Summary
- Captain America makes a controversial choice, sacrificing thousands of innocent lives to save a young hero in a dark twist.
- Marvel's new Ultimate Universe shows heroes as 'terrorists' fighting a corrupt government in a world with no easy answers.
- When faced with the choice between innocent lives and fighting tyranny, Steve Rogers accepts the need for civilian casualties.
Warning: contains spoilers for Ultimates #2!In a jaw-dropping twist, Steve Rogers' Marvel continues to reveal its new Ultimate Universe, where iconic heroes are on the backfoot against a villain who has turned the entire world into his playground. It turns out that confronted with this world, Captain America is willing to accept massive amounts of collateral damage.
In Ultimates #2, Captain America attacks the White House, hoping to take down the villainous Midas. In this timeline, America was disbanded in 1969, with its territories falling under the control of various villains. The Ultimates' mission this issue is to free America Chavez - a time-traveling hero who has been captured by Midas and turned into an energy source for his territory. However, when Cap finally takes Midas down, the villain reveals the full truth - freeing Chavez will kill thousands of innocent people.
America Chavez's cosmic power is being used to power hospitals, airports and other vital infrastructure. If Captain America frees her, people on life will die, planes will drop from the sky, and hundreds of traffic collisions will claim innocent lives. Midas warns Steve, "Take her... and you'll kill thousands." And yet at the end of the issue, the Ultimates are seen walking away from the burning White House, having made their choice to save the young hero at the expense of innocent civilians.
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10 Things You Need to Know About Marvel's New Ultimate Universe
Following the events of the recent Ultimate Invasion miniseries, Marvel is resurrecting its classic Ultimate Universe titles for a new era.
The comic begins with Captain America claiming normal people have nothing to fear from the Ultimates, only to then kill thousands of them.
Captain America Kills Thousands by Removing a Vital Power Source
To Steve Rogers, Saving America Means Killing Americans
Fans are used to Captain America as the inspiring voice of reason, always believing that there's a way to do what's right without taking lives. However, this version of Steve just woke up to a very different world, and it's changed him down to the core. In the issue, readers see Steve Rogers go through a holographic recreation of world history up to the present day, revealing all the ways the Maker has damaged and taken control of this world since Steve was frozen in the closing days of WWII. Steve witnesses horrific authoritarianism, the desolation of the planet, and the dawn of nuclear warfare, all with the Maker's grinning face in the background.
It seems that seeing everything the Maker did to the world - and especially America - has stolen Steve Rogers' optimism, leaving him in a place where he'll do almost anything to destroy the cabal of villains who have locked the world in an endless cycle of war. Clearly, that includes killing thousands of people if it means getting a chance to free millions of others.
ULTIMATES Confirms Full Roster of Marvel's New, Modernized Avengers (Powers & Origins Explained)
Marvel Comics' new Ultimate Universe unveiled the official full roster of the Ultimates, a modernized Avengers - their powers & origins, explained!
In a startling moment, the comic begins with Captain America claiming normal people have nothing to fear from the Ultimates, only to end it by killing thousands of them.
The Ultimates have 16 real-world months left to destroy the Maker's power base. Each issue shows a standalone adventure, moving the clock forward one month towards the Maker's return.
Ultimate Captain America Is a Terrorist
This Dark Reality Has Already Transformed Steve Rogers
Marvel's new Ultimate Universe is the result of the villainous supergenius known as the Maker traveling back in time and rewriting events to make himself the unquestioned ruler of the planet. The Maker has an intimate knowledge of Marvel's mainstream timeline (aka Earth-616), and so he picked off its heroes early in this new world (Earth-6160), corrupting or killing his biggest enemies and making sure everyone else never got their superpowers. Thankfully, Tony Stark's father found out the truth, and now Tony is on a quest to create a resistance network, restoring the powers of the heroes targeted by the Maker.
Iron Man Is Redefining The Concept of "Avengers Assemble" (By Deciding Who Gets Superpowers)
The new Ultimate Universe promises a very different take on Marvel, starting with a whole new meaning for the term "Avengers assemble!"
Increasing the stakes, the Maker was trapped in his own time-prison during the events of Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Invasion, leaving his lieutenants in the Maker's Council in charge (with the new 'Legendary Hulk' stepping into a leadership role.) That gives the Ultimates 18 real-world months to destroy the Maker's power base before his eventual return, with each issue seeing them hit a new target in an attempt to wipe out the Maker's power base while simultaneously gaining vital allies.
Despite all this context, the idea of Captain America accepting the mass deaths of innocents is a shocking subversion of what the character usually stands for in Marvel lore. Cap always pushes for a near-impossible ideal, safeguarding the American dream and expecting other heroes to protect lives while keeping their morals intact. The Ultimate Universe line has always been about giving creators the freedom to tell stories that can't be told in Marvel's mainstream timeline, and Captain America killing thousands definitely fits that brief, especially because he does so with complete clarity about the consequences of his choice.
Ultimates Upgrades a Founding Avenger's Powers with New Hulk-Level Upper Limit
In The Ultimates #1, a founding member of the classic Avengers lineup gets a massive power upgrade, putting them into league with the Hulk.
The new Ultimate Universe is the opposite of the original. This time, the heroes aren't terrorist-killing special ops soldiers saving America from overseas attack, but terrorists themselves, fighting a corrupt government that wants to keep its populace oppressed.
Captain America's Choice Redefines Key Moments from the 2000s
The Original Ultimate Universe Had Very Different Sensibilities
Marvel's new Ultimate Universe is the second version of the imprint. Launching in 2000, the original Ultimate Universe (aka Earth-1610) was very much of its time - a War on Terror era superhero story infused with American jingoism. While the new Ultimate Universe was promised to engage with contemporary issues, it's also showing how much things have changed in the last two decades. This time, the heroes aren't terrorist-killing special ops soldiers saving America from overseas attack, but terrorists themselves, fighting a status quo that seems unassailably evil, even as everyday people don't see anything wrong with the world around them.
This issue in particular recreates two iconic moments from the original Ultimates comics by Bryan Hitch and Mark Millar. First, when Cap emerges from the holographic history simulator, Tony Stark asks what he thinks of the 21st Century. Originally, this question came in Ultimates #3, and the question was asked by George Bush, with Captain America answering, "Cool, Mister President. Definitely cool." Meanwhile, in the new Ultimate Universe, essentially the same character's answer is to kill thousands of Americans if it means being able to change society as it currently exists.
Captain America's Most Controversial Quote is Wrong, According To Marvel
One Captain America made comic history in a saying why he never gives up, but Steve's loss in Civil War shows there is strength in surrender.
The second callback sees a little girl ask what the 'A' on Captain America's cowl stands for, given there is no longer an 'America' in this timeline. This echoes 2004's Ultimates #13, where - after being told to surrender - Steve Rogers spits back, "You think this letter on my head stands for ?" The moment was incredibly of its time and has been much-mocked since, with its fame lending even more symbolic meaning to the fact that in this new timeline, Steve Rogers is the only person left with any conception of what 'America' even means (a meaning that is complicated by America Chavez's arrival in the story.)
The Ultimate Universe has killed off all the powerhouse heroes who might have saved the day - this is a hard world with no easy answers.
The Ultimate Universe Is Telling Stories Marvel Can't Tell Anywhere Else
It's Astounding That a Whole Line of Comics Is Dedicated to 'Superheroes as Terrorists'
It's fascinating to see Marvel go so dark with Captain America, and this drills home that the Ultimate Universe isn't a place of easy answers. When Tony gave all Marvel's surviving heroes their powers back, only a couple like Spider-Man were up to the responsibility. Others returned to their normal lives or ended up accidentally killing themselves with their new, unearned power. Likewise, Marvel has confirmed that the Maker outright killed powerhouses like Sentry and Black Bolt, while heavyweights like the Hulk now work for him on the Maker's Council. This is a world where the heroes have to fight tooth and nail for every step forward, and there are no easy answers.
Marvel Permanently Kills Its 2 Most Powerful Heroes in Bold Statement About New Continuity
Marvel kills off two of the most powerful heroes in the newly-established Ultimate Universe, which is a bold statement about that continuity's future.
Marvel's relaunch of the Ultimate Universe is truly underway, and its headline series is asking enthralling questions about what it means to be a hero in a world where the powers that be must be overthrown. For Captain America, fixing the world is explicitly worth killing civilians, even though he's fighting for the dream of a country that no longer even exists.
The Ultimates #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.
