The Ultimate Universe initiative at Marvel Comics is not just great for new readers
to hop onto; it's perfect for established fans tired of the same old, same old. The setting, Earth 6160, was created by the evil Maker. He intervened throughout the Marvel Universe's history, preventing some heroes from ever rising and corrupting others into a ruling council.The first mini-series, 2023's "Ultimate Invasion" by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch, followed this universe's Tony Stark and Reed Richards
(who has no Fantastic Four, because the Maker tortured him into Doom). The two managed to trap the Maker in a pocket dimension, but they knew he'd be back after 24 months... that deadline has currently inched up to four months.
The centerpiece series of the setting is "The Ultimates," written by Deniz Camp and primarily drawn by Juan Frigeri. Reed and Tony assemble a group of heroes to fight back against the Maker's world and avenge the one stolen from them. These heroes have familiar names, but much different backstories, from a Native-American Hawkeye to a Captain America who is truly a man without a country. In the newest "Ultimates" #14, Cap and Hawkeye meet two new foes who, if destiny has any say, might become friends: the Maximoff twins Pietro & Wanda, aka Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch.
Speaking to AIPT, Camp said the whole point of the new "Ultimate" line is to twist the biggest Marvel characters: "We're assuming that people already know the broad strokes of these characters from the movies, TV shows, and previous comics. Instead of redoing their origins, we get to twist and reinterpret them in ways that feel fresh."
This is an advantage the writers and artists have due to the Marvel Cinematic Universe turning these characters into true cultural icons. Scarlet Witch is no longer just a perennial Avenger who comic nerds know; she's a TV star thanks to Disney+ series "WandaVision."
The same spirit of reinvention is going on in "Ultimate Spider-Man," written by Hickman and drawn in alternating issues by Marco Checchetto and David Messina. Hickman has already turned the Green Goblin and Mysterio into heroes, and now his latest "Ultimate Spider-Man" #19 suggests the same is happening to Venom. At minimum, it's not Eddie Brock bonded to the symbiote ... it's Peter Parker's own son, Richard.
Read more: Every Marvel Character Locked Up In The Raft
Quicksilver And Scarlet Witch Once More Begin As Super-Villains
There is no Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in this world. "Ultimate X-Men" by Peach Momoko is set in Japan, following teen girls who discover they're mutants and are targeted by a cult called the Children of the Atom. Some of the familiar "X-Men" characters have been showing up, though.
Evil versions of Colossus and Magik rule Russia, with Logan brainwashed into their Winter Soldier. Roberto DaCosta, who in classic Marvel Comics is the hero Sunspot, is also part of the Maker's Council and the Black King of the Hellfire Club for global oligarchs. "The Ultimates" #14 reveals the Club's White Queen: Emma Frost. The classic Earth-616 Emma has long shed her evil ways and joined the X-Men, but this one appears to still be a conniving Hellfire Club member. She runs Frost's School for Wayward Youngsters, where young mutants are trained into corporate assassins.
The issue follows Cap and Hawkeye attacking a plant owned by energy conglomerate Roxxon as five CEOs sit in a board room, discussing how the Ultimates are slowly ripping their power out from under them. Emma deploys two of her star pupils, Pietro and Wanda. ("I found them in a Eurasian weapons lab. Bred like dogs and living like them," Emma explains.)
Quicksilver, who takes on Cap, still has his usual powers of super-speed. Wanda, who fights Hawkeye, has her original hex" powers of manipulating probably so things go bad. She does, though, boost herself off the ground with red energy blasts like Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch.
The final page of the issue is the defeated Maximoffs lying unconscious as Cap and Hawkeye wonder what to do with them. If I had to guess, they're going to try and deprogram and recruit them.
The Maximoffs always begin as villains, including in the MCU, where they first helped out Ultron (James Spader) in "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Pietro and Wanda were introduced in "X-Men" #4 as members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto was later retconned into the twins' birth father about 20 years later, a connection so obvious it's bizarre it took that long (and that Marvel retconned it again in 2015). They joined the Avengers in "Avengers" #16, forming "Cap's Kooky Quartet" with, you guessed it, Captain America and Hawkeye. There's been no sign of Magneto on Earth-6160 yet, and more details of the Maximoffs' past remain to be seen. Their future, though, almost certainly lies with the Ultimates.
Richard Parker Is The Venom Of Ultimate Spider-Man
"Ultimate Spider-Man" follows a middle-aged Peter Parker who is married to MJ; they have two kids, Richard (named for Peter's father) and May (named, of course, for Aunt May, who is no longer alive in this world). The book quickly dispenses with Peter trying to keep his new web-slinging double-life a secret from his family; May even helps her dad design his blue-and-red suit in issue #3. The book has been building up, though, that there's more than one Spider-Man in the family.
Here, Peter and Harry Osborn aren't just best friends, they're partners in (fighting) crime. That means Peter has access to high-power Oscorp tech, including an AI replica of his personality stored in a black nanite suit. When Peter is kidnapped for two months by Kraven the Hunter, the black suit takes over watching the Parkers... and Richard starts wearing the suit, first filling in for and then teaming up with his dad as a second Spider-Man.
This is a reinvention of Venom, who is most often depicted as an alien parasite with a semi-liquid body. However, the essentials are still there, just tweaked. Richard has a bond with his black-and-white Spider-Man suit and hears its voice talking to him. It's a technological symbiote, but still a symbiote.
Another one of Peter's usual traits Richard is absorbing is the half-foe, half-romance dynamic with Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat, who is only a teenager here. (Peter is a one-woman kind of guy.) In "Ultimate Spider-Man" #18, Richard is lured into a trap by Cat. The Kingpin tries to threaten Richard into giving up his dad, and the issue ends on a cliffhanger, implying Richard bit off more than he could chew. Not so, as in "Ultimate Spider-Man" #19, the AI in the suit "takes over" and transforms into a sharp-toothed, tendril-spouting monster who we know to call Venom. "The Monster" proceeds to massacre Fisk's men.
Hickman's run on "Ultimate Spider-Man" will be closing this year at issue #24, and Richard will absolutely be crucial to that climax. It remains to be seen, though, if Richard Parker will be a hero like his dad or a "lethal protector" like classic Eddie Brock Venom.
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