Ultimate Spider-Man (2000-2011): Bendis and Bagley's Series, Arc by Arc

Ultimate Spider-Man in brief

The name covers several works. This article tells the story of the 2000-2011 comic series, not to be confused with Jonathan Hickman's series launched in 2024, covered in our article on Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man, nor with the 2012 animated series or the 2005 video game. Its universe, that of the Ultimate line, is placed among the others in all the Earths of the multiverse and in our Spider-Verse page.

At times the series outsold Amazing Spider-Man, the character's flagship title. Its major arcs reinvented much of Peter Parker's supporting cast, from Gwen Stacy to Venom; its characters are introduced in our page on every character.

Origins: Bill Jemas's Ultimate line

The Ultimate line was the brainchild of Bill Jemas, then Marvel's publishing chief. He felt the series were too weighed down by continuity for new readers and wanted to relaunch the popular characters from scratch, starting with Spider-Man. Before it was called Ultimate, the project went by the working title 'Ground Zero', quickly dropped according to Tom Brevoort. Joe Quesada, who until then had run the Marvel Knights imprint, was appointed Marvel's editor-in-chief in late August 2000, replacing Bob Harras, a few days before the first issue came out. Before that appointment, it was he who had recommended Brian Michael Bendis to write the series, and Bill Jemas had hired the writer.

Issue #1 went on sale in the United States on 6 September 2000, priced at $2.99, with a cover by Joe Quesada. Bendis wrote the script, with Bill Jemas also credited as a writer, Mark Bagley on pencils, Art Thibert on inks, Steve Buccellato on colours, and Richard Starkings and Comicraft on lettering; Ralph Macchio was the editor. This #1 exists in several versions, including a blank white cover reserved for retailers and a Dynamic Forces edition, also with a Quesada cover, limited to 5,000 copies. In France, Marvel France's Ultimate Spider-Man magazine, published by Panini, started in May 2001.

The early issues (#1 to #32): a rewritten origin

The first arc, 'Power and Responsibility' (#1 to #7), modernises the origin told in 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15, the comic that gave birth to Spider-Man, and stretches it over seven issues, where it originally took up about ten pages.

In 'Learning Curve', Peter is hired by the Daily Bugle in #8 to look after the paper's website, not as a photographer. While trying to find out who ordered his uncle's murder, he traces the trail back to Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, profiled in our profile of Kingpin. In #13, 'Confessions', he reveals to Mary Jane Watson that he is Spider-Man; she starts by laughing, and he proves he is telling the truth by climbing up the wall and onto the ceiling.

'Double Trouble' brings in Otto Octavius with his mechanical arms fused to his body, and turns Kraven into a ratings-hungry TV adventurer. Gwen Stacy becomes a rebellious punk teenager, at odds with her policeman father: in #15, a flick knife falls out of her pocket, and she uses it to threaten Kong, a classmate. In 'Legacy', the Green Goblin returns; in #25, he throws Mary Jane off a bridge and Spider-Man saves her, a scene that recalls, according to a reviewer on Rambles.NET, the death of Gwen Stacy in 1973. In 'Public Scrutiny', Captain John Stacy dies, and Gwen then holds Spider-Man responsible for her father's death.

Venom, Ultimate Six and Hollywood (#33 to #59)

The 'Venom' arc (#33 to #39) completely reinvents the symbiote. It does not come from space: it is a synthetic substance developed by Richard Parker, Peter's father, and Eddie Brock Sr. to cure a serious illness. Eddie Brock Jr. is a childhood friend Peter had lost touch with, who tells him that their fathers worked together. Mark Bagley drew this Venom as a monster rather than a supervillain, and he recalls that Bendis did not want a white spider on the creature's chest. The arc closes on a conversation with Nick Fury. The story of the classic Venom is told in the complete history of Venom, and his other incarnations, Ultimate included, in the alternative versions of Venom. Richard Parker's role is detailed in our article on Peter Parker's parents.

In 'Irresponsible' (#40 to #45), Geldoff, a teenager who blows up cars with a glance, causes chaos and draws the X-Men's attention. Ultimate Six, written by Bendis and drawn by Trevor Hairsine, is not an arc of the series but a separate seven-issue miniseries, set up by #46, 'Afterwards'. The genetically modified Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro and Kraven escape from a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, and Norman Osborn wants Spider-Man to be their sixth member; Peter holds out until Aunt May and Mary Jane are threatened. The classic team is introduced in our article on the Sinister Six, and each of its members in our guide to the villains.

In 'Cats & Kings' (up to #53), Kingpin is cleared of a murder despite video evidence, J. Jonah Jameson backs a candidate who turns out to be corrupt, and Black Cat and Elektra enter the scene. In 'Hollywood' (#54 to #59), a Spider-Man film is shooting in New York; Otto Octavius escapes to halt production, and Gwen Stacy discovers Peter's spare costume. Director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire appear on set; their films can be rewatched in the eight-film complete collection among our DVDs and Blu-rays.

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Carnage and the death of Gwen Stacy (#60 to #65)

The 'Carnage' arc begins in #60, cover-dated August 2004: the story runs in five parts (#60 to #64), and some sources also include #65. In this universe, Carnage is not a sentient alien symbiote: the creature is born from a genetic experiment carried out on a sample of Peter's blood, then escapes and kills. Gwen Stacy is killed by it in #62, cover-dated September 2004 and on sale on 7 July 2004. The series thus arrives, by a different route, at the tragedy that has haunted the character since 1973, unpicked in our analysis of the death of Gwen Stacy.

Kitty Pryde, Hobgoblin and the Clone Saga (#66 to #111)

'Superstars' (#66 to #71) brings together three short stories: Peter and Wolverine swap bodies, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, enrols at Peter's school, and Peter falls into a magical nightmare at the home of a novice Doctor Strange. In 'Hobgoblin' (#72 to #78), Harry Osborn, Peter's lifelong friend and the Green Goblin's son, becomes the Hobgoblin. Over the 'Hobgoblin' and 'Warriors' arcs, Peter breaks up with Mary Jane to protect her; in 'Warriors' (#79 to #85), Hammerhead starts a gang war while Kingpin keeps a low profile, and Elektra, Black Cat, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Moon Knight and Captain Jean DeWolff get involved.

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1, drawn by Mark Brooks, tells how Peter and Kitty Pryde meet: isolated at her own school, the young X-Men recruit calls him because she thinks he is cute, and they end up kissing. Then come 'Silver Sable' (#86 to #90), in which the mercenary, hired to hand over Spider-Man, kidnaps another teenager by mistake, 'Deadpool' (#91 to #94), in which Deadpool and the Reavers hunt mutants live on television on the island of Krakoa, and 'Morbius' (#95-96), in which journalist Ben Urich is bitten by a vampire.

The Ultimate Clone Saga (#97 to #105, epilogue included) brings clones of Peter into being, created by Otto Octavius from a sample of Peter's blood: one has extra arms, another is a woman, and nearly all of them have been artificially aged. Gwen Stacy reappears, in #98 according to Wikipedia, and Peter gets back together with Mary Jane at the end. The classic saga is revisited in the Clone Saga. In 'Ultimate Knights' (#106 to #110), Daredevil, whose ties with Spider-Man in the classic comics we trace elsewhere, brings together Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi and Doctor Strange to take down Kingpin; they want him dead, and Peter refuses to take part in a murder. Kitty Pryde then leaves Professor Xavier's school to join Peter's class.

Issue #111, 'The Talk', cover-dated September 2007, is drawn by both Mark Bagley and his successor, Stuart Immonen: Peter and Aunt May have the conversation about his life as Spider-Man, and May agrees to support him while asking him to be careful. With Bendis writing, Bagley drew the series from #1 to #111, from 2000 to 2007: the longest uninterrupted collaboration by a creative team on a Marvel title. He then spent a few years at DC Comics.

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The Immonen years and Ultimatum (#111 to #133)

'Death of a Goblin' (#112 to #117) is the first arc drawn by Stuart Immonen alone. Norman Osborn escapes S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Peter ends up locked in the same facility, and Kitty Pryde comes to free him, while Carol Danvers runs S.H.I.E.L.D. as acting director. At the end of the arc, in #117, the agency uses Harry Osborn as bait: Harry becomes the Hobgoblin again and is killed by his father. In 'War of the Symbiotes' (#123 to #128), Venom returns, while Beetle, Silver Sable and the Ultimates come into play. The plot loosely adapts, with changes, that of the 2005 Ultimate Spider-Man video game.

Ultimatum is a five-issue miniseries, cover-dated January to September 2009: Magneto reverses the Earth's magnetic polarity, and a tidal wave engulfs Manhattan. Issues #129 to #133 of Ultimate Spider-Man tie into it: Spider-Man tries to calm Hulk amid the disaster, then disappears in an explosion at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Kitty Pryde finds the hero's torn mask, with no body, and everyone believes him dead. Issue #133 is the last of the first ongoing series. In Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem, written by Bendis and drawn by Immonen and Bagley, J. Jonah Jameson returns with the Daily Bugle staff to what is left of the paper, writes Spider-Man's eulogy and admits he was wrong to attack him in his editorials.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and the end (2009-2011)

After Ultimatum, the series is relaunched at #1 under the title Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, still written by Bendis, with David Lafuente on art; at first, Peter flips burgers at a fast-food restaurant to earn a living. After the fifteen issues of the relaunch, the series returns to its original numbering at #150: Marvel billed it as the 150th instalment of the series and as a celebration of ten years of the Ultimate universe. This 104-page issue brings together several artists, including David Lafuente, Skottie Young, Sara Pichelli and Jamie McKelvie.

To slip into the hero's suit yourself, our Spider-Man costumes come in several designs. The hero's other deaths, across every series, are gathered in all of Spider-Man's deaths. For readers new to comics, our pick of comics for beginners places the series among the others, and our page on the major arcs puts each story in its era.

In France: the Ultimate Spider-Man magazine and the albums

From May 2001, Marvel France, part of Panini, published a newsstand magazine called Ultimate Spider-Man. It ended at #70, billed as the 'Last issue!', released in December 2009 at a price of €4, with Bendis and Immonen episodes about Peter Parker's fate after Ultimatum. Panini also published the series in albums in the Marvel Deluxe collection, whose volume 1, 'Pouvoirs et responsabilités' ('Power and Responsibility'), released in April 2007, collects issues 1 to 13.

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Key takeaways