Review: Marvel’s ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VS. The Sinister 6 “Return to the Spider-Verse – Part 3”

Impressive villains can’t mask the stench of the heroes.

Spoilers Below

Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid show up to a neo-noir verse where the Hulk is leading a gang similar to the Agents of S.M.A.S.H that are actually in human form and in a turf war with another gang run by Hammerhead. Spider-Man Noir shows up and together with Miles they convince Peter Parker that the gang battle is a good thing. Eventually, the battle gets out of control and the ‘Bug-Men’ need to put a stop to it, but not before the rise of Mr. Negative takes form and begins using the Siege of Perilous to drain all life and color from the world.

The Wolf shows up to try and convince Mr. Negative to give him the shard, but is quickly cast away as Negative uses a spotlight to amplify his power. This might not even matter because Hulk and Neo-Spider are going back and forth. When Miles gets hit, the two settle their differences and spring a trap for Negative. Neo-Spider gets zapped, but Hulk is able to get Negative’s shard and unfreeze everyone and bring color back to the world. Spidey gets a new piece of the Siege and we fade to black.

Our Take 

The most disappointing thing about this mini-series is that aside from look, most of the Spider-peeps have the same powers with no real distinction in powers or gadgetry with the notable exception being the seldom-used Wolf Spider. So, when we meet the Noir-inspired Spider-Man, we get pretty much the same thing as Miles and Peter Parker, but with an actor that is pretty terrible at voice acting (Milo Venti-notgonnaspellhislastname), you would think SOMETHING would separate the Spider-dudes in their battles but no, nothing. And the Agents of SMASH certainly isn’t helping matters much.

That said, I was rather impressed by the rogue gallery this week. Would I have liked to have seen more of Hammerhead? Hell yea, I would’ve. Mister Negative was quite excellent, and the producers should be commended for presenting the villain as close to the comics as I’ve seen this franchise do.