Contemplating Avengers Fic For Next Year – Amazing Spider-Man or Ultimate Spider-Man?

So, as the title suggests, I’ve played with the idea of doing an Avengers fanfic. I mostly blame that on the fact that I can’t seem to get THIS song outta my frakking head…

…but I digress. The Avengers are a large group. In fact, I’m fairly certain every major superhero in the Marvel universe has been a member of at least one incarnation of it. Some have been a part of SEVERAL, *COUGH!*Iron Man*COUGH!*. As such, I can pretty much get away with having whatever Marvel heroes I want on my own Avengers team. The question is, who? Well, there’s plenty to choose from, but I think I’d want the team to be diverse and not have a lot of powers be shared by multiple members. Also, for obvious reasons, I wouldn’t want more than one character with the same alias. So, with that out of the way, I’m left with a simple question: Amazing Spider-Man or Ultimate Spider-Man?

Now, lemme clear something up: When I say “Amazing Spider-Man or Ultimate Spider-Man?”, what I really mean is “Peter Parker or Miles Morales?”. Now, if you’re wondering why I would even ask such a thing…Well, you probably haven’t been reading the comics as of late. Plus, as is my custom with writing superhero teams, I like a diverse team with multi-ethnical flavour, so the temptation to include Miles partly stems from that (though I will admit that I object to making a hero black JUST BECAUSE Obama was elected). There are other reasons too, but I’ll get into that in a bit. First, let’s look at why I would go with his predecessor, Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man.

First appearing in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter Benjamin Parker was the average high school bully-magnet nerd, albeit with a real talent and passion for science. However, his life changed the day he was bitten by a radioactive spider. Initially trying to cash in on his success by becoming a novelty TV star in a costume, called ‘Spider-Man’, his failure to stop a fleeing burglar, seeing it as not being his problem, resulted in the crook murdering his Uncle Ben. Realising his new powers came with a responsibility to use them wisely, Peter instead dedicated his life to fighting crime. He has since been a member of both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

Thanks to the spider bite, Peter possesses superhuman strength, enough to bench press 10 tons, enhanced speed and agility, insane levels of durability, and can crawl along walls. Using his advanced scientific mind, he also created a pair of web-shooters, which are strapped to his wrists and shoot a synthetic polymer adhesive, very similar to a spider’s webbing, used either to tie up foes or swing between buildings. The webbing is fired by placing the right amount of pressure on the trigger in his palm with his middle and ring fingers, which was designed intentionally as to avoid accidentally firing them by making a fist. He’s also created spider-tracers, which are tiny devices that send out a signal for him to track down. He even developed his own martial art, ‘The Way Of The Spider’, which uses his abilities and arsenal to their fullest potential. But the greatest asset to his abilities is his Spider-sense. To quote Wizard of ScrewAttack!, the Spider-sense “gives Peter omnipresent detection of his surroundings. This is how he’s able to swing through New York without looking where he shoots his webs.” Of course, even with such an ability, Spider-Man has to be able to react to its warnings, so if he thinks he’s not in danger or simply isn’t able to move fast enough…well, you get the idea.

For all of his abilities, both superhuman and otherwise, Spider-Man isn’t perfect. He does possess an inferiority complex, probably at least partially due to years spent being bullied for his lunch money. He’s a bit anti-social, again, probably because of being a bully magnet, has a bit of a fear of women…which is odd, seeing as how many girlfriends he’s had (gotta be the tights. Oh yeah. lol), can be somewhat accident-prone without his Spider-sense, and has apparently dealt with severe amounts of Oedipal guilt, and if you don’t know what that is, for the love of God, DO NOT LOOK IT UP. And yes, I suppose I should bring this up: Because he’s CONSTANTLY agonising over the meaning of right and wrong, and has this little irritating problem with acting like a grown-up, he once traded life with his wife for life with his repeatedly dying aunt to the devil, and not because she was dying, but because it was his fault, meaning it was less about her and more about his own pain. And for those wondering, NO, if I EVER write Amazing Spider-Man, I am not including the events of One More Day and the deal with Mephisto to his back-story. You can make whatever argument you like, IT WAS WRONG, DAMMIT.

So, there’s the arguments for and against Peter Parker. Now, let’s take a look at his arguably lesser-known successor from another universe, this is Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man.

First appearing in 2011’s Ultimate Fallout #4, Miles Morales exists in the Ultimate universe, which is usually used for modern retellings of long-time superheroes without having to reboot the entire franchise, something other comic book companies might’ve wanted to consider. Regardless, Miles is of mixed heritage, being half Mexican and half African-American, and is the nephew of the Ultimate universe’s Prowler. An Oscorp scientist was using Peter Parker’s blood to recreate the formula that turned him into Spider-Man. However, Prowler stole the formula, but one of the spiders created through it snuck into his duffel bag. It then bit Miles when he was visiting his uncle, whom he was unaware was the Prowler. At first, due to the urgings of his friend, Ganke, he engages in super-heroics, but quickly quits. However, following the death of the Ultimate universe’s Peter Parker when he saves his family and friends from the Green Goblin, Miles realises that he could’ve been there to help him, and after learning of Peter’s story from Gwen Stacy, decides to become Spider-Man, later being allowed to join the Ultimates.

Through the bite of the genetically engineered spider, Miles possesses most of Peter’s abilities, although his Spider-sense isn’t nearly as effective. He also has Peter’s web-shooters, which were given to him by Aunt May and Gwen after they accepted him as the new Spider-Man, and a similar aptitude for science. However, Miles has two abilities unique to himself. The first is that he can camouflage himself into his surroundings, including his clothes, to make himself unseen by most opponents. The other is the venom strike, an electrical touch that can be conducted through clothes, and even across certain materials like the Amazing Spider-Man’s webbing, to paralyse the target. Speaking of, it should be noted that, during a cross-over event called Spider-Men (one of the only post-One More Day stories I’m actually tempted to buy), an altercation born out of confusion between the Amazing Spider-Man and the Ultimate Spider-Man resulted in Miles actually disabling his predecessor with the venom strike, although one could argue this was simply due to a lack of understanding on Peter’s part of Miles’ unique powers.

With all of that said, however, Miles has his issues as well. For example, while mainstream Peter Parker is generally portrayed as having been bitten by the spider roughly in his mid to late teens, Miles was THIRTEEN. While quitting superhero activities as quickly as he did might seem odd, when you consider that he was 13-years-old, having to bear the weight and responsibility of being Spider-Man, and is the son and nephew of thieves, trying to determine if he really could be a good person (the whole nature vs nurture thing), it becomes a bit easier to understand. In fact, he’s arguably more sympathetic than Peter, as they both tend to deal with their problems in similar fashion, and often-times have made the same mistakes (aside from one rather big one I already mentioned), but one actually IS a teenager, while the other simply BEHAVES like one. Plus, just try not to feel at least a little sorry for a kid his age that has to fight the worst criminals and horrifying super-villains comic book New York has to offer. If he doesn’t grow up to be completely mentally unstable, it’ll either be the work of a miracle, or because he was killed in action.

So, there you go. Arguments for and against both the Amazing Spider-Man and the Ultimate Spider-Man. Who would you rather see written alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Leave your comments below, or simply vote for your favourite. I’ll probably be doing similar polls for other heroes of the Marvel universe, so keep your eyes peeled. Either way, you can probably expect the Avengers fic to come out either Spring or Summer 2014. Ja né!

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