Is Ultimate Spider-Man Setting Up War With Kingpin (& What Does That Mean For Peter?)

Marvel’s new rendition of its Ultimate Universe has been consistently hitting it out of the park on every front so far, especially when it comes to everyone’s favorite Wall-Crawler. Ultimate Spider-Man has shown a much older Peter learning to be the Spider-Man he has to be, and with how New York City is reaching a boiling point, he’d have better learned well so far. In the upcoming issues we are promised an all-out Sinister Six turf war, with Spider-Man caught in the middle. Of course, Spider-Man isn’t the only player in this fight, and everyone has their own reasons to stake their claim for NYC. Of course, when the smoke clears after the war, there will only be one winner. But before we can figure that out, we need to establish what the war will be fought over.

Who Are the Players In This Deadly Game?

At the very top of the food chain in this fight, we have the Kingpin, undisputed ruler of New York City and its boroughs. Wilson Fisk presides over the city at the will of the Maker’s world-controlling council, and he’s been obsessed with quieting the heroes who have been making a stir in his kingdom. Below him are his loyal lieutenants that make up the Sinister Six, the people who govern the different boroughs under his rule. Its members include Mr. Sinister, Kraven the Hunter, Black Cat, Mysterio, Mole Man, and naturally the Kingpin himself. Of course, not all is well among his ranks. The Sinister Six have been cut down by two, with the death of Kraven the Hunter and the original Black Cat being paralyzed. Black Cat has elected his teenage daughter Felicia to act in his place, but Kraven’s turf is up for grabs at the moment.

The people who are most likely going to be going after this no man’s land are Mysterio, Mole Man, and Green Goblin Harry Osborn. After the insane reveal in the newest issue, we know for certain that Mysterio is actually a group of five different people working to undermine what the Maker has made their world into, one of which is the classic Quentin Beck, another one being Gwen Stacy. Gwen is the one who killed Kraven and faked Harry’s death, and formed an alliance with Mole Man to wage war against Kingpin. It’s likely this group will make their move against Kingpin’s weakened forces to lay claim to Kraven’s turf, and from there it will be an open war in the streets for total control.

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And of course, Spider-Man is bound to swing right to the heart of this conflict for the sake of his city. Peter and his son Richard, who has recently become his own hero wearing the picotech suit gifted to Peter by Tony Stark, will be returning to New York City very soon. But the Spider-Men might not be coming back alone, as the two recently befriended the Ultimate Universe’s Sandman by freeing him from his captivity in the desert. It’s not impossible that he’ll join them in an effort to repay the spectacular duo.

How Will This War Go Down?

So far there are the two distinct factions of Kingpin’s team of tyrants and the Mysterio-Mole-Goblin team standing against him. Spider-Man will of course be standing against Kingpin, but the father and son group might even end up at odds with both sides of the war. Richard and the new Black Cat Felicia Hardy are all but dating right now, and the solicitations for upcoming issues says she’ll be calling Richard for help when things go down. Spider-Man tries to help everybody, so he’d likely try to save Felicia from any situation her family has put her in, but doing so could incur the wrath of Harry and his allies.

None of this even takes into account the free players in the city. Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson are working to expose the Kingpin’s illicit activities, but the ruler of NYC seems to want them to continue, implying he has some plan for their upcoming exposes on him. And of course, Gwen Stacy just fired Otto Octavius for getting too close to her Mysterio secret, which means he could be coming for revenge in the future. The future Doctor Octopus could even join the Kingpin’s side to get a proper job, and with all the information and technology he had access to, his contribution could definitely tip the scales of the war either way.

This is going to be a battle on all fronts, the likes of which the New York City of the Ultimate Universe is unused to, but the kind Spider-Man fans have seen dozens of times before, and are definitely excited about. No matter how the individual fights against the different lieutenants and revolutionaires go down, I think it’s safe to say that the real final battle can only be between Spider-Man and Kingpin, and I am very hyped to see Spider-Man prove why he was at the top of the Maker’s dangerous hero list.

Ultimate Spider-Man #16 is on sale now.