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It may be a Late-Arrival Spoiler by now, but yes: the identity of the "Ultimate Enemy" was a big shock in its day.
Ultimate Doomsday is the collected name of a set of Marvel Comics miniseries, running from 2010 to 2011, set in the Ultimate Marvel universe. They are Ultimate Enemy, Mystery and Doom respectively. They are written by Brian Bendis and drawn by Rafa Sandoval.

It's only been a few months since the Ultimatum Event, and since then the Fantastic Four have broken up. Reed Richards has gone back to living with his family, Ben Grimm has joined the air force, Johnny Storm has moved in to the Parker household, and Dr. Sue Storm is back to doing science at the Baxter Building, alone. One day, Ben pays her a visit to tell her something he's been sitting on for a while - he loves Sue, and always has. Before Sue can answer, he leaves... and then the Baxter Building is quite suddenly attacked by a... well, a something.

And it's not the only place hit. Across New York, Reed Richards, Roxxon Industries and disgraced ex-head of SHIELD Nick Fury are all similarly attacked. But what is the connection?

Tropes included in Ultimate Doomsday:

  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • The big 'un for Ultimate Marvel, Reed Richards.
    • Layla Miller. In regular Marvel continuity, she's not above some morally dodgy actions, manipulation and the occasional act of murder, but here she's a willing vivisectionist for Roxxon.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
    • The Baxter Building gets trashed by Reed's first strike.
    • Later, the Triskelion gets demolished by tentacles, despite a caption noting it's built to withstand nuclear blasts.
  • Asshole Victim: One of the few named characters Reed's aliens kill is Gary Richards. Just so we don't feel too bad about him being reduced to a smouldering corpse, he's shown being a jerkass with no sympathy to Reed for all he's been through lately.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ben Grimm may be Reed's oldest and only friend, but after everything Reed does, and especially to Sue, he declares that if it is Reed and he is responsible, he's gonna kill him.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Johnny, for Sue, despite the fact she's the older one. Reed learns the hard way not to piss off a guy with flame powers at his disposal.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: Turns out while he was head of SHIELD, Nick was stealing Reed Richards's files. He's completely unapologetic about it, what with the way things have turned out.
  • Big Damn Kiss: The end of Doom is Sue and Ben sealing their relationship upgrade by smooching.
  • Bluff the Imposter: The Roxxon Brain Trust do this to Jessica.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Marh-Vehl returns in a prominent role, after having been either absent or in the background since the Ultimate Galactus trilogy.
    • Misty Knight returns, working for Roxxon.
    • Rick Jones reappears in Mystery having been sent by the Watchers to fight Reed.
  • Call-Back: Flashbacks in Doom issue 1 go through Ultimate Fantastic Four issue 1, showing Reed's crap-tacular childhood, Ultimate Power issue 2, when the Squadron blamed Reed for the devastation of their world, and Ultimate Fantastic Four: Requiem, when Reed laments the events of Ultimatum.
  • Clueless Mystery: Through Enemy, several characters are attacked by aliens, who give no indication as to why they're attacking or even any real hint as to what they want beyond "blow stuff up". At the end of Mystery, we learn who and what's behind them, and it's someone who was disqualified early on by dint of being killed.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Hawkeye interrogates the captive alien so SHIELD can get information out of it. Mainly by "removing" bits.
  • Composite Character: Ben's new energy form looks astoundingly similar to that of Wonder Man.
  • Face–Heel Turn:
    • Reed Richards snaps, and starts killing a lot of people in the name of progress.
    • To a less personal extent, Misty Knight, who was previously just grouchy, is now willing to work for Roxxon as they dissect teenagers.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Reed, when first talking with Sue and Ben, initially tries acting like usual, but the minute the fighting starts, his nastier side comes out. Especially with Sue.
  • Handwave: The Ultimates (except Hawkeye) are entirely absent from Enemy and Mystery, only showing up right at the end of Doom. Why? Something about being "off world", which is never adequately explained. Even Carol Danvers doesn't seem to know what that actually means.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Doctor Octopus, who previously engendered a scheme to create clones of Peter Parker out of sheer pettiness, actually turns good(ish) after Peter risks his life to save the guy from being crushed.
  • Kick the Dog: Who murdered the Richards? Why, it's Reed, meaning he killed his mom and sisters, apparently just to throw everyone else off the scent.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: After everything's over, Nick Fury lifts up his eye-patch, which somehow wipes everyone's memory of his involvement in the story's events, and does a run for it.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Reed Richards is the bad guy behind everything. While this is revealed halfway through the story, it's kind of hard to avoid talking about Ultimate Reed without bringing up his evilness.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Reed's tech is the only thing keeping his Negative Zone base intact. Once Peter and Doc Ock sabotage it, the whole place collapses.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Project: PEGASUS is filled with all manner of easter eggs, including an Ultron head, a Cosmic Cube, and an Infinity Gauntlet.
    • To infiltrate Roxxon, Jessica Drew pretends to be Julia Carpenter, the name of the second Spider-Woman in regular continuity.
    • During Mystery, Nick Fury disguises himself as... Nick Fury. Specifically, Earth-616 Nick Fury.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Jess inflicts one on Doctor Octopus when Pete busts her out of Roxxon.
  • Noodle Implements: Among the doohickeys kept in Project: Pegasus is a version of the Wand of Watoomb. Wendell Vaughn has no idea what it or what a Watoomb is, he just knows he's under orders not to touch it.
  • Not Me This Time: On several sides.
    • Jessica thinks Roxxon might've caused the tentacle attack, because this kind of thoughtless self-inflicted disaster is their signature. They haven't. For once, they're completely innocent.
    • Nick Fury thinks Carol Danvers might be behind the attack on him. Peter thinks Nick would be.
  • Power Incontinence:
    • Johnny keeps losing control of his flame powers, mainly because he's too pissed to rein it in, which means he sets off the Triskelion's sprinkler systems at the worst possible time.
    • Rick Jones still hasn't got the best handle on his jaunting, so it can occasionally not work properly, either dumping him somewhere embarassing (wanting to go somewhere safe, he winds up in his old school playground) or potentially fatal (escaping Reed, teleporting into the Hudson).
  • Say My Name: Johnny lets lose an angry "RICHARDS!" in Doom issue 4.
  • Sequel Episode: Serves as one to the Bendis-written parts of Ultimate Power, reintroducing Wendell Vaughn, Project: PEGASUS, and following up on Ben's rock-shedding. Also, to the Rick Jones plot started in Origins and followed up on over in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man.
  • Shout-Out: Reed's alien goons look eerily similar to Kilowog, of Green Lantern fame.
  • Something Only They Would Say: At the beginning of Doom issue 4, Ben appears in Reed's secret lair and asks him if he remembers the name of one of their high school teachers. Because he's hoping that Reed isn't actually behind everything. But Reed does remember, is behind everything, and insists he's not crazy (well, two out of three ain't bad).
  • Speak in Unison: Carol Danvers and Nick Fury do this when an agent warns them there's an attack on the Parker house in Queens.
  • Squick: In-universe. Peter is pretty grossed out at the thought of having "lady parts".
  • Stealing the Credit: On seeing Ben's new, rock-free form, Reed starts crowing about how he cured Ben. Despite the fact Ben's rocks were falling off for some time before this story, and that any actual credit Reed could have with this is circumstantial at best. But it does help show how far the guy's fallen.
  • The Stinger: At the very end of Doom issue 4, it cuts to the Negative Zone, where Reed grabs on to a piece of rubble...
  • Strapped to an Operating Table: Jessica, courtesy of the Roxxon Brain Trust. Fortunately, she and Peter anticipated something like this happening, and Peter busts in to save her.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Ben wasn't a slouch to begin with, his rock form being able to survive breathing acid and go toe-to-toe with the Hulk. His new purple form is stronger, faster, comes with energy blasts and allows him to walk through Sue's force-fields.
  • The Unreveal: So, how did Reed fake his death? Well, Sue asks him that very question, but Reed just tells her "you're smart enough to work it out", and the story quite merrily continues onwards without a backwards glance.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: The Watchers, yet again. They send Rick Jones to Earth because they can sense something bad is about to happen. What is that something? They don't know.
  • Villain Has a Point: Doc Ock claims at the end that Reed has a point about the nature and usage of science in the here and now.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Reed goes into a screaming meltdown when the heroes break his stuff.
  • Wham Episode: Ben Grimm loses his rocky form. Oh, and Reed Richards turns evil and insane.

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