Peter tries out four new costumes, with versions similar to his Superior Venom look and recent Fantastic Four costume, as well as a take on Ben Reilly’s ’90s costume as the Scarlet Spider. However, the preview seems to suggest that by the end of the montage, Peter settles on the iconic red and blue as his main look.

Ultimate Spider-Man is set in Marvel’s new Earth-6160 continuity. This reality was attacked by the villain known as the Maker, who used his knowledge of history to go back in time and either kill its heroes or prevent their origin stories. Maker fractured the world, giving domains to different supervillains to run under his watchful eye. In this world, Captain America was never freed from the ice, Loki rules Asgard with Thor as his prisoner, and Peter Parker was never bitten by a radioactive spider.

At least, that was true until this world’s teenage Tony Stark got involved. Not only is Tony starting his own Avengers with a powerful Ultimates roster, but he’s also returning the powers of all those heroes targeted by the Maker. Tony returned the spider to Peter, awakening his powers and even giving him a picotech costume which can change its appearance. Ever since, Peter has been getting into the hero lifestyle while trying to balance it with his family and professional lives.

Fans can expect to see Spider-Man’s new costumes again soon, given the long history of how Marvel uses Peter’s discarded suits…

Spider-Man’s Spare Costumes Tend to Become Separate Heroes

Heroes Including Deadpool & Venom Originated with Spidey’s Cast-Offs

While these costumes are quickly dismissed by May, it’s a sure bet fans will see them again. Spider-Man has a long, long history of short-term costumes that take on a life of their own. Most famously, the ‘Identity Crisis’ story saw a major bounty placed on Spider-Man’s head. Unable to fight crime in his usual persona, Peter created the identities of Prodigy, Dusk, Richochet and Hornet, accentuating different aspects of his powers with each costume. When Peter was able to return to his Spider-Man costume, each of these identities was taken up by a new hero, with the four forming the Slingers. Something similar happened with Spider-Man’s Iron Spider armor, which was taken up by the Initiative’s Scarlet Spiders.

However, Peter’s legacy doesn’t stop there – Venom famously began life as Spider-Man’s black costume, while Deadpool #36 (from Christopher Priest and Paco Diaz) confirmed that Wade Wilson got his signature look from a rejected costume of Peter’s. The recent Gold Goblin armor was likewise originally made for Peter before being used by Norman Osborn, and even Blade became the Splendiferous Spider Hero when he needed to hide his identity.

Beyond creating totally new characters, Marvel’s vast Spider-Verse means the publisher constantly needs ways to distinguish its alt-reality Spideys, with recent comics and movies turning costumes like his one-time Cyborg Spider-Man and Bombastic Bag-Man looks into multiversal variants. Games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are also always looking for new costumes – indeed, the game’s mod community have already added Ultimate Spider-Man‘s original picotech suit (without a chest logo) to the game. Plus, with Pete’s picotech suit, there’s no reason for the Ultimate Spider-Man to stick to one look 100% of the time.

Spider-Man isn’t the only hero getting a makeover in this opening arc of Ultimate Spider-Man. Harry Osborn’s Green Goblin has also been transformed into a lethal vigilante, seeking revenge for the death of his father (which was secretly caused by the Maker’s villainous underlings.) The Ultimate Green Goblin has a far less villainous (though still intimidating) look, as well as an awesome take on the original’s weaponized glider.

The assassin Bullseye is also getting a redesign in his best Marvel costume to date, with a face-covering mask that perfectly complements this modernized take on his traditional costume. The issue will see Spider-Man and Green Goblin take on this new Bullseye, with Marco Checchetto’s design for the character revealing a glowing eye that suggests the deadly New York killer may have superpowers this time around.

One of the big changes on Earth-6160 is that the villains are in charge right the way to the top, and what appears to be the normal status quo of the world is all according to the Maker’s design. That means a lot of evil-doers have been able to hone their craft free of superhero interference and are now part of a regimented system which may afford them surprising upgrades and contacts. It would therefore be no surprise if the usually powerless Bullseye was even more dangerous in this reality.

In the original Spider-Man stories, Peter Parker’s various costumes often come loaded with meaning. Spider-Man’s original red and blue costume was created during his time as a professional wrestler, and it’s what he was wearing when he refused to stop the criminal who later killed his Uncle Ben. Wearing the costume as a hero is partly about Peter’s unending quest to redeem that moment of his life. Having him simply workshop the look with his daughter underlines a sinister theme bubbling under the surface of Ultimate Spider-Man – is the Wall-Crawler’s legacy really something that Peter can just be handed, or is the new Spider-Man‘s ambition setting him up for a fall?