Ultimate Spider-Man #15
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeUltimate Spider-Man (2024) #15 marks the first appearance of the Earth-6160 incarnation of Sandman (William Baker), completing the initial wave of classic Spider-Man villains reimagined for Jonathan Hickman's new Ultimate Universe. The issue is also the first to show both Peter Parker and his son Richard operating as Spider-Men side by side in active combat — a generational doubling of the Spider-Man mantle that had been building since issue #13. Beyond its villain debut, the installment advances two of the series' most consequential long-game threads: the Kingpin's menacing oversight of Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson's independent newspaper 'The Paper,' and the gathering shadow of the Maker as the overarching antagonist of Earth-6160. Together these threads make #15 a structural pivot point rather than a routine action chapter.
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The issue is part of the third volume of Ultimate Spider-Man, launched in January 2024 as the flagship title of Marvel's revived Ultimate Universe imprint (Earth-6160), overseen editorially by Jonathan Hickman. The series is written by Hickman with Marco Checchetto as the primary artist; issue #15 marks one of David Messina's fill-in stints on interiors, with Checchetto providing the cover. The series was conceived around Hickman's stated inspiration from the adult Peter Parker depicted in the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the entire 24-issue run was pre-planned from inception, with Hickman confirming at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 that no story element deviated from his original pitch.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Sandman (William Baker / Flint Marko) in the Ultimate Universe (Earth-6160); in this version he is a victim of illegal genetic experimentation by the Midas Group rather than a criminal empowered by irradiated sand.
- The Earth-6160 Sandman's origin diverges sharply from the classic Earth-616 version (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in Amazing Spider-Man #4, 1963): here Baker investigated a secret military base, was captured, and was transformed against his will into a sand-based Post-Human kept in an uncontrolled state by a remote device.
- Issue #15 is the first in-story team-up between Peter Parker's Spider-Man and his son Richard Parker's black-suited Spider-Man in active combat against a villain, a father-son dynamic that becomes central to the series from this point forward.
- Richard Parker has been wearing Peter's sentient Picotech suit — an AI-equipped nanotech costume modeled on Peter's own brainwave patterns — as an interim Spider-Man following Peter's abduction by Kraven the Hunter in earlier issues.
- The B-plot delivers a tense confrontation between Wilson Fisk (Kingpin), James Wesley, and Bullseye on one side and Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson on the other, centering on stories published by their independent outlet 'The Paper' and the Maker's Council's elimination of every man named Ben Reilly.
- Written by Jonathan Hickman with interior art by David Messina (fill-in) and a cover by regular series artist Marco Checchetto; color art by Matt Wilson.
- Cover date: May 2025; release date: March 26, 2025; 32 pages.
- The issue was set at Bryce Canyon National Park, taking the series outside its New York City setting for the first time as the Parker family attempts a 'vacation' after the events of the Kraven arc.
Cast · 12 characters
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Reprinted in Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman #3 (2025)
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