Ultimate Spider-Man and the End of the Iron Age

If the Iron Age begins with the Crisis/Dark Knight/Watchmen trifecta, where does it end? In this episode, we propose a turning point: Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. The brainchild of controversial publisher Bill Jemas, the Ultimate line sought to make longrunning superheroes more accessible for moviegoing audiences, but who could have guessed the decompressed storytelling and de-emphasis on continuity would lead to a brand new Marvel? (Or a brand NuMarvel?) We'll cap our first six months of exploring the Iron Age by discussing our thoughts on how and why the goals and aims of mainstream comic books changed in the age to follow.