Mysterio, the nefarious magic man who has been a Spider-Man villain since the hero's earliest days, is the guy who finds a rift between the regular Marvel Universe and the alternate-reality Ultimate Universe, a plot device that is central to the upcoming Spider-Men.
Beginning in June, the five-issue Marvel Comics miniseries by the Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man creative team of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli will feature the first meeting of Peter, Stan Lee's original-recipe web-slinger from The Amazing Spider-Man, and Miles, Bendis' half-black, half-Hispanic teenage hero.
Bendis says fans who have been following Ultimate comics religiously will enjoy the Mysterio reveal. The villain has been making trouble in that universe for a while, traveling incognito to and from the regular universe.
"Mysterio is up there with the most dangerous criminals that Spider-Man has come up against," Bendis says. "When I was a kid, I found some of his stories to be terrifying. It just got so personal. When he does his thing right, he delves in and gets deep into a psyche that doesn't deserve that kind of punishment."
The illusionist's helmet, which does resemble a fishbowl, only adds to the cool factor.
"He bought a gross of fishbowls at one point and is just sticking to them," Bendis quips. "Most villains, all you have to do is step out of their eye line and they can't see you. But he can turn his head and can see you from all directions."
The heart of Spider-Man, though, isn't Mysterio's evil plan â€" it's the meeting of Peter and Miles.
Peter arrives in a world where its Peter Parker died in the line of duty being Spider-Man, inspiring Miles to become a hero, and Peter will encounter all the people who were important to the alternate version of him, such as Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson.
"Now we're in Christmas Carol territory. If done right, this is an emotional and powerful Spider-Man story that we haven't seen before," says Bendis, who was admittedly a little misty-eyed after completing a recent Spider-Men issue.
"The real meat of the story is (Peter) meeting Aunt May and Gwen and MJ and discovering this world and what it means to him. You can't walk away from an interaction like that without being changed, and Miles being witness to it all is the best lesson he can learn."
It has made for some great character moments, Bendis says. Peter and Miles will be teaming with the Ultimates (the Avengers of the Ultimate Universe) and Nick Fury, the African-American S.H.I.E.L.D. guy whom Peter knows as an aging white secret agent. Peter has the chance to be reintroduced to Gwen, who in the Marvel Universe die d years ago during a battle between Peter and the Green Goblin. And Miles experiences sacrifice, responsibility and all of the things that entail being Spidey firsthand.
"I spent a great deal of time on one particular scene that rides the roller coaster of emotions, and everyone asks all the questions you'd imagine they'd want to ask," the writer says. "It was insanely fun and insanely emotional to write."
Comic fans have taken to message boards to talk about Peter and Miles meeting and the bridging of the two universes, but at least in-house at Marvel, Mysterio was the most controversial element in creating Spider-Men, according to Bendis.
It made sense to him, though, because a major crossover like this needs a perfect villain to cause chaos â€" i.e., the Jo ker in Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk in 1981, or Darkseid in The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans in 1982.
"I wanted something that reminded me of that but not be a ripoff," says Bendis, adding that the potential of other characters going through the rift, from either side, is "a big part of the story."
While stories of alternate universes may remind people of things like the TV show Fringe, Bendis admits the movie Pleasantville actually served as more of an inspiration for Spider-Men than anything sci-fi.
"It doesn't have to build and build and build to some sort of crisis like comics usually do," he explains. "It can just be this story hook that allows you this enhanced drama you wouldn't normally get that just leaves the characters defenseless to anything but their emotions. That is very appealing to me â€" as a reader, too."
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