Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Venom War

[cyberghostface]

 

The arc began with #16.1 (the ".1" to indicate this was a 'jumping on' point even though it really isn't)...

Betty Brant is investigating who the new Spider-Man is.





Doctor Marcus first appeared in the first issue of Miles' title as the scientist working with Norman Osborn to replicate the spider that bit Peter.





Eventually Betty suspects that Jefferson Davis (Miles' father) is the new Spider-Man due to his connection with the Prowler. She goes to Jonah who refuses to print the story.







#19...















#20...











The Venom Blast! Didn't see that coming, did you, true believers?





#21...









Maria Hill makes her presence known.









#24...

Miles arrives at the hospital.







Yep, Venom turns out to be... "nondescript black guy". (He's the Dr. Marcus that appeared in #16.1) To me one of the biggest missed opportunities was Bendis never revealed what happened to Eddie Brock after he was taken to Latveria and here we have a Venom storyline and... nothing. Not even a panel that shows him in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody or something.

Comments

[mastermahan]

Ah, yes, the plot line of people somehow thinking Miles' father is Spider-Man, despite the fact that Jefferson is clearly a foot taller and weighs twice as much as Spider-Man. Still as stupid as it was back when it was fresh.

[scorntx]

A foot taller, weights twice as much, and almost certainly sounds older.

Good to know people in the Ultimate universe are as dumb and gullible as regular Marvel citizens.

[mastermahan]

It must have been really easy for minors to buy beer in the Ultimate Universe.

[cyberghostface]

Had anyone weighed or measured Miles?

[scorntx]

He's 5'2'' and 125 lbs, according to the Handbooks.

[cyberghostface]

I take it the general public of the MU doesn't have a copy of this?

[burkeonthesly]

I think when people talk about his weight, they're talking about his visible build. Miles, in the Spider-Spandex, is pretty visibly a skinny kid, while Miles' dad is pretty visibly a fit adult man.

[cyberghostface]

I suppose but there's the issue that people have only seen him via shoddy video and secondhand stories, and he's only been active for about a year story-wise.

For example in the movie Super we have Rainn Wilson as a superhero and the police sketch someone gave of him was someone tall and muscular.

[burkeonthesly]

Do we know that there's no decent video or photos of Miles in costume yet? I'll admit, though, people are certainly likely to exaggerate in their descriptions of him.

[scorntx]

First off... UGH.

That was horrible. Killing Rio Morales was pointless.
Just... so... pointless. And horrible.
What a waste of a good character, leaving us and Miles stuck with her husband.
(Why did anyone involved think this was all they could do with the character?)

And writing a storyline about Miles quitting when he was barely two years into his career was a mistake. Jumping the gun.
Understandable, in-story, but it was still done far too early. Not to mention the fact he stays quit in comparison to Peter, who couldn't not help people makes for an unfair comparison. (Sure some unpleasant person probably used it to say "This is why Peter will always be better" somewhere...)

And wow, the Venom II character is so bland.
The character's design is pretty good, very imposing and terrifying and unsettling, as a goop monster should be, but the character... oy...
We don't even know what his deal is. How'd he get the symbiote? Where'd he get it from? How'd he learn about it? Why's he using it?
And then he dies. No rogues gallery for you, Miles!

Also, Maria Hill is a terrible person. Possibly more terrible than regular Maria Hill (who at least has had moments where she's been not-terrible)
On the plus side, Jameson is a sensible person.

[flint_marko]

How is Maria terrible here?

[thehood]

Actually, Ultimate Maria Hill was far nicer than the main universe one.

[thehood]

This is my favorite version of Jameson ever. I am sad we lost him after the UU ended.

[beyondthefringe]

Balanced out by Betty Brant as awful person who gets killed awfully.

[seisachtheia]

Me, too. And not just because he was a...better person? than the 616 version, but because he was a more interesting and human character.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

They should have imported this Jameson into the 616 universe.

[lyricalswagger]

I don't understand Betty's rant about JJJ, because this version DOESN'T have a Hitler mustache.

[silverhammerman]

Y'know, wouldn't it have maybe been interesting and in keeping with tradition if Venom had been the one adversary who wasn't instantly taken down by Miles' venom blast? I honestly don't understand why Bendis used that as a way to end so many fights it goes beyond lazy and boring into being outright annoying.

Also very disappointing to see Bendis not just totally abandon the hanging Eddie Brock plot thread, but then have the new Venom's motivation be all but non-existent and never explained at all. He's literally just some random dude. And then he dies at the end, because Bendis really didn't give any semblance of a shit about giving Miles' his own set of villains.

USM may have been Bendis' baby, but I think by the end you can really see the quality declining, and that's one of the main reasons I was so disappointed to see Bendis not pass Miles Morals off to a new writer after he finally came to the 616.