Ultimate Universe Check-in
We’re in the Endgame now
There’s something special about reading a comic book run that you can immediately tell is special as you’re reading it. That sense of knowing that what you’re reading is going to be talked about for years after the fact and regarded as a seminal run. In recent years, I got that feeling while reading Immortal Hulk from Al Ewing and Joe Bennett and the X-Men books that spun out of House of X and Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and R.B. Silva. Add the recent Ultimate line of comics that spun out of Ultimate Invasion by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch to that list. I have loved these comics. Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto, The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri, Ultimate Black Panther by Bryan Hill and Stefano Caselli, and Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko are technically the only ongoing series to be part of this new Ultimate line from Marvel, but I’m going to go ahead and include Ultimate Wolverine by Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio when discussing them because it was extended to sixteen issues after initially solicited as a twelve-issue limited series. Considering all of the ongoing series are ending after twenty-four issues, it seems silly to me to not include Ultimate Wolverine running for sixteen. There have also been some limited series and one-shots such as Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion (five issues) by Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar, and Jonas Scharf, Ultimate Universe: One Year In and Ultimate Universe: Two Years In one-shots by a variety of creators, an Ultimate Hawkeye one-shot (also by multiple creators), and the final event comic of the Ultimate line before it concludes in the form of Ultimate Endgame by Deniz Camp, Jonas Scharf, and the married duo of Terry and Rachel Dodson that will span five issues. I feel like I buried the lede there. Yes, Marvel’s Ultimate line is coming to an end.
But wait! This isn’t due to waning interest or poor sales. In fact, Ultimate Endgame #1 is apparently tracking to be the top-selling single issues Marvel Comics has published in a couple of years. Not too shabby. That isn’t limited to just the big event comic. All of the Ultimate line continues to sell very well, so why is the line coming to an end? It’s because the intention from its inception was for this to be a two year project. I’ve seen people respond to this news (announced back in October) as though Marvel is undercutting their creatives by sticking to the plan, but I don’t see it that way. It’s incredibly rare in the comic book industry for a project this large in scope to maintain its momentum all the way through and conclude while still at its creative and commercial peak. I’m excited to see how these stories come to a close with all of the original creative teams still in place from the outset. If the reporting on the sales numbers for Ultimate Endgame #1 is accurate, then plenty of others are excited about it too. Maybe you are interested in jumping in on this event, but you’re intimidated by having to read over two years of comics that includes around one hundred issues that set up this climactic final chapter. Don’t worry. I’m here to help. Here is a quick rundown of where the Ultimate line currently sits as Ultimate Endgame kicks off. Obviously there will be spoilers to follow, so skip all of this if you’d rather read all of these comics for yourself!
Ultimate Invasion (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch
This is where it all started. This event comic from Hickman and Hitch led to the creation of the new Ultimate Universe (Earth-6160). The basic story is that Maker (evil Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Universe of Earth-1610) has made a daring jailbreak and has fled his captors on Earth-616 (the main Marvel Universe) and has entered a universe almost identical to a young Earth-616. He then begins altering the events of this universe in order to prevent most of this universe’s superheroes from either ever coming into existence or becoming pawns/allies for Maker to use. He succeeds in creating a world in his own image that is divided and ruled over by his own Maker’s Council to create the illusion that there are different states and governments within this world instead of a one world government run by Maker himself. Despite engineering this world to be everything he could ever want, he is still faced with a powerful opposition in the form of Kang. This isn’t the same Kang that we’re used to in Earth-616; however, as this one is dressed in armor similar to that of Iron Man (thus also obscuring his face). He continually sends assault forces from the future in an attempt to overthrow Maker in the present. Speaking of Iron Man, the man who holds the title in this universe is Howard Stark. He’s one of the very few super powered individuals in this universe unaware of the dark truth behind who runs the world. When he becomes aware, he decides to try and unseat Maker. He ultimately engineers a battle within Maker’s technologically advanced sentient City between Kang and Maker that leads to both sides being trapped inside (along with himself) with no way out for two years. With that small window, Tony Stark (now going by Iron Lad) and Doctor Doom (this universe’s Reed Richards) go out to try and recruit other heroes armed with the knowledge of who Maker considered threats in the hopes that they can change the world enough to make it a better place before he escapes. I should also probably mention that time within Maker’s City moves far more quickly inside than it does in the outside world. One month in the outside world is the equivalent of one thousand years in the City. That means things will be drastically different inside the City when it finally opens up. Oh, I’m also like 95% certain that Kang is just Tony Stark from the future. So there’s that as well.
Ultimate Spider-Man (2024-present) by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto
The first title to spin out of Ultimate Invasion was Ultimate Spider-Man. That makes sense considering it’s also written by Jonathan Hickman. In Earth-6160, Peter Parker never became Spider-Man. He instead settled down, married Mary Jane, and had two kids (Richard and May). It’s also a world in which Uncle Ben is still alive, but poor Aunt May was killed in a false flag terrorist attack committed by the Maker’s Council and blamed on Tony Stark. Tragic. One day, Tony Stark pays Peter a visit and lets him know that his destiny was to be a superhero named Spider-Man, but that was stolen from him by Maker. He gives Peter a radioactive spider and a chance to reclaim his life, and he decides to take the plunge into superheroism. What we get is an older yet inexperienced version of Spider-Man who has to do even more juggling between his family and his vigilantism. Another casualty of the aforementioned terrorist attack was Norman Osborn, so Harry Osborn has taken on the mantle of Green Goblin to avenge him by going after Wilson Fisk (who works for Maker’s Council). Harry and Peter end up becoming friends and working together as superheroes fighting the good fight against Kingpin. As if that wasn’t enough, there are a whole host of supporting characters in this run with unique twists on their classic stories. Harry is married to Gwen Stacy in this universe who also happens to lead a double life as Mysterio (which is actually a secret underground resistance made up of multiple people who were all recently killed by Mister Negative including Gwen but have merged together into a vengeful spirit form aiding Harry). Peter’s son Richard has begun wearing a prototype nanotech suit made for his father by Tony Stark which has made him this universe’s Venom.
Otto Octavius is one of Harry’s best scientists at Oscorp, and he’s been going out and assisting the heroes as Superior Spider-Man lately. Uncle Ben and J. Jonah Jameson are business partners who have their own news site simply called The Paper meant to expose the crimes of the Maker’s Council. I’m sure I’m leaving plenty out, but those are some of the high level events that have been taking place. The most recent issue is Spider-Man taking on Kingpin and Mister Negative while Green Goblin and weird-undead-spectral Mysterio go after Captain Britain and his army of Bullseyes. Oh, also Venom and Black Cat (whom he is dating) are caught up in their own ill-advised mission. There is only one issue left in this series that is set to come out next month, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.
Ultimate Black Panther (2024-present) by Bryan Hill and Stefano Caselli
Ultimate Black Panther has been very interesting to me because while T’Challa is mostly the same as his Earth-616 counterpart, everyone around him is markedly different. He rules Wakanda with his wife Okoye while two members of Maker’s Council (Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu) aim to continue to annex more and more African territory leading to a confrontation with Black Panther and Wakanda. There are also a pair of revolutionaries fighting against Ra and Khonshu named Erik Killmonger and Ororo Munroe (yes, Killmonger and Storm are a pair of African revolutionaries in this universe). They also rescue this universe’s Sorcerer Supreme (a woman named Inan) to assist with their cause. It was also recently revealed that this universe’s Shuri had secretly helped Ra and Khonshu assassinate her and T’Challa’s father. Not great! There has also been a monstrous looking being named Z’Non that is the Spirit of Vibranium. He is part of a race of spirit beings called Progenitors who seek to conquer Earth that were unleashed by Ra and Khonshu.
On top of that, the mysterious Sisterhood of the Vodu-Khan have betrayed Wakanda by helping the Progenitors kidnap Storm so they can have her give birth to the prophesied Child of Light who will rule the world. Also not great! I remember when this series was announced, and Hill compared it to Dune. It took a while to understand what he meant, but I definitely see it now. The final issue of the series is set to come out this month.
Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko
Ultimate X-Men was the third series to launch as part of the new Ultimate line, and it is by far the most radically different from its mainline counterpart. That has made it the most divisive series in the line, but I think it’s dope. The comic is set in Japan (or rather Hi No Kuni in this universe) and follows a group of young mutants just beginning to discover their powers. The primary protagonist of the series is Armor (Hisako Ichiki) who is able to create a psionic exoskeleton around herself to protect her from harm. Other mutants in the series include Maystorm (Mei Igarashi) who has weather based powers similar to Storm, Grimm (Nico Minor) who has magic-based powers, Natsu Tsukishima who wears an eyepatch over her left eye and has an optic blast similar to Cyclops, Mori who can regenerate body parts, and Psylocke (Kanon Sainouchi) who is the descendant of a samurai and wields a psionic blade much like her Earth-616 counterpart.
Their enemies include Shadow King (Shinobu Kageyama) who is kind of a dark inversion of Armor with his ability to surround himself in a shadowy aura. They also deal with Emperor Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) who is a member of Maker’s Council and his servant Viper (Aida). They also have a cult called the Children of the Atom that reports to them.
The obvious draw here is Momoko’s unique art style. The watercolor painting style she uses makes the comic look completely original within the line (and frankly in all of Marvel). She has also been afforded the creative control to write her own story with a distinctive Japanese flair. I’m going to be very curious to see how this is brought into Ultimate Endgame when the series concludes next month.
The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri
Ultimate Spider-Man is the book in this line that tends to garner the most attention due to Spider-Man being Marvel’s flagship character and Hickman being Marvel’s most famous writer, but The Ultimates is the series that sets the narrative for the rest of the line. It’s the story of Iron Lad as he recruits other superheroes to join his team (called…the Ultimates) as they fight back against the Maker’s Council and try to engineer a revolution before the Maker can escape his City. I love it.
Let me try and run through all of the members to the best of my ability. Obviously the founder of the team is Iron Lad (Tony Stark) who is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps. His first teammate was Doom (Reed Richards) who was imprisoned and essentially enslaved by Maker (also a Reed Richards) to do his bidding. He has no superpowers, and all of his friends and family are dead courtesy of Maker. He was also forced to wear the classic Doom mask and take on the moniker because Maker is a dick. We also have Thor and Sif from Asgard (which was ruled by Loki in this universe thanks to the machinations of Maker). They also thawed out Captain America (Steve Rogers) who is basically the exact same as the traditional Earth-616 version. They also recruited She-Hulk (Lejori Joena Zakaria) who is from a small Pacific Island nation that had been subjected to numerous gamma bomb experiments from Bruce Banner (a much more diabolical Hulk in this universe) at the behest of Maker. There is also the classic Avengers couple of Giant-Man (Hank Pym) and Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), but Hank isn’t the same level of genius in this universe due to an accident and Janet is revealed to be a mole (though who she reports to may surprise you). America Chavez joined the team after being rescued from the White House where she was being used as a power source against her will. There is a new Hawkeye (Charli Ramsey) on this team who is a two spirit Native American looking to strike back at major corporations destroying the planet. Luke Cage is also on the team and fighting the prison-industrial complex from the inside in a clear nod to real life revolutionary George Jackson. Lastly, the team has the Human Torch. No, not that one. This is the android Jim Hammond from the Golden Age. He killed Hitler in this universe.
That’s the team! They have spent the last couple of years trying to strike a blow to the Maker’s Council wherever possible. It has easily been one of my favorite comics for the duration of the run. I’m honestly surprised that editorial has allowed Camp to get so political with his writing, but the sales numbers likely help with that. People seem to love this book, and I am one of them. Since Camp is also writing Ultimate Endgame, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that The Ultimates will be dealing with a lot of the fallout from that series. The Ultimates #19 is a must-read if you are also reading the event comic. The final issue will come this April.
Ultimate Wolverine by Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio
Ultimate Wolverine is the final quasi-ongoing series to launch as part of this line (it began in January of 2025). This run feels very reminiscent of Barry Windsor-Smith’s classic “Weapon X” story arc that ran in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 back in 1991 that explained how Wolverine got his adamantium claws and skeleton. This new series from Condon and Cappuccio aims to shed a light on what Logan has been up to in Earth-6160. In short, he is this universe’s Winter Soldier.
Logan was captured and brainwashed to serve as a super assassin for the Eurasian Republic (Colossus, Magik, and Omega Red) who rule what used to be Russia as part of the Maker’s Council. If you thought the Winter Soldier of Earth-616 was scary, just wait until you see what a Winter Soldier with indestructible bones, razor sharp claws, and a healing factor can do. His special set of skills are initially deployed in this book to hunt down and eliminate a resistance group called The Opposition. This is a mutant group composed of Mystique, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Sabretooth, Black Widow, Sprite, Mikhail Rasputin, Beast, Abigail Brand, and more. Basically any mutant not in Ultimate X-Men pops up in this book. Don’t get too attached though. A lot of these folks don’t make it.
While the series starts off with Logan as an antagonist, he does break free of his brainwashing (thanks to Sprite) and ends up joining The Opposition. That’s when things really get good as his mission goes from eliminating his former friends to rescuing a certain someone who goes by Phoenix. Ever heard of her? This series is a really cool high octane spy thriller of a book that is really brought to life by the incredible artwork courtesy of Alessandro Cappuccio. The final issue comes out this April.
Ultimate Endgame (2025-present) by Deniz Camp, Jonas Scharf, and Terry & Rachel Dodson
Come on. I’m not spoiling this one! The whole point of this piece was to get you caught up to read this book, remember? All I’ll say is that this book hits the ground running, and I cannot wait to see how it all ends in April.