In the final pages of ‘Spider-Men’ #4, Nick Fury had called in some of his Ultimate teammates to put the hurt down on Mysterio and get Peter Parker back to his universe where he belongs.
This issue opens on Mysterio, here on Earth-616, he gloats over having trapped Peter Parker in the Ultimate Universe. Now Mysterio is free to go about his villainous schemes without any interference from Spider-Man! But, in true villain fashion, Mysterio isn’t content with just winning. He has to gloat. He wants to watch Peter Parker suffer… so he opens the dimensional portal one last time.
Watch out! Here come the SPOILERS!
As soon as the portal is opened, Mysterio is webbed up and pulled through the portal where he comes face to face with both Spider-Men, Nick Fury, Thor, Iron Man, and Hawkeye… ruh roh, Mysterio! Mysterio tries to win but he’s obviously outgunned and ends up falling to the Ultimates. Now it’s time for Peter to go home. But, before he leaves, Peter gives Miles his blessing to be the Ulimate Universe’s Spider-Man and leaves some rambling parting words of advice before the portal closes (supposedly for good).
Back on Earth-616, Peter wonders if there is a Miles Morales in his world. A quick Google image search ends with Peter staring at his screen and exclaiming, “Oh my god.” So what does Peter find out about the Miles Morales of Earth-616? I guess we’ll find out… and hopefully sooner than later.
This series has been a solid middle-of-the-road effort from Brian Michael Bendis. His dialogue, as usual, is spot on for the Spider-Men but the team-up tale and battle with Mysterio was a little cliche. And this final issue, I was expecting a bit of an action throw-down with the Ultimates and Mysterio. Instead, we get a lackluster blowout where Mysterio gets his butt handed to him without much effort. Sure… that’s probably realistic seeing as how he was facing some of the most powerful men of two different universes, but it was still a little anticlimactic.
Would I recommend ‘Spider-Men’ after reading the entire arc? Yes. It’s a wonderful introduction to Miles for those like myself who haven’t read much of his regular series and is a fun romp through the eyes of the two heroes. It’s good… it’s just not great. I was kind of hoping that something more universe altering would happen in this final issue. Instead, we just got the expected Spidey-makes-it-home ending. Of course, whatever Peter saw on that laptop screen could change things. I can only hope.
Final Score:
SPIDER-MEN #5
Story by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Sara Pichelli
Cover by Jim Cheung
