The last few issues of Ultimate Spider-Man have taken the spotlight away from the Parker Family. The spotlight has moved to shine on the other major couple of this series: Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. Both Ultimate Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn have shown to have a big impact on the direction Ultimate Spider-Man has gone thus far. The last two issues of the series have leaned heavily into that. Which has led to a lot of questions as to not only what role these two will serve in this series but the Ultimate Universe as a whole? Let’s that all down and what problems could loom from this.
HARRY OSBORN GREEN GOBLIN IDENTITY CRISIS
Ultimate Spider-Man #17 heavily featured Harry Osborn and what he is up to since Gwen Stacy faked his death. Specifically, how Harry has changed since he first made his appearance back in Ultimate Spider-Man #1. When Harry first showed up as Ultimate Green Goblin he had a take no-prisoners attitude. This culminated in Ultimate Spider-Man #9 where Harry as Green Goblin did not hesitate in using deadly force against Ultimate Black Cat, almost killing Walter Hardy.
That all makes the presentation on Harry’s side stand out even more. While he is very much playing the good partner to his Gwen’s actions as Mysterio there is dialogue that could say otherwise. When they are going about taking out one of Mister Negative’s production warehouses Harry as Green Goblin wanted to make sure everyone inside got out. Gwen did not care about this as she blew up the warehouse as soon as she had the chance.
This was on top of an earlier scene where we see the Green Goblin AI that Harry is using has become even more like his father. The Norman Osborn AI did not hesitate to call out Harry being weak compared when learning he was captured and is now following Gwen’s orders. The rest of the issue we see the Norman AI constantly get on Harry for how ineffective he is, becoming even more sentient like if the Osborn patriarch never died.
Harry’s dynamic with Gwen and the Norman Osborn AI highlights how he has changed since his debut. Specifically, how the experience of being hunted by Ultimate Kraven changed him. Because if it wasn’t for his wife’s last minute save Harry would have most certainly died at the hands of Kraven. The only reason he survived as long as he did before being saved was because Peter did everything to protect him and tried to get them out of the Savage Lands.
More than anything this experience made Harry reassess his view on how things need to be approached. His heavy handedness led to his and Peter’s capture. Without realizing his recent near-death experience changed him to start thinking more like Peter does as Spider-Man.
GWEN STACY AS MYSTERIO IS THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE X FACTOR
The change in Harry’s character is made even more obvious when we see how coldly Gwen acts throughout this most recent story. This was of no surprise as Ultimate Spider-Man #16 established Gwen as a member of an Illuminati-like group that together make up Ultimate Mysterio. The Mysterio Illuminati, of which George Stacy was a part of before his mysterious death, is a group whose used a special magical medallion to dive into conspiracies and discover the truth about the world.
Of all the major aspects that comes with this revelation is how the Mysterio Illuminati discovered that The Maker has warped Earth-6160 to become the new Ultimate Universe. This discovery came after the events of Ultimate Invasion #4 with The Maker’s Dome being closed helping them uncover “the real history of the world.”
This development has elevated the Mysterio Illuminati to have even greater ties to the Ultimate Universe. Especially as Ultimate Spider-Man #17 revealed that both Ultimate Robbie Robertson and James Wesley are part of the Mysterio Illuminati. That revelation further pushes the idea that the other unknown members that make up Ultimate Mysterio could be anyone in the Ultimate Universe.
The unknown factor of the Mysterio Illuminati makes Gwen’s rise seemingly become the leader of the group even more notable. In the ten years that she has been part of the group, taking over her father’s position, Gwen has become a decision-maker as she has become an expert strategist. This strategist side of Gwen was further spotlighted with how she is using her shift as Ultimate Mysterio to accomplish her own goals that may not completely align with the rest of the group.
Especially since Jonathan Hickman is writing Ultimate Spider-Man, this development could be to position Gwen as a major wild card in the Ultimate Universe. She and the Mysterio Illuminati seem to have a greater understanding of the Ultimate Universe than Iron Lad and Doctor Doom. If that is the case we could see Gwen and the Mysterios play a role in the event headlined by The Maker’s return.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN MISSING PETER PARKER FAMILY
As the Stacy-Osborn Family has taken center stage of the last two issues of Ultimate Spider-Man the lack of the Parker Family is felt. While Gwen and Harry were able to lead one-shot stories when it comes to the greater narrative of the series, they can’t be the drivers. These two issues really gave us our fill of both these characters.
Really when it comes to what has made Ultimate Spider-Man great it is the Parker Family dynamic. Seeing Peter, MJ, Richard, and May together as a family unit is the magic of this series. Not having that has been really missed. They are the balance of all the other characters in this series.
The developments with Gwen and Harry it does make the Parker Family return to New York City even more highly anticipated. The city and Ultimate Universe need Spider-Man to center things. Without him around we’ve seen the Sinister Six war pop off as others have taken the lead.
The recent change of both Peter and Richard operating as Spider-Man, with Richard using his father’s AI-powered Spider-Man suit, can also be a wild card. We haven’t really seen how things will go with there being two Spider-Men around at the same time. It will be a real test if it is right for Richard to be operating as Spider-Man. And maybe with the developments around Gwen and Harry maybe we will see the rest of the Parker Family needing their own suits.
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