This January, writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Marco Checchetto will finally answer the stolen prayers of a million quiet voices and present what many fans will likely agree is the Ultimate Ultimate Spider-Man: a world where Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are happily married with two kids, and Peter somehow still makes it work as Spider-Man.
Hickman previously teased that the new Ultimate Spider-Man would be a "Peter B. Parker situation," referencing the married Peter Parker from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse who is also a dad. Turns out, he meant that pretty literally, and no doubt fans of Pete and MJ who feel spurned by the mainstream Spider-Man's avoidance of letting the pair be together are now champing at the bit for January's Ultimate Spider-Man #1.
"That’s right, Spider-Man is a married man!" reads Marvel's announcement. "Meet Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson—MR. & MRS. PARKER! They’re one of pop culture’s most iconic couples, and now readers will see them stronger than ever in the Ultimate Universe."
"Launching this January as the first ongoing series set in Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man will star a very different Peter Parker—an older, wiser web-slinger who balances his super hero duties with his responsibilities as a husband and a father."
To celebrate the return of Peter and MJ as a married couple (at least in some universe, somewhere), Marvel has also unveiled a new cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Elizabeth Torque, who will provide variant covers for the first four issues of the series, as well as a piece of promotional art by Ryan Stegman.
"When we decided that we were going to do a book about an older Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, we really wanted to lean into him starting his super hero life from a very different place than what's traditionally expected," Hickman explains in a statement. "Peter and MJ being married is one of many decisions we made that underline this being quite a 'different' kind of Spider-Man story."
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 goes on sale January 10.
Stay up to date on all the new Spider-Man comics Marvel has planned.
