Ultimate Spiderman Kills Peter Parker, Biracial Character Takes Over

Nearly 40-thousand people are in Atlanta for Dragon-Con.

The convention is celebrating its 25th year focusing on science fiction, gaming, comics and anything else related to fantasy.

Comic book enthusiasts are buzzing over a death in a popular superhero series.

WABE’s Rose Scott reports.

He was taken out by the Green Goblin.

This is the Spiderman of Marvel Comics Ultimate Series which is different than the regular series.

It’s a bit more edgy.

The super heroes are fighting crime in another universe.

Marvel did something never before when it killed Peter Parker.

Now, taking over is a bi-racial African American/Hispanic teen named Miles Morales.

“so it makes a lot of sense actually”

Stu Phelps has followed Spider Man for nearly 15 years.

He likes the drastic change.

“honestly I’m a lot more for this than seeing the same story and the same guy in the same costume”

But take a look online into some comic book blogs and chat rooms and some aren’t happy about Peter Parker’s death.

Lance Colley has own gripe.

“you’re coming up with a multi-cultural and a multi ethnic character but you’re not giving him his own identity”

Colley is host of Carapace an Atlanta based story telling group.

He thinks Marvel Comics could have introduced a brand new super hero.

“that’s truly what upsets me is that you take this idea, you know you break some of this ground that another comic book not willing to do by having a biracial character but you slap into a spot that’s already been established”

Joseph Wheeler wasn’t excited about the new Spiderman but does see some significance.

“I was a happy in one sense when I think of little black kids or Latino kids growing up loving the character of Spiderman like most us did and feeling that they can see themselves in that broad of sense of Americana in terms of pop culture”

Wheeler is the founder of Onyxcon which celebrates the presence of the African Diaspora

in popular arts such as sci-fi, animation and comic books.

He sees the change as a good business move:

” I do credit Marvel and others who are doing that right now in understanding the black dollar, the latino dollar and understanding that as a whole the so-called minority population is growing”

It’s not clear how or why Miles Morales becomes Ultimate Spiderman.

That won’t be revealed until September 7th when the next edition comes out.