Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Penciler Mark Bagley

Inker Drew Hennessy

Colorist Justin Ponsor

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Ultimate Knights, Part Four of Five

Cover Dated July 2007

So after taking a detour with the reviews that I wanted to do after Ultimate Spider-Man 200, I went and checked all of the issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, with various volumes and such, to see if Kitty Pryde is referenced in any issues that I don’t own.  Turns out, Kingpin mentions her name in this issue, lucky for me, this was still in my Lonestar Comics To Sell comic boxes, so I was able to take it out and not add yet another comic to my Wishlist.  Which I had to do for Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Two Issue 15.  I did check Miles’ two series as well.  She has yet to appear in any of his solo titles.

So after this, I will get back to my Christmas 2014 comics.

I reviewed issue one of this storyline during Daredevil Month (April 2015) and now I’m reviewing part four.  I’ll get to parts two and three, at some point, and I don’t own the concluding chapter.

Okay, onto the issue!

Matt Murdock, while in a courtroom, overhears a radio announcement that Midtown High School has become another site of a super powered showdown.

One of the main scenes of this issue, and I really dig it, is a conversation between Kingpin and Spider-Man, who is unmasked.  This is Bendis at his very best.

Spider-Man wakes up to Kingpin holding an action figure of his.  This starts essentially a seven page monologue of Kingpin’s.  Kingpin wonders if Spider-Man is a mutant.  He still doesn’t know who Spider-Man really is, he was tempted to run his fingerprints but he knows that he is on Nick Fury’s watchlist.  If he ran his fingerprints, within five minutes, the Ultimates would be crashing through his window.

Kingpin wonders why Spider-Man isn’t on the Ultimates.  All he really cares about, is that this kid is Spider-Man.  He does know which high school he attends, so if he ever needs to find him, he easily can.  While talking to him, he starts hitting him with his action figure – which is pretty funny.  Kingpin threatens to blow up his high school.

Spider-Man is a teenager, so he may not care about his school.  Kingpin then steps too far and threatens to blow up the Xavier School of Mutants.  It is amazing that Spider-Man can stay silent for all of this, but he probably is feeling bombarded by all of this information.  Clearly, Kingpin has this entire speech rehearsed.

Kingpin knows that Spider-Man is dating Kitty Pryde, the X-Men’s Shadowcat.  He knows this due to the Internet.  Man, I would really like to see how quickly Kingpin tries to take on the X-Men and be handed his large ass to him.  Lard ass, look at me making jokes.

Kingpin mentions now they have something in common.  Spider-Man knows where Kingpin works and he now knows where he goes to school, he can get in touch with Spider-Man, whenever he needs to.  Kingpin starts making counter arguments.  One day, Spider-Man may reveal who he really is to the world – when that happens, Kingpin will know exactly who his parents are.  Kingpin could easily kill Spider-Man, right now.

Kingpin rather not kill him, as he owns a parent company that owns the license rights to Spider-Man.  He is going to flood the market with Spider-Merchandise.  So killing Spider-Man, is bad business.  Spider-Man can try to stop Kingpin’s criminal campaigns but Kingpin is making crazy amounts of profit off of Spider-Man.  Anytime he does something good, Fisk is making money.  Legitimate money.  Kingpin repeats, several times, that he owns Spider-Man.

Kingpin gets to the point, he wants Spider-Man to go back to his vigilante knights pals and tell them to stop coming after him.

Kingpin starts punching the assassin that he sent to Midtown High to capture Spider-Man.  He knows that this is yet another identity of Moon Knight’s.  He tells Moon Knight, in a Ronin style outfit – the Ronin that Echo and Hawkeye later wore.  Kingpin reveals that Matt Murdock, Daredevil, works for him.  Murdock is his lawyer.

The Knights are playing a game, that Kingpin invented – which is a very cool thing to say.  If the Knights keep coming after him, Kingpin will beat them all like he is doing to Moon Knight.

Kingpin knows that if Spider-Man died, people will seek out Spider-merchandise and he will get some last money that way.  I like Kingpin, recognizing Spider-Man’s silence, asks if Spider-Man would like to make any fat jokes now.  Spider-Man has been knocked out, at this point.  Kingpin wants Spider-Man to keep saving people.  Kingpin knows that Green Goblin is his old golf buddy, Norman Osborn.

If Peter decided to stop being Spider-Man, Wilson Fisk will just simply hire someone to be Spider-Man.  I really like the idea of how Spider-Man has brought Peter no benefits but now, Kinpin is making loads of profits.

Meanwhile, Daredevil crashes through a window.  He is investigating an office.  He finds something and calls Doctor Strange.  Wong answers the phone and states that Strange is in deep mediating, which is code for sex time.

Doctor Strange teleports to where Daredevil is.  Daredevil is the leader of the Knights.  Strange recognizes the office as belong to the Kingpin.  Ultimate Doctor Strange is sort of a celebrity, who appears on talk shows.  I like how neither Daredevil nor Strange knows how each other’s powers work.  Doctor Strange casts a spell and can follow the trace that Daredevil senses.  He creates an image for him (and us) to see but Daredevil can’t see it.

Moon Knight wasn’t working according to the plan, he went rogue.  Maybe they shouldn’t have let a mentally unbalance person lose on his own.

Strange wonders why no one is on this floor.  Daredevil reveals that this Kingpin’s personal floor, the only people who work on the floor are related to his criminal empire.  That way, he doesn’t have to worry about the wrong people eavesdropping.  Daredevil has been working on bringing down Kingpin, for a very long time.

The two heroes go down an elevator shaft.  Strange isn’t happy that his cloak got filthy.  The trail leads to a giant door and Daredevil can’t sense what is behind it.  Strange can’t teleport inside as, like Nightcrawler, he needs to be able to know w hat is inside so he doesn’t merge with a desk.  They go into the room, the door wasn’t lock and it appears no one has been there for a while.  This is the room that the Kingpin / Spider-Man conversation occurred in.  Daredevil wants to get the Knights together.

Daredevil, Shang Chi, Iron Fist and Doctor Strange are on a rooftop.  Daredevil wants to locate Spider-Man but no one knows how to do that.  Daredevil tells everyone that he is Catholic.  Iron Fist isn’t surprised that Moon Knight went a tad crazy, he is dressed as the moon, after all.  Just then, Daredevil gets some webbing to his face.

Spider-Man starts wailing on Daredevil.  He keeps calling Daredevil names and he is disgusted with him.  Daredevil is clearly outmatched by an angry Spider-Man.

Daredevil takes off his mask, that way he is free of the webbing.  He gets Spider-Man to calm down enough to explain himself.  He tells Daredevil that he knows that Murdock works for Fisk.  Daredevil really don’t know what is happening.  Daredevil is very surprised that Kingpin knows his real name and his profession.  Spider-Man isn’t buying this mock confusion.

Just then, Murdock’s law office is blown up.  It is what all Kingpins do to Daredevils.  Murdock doesn’t care, no one was working this late at night and he isn’t going to give Kingpin the satisfaction of running around the debris.

Daredevil reveals that Kingpin killed his father, all because he wouldn’t throw a boxing match.  Before he dies, he wants to make sure that the Kingpin has been dethroned.  Sadly, he will die before Kingpin does.  Murdock doesn’t want to kill the Kingpin, he wants to bring him into a courtroom and have the system take him down.  He feels like he is so above the law, that he needs to see how it officially works.

Somehow Kingpin figured out who Daredevil is.  He poses the question and instantly hears a heartbeat spike.  He starts choking Iron Fist, as he is the mole on the team, which is how the issue ends.

Daredevil dies in Ultimatum (actually in an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, 131) and Kingpin is killed by Ultimate Mysterio, in his rise of power, in Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Two Issue 1, so the issue right after Ultiatmum ends, so he doesn’t live in a Daredevil-less world for long.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Penciler Mark Bagley

Inker Drew Hennessy

Colorist Justin Ponsor

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover Dated May 2007

Ultimate Knights, Part One of Five

Since we are celebrating Daredevil Month, I’ll include a few of the Daredevil pages.  It is only right, to do so.

Previously, I guess something bad happened to Mary Jane so that she mutated.  Reed Richards fixed her, and Peter and Mary Jane got back together.  Meaning that he is not dating Kitty Pryde, at this point.

This issue opens with the Ultimate Wrecking Crew, who are really the Ultimate Damage Control – which works in such a great way.  Instead of destroying property, they fix property.  Pretty clever, Mister Bendis.

Peter wants to enter his house but Damage Control are preventing him.  Nick Fury is paying for the property restoration.  Damage Control has been quite busy ever since the Ultimates appeared on the scene.

Thunderball makes the horrible horrible mistake of attempting to hit on a very fifteen year old Mary Jane.

Peter gets into his house and finds his spare costume.

So Peter was so happy to have Mary Jane back to normal, so he started dating her without actually breaking up with Shadowcat.  Which I completely forgot about.  I knew they didn’t break up nicely but that is a douche move.  Now, does he deserve to die in front of his house at the hands of the Green Goblin?  Possibly but that may be overly harsh.

Mary Jane visits Aunt May in the hospital.  Which forced me to read the Previously page a tad closer.  So this issue takes place shortly after Ultimate Clone Saga ended, which did at the doorstop of the Parker home.  Aunt May suffered a near-fatal heart attack.  Though the heart attack was more attributed to her learning that Peter is Spider-Man.

If I remember correctly, Mary Jane’s transformation made her appear to be a very red Sasquatch.

Peter is also visiting his aunt, he enjoys hospital food.

Aunt May confirms that Mary Jane also knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  shhhh, don’t tell, too many people know already.

Aunt May wants to have a very detailed conversation with Peter, but once she is better.  She hates reality television.  Apparently, New York City is going through a bit of Spider-Mania.   Spider-Man has unseated Captain America as the city’s favorite superhero.

The Kingpin is in a meeting, being shown the same footage.  It turns out, Fisk owns GG Enterprises, which owns C & C Licensing which owns the global licensing rights to Spider-Man.  Because in the Ultimate Universe, there was a Spider-Man movie (that came out around the time Spider-Man 2 did in our world).  Since his identity is a secret (to most people) the film got the rights from his brief stint with the wresting league – Hercules Wrestling Inc, that he foolishly joined in his first days.

Kingpin likes the idea of owning the likeness rights to Spider-Man.  He wants to accept every offer and run Spider-Man into the ground.

Peter and Mary Jane are about to take the bus but she refuses.  She wants to swing.  Which has always looked cool.

There is an ad for toys from Diamond Select.  I own the Shadowcat / Beast set.

The Baxter Building : home of the World famous Fantastic Four.  Sue Storm suspects that Nick Fury is forcing the media blitz on Spider-Man, to make up for his guilt over his responsibility of his part in the Clone Saga.  Shadowcat is barely in it or referenced in it, so my memory of it is fuzzy.

Peter and Mary Jane are there so that Reed can do some follow up checks on Mary Jane.  The tests should only last an hour, which gives Peter the chance to head over to the Daily Bugle and see how that is going.  He works there part time as their web master.  Get it?  Pretty clever.  There is a post-it on his computer to go see Jameson.

Ben Urich is trying to turn in an article about Project Pegagus, which will pay off later.  Jameson is worried that all newspapers are losing readership.  Once Peter enters his office. Jameson fires him.

There is an ad for Spider-Man : One More Day, which will result in me quitting the Spider-Man titles, eight years later.  I believe I still only have boughten maybe one Spider-title and have two or three issues on my Wishlist.  Which is pretty impressive, I think, down from buying every Spider-title that Marvel printed.

Peter tells Jameson about Aunt May’s heart attack and how he was caught up in that Spider-Man nonsense.  Jameson remembers Aunt May from the time she yelled at him.  Jameson changes his mind, Peter isn’t fired.  Peter takes this opportunity to ask for a raise and more hours.  Bold!

Urich smells a story and asks questions.  Peter lies about his perspective of it.  He says Norman Osborn turn into the Green Goblin and kept yelling his own name.

Peter doesn’t get a raise but gets more hours by working the weekend edition.

Kingpin is in the parking lot with some of his goons.  This masked fellow is there to audition to be Kingpin’s main assassin.  The guy is dressed like a mix of the regular Shocker but with an Iron Man twist.

Kingpin asks him to kill one of his guys and the would-be assassin pauses.  Kingpin doesn’t like that and asks his goons to beat the tar out of the costumed fool.  The guy fights his way free but Kingpin punches him in the face and unmasks him.  The guy is Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu!

One of Kingpin’s guys is name, Mr. Rose – I wonder if this is suppose to be his son in the Ultimate Universe.

There is an ad for Spider-Man 3, so that’s happening.

You can’t see the costume that well in the above image but look, Daredevil!  Daredevil saves Shang-Chi.

I like him saying that it is the media that calls him, Daredevil.  Good thing they do as he was already going by that name.  There is a story I wouldn’t mind seeing.  A hero calling himself something but the media calls him something else.

Daredevil is working on getting a group of heroes together to bring down the Kingpin.  The Ultimate Knights, if you would.

Peter comes back to the Baxter Building, Mary Jane is gong to be okay.  Physically, at least, as she is having nightmares and visions.  She’s dealing with post traumatic stress, which is completely reasonable.  Ben Grimm suffers from it, as well.  I’m surprised more heroes don’t.  Mary Jane can’t have a therapist because what can she even say in a session?

They go to school.  Human Torch wants to double date with them, once they find a date for him.

Matt Murdock, attorney at law (who introduces themselves like that?  I work with attorneys and none have said that), asks for a moment of Peter’s time.  Peter suspects what this conversation is going to be and asks Mary Jane to go inside.  Peter sort of recognizes the voice but Murdock definitely knows who Peter is.

Can you believe Daredevil would say that to Spider-Man?  “baby who has no excuse for being in a costume and you get your immature butt home before you get yourself, or more importantly me, killed.”  Peter pieces it together now.

Peter notices that Murdock is blind.  Murdock tells Peter that everybody knows that Spider-Man is a student of this school.  Murdock wants Spider-Man to be a Knight – they are not calling themselves that.  He wants to kill the Kingpin.  If he is in, meet at 8pm across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

In class, Jessica Jones is making a presentation.  She wants volunteers for the school news show.  Peter and Mary Jane are writing in their notebooks a conversation between each other.  Mary Jane writes asking him if he has spoken to Kitty yet.

Mary Jane knows that Peter hasn’t officially broken up with Kitty Pryde yet but he needs to do it soon.  It gets worst each and every day that he doesn’t.

The principal enters the room, to make an announcement.  There is a new student that is joining the school.  She is well known to the students and there will be some discussions, as . . .

Kitty Pryde has enrolled into Midtown High School!  DUN DUN DUN

Such a great way to end an issue!

Inside back cover is for the TMNT game, which is super fun!  Back cover ad is for Spider-Man 3.

. . .

Post 666, brought to you by the devil, the Daredevil!  (lame, I know but I wanted to point out the post number)