Since the announcement of HUNGER at San Diego Comic Con, fans of Marvel's Ultimate Universe have been extremely worried about the future of this world and especially its characters. In the months afterwards, in numerous interviews, creators seemed to hint that the Ultimate universe would be no more but the characters fans know and love will find a new home in the Marvel Universe, all thanks to the giant, purple man from space, Galactus.
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These hints and whispers led a lot of us to believe that characters like Miles Morales will jump into Marvel's main continuity, the 616. While the idea of fan favorite characters living on gave readers a bit of hope, it's still pretty devastating to know that something fans love would be no more.
In the past few weeks, there's been a bit of information about the future of the Ultimate Universe, and as luck has it, it will live on after the events of CATACLYSM. What we know is that there will be three books after the fallout of Cataclysm: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, ALL-NEW ULTIMATES, and ULTIMATE FF. If you're not caught up on what's going on in the Ultimate universe, beware! There are spoilers ahead!
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It's pretty obvious that when ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #200 comes out, the book will stay the course. Since Miles revealed himself, as Spider-Man, to his father, Jefferson Davis, during his Cataclysm tie-in, things are probably going to get pretty tense between the father and son.
Jefferson had a troubled past with masked men. His brother was the Prowler, and Jefferson believes Spider-Man killed him. On top of that, Jefferson also holds Spider-Man responsible for the death of his wife. It's pretty obvious that family life is going a struggle for Miles.
Issue #200 will deal with the anniversary of the death of Peter Parker. It also promises some big surprises. Maybe there's more to Peter than we originally thought. On top of all of that, Miles is now a member of the Ultimates.
That's right. It's a whole new Ultimates team: Spider-Man, Cloak, Dagger, Bombshell, Kitty Pryde, and Black Widow (which, from the cover to the issue, looks like Spider-Woman). This is a team that really came together (minus Kitty Pryde) during the final issues of the last volume of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. From there, they worked together during CATACLYSM: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, but these really aren't the Ultimates we're used to.
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The first thing fans will say, when they see this picture, is "where the heck are the original Ultimates?" Aside from Tony Stark and Danny Ketch, no one else from the original team is here. Does this mean that they all fell to Galactus at the end of CATACLYSM? Not necessarily. There's lots of heroes in this universe that get put on the back burner for a while, so while we're pretty sure that a few heroes are going to go during the final battle, that doesn't mean they'll all die.
This new teen-team may not be at the level as their predecessors, but they'll be dealing with different types of villains right off the bat. Their first mission, led by Diamondback, will have them squaring off against the Serpent Skulls, who deal in drugs and weapons. The new Ultimates team is more of a street-level team than anything else, which is a cool new take for the team that, in the past, has stopped alien invasions, numerous times.
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The last book to come out after the events of Cataclysm is Future Foundation or FF for short. This team will feature Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Sue Storm, and Machine Man (Danny Ketch). According to the solicit, there is another member joining the team as well.
This team is a mix and match between both Ultimates teams and the Fantastic Four. We've seen a few of these guys work together in the past, but never all of them at the same time. This line-up alone promises to be very interesting. While The Ultimates seems more like a street level book, Ultimate FF looks like it will be taking on the larger events in the Ultimate Universe.
One character to keep an eye on is the new Machine Man. During CATACLYSM: THE ULTIMATES, he (originally Danny Ketch) sacrificed himself for the good of the team and the world, in order to beat Tarleton because he was controlling the Gah Lak Tus swarm. He has a new body and a whole bunch of new abilities to adapt to. He's going to be a character to follow in this series.
Keep in mind, Sam Wilson is here, during the mini-series, he was held captive by Tarleton. Tony Stark is here too, and he recently died and came back in the ULTIMATES series. Lastly, there's Sue Storm, who was on a team with the world's worst super-villain, Reed Richards. This group is made up of a characters who have gone through a lot in their books and during the event. Can these guys come together to work as a team?
Fans are going to notice something pretty big here. Where are the X-Men? The only person from the X-Men involved in any of these books is Kitty Pryde. Did the rest finally settle down or did the mutants all meet their demise? That's a whole lot of characters, that really had their own corner of the Ultimate Universe which through some amazing transformations in the past couple of years.
While some fans may be a bit bummer out that their favorite characters aren't here anymore, at least we know that the Ultimate Universe has a future with Marvel. We can look forward to these books in the upcoming months, after the events of Cataclysm. If you've ever been interested in the Ultimate Universe, this is a great place to jump on. Sure, it will probably deal with the aftermath of a major event, but so many of these books have been tied-up with larger stories, and this fresh new start means new beginnings for this book, which makes it perfect for new readers. The future seems bright for the heroes of the 1610.