Ultimate Marvel

MARVEL COMICS TO LAUNCH THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE PUBLISHING INITITATIVE IN THE COMPANY'S HISTORY

ULTIMATE MARVEL

Comic Book Line Will Re-Introduce Core Superhero Properties Including Spider-Man And X-Men In 21st Century Settings Marvel Will Support The Project With A Major Marketing And Promotional Campaign

New York, NY - In an effort to increase the appeal of its incredibly popular core comic book properties to a younger demographic, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. will re-introduce several of its most popular characters in 21st Century settings with the largest publishing initiative in the company's history - Ultimate Marvel. Including new, exciting hip stories that take place in year 2000 settings and hyper-realistic computer graphics, Ultimate Marvel will allow an entire new generation of comic book readers to grow up with their favorite Marvel superheroes. Beginning with Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men - the most popular Marvel properties with adolescents - Ultimate Marvel will showcase the characters as teenagers facing the same problems as today's kids. Ultimate Spider-Man is set to hit retail in ___ while Ultimate X-Men will follow in early 2001.

"The Ultimate Marvel comic book line will be our most comprehensive, focused and well-financed publishing initiative to-date," said Bill Jemas, Marvel President, Publishing and New Media. "During the next 18 months, the X-Men Movie and the Spider-Man movie will raise Marvel exposure and excitement to an all-time high. Marvel plans to leverage the growing demand for our characters to create new readership for our comics."

With Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter Parker is no longer a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle with a chemistry set in his basement, but is now a webmaster for the ebugle with a T-1 Internet connection to his house. The series characters will remain the same including Aunt May, Mary Jane and J. Jonah Jameson; however, their personalities and attitudes will be more reflective of the 21st Century. The same will hold true for Ultimate X-Men, which will consist of Cyclops, Phoenix, Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Wolverine, and Professor X.

"Marvel characters were created in the 1960's and are based on misunderstood children who had a very special power," Jemas continued. "In the 1980's and 1990's, the Marvel characters grew-up with their devoted following of readers. While this helped the Marvel Universe become a rich and complex fantasy realm that is very

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