Ultimate Spider-Man #160

History

Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley had built the series together for a record-breaking 111 consecutive issues before Bagley departed in 2007 for a stint at DC Comics; Marvel and Bendis specifically recruited him back to draw the death of the character they had co-created, giving the arc deliberate emotional and creative symmetry — the same hands that launched Peter Parker's Ultimate career were brought in to end it. Bagley has recalled that Bendis phoned him with the pitch while he was planning an X-Men project at Marvel, and that Bendis also outlined the Miles Morales plan that would follow. Bendis told the Associated Press he cried while writing the issue, describing Peter as a character he had been 'almost solely responsible for' across nearly eleven years. The issue was polybagged at retail to prevent spoilers from leaking ahead of publication.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Issue serves as the conclusion of the five-part 'Death of Spider-Man' story arc (Ultimate Spider-Man #156–160) and is simultaneously the final issue of the Ultimate Spider-Man ongoing series, which ran from 2000 to 2011.
• Written by Brian Michael Bendis; penciled by Mark Bagley; inked by Andy Lanning and Andrew Hennessy; colored by Justin Ponsor; lettered by Cory Petit; edited by Sana Amanat and Mark Paniccia; Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso.
• Peter Parker (Earth-1610) dies from combined injuries — a gunshot wound taken earlier from the Punisher and the explosion of a truck hurled by the Green Goblin — expiring in Aunt May's arms after telling her he saved her where he could not save Uncle Ben.
• Norman Osborn/Green Goblin also dies in the issue, reverting to human form and perishing amid the flames, as confirmed by multiple wiki and critical sources.
• The issue was originally shipped sealed in a polybag (both black and red polybag variants exist alongside a standard direct edition) to conceal the ending from spoilers.
• Multiple variant covers exist, including a 1:30 Michael Wm. Kaluta variant, a 1:100 Joe Quesada variant, a 1:200 Joe Quesada sketch variant, a Mark Bagley 'spoiler' variant, and a blank variant, in addition to a second printing with a new Bagley cover.
• The issue is the direct narrative predecessor to the Miles Morales era: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1 (2011) by Bendis and Sara Pichelli launched immediately after, and the death scene was retroactively tied to that series' fourth issue, with Morales depicted as a witness in the crowd.
• The story was later collected as part of the Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 5 (Marvel, 2025).

Cast · 8 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Ultimate Spider-Man

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#2 1st appearance — Bombshell

Variants (7)