Ultimate Spider-Man #1
Ultimate Spider-Man #1 is the founding issue of Marvel's entire Ultimate imprint — the first title published on the Earth-1610 line that would go on to reshape how superhero publishers approached accessibility and continuity for new readers. By transplanting Peter Parker's origin from the early 1960s into a fully contemporary high-school setting and stripping away four decades of accumulated backstory, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley demonstrated that decompressed, character-driven storytelling could bring lapsed and first-time readers back to a franchise — and the series quickly outpaced the flagship Amazing Spider-Man title in sales. The issue's influence extended well beyond its own pages: its success gave Quesada and Jemas the confidence to expand the Ultimate line into X-Men, The Ultimates, and Fantastic Four, effectively creating a separate modernized Marvel Universe that ran for fifteen years. Within a year of publication, fans voted it the ninth-greatest Marvel comic of all time in a reader poll, an extraordinary reception for a brand-new issue.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel publisher Bill Jemas conceived the Ultimate imprint because he believed the main Marvel Universe, with over forty years of continuity, had become inaccessible to new readers, and he wanted to launch it with a reinvented Spider-Man. Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada was initially skeptical, partly because the 1998 attempt at retelling Spider-Man's early years — Spider-Man: Chapter One — had failed both critically and commercially. Jemas tapped Eisner Award-winning independent creator Brian Michael Bendis, who was at the time still working to establish himself at Marvel, and recruited veteran Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley as his complement; Bagley only agreed to an initial six-issue commitment and later credited encouragement from his own retailer with convincing him to stay. Bendis deliberately avoided thought-bubble narration and costumed heroics in the first issue — choosing instead to let character relationships breathe across an oversized 48-page debut — while Jemas contributed to the plot outline, though Bendis discarded much of it and shaped the resulting seven-issue origin arc into what became the 'Power and Responsibility' story. Editor Ralph Macchio oversaw the book under editor-in-chief Bob Harras, with Bendis and Bagley's working relationship eventually producing one of the longest continuous creative-team runs in Marvel history.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue of the Ultimate Marvel imprint (Earth-1610), on sale September 6, 2000, cover-dated October 2000.
- Written by Brian Michael Bendis (script) and Bill Jemas (plot); penciled by Mark Bagley; inked by Art Thibert; colored by Steve Buccellato; lettered by Richard Starkings/Comicraft; edited by Ralph Macchio under editor-in-chief Bob Harras.
- First appearances (all Ultimate/Earth-1610 versions) of: Peter Parker, May Parker, Ben Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, Kong, Norman Osborn, and Oscorp Industries.
- The issue is oversized at 48 pages and notably does not feature Peter Parker in any Spider-Man costume — a deliberate editorial choice to foreground character development before superheroics.
- The genetically altered spider in this version is explicitly an Oscorp experiment (OZ Experiment Arachnid No. 56), directly tying Peter's origin to Norman Osborn from the very first issue — a significant departure from the original Amazing Fantasy #15 premise.
- Ultimate Spider-Man #1 was reprinted in Marvel's own 'The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time' series (issue #5, December 2001), placing it ninth in a fan vote that also included Uncanny X-Men #1, Avengers #4, and Amazing Spider-Man #121.
- The issue shipped with multiple cover variants: a standard direct edition with a Mark Bagley cover, a newsstand edition, a white-background retailer incentive variant, and a Dynamic Forces exclusive with a Joe Quesada cover.
- The series launched from this issue eventually inspired The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series (which drew heavily on the Ultimate cast of teenage characters) and was originally planned as the basis for Spider-Man: The New Animated Series before that show pivoted to adapt the Sam Raimi film continuity.
Cast · 9 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider and begins to develop powers.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).