Ultimate Spider-Man is a book that remains impressive despite since stiff competition from across the comic industry. Ultimate Spider-Man is the best Marvel book in ages, all because writer Jonathan Hickman has shown a willingness to completely throw the Spider-Man formula to the wolves and create something new. Ultimate Spider-Man #16 is another bit of bravura storytelling, changing the game on several major Spider-Man characters. There are two major storylines in the book — the origin of Ultimate Gwen Stacy and the true identity and purpose of Mysterio. The two tales dovetail nicely, though. 616 Gwen Stacy was the daughter of police captain George Stacy. In the Ultimate Universe, she’s the daughter of George Stacy, one who is one of five Mysterios. Upon George’s death, Gwen took his place, placing herself in the middle of a scheme meant to break the Ultimate Universe wide open.
Gwen Stacy has always been a major character in the Spider-Man mythos, as has Mysterio. However, combining the two of them into one, one with the mission that the group of Mysterios have, is an ingenious idea. Everyone wondered exactly what Gwen Stacy would be in the Ultimate Universe; she was definitely a force to be reckoned with, as revealed by her dealing with the other characters. However, she’s being set up for something else entirely, and a target that even the most skilled heroes in the multiverse couldn’t take down — the Maker himself.
So, we’ve seen Mysterio in Ultimate Spider-Man before this issue. He was part of Kingpin’s Sinister Six, one of the rulers of New York, warned about Spider-Man and Green Goblin’s attacks, as seen in Ultimate Spider-Man #8. It was easy to assume that the Ultimate Mysterio was just Quentin Beck — and Beck is one of the Mysterios, the others are shrouded in mystery — but Ultimate Spider-Man #16 shows otherwise. Then, there’s Gwen Stacy. Stacy joined the cast of the book in Ultimate Spider-Man #4, married to Harry Osborn. She was tough, she was smart, and she was unlike any Gwen Stacy we had seen before. There was definitely more going on with her than met the eye; she helped Harry run OsCorp and bankrolled Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson’s independent news site The Paper. She seemed to support their mission, which makes complete sense once we learn exactly what Mysterio in the Ultimate Universe is after.
In the Ultimate Universe, Mysterio has a different mission than anyone imagined. Mysterio is a member of the Sinister Six, which would make it seem like he was at least an ancillary part of the Maker’s plan. However, Ultimate Spider-Man #16 revealed that the, let’s call them council of Mysterios wants to learn the truth about the universe and what it was like before the Maker started to mess with everything. They want to find proof of this, some of which they already got from OsCorp getting control of the archives from Stark/Stane. Gwen’s bankrolling of The Paper is about more than making money, it’s about having a way to release the information. The Mysterios helped Gwen find where Kraven took Peter and Harry, and she was able to save Harry. She still made Peter think he was dead, and then killed Kraven. Now that Harry is “dead”, he’s free to do whatever he wants in his fight against the powers that be which he started as Green Goblin. Mysterio and Green Goblin are together, a true power couple that could become much bigger than just Ultimate Spider-Man.
One of the great things about Mysterio — and Green Goblin, for that matter — is that they both make pretty great overall villains. What I mean is that while they are most known as Spider-Man villains, they are powerful and interesting enough to threaten other heroes — just look of the late ’00s combo of Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers to see Green Goblin fighting everyone and then “Old Man Logan” where Mysterio plays a key role in the story to see how well they can be used in roles outside of Spider-Man. Hickman has managed to make Mysterio, and Harry Osborn at the least, into villains for more than Spider-Man. Their mission — attack the levers of power held by those the Maker left in charge all to get at the truth of the Maker — puts them at a level where they could easily appear in the other Ultimate books as villains, fighting the war against the Maker in their own way.
There’s also an interesting parallel with the 616 universe. Mysterio worked with Kindred on Earth-616, in a scheme that involved “resurrecting” Harry Osborn. In the Ultimate Universe, Gwen as Mysterio plays a similar role in the Ultimate Universe, bringing Harry back from the dead to fight in her war. Another cool 616 connection is Gwen fires Otto Octavious when she learns that he was having her followed after Harry’s disappearance. In the 616 universe, Doctor Octopus killed George Stacy, so it looks like there may be a chance that Otto in the Ultimate Universe may go after Gwen and Harry at some point. Looking at Gwen’s history, as revealed in Ultimate Spider-Man #16, there’s a good chance the entire reason she chose Harry as a lover was because of his power as the son of Norman Osborn. Gwen is playing a dangerous game, one that could place her and her husband atop Earth-6160’s pecking order.
Ultimate Spider-Man #16 is on sale now.
Ultimate Spider-Man is a book that remains impressive despite since stiff competition from across the comic industry. Ultimate Spider-Man is the best Marvel book in ages, all because writer Jonathan Hickman has shown a willingness to completely throw the Spider-Man formula to the wolves and create something new. Ultimate Spider-Man #16 is another bit of Read More