10 Biggest Differences in Marvel’s New Ultimate Universe

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The Ultimate Universe has been back for just around a year, and it’s already provided some of the best comic books from Marvel. Much like the original Ultimate Universe, all its books are a perfect jumping-on point for people who want to read superheroes without too much continuity. While the current Marvel Universe continues running, it’s still a massive task to invest in compared to this new Ultimate Universe with its handful of ongoings.

Half the fun of making an alternate universe is creating a place fundamentally different from what came before. Thus far, the creative teams involved in this Ultimate Universe have made it vastly different from the main Marvel Universe. Will those changes one day lead to the Universe being safe from their biggest enemy, the Maker?

10

There Are No Nations

The Maker has created a single Council to rule the world.

During Ultimate Invasion, Marvel set up the status quo of the new Ultimate Universe, and it is something sinister. With infinite time to bend Earth’s history to his whims, the Maker created a world with two faces. On one side, the world’s nations have all been subsumed by a handful of coalitions that are largely at peace with one another, aside from a single “rogue agent” nation.

Underneath that facade, however, no war exists between any nations. All the world’s rulers run the world in secret, with any wars between nations pre-planned to maintain the idea that the world has “villains” and “heroes.” With the Maker running things, he’s chosen some interesting characters to aid him in running the world–Sunfire, Colossus and Magik, and even the Hulk are just a few who have been changed from their usual destinies and made rulers.

9

The Fate of S.H.I.E.L.D. And Nick Fury

Nick Fury is a spymaster incapable of being true to his morals

In the original Marvel Universe and the original Ultimate Universe, SHIELD kept the world safe from terrorist threats. In the Maker’s new Ultimate Universe, the term “terrorist” has a different meaning. As such, Maker transformed SHIELD into something that could better protect the world he created. Here, SHIELD has become H.A.N.D. or the Heroic Anomaly Neutralization Directorate, and they exist to stomp out heroes before they can ever rise to help save the world.

Like in every universe,spymaster Nick Fury is the leader of this new organization. Like in other timelines, Nick was once a respected World War II soldier, but the Maker pulled him off his path to turn him into his guardian watchdog. Nick’s conscience often encourages him to rebel against the Maker and his Council, but the Maker also plans for rebellion. Nick Fury is regularly replaced by cloned versions of himself, who perform the same job until he decides to rebel, only to be easily killed and replaced again, the singular Life Model Decoy.

8

The Traditional X-Men No Longer Exist

The new X-Men are just a loose collection of children

It shouldn’t be surprising that an optimist like Xavier or even a pragmatist like Magneto were both taken out of the game long before they became relevant. With both of them gone, there’s no way for the X-Men to form or any other group for the mutants to rally under. This has the additional side effect of making mutantkind basically irrelevant.

With no centralized group, most mutants are shipped to the Eurasian Republic, where they can become assets the Council uses. The current Ultimate X-Men comic is a series focused on a group of children with powers but no idea how to use them and no one to train them. Even the mutants who make up the traditional X-Men have remained out of sight in this new Ultimate Universe.

7

Reed Richards Has Become Doctor Doom

The Maker made sure to keep Reed Richards from achieving happiness

The Maker has been crueler with Reed Richards than with any other former Marvel hero. Some of this comes from the Maker’s last conversation with Reed Richards in the original Marvel Universe, where Reed admitted he would’ve erased Maker from the universe. However, much of it is likely the self-hatred he carries for himself, thanks to his dark origins as the first Ultimate Reed Richards and his rage at other Reeds being able to keep their families together.

In this timeline, the Maker made sure The Fantastic Four failed at their mission. Then, he made sure the other members of the group perished not long after the mission and locked Reed Richards in a prison cell for life. While there, the Maker tortured Reed until he agreed to become this world’s Doctor Doom. Still, this Doom turned against the Maker by working with Anthony Stark to trap him in a time-bubble for two years while he and Tony Stark prepared to save the world.

6

Wolverine Is The Winter Soldier

The new Winter Soldier works for Colossus and Magik

It shouldn’t be surprising that one of Marvel’s biggest antiheroes is having a hard time in a world where evil is more focused than ever. The Eurasian Republic has discovered a special mutant with incredible regeneration powers in this new timeline. After extensive testing, the Republic decides to use Wolverine’s incredible powers to bond his skeleton with adamantium, helping to create the perfect hunter-killer weapon.

This new weapon is known as their “Winter Soldier” and is specially designed to battle against the Eurasian Republic’s new enemy, the Opposition. For now, the Winter Soldier is the ultimate weapon that remains under the control of Arkady Rossovich and siblings Piotr and Illyana Rasputin. With no Professor Xavier to use his mental powers to help him get in touch with his true self, this Wolverine might remain in the clutches of Eurasia for a long time.

5

Storm Works With Killmonger As A Freedom Fighter

Ultimate Black Panther turns to Killmonger and Storm as his most trusted new allies

Even Wakanda couldn’t escape at least some changes from the Maker taking over the world. In this new timeline, T’Challa remains King of Wakanda, but his wife is Okoye of the Dora Milaje. Wakanda remains a nation shrouded in mystery, even as Africa deals with new foes threatening its lands. In the place of the Black Panther, though, the motherland has the freedom fighter Erik Killmonger and his ally and lover, Ororo Munroe.

Without X-Men to take her in, Ororo grows up without the dream of uniting humans and mutantkind. Instead, she uses her powers to aid the people of Africa. As the true threats to Africa and her people become clear, Killmonger and Storm eventually begin working with T’Challa in an alliance that might stand a chance of protecting the planet.

4

Khonshu and Ra Stand Against Wakanda

Black Panther fights against the powers of the gods

With Wakanda still hiding itself from the world, a new power emerged when the Maker sought to create his Council. Agents of the gods Khonshu and Ra speak for “The Upper and Lower Kingdoms” in Egypt. Yes, that means that Moon Knight is also an enemy of Wakanda in this world, causing Black Panther to kill a major MCU hero at one point.

Though Wakanda is isolationist, Lord Khonshu and Lord Ra still find the nation’s sovereignty an affront to their power. As a result, Ultimate Black Panther is about Wakanda’s war against the two gods and the powers they wield. Of course, defeating a nation with some of the most brilliant minds in the world is no easy task, even for the gods.

3

Hulk Gained Enlightenment And Controls The Immortal Weapons

Bruce Banner controls the Seven Heavenly Cities Of K’un Lun

Bruce Banner being so easily turned evil should surprise no one. The character has shown inclinations for turning evil in alternate timelines dating back to 1992’s Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect. However, Banner is much worse in this timeline than in others. After the gamma bomb, Banner found enlightenment and mastered his inner anger. Rather than turn him into an enemy, the Maker made Banner a part of the Council.

With Banner’s genius and incredible intelligence, he has proven invaluable to the Council. He used his power to bend the Seven Heavenly Cities of K’un Lun to his will and took control of their champions. The Immortal Weapons serve Hulk now and are willing to use gamma injections to transform themselves into Immortal Gamma Weapons.

Tony Stark seeks to find as many heroes to fight the Maker as possible

In both the main and the original Ultimate Universe, Iron Man was always a founding member of the Avengers. Yet in this newest Ultimate Universe, Tony Stark/Iron Lad is the founding member of the Ultimates. After the Maker is sealed away within his City, Tony Stark’s learning of the original timeline causes him to choose to form the Ultimates.

With special Stark technology, Tony has been traveling worldwide to offer people the chance to become the heroes they should’ve been. His single-minded devotion to creating heroes creates this universe’s first super-team. It’s the most hope a Stark has been allowed to bring a world in a long time.

1

Peter Parker Lives A Happy Life

Peter chooses to take on the extraordinary power and responsibility as Spider-Man

Peter was among the first people the Maker took off the board, robbing the world of one of its greatest heroes. And it wasn’t even that hard: all the Maker had to do was ensure he lived a happy life. In this new Ultimate Universe, Peter never gained powers, and he never lost his Uncle Ben. Without that enormous weight of power and responsibility on his shoulders, he went on to have a happy married life with Mary Jane and find stable, steady employment.

Ultimate Spider-Man begins with Tony Stark explaining what Peter’s true destiny would have been and Peter finding the courage to take on his power and responsibility willingly. With his powers and a special new Stark Tech costume, this older Peter tries to protect New York while keeping his loved ones safe from his life as a hero. There’s always the fear that this will eventually catch up to him, but for now, he’s managed to keep the two lives separate.

“}]] Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe is completely different from both the main timeline and the celebrated Ultimate Universe that came before it.  Read More