r/UltimateUniverse

I read all the old Ultimate Universe from start to finish. After the death of Peter Parker and the much needed revamp of the line, Hickman came in and blew everything out of the park with his Ultimates. In just ten issues (last two felt completely made by Humphries, I wouldn't be surprised he had little input in the plot) he stablished The Maker as a megalomaniac, insensible and twisted Reed Richards who thought that he was saving the world and fighting for the future, seen in the fact that the philosophy oh his City was a mirror to his counterpart's Future Foundation.

Through these ten issues, Hickman presents a Maker who has a plan and doesn't create destruction for the sake of it, he convinces Banner and Sam to see his vision instead of killing them or imprisioning them. Hickman understands that a super intellect who was secluded for almost a thousand years would act in a very inhuman and almost robotical way when everyone surrounding them is everything but human, since they are just looking for perfecting evolution and technology. The City is alive, the Builders, the Dynamos, the Thinkers, Speakers, etc. have an identity and mission. They can detect genetic imperfections, teach fetuses algebra and disipate the idea of individuality for the sake of the mission: human transcendence.

Hickman also creates Tian, the Eternals and Celestials as the "natural" counterpart to the Maker's technocratic evolution, even confronting them directly and showing that Reed's seclusion in the Dome has weight, remembering a technology they flirted with six hundred years ago. He goes as far as to ask for counsel from the Quorum and, through the story, from the City, showing that his character has layers and isn't perfect nor completely egotistical.

It's only after Humphries takes over and the City gets defeated by Tony Stark's brain tumour (yeah, it's bad) that the Maker starts transforming into this caricature that we know today. Now he's only evil for the sake of being evil and, although Hickman tries to show his depth again in Secret Wars and Ultimate Invasion, the damage has been done. The Maker can't be anything but a pathetic loser who doesn't know how to regulate his emotions and, as Doom said in the last issue of Ultimate Endgame, is just a heartbroken nerd that doesn't know how to be alone.

The Maker could've been the next big Marvel villain if Hickman had more time to polish him and show that, in order to write an intelligent character, be it evil or good, you need to be smart and at least try to understand how a thousand year old amoral super genius with near infinite knowledge would act, speak and think.

Hickman's biggest mistake was being so popular and writing such an amazing Ultimates that editorial gave him control of Avengers and New Avengers truncating his storylines in this universe (whatever happened to the Kratos Club? what was the point of Thor seeing the asgardians as ghosts? what about the destruction of Montevideo and Germany?). After Humphries, Fialkov came in and destroyed what remained of the Maker as a character, trying to explain his actions in Ultimate Comics: Doomsday as being manipulated by a future Susan Storm (Kang) which results in the Maker's motivation for creating the City and the Children of Tomorrow as nothing but a continuation of Susan's mission and not Hickman's plan, which we will never know.

I like how these two makers both represent the extremes of the 2 very blatant sides of his personality.

The maker is usually depicted in 1 of 2 ways

A cold, calculated, calm and collected individual who really doesn’t seem privy to much of any emotion outside of curiosity. Feels like a all business character with no interest in games. Comes off as more strictly amoral than outright evil.(Secret wars/what-if maker to an extreme)

And then we have

The very outgoing, expressive, witty, bravado having maker who’s always sporting a “I’m always 2 steps ahead” villainous smile that would give the joker a run for his money. Actively loves mixing pleasure/fun with his work. Comes off as much more blatantly evil than simply amoral.(6160/ultimate endgame maker to an extreme).

He usually tends to flip flop between these two instances, but i like how these 2 endgame makers both kinda lean towards one in particular whole stop.

It is very sad that the ultimate universe ended like this. I very, very hope that we will see something like this again. Experimental. I will very much miss the return to the old and great villains from Ultimate Invasion. I will very much miss the fight of the Ultimates for freedom and the personal drama of Doom. I will very much miss the interesting twists and reimagining of old heroes from Ultimate Wolverine. I will very much miss the distinct tone and manga-style of Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko. I will very much miss the new take on such a unique country as Wakanda from Ultimate Black Panther. I will very much miss the new look at the Guardians of the Galaxy, Daredevil, and Nick Fury from Ultimate Year 1&2. I will very much miss completely new heroes in an old guise from Ultimate Hawkeye. And I will very much miss the chemistry and character interactions from Ultimate Spider-Man.

I very, very hope that this is not the end of such a wonderful project and idea. The new "Midnight" universe already evokes very controversial and mixed feelings in me. The decision to go horror, in my opinion, is a step or even two back. But I still hope that this will not turn into a second (original) “Marvel Zombies”, and that it will be an equally experimental and incredible story. I very much hope for such bold and creative solutions as a complete reimagining of Wolverine and turning him into a Winter Soldier, creating, in fact, a slice of life manga about teenage girls in Japan within the universe, turning Hawkeye into a Native American, or turning the local analogue of Hydra into an organization of Punisher fanatics.

Farewell, Ultimate Universe. I strongly hope that everything that happened was not in vain, and that the editorial team will draw conclusions when creating a new, scarier world.

Like What if God maker has all the power of beyonders and molecular man while but essentially working on the outside of the multiverse while Maker City has all the power of his symboite, his city, and the part of the immortus engine to be a sort of dominion/king in black but he works on the inside of the universe.

It reminds me of the ivory kings and the king in black idea that Ewing made about them. Felt that it fitting different

Link: https://x.com/smgold\_/status/2072364615833641170?s=46

Feels kinda funny that week after Maker's defeat in Ultimate Endgame we saw his variant that not only won but achieved far more by claiming entire MULTIVERSE as his playground. In omniverse scale now his defeat on Earth-6160 looks even more humiliating, considering how hard our original Maker fumbled taking over not just one single universe, but keeping control over singular planet within it!

As a bonified Maker enjoyer who in concept, definitely likes and is on board with the idea that Doom was able to mentally overpower Maker due to his mind's conditioning through endless torture combined with his steel resolve for needing to do what he did for his dead family.

Thats all fine and dandy. Good stuff. 102% no issues there. But honestly i couldnt help but feel some kind of way when i saw Maker's summarization.

I greatly dislike the "Maker is evil because sue broke up with him" angle some use when describing the character. As it's a massive oversimplification of the reasonings behind Maker's descent to villainy. Its not even the core reason reed turned heel. It was moreso just the final blow to his heroic side that left him in a state vulnerable enough for the real reason (kang sue) to take effect.

This single panel is basically fuel for the very surface level stigma some people have about the Maker's character. I understand that for the context of this panel, they really wanted to make Maker seem especially pathetic in comparison to doom for this cathartic moment. But mannn they didnt have to do my boy that dirty. The slander is insane.

Shh! It’s a secret!>! !<

Doom All-On-One #1 Variant

Just saw this post by Terry Dodson on insta and he mentions how the collected version of Endgame will have 12 additional pages by him. I didn’t see it announced officially on Marvel or any news sight so I wasn’t sure if it was true or not?

Link: (beware of Spoilers) https://www.instagram.com/p/DaOYu1jEvEw/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I seriously thought that him starting with the Lad name would have led out to him earning the Iron Man moniker by the end and being called that in the epilogue. Ultimate invasion at least set that up