10 Strongest Villains From Marvel’s Ultimate Universe

In the early 2000s, there was an idea. To bring together Marvel‘s greatest heroes in a new, approachable format. Unlike their competitors over at DC, Marvel has never “rebooted” their universe. Every Marvel comic on Earth-616 takes place on the same Earth-616, meaning comics about Spider-Man written in 1972 and 2022 are about the same guy. While this is certainly cool, it also makes reading these comics a little unwieldy. After all, it’s hard to read everything about a character if they’ve got hundreds, if not thousands, of appearances. So, the idea was floated to create a “side-universe” that would reimagine famous characters and give new readers a place to jump aboard.

After Marvel attempted this in 1996 with Heroes Reborn and failed, they gave it another run in 2000 with Ultimate Marvel. Some, like Ultimate Spider-Man, are regarded as genuine classics that helped revitalize the character and the franchise. Others, like The Ultimates, could sometimes be a bit of a mess but were no less influential on the larger MCU. However, there is no denying that these comics changed the game for Marvel. They reimagined countless iconic characters. For the heroes, this often made them more relatable or palatable to modern audiences. This often meant a major power boost for the villains, as the Ultimate Universe featured some of Marvel’s strongest villains.

10 Earth-616 Made Sure Everything Dies

Secret Wars Made Interesting Foes During Ultimate End

It’s hard to imagine the amazing heroes of the main Marvel universe being powerful villains, but that’s exactly what happened during the Ultimate End storyline from 2015’s Secret Wars event, at least from Earth-1610’s point of view. After countless universes were destroyed in apocalyptic events known as “incursions,” only Earth-616 and Earth-1610 remained. With no tricks left, the two planets fought for their survival.

A brutal battle erupted between two universes that fans know and love. Heroes from both realms duked it out as the worlds died around them. Truly, the only word for it is tragic. Unfortunately, neither side triumphed, destroying both Earths, which were then folded into Doctor Doom’s Battleworld. Thankfully, the Marvel universe has been reborn.

9 Doctor Octopus Revealed Shocking New Powers

His Metallic Arms Kept Getting Deadlier

Otto Octavius from Marvel’s main continuity is already a huge threat. However, his Ultimate counterpart has one specific edge: mutant powers. Initially, it seemed Otto only had a psychic connection with his metal arms due to a lab accident. After they were destroyed, however, Doc Ock realized that he could control any form of metal. He used this power to create new, deadly arms.

Doc Ock is one of Ultimate Spider-Man’s most challenging villains. His powers are perfect for keeping a brawler like Peter at bay. Plus, he’s still a cunning intellect who uses all his brains to concoct his evil plans. Despite his need for revenge, he’s also willing to retreat and regroup, making him one of the most slippery villains in the Ultimate universe.

8 Kingpin’s Empire is an Open Secret

Wilson Fisk Is Untouchable Despite His Evil

The Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk, is even deadlier in the Ultimate universe. While he is still a morally bankrupt businessman/mobster, this version of Fisk seems to wield even more power and influence than his counterpart. His status as a criminal is openly flaunted, but since he practically owns the police and destroys any evidence connected to him, no charges ever stick.

Kingpin has a constantly rotating gang of capable enforcers who are more than willing to kill in his name. Plus, with his money and influence, he can do pretty much anything he wants. He also holds a powerful artifact called the Zodiac Key, which allows him to make any thought a reality. However, he was never shown to use it, as the threat of its power was enough for him. Fisk is always one of Spider-Man’s best villains and this dials that to eleven.

Ultimate Fantastic Four Walked So That Marvel Zombies Could Run

The Ultimate Fantastic Four is quite different from most interpretations of the team. One of their fiercest confrontations was with an alternate-reality version of themselves. However, this Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben had all been zombified by an unknown virus and sought to spread their plague to the Ultimate Universe.

This version of the Fantastic Four spawned the Marvel Zombies spin-off. They tricked Ultimate Reed into opening a portal between their two dimensions. The Fantastic Four were, luckily, able to contain their zombified counterparts with the help of Doom. However, he seemed to perish in the attempt. Their story was expanded upon in future Marvel Zombies adventures.

6 Carnage Was Reimagined As A Terrifying Monster

The Symbiotic Blood Creature Killed And Replaced Gwen Stacy

The symbiotes of the Ultimate universe are quite different from their mainstream counterparts—most notably in the fact that they are not symbiotes at all. Venom is a high-tech synthetic suit designed by Richard Parker and Ed Brock as a medical device. Carnage, meanwhile, was an experiment by Kurt Connors made out of Peter Parker’s radioactive spider blood.

This version of Carnage is essentially a blood monster. It initially took the form of Peter Parker and killed scores of people, including Gwen Stacy. The creature absorbs the DNA of its victims and can make perfect copies. When Carnage eventually returned, it was in the form of its last victim, Gwen Stacy, giving her a new lease on life.

5 Ultimate Hulk is a True Monster

Bruce Banner’s Dark Form Has A Weird Drive To Eat People

The Ultimate version of most Marvel heroes are a bit more… rough and tumble than their 616 compatriots. Iron Man is even more of an inconsiderate jerk, Giant-Man is an abusive creep, and Captain America is a bit… jingoistic. None are worse than The Hulk, however. Whereas the Jade Giant most fans know and love is a bit of a grouch, this Hulk was a true monster.

The Ultimate Hulk is an actual villain. He gleefully kills innocents, and the Ultimates are first assembled to put a stop to his rampages. Hulk never redeems himself from those early days, and Bruce Banner isn’t much better. He’s not exactly remorseful for the Hulk’s actions. This Hulk is a threat the world over and has a weird obsession with eating people, which solidifies how horrifying he is.

4 Green Goblin Also Became A Literal Monster

This Version of the Villian Is One of the Most Powerful Variants

The Green Goblin is easily the most iconic villain from Spider-Man’s cadre of foes. The Ultimate universe, however, decided to go in a completely different direction for the character. While he is still Norman Osborn, this Green Goblin variant fully transforms into a fiery, superstrong monster. Osborn’s size increased, and he sprouted horns, turned green, and developed the ability to manifest fire that he could use offensively. He also hears demonic voices, but it was unclear if that was due to the Goblin transformation or due to Osborn’s own mental struggles.

Brian Michael Bendis took a big swing with this change to Green Goblin, but it really paid off. Ultimate Norman Osborn was a monster and walked through almost every enemy he faced. Spider-Man barely managed to best him. Eventually, Goblin was able to put Spider-Man down for good, nearly killing Johnny Storm and Iceman in the process as well.

3 The Gah Lak Tus is a Deadly Alien Swarm

The Silly Robots Were A Far Cry From The Mainstream Devourer of Worlds

While everyone knows and loves the giant, purple-helmet-wearing planet devourer Galactus, few know his Ultimate counterpart. This fleet of semi-sentient robots, the Gah Lak Tus, also consume planets. The big difference is that they’re an overwhelming mechanical army rather than a single strong foe. They nearly destroyed the Earth but were repelled by the heroes.

However, the Gah Lak Tus swarm returned. When the 616 Galactus entered the Ultimate universe, he turned the hive fleet into his new Heralds. Together, these two versions of Galactus again waged war across the cosmos. Only the dual sacrifice of Mahr Vehl and Nova destroyed the Gah Lak Tus swarm, although Galactus managed to survive the encounter.

2 Ultimate Magneto is Full-On Evil

From Freedom Fighter to Extremist Terrorist

Magneto is far from helpless in the mainline Marvel universe. However, he’s also far from evil. While he is certainly one for political extremism, he rarely veers into genuine villain territory. He’s often considered more of an anti-hero, a man willing to do wrong to set something right. Ultimate Magneto, however, is as evil as they come.

Using his control over magnetic fields, Magneto could change Earth’s polarity. This caused an environmental disaster, sending a massive tidal wave into New York City. This alone killed millions. Countless heroes, villains, and civilians were killed in one fell swoop. This is easily the deadliest version of Magneto and one of the deadliest Ultimate villains.

1 The Maker is the Ultimate Villain

Ultimate Reed Richards Fell From Grace To Threaten the Multiverse

The Ultimate Universe wasn’t afraid to make big changes to fan-favorite characters. They killed and replaced Peter Parker, slaughtered the X-Men, and more. The biggest swing, however, was what happened to Reed Richards. While Reed started as the same science-loving idealist fans know and love, he was soon warped beyond all recognition.

This version of Reed turned on his fellow heroes and was left imprisoned in the Negative Zone. He eventually escaped and became the Maker. Under his new alias, he began terrorizing his former friends and allies. He even escaped the destruction of the Ultimate Universe to threaten the mainstream 616 reality as well. Currently, he is the villain behind the brand-new Ultimate Universe and was responsible for decimating a whole planet’s superhuman population.