suggested one huge way to celebrate 50 years of Spidey was to do the ultimate-no pun intended-Marvel team-up.”
How do ya’ll react to this sheezy? While I lament the idea that they’re bringing the two Universes together (and I think Marvel as a whole is pretty stagnant lately), I’m a bit excited for this.
