Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man chapters seventeen and eighteen are now available for free on the VIZ Manga app or website, and if you haven’t been following along already, it’s time to catch up because Ultraman needs as much help as he can get!
Ultraman is in peril, trapped in critical condition. Doctor Doom and Alien Meflias have successfully disarmed him, leaving his large body unconscious on the shore. His once blinking color timer is replaced with a stagnant obsidian void. Alien Meflias pronounces Ultraman dead once and for all.
There are few times in franchise history when we’ve seen Ultraman in such a critical state. His compromising position is exacerbated when Doctor Doom harvests Ultraman’s power of light for himself, extracting the energy from his body and harboring it for his ultimate scheme.
Ultraman’s form fades away, leaving behind Hayata’s unconscious body. The enemy has come out on top and Hayata’s secret double-life has been revealed… Almost! In the nick of time, Spider-Man retrieves Hayata’s body and carries him into the sunset, vowing that he will use all his power to protect Hayata’s identity and body.
As always, Spider-Man acts with admiration and thinks empathetically. He instinctively assists those he perceives as more powerful than him so long as they subscribe to the same moral code.
Though he often works individually, being a team-player is one of Spider-Man’s best qualities. Whether Hayata knows it or not, Spider-Man has been the one moving things along from the very beginning, in his smaller but equally necessary way. Might they begin to flourish into a duo that works together to act predictively rather than reactively? Possibly, but right now Hayata just needs to recover.
Hayata’s pale body glows as it floats through the inky blackness of his comatose dreamscape. The liminal interaction between Hayata and Ultraman in their injured states begs more questions than it answers. Will Ultraman be alright? Will he ever be accessible to Hayata again? Is restoring justice truly possible? Ultraman shakes Hayata out of his questioning state and forces him to focus all his energy towards maintaining his grip on life.
As Hayata toes the line between existence and non-existence, Alien Meflias and Doctor Doom engage in a business deal. Meflias assures Doom that the power of light now belongs to him as long as he’s willing to provide Meflias ownership of planet Earth.
Things get expectedly political when Doom forfeits his end of the bargain. He scoffs at Meflias’s audacity. In fact, Doom almost sounds like one of our heroes when he declares that, “Every Earth belongs to humanity. Not one of them will ever be yours.”
There is comfort in the thought that this world was made for us and we were made for it. It’s a hard thing to remember when we’ve become increasingly estranged from understanding its patterns. Humanity and Earth are intertwined and remembering that will save us in the end.
Of course, Alien Meflias is not very interested in looking at things so romantically. He wants revenge on Doctor Doom for pulling out of their “gentleman’s agreement”. Our villainous tag-team has finally fragmented under the pressure of evil and their defining battle is about to commence.
Neither team is still standing as it was before. Spider-Man and Ultraman are now resigned to being Peter and Hayata, until Hayata can figure out how to re-merge with the injured Giant of Light. Alien Meflias and Doctor Doom reside in the aftermath of their broken alliance, horns locked, ready to test their true strength. Find out what happens next week in Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man on the VIZ Manga app or website!
