Peter Parker’s cosmic journey to the Ultraman universe in the manga crossover Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man provides an opportunity for readers to explore and contemplate the act and art of human transformation, through a classic fish out of water story.
In the first frame of the story, Peter introduces himself while rushing into danger wearing a t-shirt with the word “balance” over his Spider-Man suit. Peter “transforming” into Spider-Man is the perfect way to begin the narrative as this process is an overarching theme of the series. Furthermore, balance is an essential key to transformation. By connecting these concepts in a single image, Tomo Hirokawa and Shigenobu Matsumoto communicate the depth of the narrative we are about to experience.
When we meet this iteration of Peter, it is just three years after his Uncle Ben died in his arms. The grief and guilt of this tragedy still haunt him and fuel a promise to himself to never let anyone die in front of him again. Emotionally caught somewhere between survivor guilt and rescuer syndrome, Peter must learn to overcome his demons. His irrational promise might be somewhat manageable for a normal teen boy of his age; unfortunately, Peter Parker isn’t a normal teen boy.
After being bitten by a radioactive spider, he was endowed with some of the more useful attributes of the species. Fueled by his promise, he begins a transformation not only from a boy into a man, but also from a man into a hero.
Likewise, Ultraman has a death to overcome — that being his own. It has not been long since Shin Hayata’s aircraft collided with an Ultra during an intergalactic chase of the kaiju, Bemular. Rather than let the young pilot die the Ultra merged with him. Like Peter, Shin must learn to become more human than human, but unlike Peter he has a being of light to guide him on his journey.
In the opening of the story, during a large battle, Peter’s mentor in this continuity, Tony Stark, tells the young hero that “you can’t save everyone” and “sometimes you have to make sacrifices.” This guidance seemingly conflicts with Uncle Ben’s dying mandate to Peter that, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
One of the antagonists of this story, Doctor Doom, reinforces Stark’s message by pointing out that “heroes revel in battling against the inevitable.” He alludes to the fact that no matter how noble, their labors can only delay the eventual death of those they save.
Our hero is simultaneously hit with both existential dread and an inter dimensional train. This cosmic streetcar of desire transports Spider-Man and Dr. Doom, who follows him, to another reality. It brings them to “…a world of giants who possess both human and alien hearts.”
This train, first seen in Ultra Q, is a quasi-mystical vehicle, that seems to appear to people lost in their own lives and despair, and takes them to another world, where they know no hardship — though, if they get off early, can end up anywhere, with no guarantee that the train will return for them.
This is exactly what happens to Spider-Man. Doom, who follows him, throws him from the train before he can reach a final destination.
The second chapter opens with a panel showing Spider-Man’s mask laying in the sand at the edge of a body of water. In this liminal space between earth and water, Peter questions where he is and how he got there. He mourns the people in his life that he loved yet failed to save. As he explores the nearby city, his reflections are cut short due to an attack by an Alligatortoise, fittingly also named Peter.
While rushing to battle the kaiju he observes the adjacent possible by watching Shin Hayata transform into Ultraman. Shin makes a promise like the one Peter made while holding his dying Uncle Ben, “This time,” he says, “I’ll save everyone.”
In the third chapter, it quickly becomes obvious that conventional ways of defeating kaiju aren’t effective when battling Peter. When the Terrestrial Defense Force attacks the kaiju with a barrage of missiles, the heat from the explosions causes the kaiju to grow, which alludes to the theme that violence begets more violence.
Our heroes realize that they need to find another way to defeat the beast and stop it from destroying the city. Tony Stark had stressed to Peter that sacrifices were necessary in an imperfect world. Ultraman, being the hero that he is, sacrifices himself to stop the military from their misguided strategy by personally taking the brunt of the attack. By identifying a root cause of the problem (overheating in this case), Ultraman de-escalates the situation. In doing so, he balances the need to save the citizens with the possibility to save the kaiju as well.
In Chapter Four, after discovering an implanted heat source inside the Alligatortoise, Peter sees tangible proof that there is a way to resolve the dissonance he experiences as he matures into the hero that he needs to become. Peter sees, with his own two eyes, that the world isn’t alligators and tortoises, humans and aliens, or humans and spiders. There is a third way, the way of Ultraman, a way which leads to the end of binary generational conflict and trauma.
While contemplating the heat source device, Peter begins to realize that the kaiju’s rage and subsequent destruction is ignited by the manipulation of an unseen antagonist, in this case Alien Mefilas. The kaiju is a blend of an alligator and a tortoise. In nature, the tortoise defends itself by retreating into its shell, the alligator by attacking with its powerful jaws. The heat source activated the animal’s fight or flight response, and the fight response of the alligator took center stage. By removing this source of manipulation, Peter ended the rage of the kaiju. The median between fight and flight is freeze. Instead of attacking or running away, we balance the desire to fight or flee, stop and evaluate the best course of action.
In Chapter Five, we find Peter sitting on a dock, fishing. He fishes like he saves people. Not content with catching one fish on a pole he uses his powers, specifically his web, to net as many fish as he can. For Peter, it’s all or nothing.
As the narrative progresses, Peter learns, through SSSP Agent Fuji’s description of the species of Kaiju known as Ragon, that what looks different and scary, often isn’t. She shows Peter that Kaiju can be like humans in terms of their wants and needs. The behavior of the Kaiju is a mirror that allows Peter to see himself and humanity more clearly. Through understanding them, the seed is planted for him to understand himself.
As this seed grows, nourished by the exemplification that Ultraman’s behavior provides, it has the potential to allow Peter to see those he fights as needing to be both defeated and saved. If he is successful in doing so, those two outcomes may end up being the same thing and the cycle of violence can finally come to an end. At the same time, this perspective has the potential to help Peter heal himself through helping others to overcome their pain.
Chapter Six is action packed and reveals significant details about the potential motivations and tactics of the two main antagonists. Alien Mefilas regenerates a Ragon out of the Monster Graveyard. Dr. Doom then offers it power in exchange for its soul and sends it back to earth. This act and the back stories of Alien Mefilas and Dr. Doom contain clear allusions to the legendary German protagonist, Faust. Like the Ragon, Faust receives power from the demon Mephistopheles, at the cost of his soul and all he loves in the end.. This distinct allusion brings us back to the earliest chapters of this series and gives this narrative a beautiful and authentic depth.
Much like Faust, whether the Ragon and ultimately Shin and Peter make choices that repair the flawed world(s) around them or destroy them remains to be seen but we have hope that they will. They fight not only for their soul but also for that of humanity itself. Regardless of the challenge they face, they face a choice on how to react and respond.
This part of the narrative serves as a metaphor for our own lives. If Spider-Man and Ultraman can choose wisely and overcome, so can we. As readers we wait patiently, hoping that the best of humanity can prevail.
In chapter seven, we witness the aftermath of the Ragon’s attack. After the dust of the attack settles several paths forward emerge. Many humans call for justice, retribution, and the genocide of all Ragon and even all Kaiju.
In contrast, the community of Ragon, who were also attacked by their own, respond with a song of love and acceptance intended to heal the wounds of their community. Doom, in response, drowns out the healing song of the Ragon with a refrain consisting of another dissonant symphony of destruction played by the regenerated Ragon. Despite the best efforts of our heroes to stop the violence, the better angels of our nature do not prevail, and the same destructive cycle begins anew.
In Chapter Eight, our brave web-slinger is again faced with the existential question that he has been struggling with since the beginning of the narrative. How can he balance the great responsibility that comes with his powers if he can’t save everyone?
Ultraman answers that question when he makes the heart-breaking decision to resort to lethal means to save an innocent child from the wrath of the rampaging Ragon. While he fails to end the cycle of violence by saving the child, he preserves the possibility for a future resolution of the conflict.
In Chapter Nine, Alien Mefilas counters the defeat of the Ragon by sending a brain wave kaiju named Gango to earth. He explains to Doom that this kaiju can transform into “whatever the mind can conceive.” Unfortunately, instead of seeing his newly found powers as a tool for helping people, the boy that discovers the monster, Onita, sees them as a means to command fear.
In Chapter 10, Onita uses Gango to gain the powers of Spider-man. Absent Peter’s moral compass, Onita’s intentions grow into insatiable desires. Using his newfound powers, Onita goes on a crime spree.
Chapter 11 opens in Tony Stark’s lab where he is manically trying to figure out how to find Peter and bring him home. Thor tries to comfort Tony by convincing him that often the heart is stronger than the mind. He reminds him that Peter chose to be New York’s hero, which is a responsibility that he wouldn’t abandon. Back in the world of Ultraman, Onita’s crime spree is blamed on Spider-Man. Because of this the media, and subsequently the public, begins to turn on their friendly neighborhood hero.
Peter soon realizes that things aren’t quite as they seem. While fighting Gango, he witnesses the kaiju change form. This makes him remember an old foe, Mysterio, who could use the art of illusion to confuse his opponents. He soon realizes, however, that Gango is more than just an illusion. Meanwhile, Fuji investigates Onita’s home and finds the boy’s parents and Ono suspended in web cocoons.
In the opening pages of Chapter 12, the overarching theme of transformation comes full circle. Fuji finds Onita and “Ono” cowering in the corners of the room in the shadows of the cocoons. Before Peter can warn her not to trust appearances, the boys reveal their true nature, the disguised Gango transforming into a spider.
During a confrontation with Fuji, Onita tells Gango to grow bigger and “become a kaiju that can crush anything.” Gango transforms into Onita’s desire, and Hayata in turn transforms into Ultraman to fight the giant beast.
Peter arrives on scene as Spider-Man, metaphorically transforming into the hero that he needs to be. Instead of working alone, focusing on his own goals, he decides to work with Ultraman towards the singular goal of subduing the kaiju. He uses his webs to pull Gango’s arm causing the beast to lose its balance.
This brings us back to the first frame of the series which connected the themes of balance and transformation. Will this balance and transformation lead our heroes to victory? Only time will tell.
There is still plenty of story to go in Along Came A Spider-Man. Gango is still putting up quite a fight, and Doctor Doom and Alien Mefilas wait in the wings. How will this legendary crossover conclude? To find out, you’ll have to read the manga on the Viz Media app as it comes out — and to get more reviews like this, stay close to Ultraman Connection!
