Plot synopsis
One year after the end of The Ultimates, public opinion has turned against the team, after they're deployed to fight in the middle eastern nation of Iraq. They're seen by the public as a government strike force. made to silence international dissent. Opinion is turned further against them after it is leaked by a mole in the team, that Bruce Banner is the Hulk, is responsible for hundreds of deaths, and that S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to cover up his involvement. Betty Ross, the Ultimates PR specialist, and Bruce's girlfriend, although reluctant, chooses her position, and the team, over Bruce, ultimately choosing to let Banner die. Bruce Banner is given the death penalty and executed. Janet van Dyne and Steve Rogers are dating after the events of the previous book. Janet quickly grows tired of Steve, and the way that they only ever visit old folks, and starts secretly seeing Hank Pym, her ex-husband again. Tony Stark, Iron Man, is dating Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow. He builds an Iron Man-like suit for her, and later proposes.
The Ultimates, in a meeting with European heroes, learn from Norwegian member, Gunnar Golmen, that Thor is actually Thorlief, an escaped mental patient who stole advanced technology from the Norwegian government. This further undermines the team. Thor confides in his friend Volstagg, who wasn't actually there, making everyone think he is insane, and bringing credibility to Golmen's claims. The Ultimates attempt to take Thor into custody, fighting and defeating him. Thor is incarcerated into a mental hospital. Thor believes Golmen to be his brother Loki, and tries to explain this, but nobody believes him.
Hank Pym, estranged from the team, attempts to convince S.H.I.E.L.D. Director General Nick Fury to let him rejoin, under the alias Ant-Man, who refuses. Pym tries to pitch his Ultron project to Fury, who once again shuts him down. Pym, as Ant-Man, joins a street-level superhero team, known as The Defenders, who are mostly miserable jokes, who lie about knowing Doctor Strange. They're led by Valkyrie, a blonde girl, who likes Thor, snores loudly and lies about being a kung-fu expert, despite really only being an orange belt. The other members are Nighthawk, Son of Satan, Black Knight, Hellcat, Power Man, and Whiz Kid, all of whom are similarly jokes and failures. Pym is mad at himself for being a part of this. The Defenders attempt to stop teenagers from stealing cigarettes and make fools of themselves, failing miserably, with Nighthawk nearly dying, and being thrown in the ICU. A dejected Hank gets a promising call from an unknown group, and immediately gets to work.
The group is revealed to be The Liberators, a team of anti-American multinationals, led by Colonel Abdul Al-Rahman, an Iraqi super soldier, furious at the Ultimates mission in Iraq, he was turned into a super-soldier by Russian scientists, and wields a lightsaber-like weapon. The remaining liberators consist of the Abomination, a hulk-like creature, Crimson Dynamo, a Chinese Iron Man, with an legion of robots, Schizoid Man, who can duplicate himself, Perun, who is a Russian Thor, Swarm, who can control insects, and Hurricane who has super speed, alongside an army. Hawkeye’s family is killed in a home invasion. The Liberators attack and take over the United States. Fury is captured and is planned to be executed Natasha is revealed to be the mole, secretly aiding the liberators, claiming it to be retribution for how the US was responsible for the fall of the USSR, after she kills Tony’s butler, Jarvis. She attempts to kill Tony too, but is knocked out by Tony’s nanites.
Hank Pym is revealed to have aided the liberators, using his Ultron robots for crowd control. Banner is revealed to be alive, and returns as the Hulk. He quickly kills the Abomination. Dynamo is killed by Stark, Swarm by Wasp, and Hurricane by Quicksilver. Captain America and the Colonel have an intense battle, with Captain America ultimately killing the Colonel. Seeing that the Liberators are losing, the Ultron robots suggest to Pym that they might be able to turn the tide of the battle, Pym refuses and changes his story, claiming that he was secretly “infiltrating” the Liberators all along, and commands his Ultron robots to aid the Ultimates.
Gunnar Goleman is revealed to be Loki, and was lying about everything. Loki summons an army of ice giants. Thor, revealed to be an actual god, summons an Asgardian army, and defeats Loki. Perun, the last surviving Liberator, surrenders. Hank is placed under probation. Hawkeye finds Natasha in a hospital and kills her as revenge for the death of his family. Stark, dejected after Natasha was outed as a spy, nearly falls into a depression, before immediately laying his eyes on a random woman, and getting over it. Seeing as how the US, via the Ultimates, policing the world would produce similar results to their battle against the Liberators, Captain America lets Fury know that The Ultimates will separate themselves from S.H.I.E.L.D. and continue to work as an independent team, separate from any government, and operating outside the law, instead.
