Ultimate Spider-Man #5 is out now and it takes a break from the Spider-Man action to delve into Harry’s past. We open with an appearance from Norman, the first one in this particular universe.

Before Norman can finish that sentence, he and Emily are blown up in the “Stark” attack and all Harry can do is watch.

We never do find out why Harry was late, by the way, the thing that saved his life. Maybe it was something to do with Gwen?

Speaking of Gwen, she and Harry’s mother Emily look very alike.

The Osborns sure are obsessed with blondes, huh?

After Norman’s death Harry inherits Oscorp and meets the Kingpin, who introduces himself while in a hot tub, as you do. Kingpin sells Harry the Stark/Stane company, although Harry tries to refuse it, saying he’s not the man his father was.

Flash forward a bit and Harry, Gwen and Otto Octavius (hi Otto!) break into a secret laboratory which is now their own property. Within it they find a bunch of encrypted files explaining what’s really going on in the world and who’s responsible for the state of things.

Howard Stark was using his son’s name as the password, but Harry knows his father would never have extended that level of affection to him. Ouch.

So Harry decides he’s gonna suit up as a vigilante. We see him encounter Shocker (remember him?) and we learn that Shocker stole his gloves from a dead person, he wasn’t actually the person intended to have them. More on that plotline some other time maybe?

And we also see more of the first meeting between Harry and Peter! Remember how Ultimate Spider-Man #3 left the two of them about to go for a drink, but then time-skipped? Well, now we see that drink. It’s kind of awkward.

I hope Harry was the one who paid for the drinks.

Harry explains to Peter how he “found out the hard way” about the state of the world.

The issues ends with a flash-forward to the present day. Harry has Bullseye – remember how he kidnapped Bulleye? – at his mercy. And it’s implied he has been using torture on him (how the heck do you remove an exo-skeleton from someone without torture, after all) and is about to use more. While Bullseye is a POS, superheroes should not use torture on their enemies. So that’s interesting, and marks Ultimate Harry out as being very different from his 616 counterpart.