Ultimate Spider-Man #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIssue #3 delivers the narrative pivot the entire opening arc has been building toward: the dual unmasking of Peter Parker and the Earth-6160 Green Goblin, which establishes the central alliance of the Hickman run by revealing the Goblin to be Harry Osborn. This is also the issue in which the Earth-6160 redesign of Bullseye receives his first full action appearance — as a singular assassin working not for Wilson Fisk but for the shadow government known as the Maker's Council, a conceptual inversion that reframes the political stakes of the whole series. Together, these two reveals in one issue accelerate what had been a carefully decompressed origin into a genuine ensemble book. The issue also completes Peter's costume transition from the black Picotech stealth suit to the familiar red-and-blue design, guided by his daughter May — a touching generational reimagining of one of Spider-Man's most recognizable visual signatures.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was conceived by Jonathan Hickman as the flagship title of Marvel's second Ultimate Universe imprint (Earth-6160), growing out of the 2023 miniseries Ultimate Invasion, which Hickman had stepped into after writer Donny Cates had to withdraw following a serious accident. Editor Wil Moss shepherded the book, with Marco Checchetto on pencils and inks, Matthew Wilson on colors, and Cory Petit on letters throughout the early run — the same core team present in #3. Hickman publicly described his version of Peter Parker as inspired by the older Peter B. Parker from the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the series was announced at New York Comic Con in October 2023. Issue #3, published March 27, 2024, arrived while the debut issue was still cycling through multiple printings due to exceptional demand.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published March 27, 2024; written by Jonathan Hickman, art by Marco Checchetto, colors by Matthew Wilson, letters by Cory Petit, edited by Wil Moss.
- First full appearance and cover appearance of the Earth-6160 Bullseye (Lester) — depicted here as a lone Maker's Council assassin fighting the Green Goblin; a cameo appearance had appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1.
- Contains the first in-costume meeting between Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and the Green Goblin, culminating in a mutual unmasking that reveals the Goblin's identity as Harry Osborn — the first time Peter and Harry meet as adults in Earth-6160 continuity.
- Peter Parker's daughter May Parker redesigns his Picotech Stealth Suit from black to the classic red-and-blue color scheme, representing the character's first appearance in his traditional Spider-Man colors within this continuity.
- Bullseye's dialogue explicitly reveals he works for the Maker's Council rather than for Wilson Fisk, expanding the series' macro-level conspiracy beyond Kingpin and setting up the series' larger political conflict.
- Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson appear at the office of their fledgling independent newspaper (later named 'The Paper'), with Peter's intel about the Green Goblin informing their investigative direction.
- The cover is by series regular Marco Checchetto; a variant cover was provided by Greg Land.
- The series of which this issue is part, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3, is set in the alternate-history timeline Earth-6160 and is the first ongoing series launched under Marvel's second Ultimate Universe imprint, following the Ultimate Invasion miniseries.
Cast · 10 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman #1 (2024), Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024), Ultimate Universe #2 (2024)
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