In this review of Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1, Miles finds his way into another another universe!
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: INCURSION #1
Writers: Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar
Artist: Jonas Scharf
Main Cover: Sara Pichelli
Variant Covers: Kael Ngu, Francesco Mobili, Jonas Scharf, Kaare Andres, David Marquez
Page Count: 24 pages
Release Date: June 4, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1 begins as Miles throws away a mysterious paper from the Maker. His sister finds and activates it, and sends them both in a portal to another universe. There, Miles meets an adult Peter Parker and his son, Richard, who join him in his search for his sister.
Richard is continuously impressed by Miles’ skill and experience, especially when he beats the spot twice. Meanwhile, the council individually sense the dimensional incursion and vow to find what caused it.
Peter tries to convince Miles to return home with them once it starts to get late, but Miles refuses and continues the search on his own. Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1 ends as Miles is stopped by the Wasp, who grows into a giant to grab Miles with Ant-Man at her side.
Analysis
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1 has an interesting premise. Marvel hasn’t shared Miles’ feelings about being moved into a different universe in a little while, and it’s nice to see the consistency from his original Ultimate Spider-Man comics. That, however, is where the consistency feels like it ends.
Peter’s personality does not feel like it’s been taken from Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man series. The dialogue between Peter and Richard feels like different characters than what we see in Ultimate Spider-Man. While I can understand wanting to show a different side of their relationship, it feels odd to open the issue in that way, especially when this could be a reader’s introduction into the Ultimate universe.
Peter’s dialogue is also hard to place. There is a moment where he appears jealous of Richard fawning over Miles’ skills. Initially, it seems as though he’s being serious when he says that he should be his son’s favorite Spider-Man. But then Peter starts asking about Richard’s favorite father and his favorite English teacher, which feels like it should be a joke, but Richard’s lack of reaction makes it seem like he isn’t speaking in a joking tone and it makes Peter incredibly hard to read.
The background characters really establish the differences between this universe and Miles’. People scream and get annoyed when they see Spider-Man at their window, and the blurry faces of those with the council are something he’s never seen in his world. These moments do a much better job at establishing the “weirdness” of a new Universe than the characters do.
Despite the rough characterizations, seeing Miles be the experienced Spider-Man was incredibly interesting. Though his urgency to find his sister is understandable, I hope they spend more time in the future establishing him as a teacher to Peter and his son while also facilitating more of a relationship between Miles and Peter’s family.
I also hope that future issues are able to nail down the plot a bit better. It felt incredibly odd that the paper from the Maker was just sitting in Miles’ trash can. Spot’s appearances felt out of place as well, as though they were only there to show off Miles’ abilities to Richard and Peter.
Finally, the Wasp growing to grab Miles also felt like an odd choice. This story has established that the Ultimates are hiding to a degree. They’re considered terrorists by the council and do their best to stay out of trouble. Peter even says that there are bad people looking for people like the Spider-Men. But the Wasp throws all of that away to grow bigger than the city’s buildings to grab Miles without attempting to speak with him first. Surely, there has to be a reason for that, as well as consequences.
Final Thoughts
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1 leads with an interesting premise, but its inconsistent character writing and odd choices in dialogue and pacing leave it falling short of expectations.
