To be fair – I 100% called this. I’m not even going to feign humility on this one!
Announced during a press conference call yesterday (which we missed, and apologize for), Marvel announced Ultimate Comics Ultimates #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic, the first of a few new relaunched/revamped books coming from Marvel post-Death of Spider-Man. Hickman has assembled a revamped SHIELD (similar to what he did in the 616 I suppose), and the main cast will be Nick Fury, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, and “other people to be named.” He also noted that Captain America not being part of the team is a major plot point, and the first arc will be titled “The Republic is Burning.”
The plan right now is for Ultimates to be the “world” book, dealing with the entire Ultimate universe and setting up things to be used in other titles in coordination with a massive rebrand and rebuilding across the line. To quote Hickman, “I don’t think people will get it entirely until they actually see what we’re trying to accomplish.” Hickman also noted that this, unlike FF and Secret Warriors, does not have an endpoint yet, because that’s “not the goal.”
Hickman also cited Millar’s work in Ultimates vol. 1 and 2 as major inspirations of how to do this kind of thing right, Hickman hopes to match or eclipse that initial run. This book – along with what else is to come – will all be playing off each other intimately, just like the Ultimate universe used to in the beginning.
As an additional note, fellow writer Josh Mocle and I talked to Nick Spencer this past Friday for the season finale of Multiversity’s podcast, Spoiler Alert. In it, we asked Nick about Fallout, noting that he probably couldn’t tell us much about this. What he did tell us that what was coming is exciting, and he feels incredibly honored to be working with the various creators he is working with. Ladies and gentlemen – Ultimate Universe 3.0 is here, and it is hopefully going to be faaaaantastic.
