Plot
"Fix The World" (#1–6)
Although the Maker was imprisoned at The City thanks to Howard Stark, it will open again in 18 months, and his Council remains in control of Earth. Howard's son Iron Lad works with Doom to form the Ultimates Network, aiming to combat the Maker's Council and restock the world with heroes before The City re-opens. They use the Immortus Engine to time travel and find the frozen body of Captain America. They also venture to Asgard and free Thor Odinson, whose rule over Asgard was overthrown by Loki and the Maker, and are joined by Thor's captor Sif. They break into The City to steal information about many of the lost heroes, only to be caught and attacked by some of the Council. The Maker's Council hacks into a Stark satellite, destroying several blocks in Manhattan in a terrorist attack and framing Iron Lad as the perpetrator. The Ultimates, now seen as international fugitives, initially plan to distribute superpower catalysts called "Origin-Machines" to several individuals who were blocked from becoming heroes, and gradually turn the tide against the Council. The plan works in only a few cases (such as Spider-Man) with many resulting deaths from superpower-related accidents. Therefore, they decide instead to search for potential heroes and recruit them in-person. The first recruits are Giant-Man and the Wasp, joining to help the team successfully defeat Captain Britain's forces in battle. Seventeen months remain before The City opens. [3]
The Ultimates later retrieve the original Human Torch from a Damage Control facility and storm the White House to rescue America Chavez from Midas, a Council loyalist. Sixteen months remain before The City opens. [4] [5]
After traveling to Monster Island in the Pacific, the Ultimates meet She-Hulk, who agrees to assist the Ultimates in major conflicts in exchange for Iron Lad finding a cure for the effects of gamma radiation that affected her tribe. Her recruitment leads Hulk (a member of the Council) to more closely monitor the activities of the group. Fifteen months remain before The City opens. [6]
Doom works on Project 4, attempting to recreate the Fantastic Four by exposing rats to cosmic radiation. Iron Lad learns that Doom is Reed Richards, who became Doom after surviving the flight that would have created the Fantastic Four. The Maker sabotaged the flight, causing Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm to die and Susan Storm to develop an illness that eventually killed her. Reed was placed in the custody of the Maker, who tortured him and led him to became Doom. Fourteen months remain before The City opens. [7]
Finally, Captain America meets and recruits Charli Ramsey, a Native American who took the bow and arrow meant for Clint Barton as their own, and has been attacking several Roxxon facilities. Hellfire Club's Black King/Maker's Council member Emmanuel da Costa talks with Hulk about the attacks on Roxxon in which he is an investor in. Hulk tells Emmanuel to leave the Ultimates to him. Thirteen months remain before The City opens. [8]
The full team assembles for the first time after Tony finds a Damage Control facility supposedly containing prisoners of the Council, which turns out to be a trap. Hulk uses a teleportation spell to bring the team to K'un-L'un in order to kill them. He and his gamma-injected Immortal Weapons attack the Ultimates, as Hulk utilizes the Iron Fist and breaks She-Hulk's hand. Doom, who is back at their Triskelion satellite, hurriedly locates the group and uses the Immortus Engine to teleport them back. By the time he does so, Iron Lad has been mortally wounded by Hulk, leading him to be confined to a healing machine while the team deals with the aftermath and reconsiders their approach. Twelve months remain before The City opens. [9]
"All Power To The People" (#7–12)
After their devastating battle in K'un-L'un, the team takes time off to recuperate. Captain America and Human Torch visit an old pub from Cap's childhood to discuss who will lead the team in Iron Lad's absence. Thor and Sif plan to instigate a revolt across the Nine Realms to dethrone All-Father Loki in Asgard. America Chavez defends protestors during an independence rally in Guatemala, vaporising hostile H.A.N.D agents. Hawkeye continues their crusade against Roxxon and the council by blowing up a shipment of weapons headed to Africa to help in the war. Giant-Man and the Wasp visit a memorial ceremony for those lost in the Stark satellite attack on the event's anniversary, questioning their role and actions. Eleven months remain before The City opens. [10]
While on a mission, the Ultimates meet the Guardians of the Galaxy including members Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Ultimate Nullifier, and Cosmo Starstalker. They hail from the 61st century and seem to know America Chavez, but she does not remember them. Captain Marvel shares some of their memories, revealing the group comes from Earth-6160's original timeline, where a much larger roster of Guardians had been able to create a utopia. However, the Maker's scheme resulted in a temporal scattering of many members of the Guardians, including America. While America refuses to join their efforts in finding other Guardians, Captain Marvel leaves her with a temporal flare to signal the Guardians if they are needed. Star-Lord warns Doom that if the world is left in their hands, either him or Iron Lad will cause unimaginable suffering. Ten months remain before The City opens. [11]
Luke Cage has been transferred from Seagate Prison to the Gordium Correction Facility. During his time at Seagate a year prior, Cage received an "origin machine" that gave him his super-strength and unbreakable skin. Iron Lad visits him, welcoming him to the Ultimates and offering to break him out; Cage refuses, saying that he can do more good for the Ultimates inside the prison system. He leads a successful prison revolt against the facility which had tortured him since he was young. Back in the present, Cage leads another takeover, this time of Gordium Correction Facility with fellow inmate Danny Rand. As they triumph over their enslavers, the inmates declare "All Power to the People!", and Cage prepares to head to another prison and run the same cycle. In the epilogue, She-Hulk monologues to an unconscious Iron Lad about pain. After she walks away, Tony's eyes open. Nine months remain before The City opens. [12]
A month later, Captain America leads Human Torch, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Hawkeye to storm "Castletown", a militia camp controlled by the fascist Red Skull Gang. The team has received intelligence that Namor, a former teammate of Cap and Torch's, is being held there. After breaking in, they fight with the Skulls and their leader the Grand Skull; he reveals that Namor was killed when Atlantis was overthrown by Attuma though his body would not decompose. John Walker, a member of the Skulls, also joins the fray having been empowered by one of the Stark Boxes. The Ultimates win against Grand Skull who says despite this loss, he will continue to serve as a symbol and inspiration. The team buries Namor by sending his body to sea, hoping to spark an Atlantean revolution. Captain America and Human Torch come to a surprising conclusion about the Skull's identity after hearing his voice. Iron Lad integrates the Immortus Engine into his body, stabilizing him while he nurses back to full health. Eight months remain before The City opens. [13]
Thor and Sif return to the Nine Realms, with the goal of spreading a revolution. The pair visits Nidavellir which has turned from the home of Dwarves and divine industry to an overworked factory. Dwarves Brokk and Eitri fashion them invisibility cloaks for the oncoming war. Thor and Sif spy on Valhalla, where they find the daughter-Queen Hela ruling an army of the undead. In Alfheim, the "origin of stories", H.A.N.D infiltrates the ranks of the Light Elves, forcing them to write propaganda for the Council. Vanaheim has been left untouched by Loki's new regime, so the Vanir who inhabit it refuse to join up with Thor and Sif's cause. In Jotunheim, Thor battles the Frost Giants provoking Loki to return to his homeland. Sif uses this to free his servant Idunn and spread word of the revolution. In Niffleheim the rebels meet Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, and Heimdall. Loki marches his armies against the Vanir while Thor's own forces make war against him. Thor also makes a deal with Surtur, to burn down Asgard. In an epilogue, Iron Lad awakens and asks Doom to explain a horrifying image retrieved by the Immortus Engine: the Hulk standing victorious over the Ultimates' corpses. Seven months remain before The City opens. [14]
On the H.A.N.D. Cumulo-Carrier, the latest Life Model Decoy of Nick Fury is filled in by a member of the Ultimates regarding the team's latest meeting. On the Triskelion, Iron Lad assembles the entire network to discuss their recurring nightmare: Hulk slaughtering the team. Iron Lad reveals that originally, the team was massacred during their K'un-L'un encounter. However, Doom used the Immortus Engine to reverse time and save the Ultimates in-turn violating their agreement to not use time travel. Doom has also been using Project 4 as a cover-up to break the Maker's temporal barrier and change the past. Despite initial argument between Doom and the rest of the team, they eventually agree on a new strategy. Captain America, reflecting on his time fighting the Skulls, says the network needs to expand and act as a symbol more than an army. And Doom, reflecting on what Star-Lord told him, agrees the network must act more like a team. Iron Lad declares Ultimates 3.0. Back with H.A.N.D, Nick Fury thanks his informant as he comes face-to-face with the Wasp. Six months remain before The City opens. [15]
"Rescue Mission" (#13-18)
Due to the side effects of the Immortus Engine being fused to him, Iron Lad has been seeing visions of the future. He and America Chavez attend different secret rallies, telling them that they are all Ultimates and asking if they want their future back. At the Red Skull stronghold at Mount Johann, Iron Lad leads the attack on the Red Skull Gang. However, Captain America is unable to get information on where Grand Skull is. The Ultimates Network (or UltNet for short) enables people to learn the truth about their world. Human Torch takes his leave from the Ultimates to go on a mission to "start a fire" as Wasp secretly watches them. When Iron Lad asks God for help, he is told that the gods make war on a large scale with the Nine Realms hanging in the balance and that they cannot answer any mortal prayers. Luke Cage has inspired all the prison uprisings in the North American Union as he, Iron Lad, and Danny Rand teach a class in one of the prisons. Five months remain before The City opens. [16]
At a Roxxon facility, Captain America and Hawkeye do a stakeout as Hawkeye begins his attack. At Roxxon's headquarters, its CEO Rex Bonhurst discusses how to handle the Ultimates with Nicodemus West of Alchemax, Justine Hammer of Hammer Weapons, #1983: Scientist Supreme of A.I.M, and Oubliette Midas of Midas Inc. Emma Frost, head of the Frost School for Wayward Children, shows the five that Captain America and Hawkeye have taken down the guards as well as Frost's students Pietro Maximoff and Wanda Maximoff. Frost then uses her powers to kill everyone present except for Oubliette. When Oubliette asks Frost why she was spared, Emma states that she has potential unlike what her father claimed. Four months remain before The City opens. [17]
10,000 years ago, Shen Qi, the eighth wielder of the Iron Fist, led the Immortal Weapons and the forces of Heaven in a victorious battle against the demon legions of the 8th City. Following the battle, Qi renounced violence and was visited by many people who wanted to learn from him. The people considering him a god did not bode well to the Xian as Qi died in battle against them. As he is dying, Qi tells his followers that he will eventually return. In the present, Uranium Brother #235 attacks Shen Qi's reincarnation. After being hit by a gamma dampener, Uranium Brother #235 is beheaded by She-Hulk. Three months remain before The City opens. [18]
A girl named Wren Montgomery becomes involved with the UltNet and informs her neighbors and a homeless man about the truth on what the Ultimates are doing and what Maker and his Council has done. Wren keeps quiet about the Ultimates and attends their meetings, waiting for the H.A.N.D. agents to interfere. H.A.N.D. agents attack and kill Wren's parents alongside others who have been using her UltNet. When a H.A.N.D. agent cuts off Wren's left hand, the homeless man shoots the agent and makes a tourniquet for her injury as the delivery man Jeremiah gives her a ride. Jeremiah states that H.A.N.D. now knows who Wren is and that she will have to go underground as he plans to get her injury treated. Two months remain before The City opens. [19]
Doom and America Chavez have the prisoners they have taught each bombarded with cosmic rays in short bombarding bursts to give them powers without killing them. Each of the prisoners are divided into four teams, where they train to hone their abilities. Those who were exposed to the cosmic rays have taken up the name of Fantastic Force. Doom states that he will have his revenge on Maker and in death will rejoin his "family". He and Hank Pym release the mice who he previously experimented on into the wild. One month remains before The City opens. [20]
On the Triskelion, Iron Lad and America Chavez broadcast to the world about the lies given by Maker and his Council and their negative impact on the world. The Nick Fury L.M.D. sees this and orders his men to contact Wasp. Janet van Dyne returns with groceries to Hank Pym as Iron Lad continues his broadcast and the Nick Fury L.M.D. schemes. Luke Cage leads his New Avengers to attack the former Fort Stark. Captain America talks to an imprisoned Pietro and Wanda Maximoff stating that bad things were done to them. Meanwhile, America confronts a group of H.A.N.D. agents before killing Midas and Shen Qi climbs a mountain with Danny Rand. The Nick Fury L.M.D. decides not to attack and wants them monitored instead. As several fights break out, Iron Lad implores everyone to rise up. Zero months remain before The City opens. [21]
