What Parts of The Ultimate Marvel Universe need to Survive Secret Wars?
Ending the Ultimate Marvel Universe is certainly a bold choice from the creators at Marvel, but is it the right thing? With so many reboots not really going anywhere after the past couple of years, the easy answer is...well...yes.
At the end of the day, Marvel’s customers dictate what’s published over at the Marvel superhero line. With so many failed launches, it certainly seems like the next logical progression of the Universe. Many words have been spoken about how the Ultimate Universe has really worn out its welcome. The comic line was launched with only a few titles that made the series easy to start for readers who were daunted by the initial Marvel Universe. As the stories started to continue and get relaunched again-and-again, the adventures became as unwieldy as they are in the normal Marvel Universe. It could even be argued that in the end, these stories suffered from not taking enough chances. With the regular Marvel Universe changing so much, they would be remiss to not start taking these same amount of lofty goals. For this reason alone, one idea that really took was the introduction of Miles Morales as Spider-Man; one of the massive differences between the regular and already existing Ultimate U.
This section of the Ultimate world has gotten a lot of acclaim from all sides of the Marvel Universe, and people seem to understand that this early break for diversity in Marvel with the new character being a half Hispanic and African American character was an important new play for the publisher.
Now, the House of Ideas is merging all of their different earths in Secret Wars from all their different parallel futures that have been a big part of the greater Marvel world. One huge burning question regarding Secret Wars is how much of the Marvel Main Universe and Ultimate publishing line is going to be left after this storyline. It would seem unlikely to see much more returning characters besides Miles actually making it past the Secret Wars to the new Marvel world.
1. Ultimate X-Men
The Ultimate X-Men in particular are not much different from their Marvel counterparts. For the longest time one of the most different aspects of that Universe was how Wolverine actually died in the line. With the death of Wolverine storyline, the team seems as redundant as ever, especially in regards to Mohawk Storm, another heroine that was supposed to be a pretty huge deal. The Ultimate X-Men comic was having problems selling as well. Marvel had tried again-and-again to put together some solid creative teams and the title with various talents, including strong writers like Brian Wood.
Verdict: KILL!
2. Ultimate FF
The Ultimate FF is an interesting vehicle as well. This team didn’t have a defined new direction until the Ultimate Enemy storyline by Brian Michael Bendis that turned Reed Richards into a supervillain. This is one concept that would truly merit some positive response for the Fantastic Four comic. The character would be a great villain for the main Fantastic Four. He now serves as an obvious foil to Richards himself and could be served exceedingly well as an antagonist. The most recent relaunch of the team had a completely new roster driven by Joshua Hail Fialkov, which went to some truly absurd places that didn’t always seem to be in service of the overall story of the comic. While it seems unlikely that the alternate Reed will survive the Secret Wars, the potential for stories is there.
Verdict: Only Reed Richards stays!
3. Hunger
Joshua Hail Fialkov was in charge of some incredible stories in Hunger, which also could be further delved into in the main world. The Gah Lak Tus Swarm is an interesting re-imagining of the classic purple villain. The idea of a tiny group of ever-powerful monsters is almost similar to Jonathan Hickman’s own incursions being a natural threat that is damn near impossible to stop. The story of Rick Jones is another strong take on an existing property already present in the main 616 world.
Verdict: Let them come to the new Universe!
4. Ultimates 1 and 2
Now that the movie versions of these character have bled into Ultimates more or less, I almost see those heroes as being redundant aside from the great character work that author Mark Millar spent building those character up with Bryan Hitch on Ultimates 1 and 2.
Verdict: LEAVE
5. All-New Ultimates
The only other group of characters that I would be sad to lose from the Ultimate U are The All-New Ultimates characters that Bendis had spent so long building up to in Ultimate Spider-Man. The last volume of Ultimate Spider-Man with Miles Morales built up those characters will built up too with some high fan-fever, even if the actual comic itself was met with some mixed reaction across the internet itself. These heroes were people that we wanted to see more of resembling those great younger characters spread out across the Marvel Ultimate Universe. They include Cloak and Dagger, Bombshell, Black Widow, Kitty Pride and Miles Morales. There are also importantly no white males on this team. To say this concept was under explored in the recently cancelled ongoing series with the characters is an understatement. It would be a great way for the people that have lost their loved ones and homes from the last earth to come together and forge new identities and relationships.
Verdict: Bring em' to the new Universe!
BONUS: The Supporting Cast!
Finally, while the supporting of Ultimate Spider-Man characters aren’t as interesting as some others--serving as direct mirrors to the other heroes of the 616 Earth--the Spider-Man supporting cast is very important to that comic. If all these people are ripped away from Miles and the other characters, their stories are going to be so criminally tragic. These are going to be tales written about broken people. What is Miles Morales without Ganke, Uncle Aaron, or the tumultuous relationship with his father Jefferson? About 80% of the Ultimate Universe could be ripped away without most batting an eyelash. Let's see what happens after the Secret Wars.
