...Who was summarily replaced in the role of Spider-Man with Miles Morales, a tween of Black Hispanic descent who coincidentally ended up with similar powers to the original Ultimate webhead. The decision was a mostly positive one for Marvel, as they made a progressive decision when it came to representation of different races in the white-washed world of superhero protagonists, and the ensuing storm of publicity that surrounded such a move. Not that everybody was happy with the changes. There were newspapers who accused Marvel of shamelessly chasing the political correctness dollar, recasting Spidey not due to any real altruistic motivations but because it was a neat publicity stunt. Inevitably there were also the fans who objected to Peter being replaced at all, either due to the connection they had with the original character or plain old fashioned racism (it was a mix of the two, really). The controversy wasn't over, though, even after Miles had settled into being the Ultimate Spider-Man. Because in 2012 everyone who had promised the Ultimate and Marvel universes would never intersect reneged on their deal with Spider-Men, a crossover book where Miles met the Peter Parker from the main Spidey title. This opened the door to all sorts of inter-reality shenanigans, and fans again started to worry that the Ultimate line would become the "real" Marvel Universe, especially since they were more and more in line with the movies.
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/
