Despite promising it would never, ever, ever happen, in 2012 the main Marvel continuity and the Ultimate universe overlapped for the first time since the latter's introduction over a decade earlier. The creative team responsible for Ultimate Spider-Man, Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, crafted a crossover that was a total 180 from all the tropes of the usual big, interplanetary comics event. Well, yes, it does open with a couple of confused heroes duking it out, and culminates in a big team-up against a villain, but for the most part the mini-series is used to explore the recent developments in the Ultimate universe. Namely, that the Peter Parker of that reality had just died and the mantle of Spider-Man had been taken up by a young boy by the name of Miles Morales. So, where the plot is instigated by the main reality's webhead falling through a portal of Mysterio's creation, the majority of the four issues are about Peter Parker coming to terms with how different the Ultimate universe is to his. Not only does he have to accept the fact that "he" is dead, but also that Gwen Stacy is alive. During a particularly emotional scene he turns up at Aunt May's house, explaining that he isn't just a sicko dressed as her dead nephew. It's a big old event comic built on small moments, from Peter stopping a grocery store robbery of the sort that claimed his Uncle Ben to Miles Morales finally getting to seek advice from the hero whose mantle he has picked up. It also ends with a fun little twist where Peter, home and safe, decides to see who Miles' counterpart is in the main Marvel universe, which could just be setting up the announced sequel to Spider-Men...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
