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Spoilers for “Final Spider-Man” #24 observe.
“Final Spider-Man” has formally wrapped with difficulty #24, capping a run written by Jonathan Hickman and co-drawn by Marco Checchetto and David Messina. (For this finale, Checchetto and Messina cut up the responsibility and drew completely different scenes.) This presages the end of Marvel’s whole “Ultimate Universe”, and whereas “Final Spider-Man” bows out on a powerful be aware, the sequence nonetheless reads as if it wasn’t supposed to finish simply but.
It is a easy, uplifting, and victorious ending. Spider-Man defeats Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, the e book’s important villain. Peter’s son, Richard Parker/Venom, will get the woman (Felicia Hardy/Black Cat), and the Parker household is protected and sound once more. Harry Osborn has misplaced his spouse, Gwen Stacy (who, as Mysterio, takes Fisk’s place as ruler of Manhattan), but it surely seems to be like he’ll have the ability to transfer on — and Peter will probably be there to assist him.
When Harry asks Peter how he managed to by no means surrender, the difficulty flashes again years, to when Peter and Mary Jane determined to tie the knot after they discovered she was pregnant. That affirms what “Final Spider-Man” was: A e book about their marriage, and the way they remained companions whilst their lives saved taking turns for the bizarre and worse.
However the ending arrives feeling a bit muted. The announcement that the “Final Universe” would finish took the wind out of the entire mission, “Final Spider-Man” included. It is essential to do not forget that when “Final Spider-Man” debuted in 2024, it and other “Ultimate” books were hailed as a new genesis for Marvel. DC’s competing “Absolute” line seemed like a meager try to play catch-up. As a substitute, “Absolute DC” (especially best-selling “Absolute Batman”) wound up surpassing “Final Marvel.” The choice to finish the “Final” initiative meant the early hype by no means returned.
Final Spider-Man caught the touchdown however nonetheless feels reduce quick
Reporting by Popverse means that whereas Jonathan Hickman deliberate to depart “Final Spider-Man” after difficulty #24, he was stunned to study that it could be the finish. “Ultimates” author Deniz Camp also told Popverse there had been discussions to do extra.
Certainly, the ambiance of “Final Spider-Man” #24 is not finality a lot as embracing the brand new days that life all the time delivers. Peter’s Uncle Ben Parker (reimagined as a journalist) and J. Jonah Jameson have spent the entire run investigating the Kingpin’s grip on Manhattan. On this difficulty, after Fisk’s demise, they get to put in writing the final phrase on him. Retirement, although? Not an opportunity. This was the tip of 1 story for them, not of the story.
Examine Kingpin’s final destiny: he loses all his energy, however he isn’t upset. The considered being knocked down and having to combat his manner again to the highest? It makes him really feel alive… till his rival, Martin Li/Mister Detrimental, telepathically pushes him to leap to his doom. Fisk’s iron will relents, however solely after he is dragged Li down with him. Fisk’s plans for a contemporary begin getting usurped by an abrupt finish feels reflective of how “Final Spider-Man” is concluding.
What is going to the legacy of “Final Spider-Man” be? If there was a central flaw, it was the e book’s gimmick of skipping forward a month every difficulty to account for the real-time lapse of publication. In the long run, that made it onerous for the story to maintain narrative momentum. Now that we have the whole bundle, the endurance of “Final Spider-Man” could possibly be outlined by how effectively it reads as a single and uninterrupted story.
The happiest ending in Final Spider-Man is Peter Parker and Harry Osborn
Whereas MJ has Peter’s coronary heart, the soul of “Final Spider-Man” is simply as a lot about one other essential relationship: Peter’s friendship with Harry Osborn. Right here, Harry turned the Inexperienced Goblin to take down the Kingpin, and so he and Spider-Man turned crime-fighting companions.
I learn “Final Spider-Man,” dreading when Peter and Harry would have their falling out and turn into enemies. Harry’s Goblin swimsuit can be operated by a recreation of his father Norman’s persona; would Norman shouting his disappointment in Harry’s ear drive Osborn Jr. to evil?
Nope, Harry’s darkish flip by no means got here. In hindsight, the e book could have been banking on these expectations to cover its true twist, mendacity close to Harry: that Gwen Stacy was the ruthless Mysterio. In “Final Spider-Man” #24, Harry decides to delete the Norman-AI from his swimsuit, admitting that it was him dwelling prior to now. He was chasing his father’s approval, however he would not want it. The problem that cemented Peter and Harry’s friendship was “Final Spider-Man” #4 (the primary one drawn by David Messina), the place Harry was the one who instructed Peter, “With nice energy comes nice duty.”
In difficulty #20 (one other Messina difficulty), when the Parkers and Osborns laid their secrets and techniques out within the open, MJ mentioned this: “You are a good man, Peter. And also you could possibly be too, Harry.” In Peter and Harry’s final scene (with Messina taking artwork duties once more to convey it full-circle), Harry expresses bemusement however awe at Peter’s decided heroism. With Spider-Man as his buddy, Harry would possibly actually turn into the identical sort of good man someday.
The one silver lining to “Final Spider-Man” ending now’s that there is not any probability for the Parker-Osborn bromance to interrupt up.
