Marvel’s New Ultimate Universe Did Something I Never Thought Was Possible

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Marvel Comics‘ latest success, a brand-new Ultimate Universe tackling familiar characters in new and bold ways, has gotten fans more excited than they’ve been about the publisher’s comic output in years. The new universe, spearheaded by the mind of acclaimed writer Jonathan Hickman, has taken readers by storm, and provided a new jumping-on point for anyone curious about these iconic characters.

While not entirely dissimilar to the Marvel Ultimate Universe that began in the early 2000s with Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s iconic Ultimate Spider-Man, this new Ultimate Universe is bolder, scarier, and more thematically potent than its predecessor ever was. Titles like The Ultimates, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, and Ultimate Black Panther have all provided readers with some of the best comic book storytelling in decades, and it is clear that this new universe is slowly surpassing the original.

Marvel’s New Ultimate Universe Is a Breath of Fresh Air

It’s Telling Stories That Are Incredibly Unique for Marvel Comics

In recent years, Marvel Comics has occasionally struggled to engage and excite readers. There are series that have become definitive classics of the comic book medium, like Al Ewing’s The Immortal Hulk, Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil, or Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four and FF, but there have also been plenty of lackluster books.

For example, Peter Parker’s Spider-Man stories have been lacking momentum for quite some time, leaving many fans feeling frustrated and annoyed. They want to see Spider-Man evolve and grow and change, and instead, they’re stuck dealing with the same old stories and drama for the web-slinger that he’s been dealing with for decades. On top of that, heavy continuity and convoluted plot points make many Marvel books difficult for new readers to get into.

Thankfully, there’s an alternative to mainline Marvel: the new Ultimate Universe. While the new universe arguably has more continuity tied to the original Earth-616 than the early 2000s Ultimate Universe had, it’s still an easy jumping-on point for any readers with a general knowledge of these characters and their stories. Since the new Ultimate Universe began in a story that heavily involved characters from past universes, it would help somewhat to know about characters like the Maker, a villainous alternate universe version of the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, but books like The Ultimates and Ultimate Spider-Man are absolutely worth doing a little bit of homework for.

Unlike the mainline Marvel Universe, the Ultimate Universe tackles ideas and story concepts that could never be realistically achieved in the 616 universe. The world of the Ultimate Universe is completely different from what Marvel fans are used to, since it’s an unrecognizable hellscape created by the Maker in his image. The ways in which each Ultimate title handles the fleshing out of this brave new world are utterly transfixing, and the emotional and personal stories that are crafted in each book in the midst of such chaos and fear are absolutely inspiring.

Ultimate Spider-Man tackles an adult Peter Parker as he struggles to balance being a family man with being a superhero, all while a fantastic supporting cast rounds out the story of trying to take a world back from the powers that control it. The Ultimates is an even bolder departure from what Marvel has done in the past, becoming one of the most overtly political and radical books released by the publisher in its entire history.

The Ultimate Universe Is Naturally Building Towards a Major Event

Marvel’s New Ultimate Universe Has an Overarching Narrative With a Massive Scale

One of the major problems with long-running books from companies like Marvel and DC Comics is that the stories never seem to end. Bruce Wayne is never allowed to retire or die, and Batman needs to fight the Joker for the next eighty years. Peter Parker can never become a real adult, get married, and have a steady job, because some readers don’t want to see the character grow up. Comic characters are rarely allowed to evolve beyond a certain point, and their stories almost always eventually wrap up in ways that allow the status quo to remain largely unchanged from its original state.

The Ultimate Universe couldn’t be further from this idea. From the start, books like Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate Spider-Man, and The Ultimates all seemed to be telling their stories in a brand new way. Technically being told in “real time”, each issue of each Ultimate book takes place in the month that it releases, allowing for longer stories to unfold in ways that readers aren’t typically familiar with.

It’s a genius bit of narrative pacing, and it makes the universe feel so alive, showcasing that, even when readers aren’t actually witnessing certain events, things are always happening. The real-time nature of the storytelling hinges on one crucial aspect in the future of the Ultimate Universe: the return of the Maker. The heroes of the Ultimate Universe have only a finite amount of time to “fix the world” before the villainous Reed Richards returns from his exile inside his mysterious dome, and that gives a ticking clock element to the books that readers don’t usually feel with other kinds of books.

The return of the Maker is primed to be one of the most important events in the entire Ultimate Universe, and the nature of these new books allows for readers to genuinely have no idea what might happen. In the mainline universe, a major event might promise significant changes, but eventually, things will generally return to the way they were before.

Iron Man and Captain America might battle in Civil War for a few years, but they’ll eventually reassemble to take on a greater threat together. It’s the nature of the medium. However, the Maker’s return in the Ultimate Universe could genuinely result in major changes for the books’ release. Characters could die, status quos could majorly change, and certain books could even end. There’s no telling what might happen, and that’s a beautiful thing.

We Need More Comics Like Marvel’s Ultimate Universe

Marvel’s Proved They’re Willing to Take Big Risks With the Ultimate Universe

The reason that books like The Immortal Hulk are so beloved is that they took risks with pre-established characters and their lore. Characters that have existed for so many decades need change, and in order for fans to continually latch onto these characters and their stories, they need to be relatable and emotionally potent. Major, status quo-shifting books like The Immortal Hulk are rare in the mainline Marvel Universe, and that is why the Ultimate Universe is so important. It has the potential to consistently release stories that are far more compelling than anything being told in the pages of The Avengers or The Amazing Spider-Man.

Far more restrictions from editorial and Marvel higher-ups can lead to mainline titles feeling boring and lackluster, but the Ultimate Universe is so much less constrained by the requirements of a long-running comic book superhero universe. Different creatives and artists can put together incredible new takes on classic characters and stories. Storytellers like Peach Momoko can craft some of the most beautiful and unique work the Marvel brand has ever seen with a book like Ultimate X-Men, something that would be nearly impossible to do with all the continuity and baggage associated with the mainline Marvel Universe and its mutant heroes.

The Ultimates is one of the best currently released comic books, and part of that is due to the fact that it tells a wholly unique, boldly political, and prescient story while still maintaining the core of each and every character it depicts. Captain America is still Captain America, but this time around, he wakes up in a world even more unrecognizable than the mainline Marvel Universe. The United States doesn’t even exist anymore in this Ultimate Universe, and he’s fighting a losing battle for a dead dream. That’s an incredibly potent position to establish a character like Steve Rogers, and it’s only possible in the Ultimate Universe.

Characters like Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, T’Challa, Harry Osborn, Reed Richards, and Tony Stark are so much more interesting on a narrative level in the Ultimate Universe than they’ve been in the mainline universe in years. The future of Marvel Comics looks bright, but only because they are finally willing to try new things, experiment with new kinds of stories, and allow artists to craft bold, emotional tales like those featured in the Ultimate Universe.

“}]] The new Ultimate Universe from Marvel Comics has given fans some of the best books in years, and it has overtaken the main universe in many ways.  Read More