YMMV / The Ultimates (2015)

• Angst? What Angst?
  • Carol Danvers had recently killed Tony Stark, during Civil War II. At one point the team meets the original Ultimates, Ultimate Iron Man among them. Even if an alternate one and not the one she killed, it should still be a shock for her (as the time-displaced Captain America was for Iron Man in Avengers/Invaders). But no, nothing.
  • Also, the original Ultimates don't seem to be troubled by the Maker killing Ultimate Captain America, and don't even make a mention of it. Cap had died before in Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand, and this same Tony Stark was devastated by the loss in Survive!.
• Complete Monster: The First Firmament is the egoistical Anthropomorphic Personification of the first universe. He created the Aspirants to worship him, until some of them rebelled and became the Celestials, leading to a war which shattered the Firmament's essence and created the first Multiverse. The First Firmament went into hiding and plotted his revenge, determined to once again become all there is. After the birth of the Eight Cosmos, the First Firmament captures Eternity and starts draining his powers while having the Aspirants infiltrate the Multiverse and spread his corruption, causing countless worlds to be destroyed. He manipulates Master Order and Lord Chaos into killing the Living Tribunal and combining into Logos, using him to kill the Celestials and infect Galactus with a hunger that would cause him to devour all space and time. When his plot to absorb the Multiverse fails and Eternity is freed, the First Firmament decides to just kill him and destroy the Multiverse.
• Epileptic Trees: It's commonly believed among followers of Hypercrisis theory^note Roughly summarised as "the DC universe is a living hypersigil" and "all connections in comics are meaningful, even if they weren't intended" that the Cosmic Jailer is, in fact, the Empty Hand. (Or at least an incarnation of him.)
• Fridge Brilliance: The pre-Secret Wars Eternity has his role assumed by Infinity, the personification of time. This makes sense as she becomes the personification of Eternities history and the potential outcome of those histories. Furthermore, she's beyond the perception of the Beyonders, who remain unaware of the failure of their plans.
• Fridge Horror: Over in New Avengers (2015), The Maker reveals his ultimate (teehee) plan is to merge all universes into one. This would be the exact same thing the First Firmament is trying to do. And the Maker hinted he knows about what's going on with Eternity, which raises questions about where Ultimate Reed got the idea from...
• Funny Moments:
  • After getting slugged by Galactus, Master Order reacts like any other schoolyard bully that got decked by a right hook.
  • T'Challa pretending to be a nerdy American guy in order to meet up with Carol.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • In Ultimates Squared, Master Order and Lord Chaos have become more fearsome in appearance, with Lord Chaos being near formless and skeletal in appearance, and Master Order looking very much like YHVH. They try to get the Living Tribunal to force Galactus to become the Devourer, only for him to side with Galactus instead, citing a new universal order. Inspired to take action on his own, Master Order and Lord Chaos KILL the Living Tribunal and attack Galactus again, trying to change him back to the way he was. When that doesn't work, Master Order takes command and convinces his simple-minded brother to do as he says. They go confront their minion, the In-Betweener. Master Order, sporting what is quite possibly the most unsettling Slasher Smile in comics since a certain clown first put on a purple suit, DEVOURS Lord Chaos and a screaming, begging for mercy In-Betweener, evolving into a creature called Logos, who promptly declares himself the new law of the universe.
  • Issue 4 makes it worse, when they / it confronts Galactus, and starts leaking black stuff out of its eyes, noses and mouths, before vomiting them all over Galactus, forcibly turning him back into his Devourer form.
• Salvaged Story: A lot of people felt that issue 8, the Civil War II tie-in, was effectively acting as "clean-up" to the main event - explaining the two seemingly contradictory portrayals of Ulysses' vision, justifying the odd choices for the fight against Thanos (such as the team lineup, where the Inhumans were and why he was using the gun he had), and gave more emotional weight to the fight scene, with Rhodey dying due to shock at his missile hitting She-Hulk.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • Along with Al Ewing's New Avengers, this book is a successor to his Captain America and the Mighty Avengers series, including both Blue Marvel and Monica Rambeau. (New Avengers, on the other hand, has White Tiger and Power Man from Mighty Avengers.)
  • The team is also the successor to/replacement for the Fantastic Four, since after Secret Wars the team has dissolved, with the Thing and Human Torch joining other teams and Reed, Sue and the FF kids are busy rebuilding existence. The Ultimates have taken up the explorer mantle that defined many F4 adventures.
  • Galactus's storyline, about a being trying to change the status quo, and the nature and weight of stories, as well as antagonists trying to force them back into their old role, echoes that of Ewing's Loki: Agent of Asgard.
  • Also to Jim Starlin's Infinity saga, as it features bizarre imagery and the cosmic entities as prominent characters.
• Unexpected Character: Raz Malhotra, the new Giant Man who was first introduced during the 2015 Ant-Man Annual, makes his first appearance in the third issue, a good two months after ANAD Marvel began (and at a time when he hadn't yet appeared in the concurrent Astonishing Ant-Man ongoing). Sadly, after helping the team out with retrofitting their vehicle with the means of inter-dimensional travel, he's declined a chance to join them on the grounds that he's too new a superhero and so they wouldn't feel right endangering him by bringing him along.

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