Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Review, Part 1

I’m on a quest to read all Spider-Man stories, one collection at a time. Today, I started reading the first 8 issues of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. This limited series features Spider-Man teaming up with other superheroes.

I collected these issues in the trade paperback “Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Ultimate Collection”. This big book contains all 16 issues of the series and the Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special, all of which we will review in the future. You can also read most of these issues on Marvel Unlimited.

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Recap

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is a collection of stories featuring Spider-Man as he encounters other superheroes. Some of the events or details in this series are no longer canon to Ultimate Spider-Man. I’ll list them in my review below.

Wolverine

In the midst of anti-mutant hysteria, the U.S. Government sends mutant agent Sabretooth to capture Wolverine and return him to the Weapon X program. Spider-Man runs into them and unsure who the good guy is, helps Wolverine escape.

Hulk

Spider-Man learns that a big green monster is heading to the city. He sets out to defend New York and encounters the Hulk! After a lengthy fight, Spider-Man manages to calm a hungry Hulk by leading him to a box of fish. Hulk reverts to his human for, Dr. Banner, before a military squad arrives to apprehend both of them. The Hulk escapes, and the army races to catch him, leaving a tired Spider-Man behind.

Iron Man

Peter Parker is selected to visit Stark Industries for the annual Stark Expo. The trip is cut short when armored agents attack the expo in an attempt to lure out Iron Man (Tony Stark’s alter ego). Iron Man battles the attackers and is joined by Spider-Man. Throughout the fight we see flashbacks of Tony Stark’s life and how he came to be Iron Man.

Punisher and Daredevil

Frank Castle is a vigilante who murders criminals, including dirty cops, earning him the nickname Punisher. Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer with enhanced senses who fights crime in Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil. After Castle escapes prison, he continues his bloodthirsty quest to find and kill the people responsible for his family’s murder. Murdock, while empathizing with Castle’s pain, has a plan to calm him down and get him the help he needs (and then send him to prison). This all leads to a standoff between Murdock and Castle which Spider-Man interrupts, ruining both Murdock and Castle’s plans.

Review

At this point in continuity, Spider-Man is still a brand-new superhero, so most of the people he encounters haven’t heard about him (or only know about him through the news). These encounters are told with two narrators, from both Spider-Man’s perspective and the character’s perspective. While these stories are fun, I don’t think they match the quality of previous Ultimate Spider-Man stories. The art is also fun to watch, but I still prefer Mark Bagley’s artwork in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Part of what I dislike with Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is that in Ultimate Spider-Man we get to see the “birth” of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. But, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up gives us an already developed world, where superheroes are the norm and Spider-Man is just a passenger in these events. In the series, we are expected to know who the guest characters are, which isn’t new reader-friendly. While the series presents Iron Man and Punisher’s origins, both are told in flashback mode.

We should also note the lack of continuity between these stories and the rest of Ultimate Spider-Man. The two big things that stood out to me were: (1) Federick Foswell as a Daily Bugle reporter. When Foswell was murdered by the Kingpin in Ultimate Spider-Man, there was no mention of any affiliation to the Daily Bugle. (2) Victor von Doom’s manifesto. We’ll learn that Doom (called Victor van Damme in this universe) was not in the public spotlight until sometime later.

Despite these, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is a fun read! I would consider them non-canon stories that give us a “preview” of other characters that will appear in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. For new readers, it may be better to skip these and continue reading Ultimate Spider-Man or Ultimate X-Men.

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