Fans will see a new cinematic Spidey (Andrew Garfield) on the big screen and a big change in the comic book. A web of intrigue started spinning when Marvel Comics asked “Who Is Alpha?” in an mysterious tease online. Today Marvel.com revealed the answer: Spidey is getting a sidekick as part of his 50th Anniversary. This August in Amazing Spider-Man #692 Writer Dan Slott and Artist Humberto Ramos give Peter Parker a new partner. Teenager Andy McGuire will become Alpha when he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time…in a lab with Peter Parker.
Spidey is an Avenger, works with the Future Foundation and has co-starred in his own team-up book but he’s never had a teen sidekick. Marvel Entertainment Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso reveals to Fox why this is the time for a partner?
“Part of it is that Spider-Man is grown up,” said Axel Alonso, editor-in-chief of Marvel Entertainment. “He’s older, more seasoned, but young at heart. He’s still a young man, but he’s been around. It’s interesting because it flips the paradigm. Teen hero Spider-Man is now responsible for this teen hero sidekick. He’s responsible because one of his inventions caused this kid to get his powers. He’s directly responsible for the responsibility this kid now has with his new powers. He feels he has a responsibility to make sure this kid walks the right path, which won’t prove easy.”
Amazing Spider-Man Dan Slott says don’t expect this team-up to be like another famous comic book dynamic duo.
“If you put Spider-Man and Batman in the same situation, you’re going to have way more fun with Spider-Man,” said Dan Slott. “With Batman, he never really screws up the way Spider-Man does; he always seems to make the right decision. But with Spider-Man, he always screws up. He’s us as a superhero. Batman is a paragon of what we’d like to be, but in reality, we’re more like Spider-Man. He makes all the mistakes we make.”
For the entire interview here’s the Fox link. For more preview art here’s the Marvel.com link.
What do you think of Spidey getting a partner? It’s easy to compare Alpha to Batman’s Robin. And the obvious question: will Alpha will a sidekick like Dick Grayson, Jason Todd or Tim Drake?
By Editor