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The title kinda emphasizes that, doesn't it? This is the ULTIMATE Spider-Man. All others, including the original, are but lesser beasts.

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Wasn't that in FANTASTIC FOUR 2?

JB and Francesco, I get your respective points.  Thanks for clarifying.

For years, it seemed that there was a sentiment amongst Marvel (JB, if you recall please correct me: was it Chris Clarement who said this?) that there was no one "good" enough to be a suitor for Storm.  THAT  comment kind of rubbed some folks wrong because it presumes, on some level, that either there were no (presumably black) characters in the MU who were suitable besides the Black Panther nor could one be created to fill the role.  I'm sure Mr. Claremont meant no harm, he was referring to Ororo's regal nature and incredible strength...but it isn't an unfair inference to make.  But people rejected the notion of her and T'Challa actually hooking up because it was too easy.  Like in a classroom where there are only two black children...whenever the class paired off, it was assumed that those two would be together, even if they had nothing in common or did not like each other.  They were being identified solely by their complexions and nothing else.

THAT mentality provokes a much stronger reaction from me.  That, I do find insulting and demeaning.

So, when Marvel went ahead and married off Storm and the Panther it felt like a very disengenuous, patronizing stunt and while I felt no humiliation I did feel a sense of racism in the decision to have author Eric Jerome Dickey, noted for absolutely ZERO comic book work, involved with the project.  I'm all for more opportunities being available for black creators; I'm one of them.  But that just smacked of a disturbing attitude that really turned me off and made me question the mindset of TPTB at Marvel.

When I saw black female fans of Mr. Dickey's work who otherwise had no interest in comic books, same as with the Obama cameo in a subsequent issue of Spider-Man...black (and other ethnically-diverse) folks who were more civilian than fan arrive in the LCS and buy up price-jacked copies of the issues where these stunts occurred...I didn't feel humiliated but I felt a sense of anger and manipulation.  So filtered through that recollection I can see where one might indeed feel as Francesco described.

Maybe there is more to this new Spider-Man thing than I first realized.

As far back as the Shooter era, there have been rumors of, and thereafter calls for, a post-Peter Parker Spider-Man. The rumor back then was that Marvel, fearless proponent of Change and Bold Storytelling that it was, was going to kill Peter in an appropriately-epic manner and then replace him with responsibility-stricken, Army veteran Flash Thompson. (Well, Flash is Venom now... Maybe he's slowly working his way up.) How they were going to reconcile his time in Vietnam, I have no idea, but since that rumor, there has been an uneasy undercurrent in Fandom of people who feel they were "ripped off" in not getting this promised development, people who might feel that Marvel "chickened out."

Bendis is the right age to at least be aware of this feeling. In any case, the basic idea is nothing new. "The Spidey Suit doesn't need Peter any more than the ring needs Hal. Or Kyle. Or John. Or Guy... Let's get some surprises happening here! Let's rock the boat a little!"

Me, I still can't get over the idea that this "bold, exciting" development is taking place over in the Ultimate Universe, the one given of which is that it will never, ever, ever cross over with the Mainstream Marvel U. Without meaning to, I'm sure, Marvel has "segregated" their new Spider-Man from the get-go, preventing him from meeting all of the other heroes the general public assumes are his peers. Maybe the barrier between the two universes will finally fall as a result of all this.

"What does Thor think about the new Spidey?" readers may ask.
"Well, Thor himself doesn't know anything about it. It happened in a different reality, y'see, but the Thor there is cool with it."
"How does the Fantastic Four feel about having a new guy on their team in Peter's costume?"
"Well, now, y'see, that isn't the same Spidey, really, or the same FF, but if the FF in the Ultimate Universe had Spidey on their team, they'd be fine with the change. Miles is a good guy...Really, one FF or the other makes no difference..."
"So, these different guys the new Spidey hangs out with are separate from the real ones, but just as good... Separate, but... Hmm..."

I don't believe it's intentional, this "segregation," and as I say, I hope they'll finally take down the wall between the two universes as a result, and acknowledge the Ultimate Universe as the faux, "edgier" Earth-2 concept it has always been.