Ultimate Spider-Man/YMMV

Ultimate Spider-Man, comic series

• And the Fandom Rejoiced: The anouncement that Mark Bagley would be returning to the series with the 2011 Death of Spider-Man story arc.
• Base Breaker:
  • Kitty Pryde, who is either considered a welcome addition to the cast, or Bendis' own personal Mary Sue.
  • Chances are that another one is on the horizon with the real death of Peter and the start of a new series featuring a different character under the mask thus turning Ultimate Spidey into a Legacy Character. Can you spell Flame Bait?
  • Spider-Men, the crossover between the 616 & Ultimate universes to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Spider-Man's first appearance - Is it a great idea, or reek of hypocrisy considering Quesada's previous comments on the matter of a 616/Ultimate universe crossover, too soon to have Miles meet 616!Peter since the former is still finding his feet as a superhero, or is it just a wasted idea since it comes the year after Ultimate Peter was killed?
• Complete Monster:
  • Norman Osborn and Doctor Octopus were in a race for quite a while to see who was the bigger bastard. Norman threatened Peter's family, brainwashed his own son and nearly killed Mary Jane, while Otto flat-out tortured Peter at one point and cloned him while clearly reveling in how what he was doing was destroying Peter's own life. Norman finally won when Doc Ock had a Heel Face Turn and said that he didn't want to go after Peter any more, and Norman responded by brutally murdering him.
  • Also, Ultimate Deadpool.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: You can debate endlessly about whether or not killing Peter was a good idea but you can't say that they didn't have him go down facing off against the Sinister Six by himself with a bullet in his gut and fading fast.
• Ensemble Darkhorse:
  • Gwen Stacy. So much so they eventually brought her back.
  • Jessica Drew is easily one of these, having minimal screen-time but a huge fanbase.
  • Kong. He's become popular enough to become a Canon Immigrant in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Peter/Kitty has gained a large following, especially after they were broken up. Kitty's Base Breaker status makes this a YMMV situation, though.
• Growing the Beard: For Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man it is issue 9 and 10.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Back in the early nineties, one of the most famous songs by Italian band ^[1] was titled "Hanno Ucciso L'Uomo Ragno", which is Italian for "They Killed Spider-Man". Fast-forward by twenty-years-or-so.
  • In "Cats and Queens", the focus of MJ's story was her wanting to run away from home so she and peter could be married, with him saying he'll always be there for her. Also in the same arc, Black Cat tells him he'll have seven years bad luck. This was in 2004...
  • At July 2005's San Diego Comic Con, in response to the question the Ultimate & 616 universes crossing over, Joe Quesada stated that he'd rather close down one universe than have them cross over because it meant they were officially out of ideas. Fast forward to 2012, and Marvel announced that they will be having 616!Peter crossing over to the Ultimate universe to meet Miles.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This one needs explanation. The Marvel Database (that is, the Marvel wiki) is usually pretty damn reliable, so you can take the fact that the Ultimate Marvel Universe and its version from the videogame aren't the same universe as borderline Word of God (which got confirmed anyway, as the Ultimate Spider-Man videogame fell into Canon Discontinuity). Flash-forward to the latest events and to Peter's death. Once you think about it, you realise that thanks to the videogame version of the Ultimate Spider-Man we still have an alive-and-well Ultimate Peter Parker.
  • A small detail, but in the 2004 "Hollywood" arc, when Peter fights Doc Ock on the set of a new Spider-Man movie, a black stuntman in a Spidey outfit hits Doc Ock with a camera. When he tells Spidey that he's just a stuntman, not the actor playing him, Peter says "I thought I got revamped there for a second..."
• Like You Would Really Do It: Averted HARD, considering the one involved is the title character.
• Magnificent Bastard: Kingpin. He makes Lex Luthor look like a chump.
• Magnum Opus: Arguably a contender for Brian Michael Bendis'.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In issue 13 of the relaunch, both the original Peter and Jameson are tied up after being caught by the Chameleon siblings. While the brother was robbing a bank as Spider-Man, the sister took on the face of J. Jonah Jameson (but with a scantily clad female body) proceeded to shoot the original Jameson in the head. Right in front of Peter. Ugh.
  • The storyline in which Deadpool and the mercenaries take Spider-man and the X-Men to face "justice" on that game show. Starts with a school full of unsuspecting people getting knocked out and kidnapped and ends with them having to rescue Xavier, who is stripped, chained up, and has his eyes pried open ala Clockwork Orange, so he is forced to watch his students be killed.
• Replacement Scrappy: Miles Morales, for fans of Ultimate Peter. He's otherwise well received, though.
• Ruined FOREVER:
  • Ultimate Comics #160 - They killed Peter.
  • Ultimate Deadpool.
• The Scrappy:
  • Again, Ultimate Deadpool. It's not that hard to see why people disliked the character.
    • Not everyone though, since some were OK with it since Ultimate characters are suppose to be different to their mainstream counterpart.
    • This might take a little explanation, but the mainline Deadpool is a fairly popular character, mostly because of a sense of humor and lightheartedness. Ultimate Deadpool, by comparison, is thought of as a generic villain who hates mutants. The two versions share very little in common (until his re-tool courtesy of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, although it is probably non-canon).
• Take That, Scrappy!: The first time Miles comes across any of Peter's True Companions in costume, he's promptly kicked in the head and asked "Who the Precision F-Strike do you think you are?". Bonus points for it coming from Spider-Woman, or if you prefer Peter's gender flipped clone.
• Tear Jerker: The first Fallout issue is this for pretty much every page.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks:
  • Some fans feel this way about the series. 'Tis a retelling though, so you can't win 'em all.
  • Played straight with the transition from Ultimate Spider-Man to Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man. The change of artist and shake up of status quo has resulted in a more Broken Base.
  • The second transition to an entirely new main character just begs for this.
• Too Cool to Live:
  • Uncle Ben.
  • Peter Parker
• What an Idiot!:
  • Carol Danvers qualifies at the start of The Death of Spider-Man - 6 dangerous superpowered criminals break out of the Triskelion, all of whom are enemies of Spider-Man, and the last time five of the six teamed up, it required the Ultimates to stop them. So she not only sends the Ultimates off to fight Nick Fury's Avengers to cover her own ass, but she doesn't even tell Spider-Man that six of his enemies have all escaped from incarceration, all so that she can keep the breakout a secret. And the kicker? Because she inadvertently caused the death of Spider-Man, this wound up being the straw that broke the camel's back and got her fired from her position as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    • Though how much of that is due to Nick Fury's planning is very much debatable. At least 2 characters have voiced the idea that he directly caused the events leading up to Spidey's death. Though to be fair neither is entirely neutral in the matter. One being MJ and the other being Fury's ex wife Black Widow 2.
• The Woobie:
  • Shadowcat in "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man".
  • And, as always, Peter. By the end of the Ultimate Clone Saga arc, everyone wanted to give that kid a hug.
  • Mary-Jane Watson on a regular basis, especially with her crazy father interfering with her and Peter's relationship in "Cats and Queens"

Ultimate Spider-Man, the animated series

• And the Fandom Rejoiced:
  • The animated adaptation was received negatively at first for replacing The Spectacular Spider Man... until it was announced that Paul Dini, of the the DCAU, and Man of Action, the studio behind Ben 10, would be working on the stories for the show, with Bendis himself supervising.
  • The cartoon got another bit of this when J.K. Simmons, who played J. Jonah Jameson in the Raimi movies confirmed he's vocally reprising the role for the cartoon.
  • Kevin Manthei being announced as the one doing the shows music had a similar reaction (His other work include Generator Rex, the Ultimate Spider-Man game, and Justice League: The New Frontier, to name a few).
  • The announcement that Agent Phil Coulson would be a recurring character; voiced (much like the J.K. Simmons example above) by none other than his live-action actor, Clark Gregg.
  • The fact that this is the first Spider-Man cartoon since the 1990s to allow crossovers with other Marvel franchises led to this.
  • With the first 6 episodes' plots announced, fans are treated to the knowledge that Spidey and his new amazing friends will be encountering Dr. Doom, Venom, Iron Man, and the first animated appearance of Taskmaster.
  • Marvel released preview images on their website which feature the silhouettes of Taskmaster, Dr. Octopus, the Hulk, Venom/Iron Man (there's still debates on the identity of that image) and Wolverine.
• Broken Base: However, still it is a very divisive series within the fandom.
  • The humor of the series. For some fans it's funny and clever. For another fans it's just stupid.
  • Drake Bell as Spidey is also rather divisive. Some fans think he's great for the role and some are critical of him.
  • With some Spec fans (though not all), it seems to be case of Misblamed, even though Greg Weisman himself pointed out it wasn't Marvel's or this shows fault Spec ended. On the other hand, many Spec fans know that USM didn't get the show cancelled, but the perceived low quality of the series definitely adds more insult to injury as far as they're concerned.
  • Some fans aren't too happy that Venom's backstory is based on his Marvel Adventures counterpart (sentient suit created by one of Spidey's enemies) rather than the alien symbiote from the mainstream Marvel universe. And It Got Worse when it was revealed Harry Osborn was his host instead of Eddie Brock.
  • And then rumors began to circulate about how they might reboot Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes in Ultimate Spider-Man's image, and EMH's fans really got squeamish and angry at the show.
  • The point of Spider-Man having a team has also been questioned, some fans feeling he is a better hero when alone and that the series shouldn't be called "Spider-Man" if it's about him in a team (despite this not being the first case like this.)
  • Similarly, some fans are annoyed it takes the name "Ultimate Spider-Man" despite having nothing to do with the comic of the same name.
• Contested Sequel: After the cancellation of The Spectacular Spider Man, this series was doomed from the start to become this. It goes beyond what was expected however; the more comical approach hasn't been really well-received by most fans, and while some fans still like it, the show has become one of the least well-received show in all Marvel Animation.
• Hate Dumb: Some people have decided to not watch the show and declare it the "Worst Cartoon Ever" because Spider-Man doesn't have red on the back of his arms. I'm completely serious.
  • Jeph Loeb's Facebook page got so many complaints about this show, either Loeb or Marvel deleted his page. Wow.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Iron Fist is notable for being one of the few main characters to not be The Scrappy. His cool, likable personnality does the rest.
  • Doctor Octopus has become one for being a truly creepy villain in contrast with most of the other villains, who are treated as comical^[2].
  • Taskmaster, due to being a truly menacing and Badass bad guy.
  • And so far, episodes involving other key heroes such as The Incredible Hulk or Iron Man got good reaction as well due to being faithful to their most well-known incarnation.
  • Also, for those not mad about the change Harry Osborn is pretty popular since the idea of him being Venom is a different and interesting twist.
• Magnificent Bastard: Doctor Doom. When Spider-Man and his team attempted to capture him by attacking Latveria, he sent a Doombot to fight them, and had said Doombot captured by them so he could have it infiltrating the Helicarrier and destroying it from the inside; and even after they successfully defeated the Doombot, he still gets something by analyzing their weakness in the process, thus preparing for later fights with them.
• Nightmare Fuel: Doctor Octopus. Even though he has yet to be shown in action, the few gaps we get of him reveal creepy, almost zombie-like features, as well as a Creepy Monotone voice.
  • When Peter considers telling Harry he's Spider-Man, the possible consequences of his secret getting out (even ones that aren't as bad as the others) flash by in a terrifying thought-sequence. No wonder Peter's protective of his identity if that's what he thinks might happen.
• Tainted by the Preview: The more looks people got at the show's sense of humor, the more they worried about the possibility that the show wouldn't prove worth the wait.
• The Scrappy: Most of the main cast, with the exception of Iron Fist; Nova and White Tiger are especially criticized for being this, the former for his hot-headed, abrasive personnality and the latter for her nagging attitude toward Spider-Man. To an extent, even Spider-Man himself suffers this, mostly because his sense of humor seems closer to Deadpool's than that of the comic Spidey.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: So far, Spider-Man's teammates are this; all of them are minor superheroes from the comic who had never appeared in animated adaptation when the series started, and two of them (Power Man and Iron Fist) are quite popular in the comic fanbase. This could have been a great way to introduce those characters to a younger audience as well as their universe. But the series doesn't bother with exploring their background and origins, instead barely mentionning it, and their Character Development doesn't go beyond serving as Spider-Man's annoying sidekicks. As a result, they end up for most becoming a bunch of Scrappies in the eyes of most fans.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: "Why I Hate Gym" has a scene where Taskmaster, in an attempt to convince Spider-Man to join him as his apprentice, reveals he used to work for SHIELD as well, but left after Nick Fury double-crossed him. Having Spider-Man questionning his trust in Fury, and considering quitting because of this, could have been a great plot device that would have brought Character Development to the three characters. But the episode instead focus on Spidey and White Tiger trying to find a way to defeat Taskmaster, and Fury's double-crossing is never mentionned again.
  • "Back In Black", which is centered around finding out that the new Spider-Man in town and one wearing Venom is Harry Osborn, if you're not one of the people angry about it, actually sounds like an interesting idea, especially given Harry's parental issues. The problem is that the episode barely focuses on the effects the Venom Suit has on Peter and Harry's friendship or Harry's animosity toward his father, which is only briefly touched upon at the end of the episode.
    • May be rectified by the season finale, which has Harry and Norman somehow getting into a clash over Venom as the synopsis.

1. ↑ that now, by the way, is no more since its lead singer is now pursuing a solo career
2. ↑ On the other hand, whereas minor villains and mooks are treated as comical - although very competents and dangerous in many cases- , the main villains like Norman Osborn, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Doom and Loki are played dead serious