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4''Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand'' is a multi-part series set in Creator/MarvelComics' ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe.
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6In the aftermath of ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'', time and space is damaged thanks to ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s jaunts through time. As a result, the Destroyer Of Worlds, ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, has discovered the Ultimate universe and has slipped through. Even worse, the first thing he bumps into is his cybernetic ''Ultimate'' counterpart, Gah Lak Tus, who [[FusionDance merges with him]] into a gestalt being hungrier than ever. Even worse, the Big G heads for Earth to settle his hunger. Even worse, the heroes of the Ultimate Universe are in a bit of a conundrum: they can't let Galactus have his way and yet they can't just send him back to his universe or deposit him in another universe. What do you do at this point?
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8''Cataclysm'' is separated into two stories:
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10* ''Hunger'' is the four-issue mini-series (September-December, 2013) detailing Galactus' arrival in the Ultimate Universe, his trek to their Earth and the attempts of many to stop him.
11* ''Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand'' is the five-issue mini-series that details the heroes of the Ultimate Earth attempting to deal with Galactus' arrival and how to save their Earth, if it's possible. There are also three mini-series that run side-by-side with this series: ''[[ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Cataclysm: Ultimates]]'' and ''[[Comicbook/UltimateXMen Cataclysm: Ultimate X-Men]]''. All three titles replace the ongoing titles that were running at the time.
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13Following the comic, three new Ultimate comics were released: ''Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man'', which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, ''ComicBook/AllNewUltimates'', a team featuring Miles, Cloak, Dagger, Bombshell, Kitty Pryde, and Jessica Drew, who abandons the title of Spider-Woman for that of Black Widow, and ''ComicBook/UltimateFF'', the Ultimate incarnation of the Future Foundation.
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15Not to be confused with the original ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy''.
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17----
18!!''Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand'' provides examples of:
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20* AllYourPowersCombined: Rogue stole the powers of ''all'' the X-Men at the dimension with the remaining pieces of the Gah Lak Tus swarm. Except Rick Jones, who is not a mutant, and [[BlessedWithSuck the guy that just looks like an ugly duck and nothing else]].
21* AlwaysABiggerFish: The Gah-Lak-Tus swarm have consumed countless planets and are one of the most destructive and feared forces in the ''Ultimate'' universe. They quickly realize that Galactus is not only out of their league, but greater than them, and decide to merge with him and serve as his herald instead.
22* AnyoneCanDie: While it doesn't have a through-the-roof-high casualty rate like Ultimatum, a few people do indeed bite the dust, namely [[spoiler: Captain Marvel, Vision, the Punisher, Pixie, MODOK and Captain America.]]
23* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: How do the Ultimates plan on stalling Galactus? [[spoiler: By turning Kitty Pryde into a giant!]]
24* BackForTheDead: Neither [[spoiler:the Vision]] nor [[spoiler:Mahr Vehl]] had been seen in a while, they both end up killed by Galactus.
25* BigBad: Galactus fused with Gah Lak Tus.
26* BookEnds: [[spoiler:In the first Ultimates, Captain America drove a jet into a Nazi compound to allow the troops to enter the facility. This eventually led to his frozen rest for a little over 60 years. In Cataclysm: Ultimates Last Stand, Captain America does the same thing against Galactus. He didn't survive this time.]]
27* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan and Valeria Richards]] both appear in minor roles in issue #3.
28* CanonImmigrant:
29** Galactus, again. [[spoiler:In Cataclysm #2, Miles Morales momentarily jumps to the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse, then back again. The fact that Mysterio is from the main Marvel Universe is also addressed.]]
30** The Chitauri's true forms are based on their appearance in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', as their previous appearances had never revealed their true forms.
31* ContinuityNod: The Galactus' files at the Baxter Building include images from ''ComicBook/TheComingOfGalactus'' (the one and only, by smilin' Stan and King Kirby). 'nuff said!
32* ContinuitySnarl
33** In Ultimate Secret, the Kree were fish-like, and Mahr Vehl had to undergo surgery to look human. The Kree we see in Hunger, while not completely human-looking, are much more humanoid.
34** Rick Jones, who has been in space for a very long time, was unaware that Spider-Man died, and that he was his neighbor Peter Parker. However, he does know about the crimes of the Maker, which took place ''afterwards''.
35* CoversAlwaysLie
36** A title such as "The Ultimates' last stand" confused a lot of people into thinking that this story would end the Ultimate Universe. Bendis had to step in to refute those rumors.
37** In the tie-ins, Spider-Man is very busy dealing with the consequences of Galactus' rampage that he has no time to even try to confront Galactus himself. The covers may fool you into thinking otherwise.
38* CrapsackWorld: ComicBook/TheVision explicitly [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] the DarkerAndEdgier nature of the Ultimate universe after witnessing the mainstream Marvel Universe. She points out that while the mainstream X-Men are a veritable army, the Ultimate X-Men have been nearly driven to extinction. Comicbook/TheAvengers are Earth's Mightiest Heroes, while ComicBook/TheUltimates are a group of damaged heroes and {{Jerkass}}es. [[Comicbook/FantasticFour Mainstream Reed Richards]] is one of the world's most respected scientists and heroes, while [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour Ultimate Reed]] is a psychotic WellIntentionedExtremist, and so on.
39* CrisisCrossover: Around the entirety of ComicBook/UltimateMarvel. This also ultimately ended up being the imprint's final one before ''Secret Wars''.
40* CurbStompBattle: Nearly '''everything''', in Galactus' favor. The Gah Lak Tus swarm surrendered itself to him without him even moving a finger, the Kree and the Chitauri got utterly annihilated by him, [[spoiler:Captain Marvel's and Vision's best tries resulted in them being killed]] and he [[NoSell no sold]] the combined attack of ComicBook/{{the Ultimates}} as if they were flies.
41* DecompositeCharacter: A TruerToTheText, Kree Ro-Nan shows up after the previous appearance of an InNameOnly version of Ronan the Accuser in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour''.
42* {{Doppelmerger}}: [[spoiler:Gah Lak Tus fuses his 616 counterpart.]]
43* DramaticIrony: In issue #3 when [[spoiler: Miles and Ultimate Reed cross over to Earth-616, Miles briefly interacts with 616-Peter Parker and guiltily uses him as a scapegoat for the Baxter Building's security response. Miles, of course, has no way of knowing what's been happening on Peter's end since their last meeting during ''Spider-Men'' -- that is the ''Superior'' Spider-Man (i.e. Otto Octavius possessing Peter's body) and that, frankly, Otto deserves some LaserGuidedKarma.]]
44* DramaticUnmask: [[spoiler:Miles unmasks himself to his [[FantasticRacism bigoted]] father in Spider-Man #2, trying to save him.]]
45* DyingDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: ComicBook/TheVision]] to [[spoiler: ComicBook/TheFalcon]].
46* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: How the civilian populace is seeing what happens.
47* ForgotAboutHisPowers: The cannon used against Gah Lak Tus is never mentioned. Someone would think that, if it hurt the swarm and forced it to flee, it was at least worth a try.
48* FusionDance: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Hunger'' #1, Gah Lak Tus fuses with Galactus, with the big G only hinting at how curious it was.]]
49* GodzillaThreshold: Galactus is so far out of everybody's league that it's crossed twice. The first is S.H.I.E.L.D resorting to firing a missile containing the Hulk at the Gah Lak Tus swarm, which backfires spectacularly when the swarm simply infects Hulk, turning him into another servant of Galactus. The second is [[spoiler: the Ultimates agreeing to [[EnemyMine team up]] with Ultimate Reed Richards in order to figure out how to stop Galactus]].
50* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Ultimate Reed Richards goes on the interdimensional trip with Miles and not only helps the Ultimates in spite of all he has done, but does not get rid of Miles when he had the perfect opportunity to. But this could be interpreted as Galactus being a greater threat. His real turn happens when he sees Valeria Richards, the daughter he would have had if he did not turn evil. From this point on, Reed Richards becomes determined to save the world from Galactus.]]
51* HeroicBSOD: The Watchers had one when Galactus entered the Ultimate universe.
52* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}} Captain Mahr Vehl]]]] plans to do this to stop Galactus, but [[spoiler: dies of his injuries before he can activate the nuclear warhead in his armor]].
53** [[spoiler: Captain America flies a jet into Galactus in order to allow the Triskelion to escape.]]
54** [[spoiler: Thor sacrifices himself in order to trap Galactus in the N Zone.]]
55* HeroicSecondWind: Around issue #3 of Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand, and things start to look a little better for the Ultimate Universe as a whole. Reed Richards and Miles Morales retrieve information from the 616 Universe on what Galactus is, the X-Men are eventually able to escape the inside of Galactus, and the Howling Commandos are eventually able to defeat the Ga Lak Tus cult/mind-control machines.
56--> '''Nick Fury (in the middle of a robot zombie swarm):''' That's it. I am done being treated like an amateur and being humiliated. I am Nick &***# Fury and this ends now.
57* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Reed Richards and the Ultimate come up with a plan to destroy Galactus's planet eater machine with Kitty Pryde's phasing abilities. They also use Jean Grey's telekinetic psychic ability amped up by Celebro in order to read Galactus's mind in order to see if there is any way to kill Galactus. To bad that Galactus also has telekinectic abilities and reads Jean Grey's mind finding out the Ultimates' intention.]]
58* HumbleGoal: All that Rick Jones wanted was to leave that "protector of the universe" stuff for, say, five minutes, and eats some burgers. It could not be.
59* MeaningfulName: The story's title. [[spoiler:It's not the last stand of the Ultimate Universe. It's the last stand of ComicBook/TheUltimates.]]
60* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: The Kree's final solution to stop Gah Lak Tus.
61* OutsideContextProblem: Initially, no one knew just where the hell Galactus came from when he arrived at Earth (well, Vision had found out, but she was destroyed without even scratching the big guy before he came to Earth). It took Tony Stark matching the energy signatures of 616!Peter Parker and Galactus to figure out that Galactus was not of this world.
62* PoorCommunicationKills: Vision, Rick Jones, Silver Surfer and Captain Marvel all know that Galactus comes from an alternate universe. However, none of them could join the fight at Earth, which only advances when the local heroes figure out that detail by themselves.
63* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The endings of the ''Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''Cataclysm: Ultimates'' reveal that the series were little more than set-up for the upcoming ''All-New Ultimates'' and ''Ultimate FF'' titles.
64* PutOnABusToHell: [[spoiler:Thor]] gets deposited into another universe alongside Galactus.
65* TheReveal: Miles Morales unmasks before his father and tells him that he is Spider-Man.
66* SeriesContinuityError: In the main series, Storm swears by the "goddess", as she does in the regular universe. Except that's never been a trait of Ultimate!Storm.
67* SpiritualSequel: ''Hunger'' and ''Cataclysm'' to ''ComicBook/SpiderMen''.
68* TakeUpMySword / LegacyCharacter: After [[spoiler: Mahr Vehl]] dies, [[spoiler: Rick Jones]] takes up his [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman armor]] and [[spoiler: becomes the new Captain Marvel]].
69** [[spoiler: Storm picks up Cap's Shield by the end of Cataclysm.]]
70* TitleDrop: Not in the series itself, but there is one in the final issue of ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' leading up to the crossover.
71-->'''Kang''': It's worse than your theories. It's coming. Now. A cataclysm...
72* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
73** Galactus's reaction to the Gah-Lak-Tus swarm trying to consume him? "Curious".
74** When Galactus first arrives on Earth, the X-Men are busy trying to rescue people from the destroyed Tian, so Jimmy Hudson proposed to ignore him and stay focused in the rescues.
75* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Despite fully knowing what he is, Vision gently asked Galactus to simply return to his own universe. Galactus destroyed her.
76* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: The Vision finally understood what is love, before dying.
77* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:When Miles unmasks to his father, his dad is not pleased at all to find out that Miles is the reason why his brother was killed (he does not know that Aaron was trying to blackmail Miles) or that Miles was the cause of his wife being killed (Venom was after Miles because he held the secret to spider powers). He was so livid that he even hit Miles, but he immediately regrets it when he watches Miles rescue people after an airplane crashes in the middle of Brooklyn.]]
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