Ultimate Spider-Man: Legacy

[cyberghostface]

#22... (which was double-sized)



























#23...









Peter tries to call Mary Jane at home when he hears something outside.











#24...









Peter returns home to find that he has a limo waiting for him and his aunt from Norman. Peter convinces her that Norman is a criminal and goes off to confront him.



I have to say I miss the cloaked look that he wore in this arc. I think it looked pretty neat and it gave him more character than the standard "shirtless Hulk with ripped pants" that he wore in subsequent appearances.









#25...

We flash back half an hour earlier where Harry is one of his hypnosis sessions with Dr. Warren.



Norman injects himself with the serum and goes off to confront Peter. We see the same scene from last issue except from Norman's perspective and, well, see for yourself...



Bendis revealed on his messageboard at the time that 'cellar door' was a reference to 'Donnie Darko', one of his favorite movies. I actually checked out the film because of this and it has since become one of my favorites as well.



For those wondering the white blob things aren't supposed to be anything else other than representations of Norman being crazy.



Back to the present, Norman brings Mary Jane to a certain bridge.









#26...



Peter gets Mary Jane to a cab and goes back to face Norman.





Norman flings Spidey off of him and flees back to his penthouse.



Norman proceeds to inject himself with more and more syringes of Oz until he transforms himself into a much larger Goblin.






#27...

Harry witnesses the two fighting when Spider-Man hits the Goblin with a piece of debris. Norman flings it out the window where it heads for the crowd and Spider-Man tries to web it back it up when Norman proceeds to attack him.



It's at this point when S.H.I.E.L.D. begins shooting at Norman until he reverts back to his human form.



Fury arrives with clean-up crew. Norman is still alive and is taken into custody.


Fury tells Peter that the less he tells MJ about this the better, and that there will be plenty of time for him to be involved with "the big boys" later. Peter tells him that he has no interest in being in Fury's world.



Peter flees. One of the agents tries to stop him but Fury lets him go.

Comments

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Wait....

Peter belongs to Shield because of his powers, is gonna be drafted, blah blah blah...yet Norman transforming himself into a freakin' monster isn't illegal how?

[scorntx]

Like Fury says, turning yourself into an enormous green crazy monster isn't illegal until it infringes upon the rights of another.
Not until he attacks someone. Then it becomes illegal.

[captainbellman]

Though it's not that consistent - for instance, in "Ultimate Six" it was shown that the Avengers can bring you in and have you thrown in a secret high-tech prison if your genetic enhancements are done under the table.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Which makes no sense whatsoever.

Peter's powers don't infringe upon anyone, unless Fury is referring to his crimefighting. In which case, he has every legal right to bring him in right now, regardless of age

[scorntx]

Well maybe Nick Fury has a jerkwad meter to fill up or something.

Remember, if they're not being pointlessly antagonistic, we might not they're actually SHIELD.
They could be Skrulls, or LMDs gone rogue, or worse... helpful!

[mrstatham]

To be fair, Fury specifies in the very next arc that he is specifically talking about Peter working for him and 'being one of the greats' when he comes of age, and his reaction to Peter's death suggests that he does genuinely mean that; I think here, it's just heat of the moment given the mess Osborn made of himself, on both Peter and Fury's behalf.

Ultimate Fury lies....

[7dialsmystery]

More than most versions of Fury. Probably everything that came out of his mouth about "owning" Peter when he was an adult is horse puckey, but he figured that Peter wouldn't consult a lawyer and find that out.

[fra080389]

Frankly, the more strange thing of Ultimate Spiderman was the past secret affair Harry/MJ...

[captainbellman]

It's weird that they later had Miles Warren dating Aunt May and didn't have that go anywhere. Heck, in the "Clone Saga" they just subbed him with Doc Ock instead.

[mrstatham]

I think that was maybe more sensible than just having this guy come out of nowhere, and was just a name-drop to make them of some significance, like Ben Reilly. Having Ock be responsible for the Clone Saga also plays into the whole notion that Osborn starts to become obsessed with about him being Spider-Man's 'father', eventually resulting in Otto's death when he claims similar responsibility for him, having worked at Oscorp and all.

[captainbellman]

Still, it feels like a waste of a potentially interesting/creepy character, likely thanks to the shakeup post-Ultimatum. I'd have liked to see at least a reflection of the Jackal - e.g. since he's a hypnotist, have him create vivid hallucinations of his victims' loved ones, like mental "clones", in order to mess with them.

[scorntx]

Poor Harry really is one of the most criminally underused characters in all of the Ultimate Universe.
Probably right in the same area as Marh-Vell.
I mean, outside of this storyline he only reappears twice, the first time to be in a really weird and confusing story and the second time to get his head smushed in.
And he was freaking bit character in that one.
And then after two issues no-one ever mentioned him again.
Aargh.

Also, Peter was friends with Harry for how long, and he never once pegged that he was rich, ever?
Bit weird.

Also also, as much as I might rag on this series, the constant visual development of Norman's appearance as the Green Goblin actually is pretty neat.
Not enough to excuse anything after Death of a Goblin, but still neat.

[cyberghostface]

Harry was mentioned numerous times throughout the series even during the Miles series.

Also, Peter was friends with Harry for how long, and he never once pegged that he was rich, ever?
Bit weird.

The penthouse was a new thing after his old house was burned down by the Goblin. Before that he lived in Queens.

[stubbleupdate]

Pluskommander Geheneris Hala´son Mahr Vehll of the Kree Imperial Void Navy was criminally under used.

[mrstatham]

As much as I got increasingly 'eh' over the use of Norman in the series - he was never as interesting as his 616 counterpart - the issue with him hallucinating the weird spider-men was awesome at the time.

And the Green Goblin was absolutely terrifying in some of the pages not shown here, like the two page spread where he's throttling Peter and bending him back, and all Peter can do is narrate how he can't get his grip and can feel his spine bending. Really, really unnerving stuff.

[cyberghostface]

I liked Ult. Norman but he should have stayed dead after 'Death of a Goblin'.

[mrstatham]

Pretty much. I think having him and Peter basically off each other in Death of Spider-Man was really solid as a demonstration of Peter's utter heroism, but probably unnecessary.

[cyberghostface]

IMO I think Bendis could have had Doc Ock as Peter's 'final' villain but instead he got Worfed by Norman after a "redemption equals death" scene or Venom who Bendis never revealed what happened to after he got put on a bus to Latveria.

[mrstatham]

I don't know, I kind-of liked that as a twist for Ock, that he actually had some decency in him and recognised that what he'd helped make was perhaps the best hero in the world, and I never really felt like he got worfed - he was never a huge physical threat for Peter once the arms were handled, so for someone like Norman it'd be a cakewalk.

And Venom.. Yeah. Definitely some wasted potential there.

[informationgeek]

Speaking of which, what did ever happen to old Venom in the Ultimate Universe? I can't seem recall where he vanished to.

[cyberghostface]

Last time he appeared he was being taken to Latveria by the Beetle.

[scorntx]

Just before Ultimatum, where Latveria froze over.
And then a few months after, Reed Richards dropped a squid-monster on Doomstadt.

Not looking too good for Eddie, there.

[cainofdreaming]

You were there? So you just chose to sit by and watch when he kidnapped someone and threw her off a bridge? Which, incidentally, is something you could go and jump off from, Ultimate Nick Fury.

[cyberghostface]

As soon as they saw that he was holding MJ Fury asked if they could take the shot but they couldn't without risk hurting her in the process.

[cainofdreaming]

They should have taken the shot the instant they saw him going for MJ, anything other is not only a breach of trust on the promise they gave Peter but reckless endangerment too.

[cyberghostface]

Which would have only dangered even more civilians in the process given that she was with Harry in front of the penthouse at the time.

[cainofdreaming]

Fury has people like Hawkeye under his beck and call, who couldn't miss a shot like that even if they tried. So, was he just not that interested in capturing Norman that he didn't bring his best people?

[cyberghostface]

They blasted Norman with several shots from their helicopter and it barely fazed him.

Also Hawkeye wasn't even introduced when this arc started.

[thatnickguy]

I HATE this version of the Green Goblin. He's basically a glorified intelligent Hulk. I much prefer a Goblin with the classic glider, pumpkin bombs, and assortment of gadgets.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Weren't this version of the Goblin and the Hulk all part of the same overall project, trying to recreate the Super Soldier serum?

[mrstatham]

This. It even says that in the pages above. Norman basically started making promises he couldn't keep with the Oz formula and got sloppy. Bruce.. Well, became the Hulk out of desperation.

[silverhammerman]

Agreed, I always hated the Ultimate take on the character: Spider-Man has enough enemies who are just big monster dudes who punch things, and the glider and bombs had always given the Green Goblin a much more unique gimmick.

All the stuff with the backstory and Norman Osborn works well enough, but the design of the Green Goblin has always struck me as one of the biggest missteps the UU made in the name of being more grounded.