Ultimate Six #7! How awkward, right? Not always the plan. A 7th issue was announced when the series was almost over. And not published until 3 months after #6. Real 2000s Marvel hours. Maybe Bendis realized saving the entire point of the series for the final issue wasn’t giving him much room to work. And so, this cover mirrors #1, with Spider-Man on the bad team he joined for approximately 1 minute. Dang, this book feels like it’s never been opened. I must’ve read it with unusual care or something. Well, now, 3 months after #6, we find Norman being snide about the depths Fury has sunk to by sending Harry here.
Well, this unfortunate-but-cliche turn of events leaves Norman in some kind of chaotic state, rapidly warping between his two forms and even crazier than usual. The Ultimates engage and subdue Norman.as Peter just stands there. All they’ve done to him in this comic and he didn’t participate in the fight at all. What a disaster.Nick Fury appears to tell Harry he’s sorry, that this wasn’t the plan, and Peter comes up to them, but then the Thor/Electro fight everyone forgot about comes to a conclusion as one of them explodes in the sky and the other descends out of the electrical storm.
It’d be nice if either Peter or Harry looked even a tiny bit like themselves in such a big moment. Next, we see dueling narratives of a press conference with the events of the day being explained away by the White House Press Secretary while Electro tries to convince his captors he was on their side, Kraven claims he was mind controlled, we see Sandman in a collection of several jars, and Doc Ock is told his arms were chopped up and melted.
No one ever learns! We see Jan watching Hank in his hospital room, still unconscious but going to recover. But also:
And that’s how Peter walks out of this story. A story he didn’t appear in the first several issues of. A story he didn’t do anything in. A story whose climax he just watched like the rest of us. Not great!
You could get this moral in a way faster and more fun way by just listening to the Black Sabbath song “War Pigs” instead of reading a 7-issue series where nothing really happens until the last 2. The last page of this comic is a splash page of a helicopter flying away from the the Triskelion. Seems unnecessary! Man, what a misfire. Hard to imagine what Bendis was thinking. “What’s the story about?” “Well, it’s about SHIELD capturing a bunch of Spider-Villains, and then them busting out, and then them hiding in a house for awhile, and then the Ultimates fighting them while Spider-Man watches.” “‘Watches?’” “Yeah, he doesn’t do anything.” “…Huh.” “Also the Ultimates need 2 issues to beat 5 guys Spider-Man took out by himself, including one who’s a joke.” “….HUH.” Not his finest hour. For the record, Ultimate Six #7 published the same month as USM 56 & 57 and Daredevil 46, and the month before Secret War 2, Pulse 3 and Powers, Vol. 2 #1 from Image. Bendis’ insane output is a big part of why he became such a massive star. “You like his work? Here’s a million more things he did… just this month!” He sort of set a standard, and other Marvel writers soon routinely did 2, 3, 4 books, but no one’s ever really come close to his output.