Ultimate Galactus Trilogy | |
---|---|
Created by | Warren Ellis |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Ultimate Marvel imprint of Marvel Comics |
Schedule | Monthly |
Title(s) | Ultimate Nightmare Ultimate Secret Ultimate Extinction |
Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a set of limited series. |
Genre | |
Publication date | Ultimate Nightmare October 2004 — February 2005 Ultimate Secret May — December 2005 Ultimate Extinction March — July 2006 |
Number of issues | Ultimate Nightmare: 5 Ultimate Secret: 4 Ultimate Extinction: 5 |
Main character(s) | Gah Lak Tus Silver Surfer Nick Fury Fantastic Four Ultimates Mahr Vehl X-Men |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Warren Ellis |
Artist(s) | Ultimate Extinction Brandon Peterson |
Penciller(s) | Ultimate Nightmare Trevor Hairsine (1-2, 4-5) Steve Epting (3) Ultimate Secret Steve McNiven (1-2) Tom Raney (3-4) |
Inker(s) | Ultimate Nightmare Simon Coleby (1-2, 4) Nelson DeCastro (2-5) Tom Palmer Sr. (3-4) Mark Morales (4) Rodney Ramos (4) Ultimate Secret Mark Morales (1-2) Scott Hanna (3-4) |
Letterer(s) | Chris Eliopoulos |
Colorist(s) | Ultimate Nightmare Frank D'Armata Ultimate Secret Morry Jay Hollowell (1-2) Rob Schwager (3-4) Ultimate Extinction Paul Mounts (1) Justin Ponsor (1-5) Jason Keith (5) |
Editor(s) | Ultimate Nightmare Jennifer Grünwald Nick Lowe Ralph Macchio Joe Quesada Jeff Youngquist Ultimate Secret Nick Lowe Ralph Macchio John Barber Nicole Wiley Ultimate Extinction John Barber Ralph Macchio Nicole Wiley Joe Quesada |
Reprints | |
Collected editions | |
Hardcover | ISBN 0-7851-2139-0 |
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy is a collection of three comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics. All three series are set in the Ultimate Marvel universe and are written by Warren Ellis. The series showcase the arrival of the planet-eating entity Gah Lak Tus on Earth.
Published from August 2004 to May 2006, the three series were titled Ultimate Nightmare (#1 - 5, Oct. 2004 - Feb. 2005), Ultimate Secret (#1 - 4, May - Dec. 2005), and Ultimate Extinction (#1 - 5, Mar. - July 2006). They were all written by Warren Ellis.
Ultimate Nightmare is a five-issue comic book limited series. Issues 1, 2, 4 and 5 were penciled by Trevor Hairsine and inked by Simon Coleby. The third issue was drawn by Steve Epting. Ellis notes that "Ultimate Nightmare was originally intended as a set-up for a big Ultimate-line event that Mark Millar was going to do. Mark, however, has had health issues for some time, and that and his workload led to him bowing out and me once again being asked to step in and help out. And then, while I was getting into Nightmare, Joe Quesada had the idea of turning this event into a trilogy...So I needed to come up with a credible second step in the trilogy fairly quickly." [1]
Ultimate Secret is a four-issue comic book limited series with art by Steve McNiven.
Ultimate Extinction is a five-issue comic book limited series began in January 2006, cover dated March, and was illustrated by Brandon Peterson.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(June 2015) |
A broadcast disrupts the world's communications systems, filling televisions and computer monitors with images of death and destruction that cause thousands of people to commit suicide. The broadcast ripples across the psychic plane, and attracts the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Charles Xavier, with both tracing the source to the Tunguska wasteland in Russia, the site of a massive comet crash over a century ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Nick Fury leads a team of heroes - Captain America, Black Widow and Sam "Falcon" Wilson - on a reconnaissance mission, while Professor X sends the X-Men Jean Grey, Wolverine and Colossus to investigate. Neither team is aware of the other's involvement.
The two teams trace the signal to an abandoned complex built in the era of the Soviet Union and encounter an army of mutated humans, all engineered by a now-defunct Soviet super-soldier project designed to create versions of Captain America. Two characters who make appearances, though unnamed, are Ultimate Unicorn and an Ultimate version of Red Guardian. After defeating the humans the two teams meet, with Fury's team capturing the X-Men and then discovering the source of the broadcast - a sentient, self-repairing robot called Vision. Vision explains that it traveled to Earth 100 years ago, and when its ship malfunctioned it crashed in Tunguska and was later captured by the Soviets, who amputated portions of its body and grafted them onto Soviet Army volunteers to create experimental super-soldiers. Vision has repaired itself enough to communicate with the world and warns Fury of an impending threat: the Eater of Worlds called Gah Lak Tus. The X-Men subsequently escape and Fury's team takes the Vision back to S.H.I.E.L.D for further analysis.
A secret S.H.I.E.L.D. installation in New Mexico investigating revolutionary methods of space travel is attacked by the alien Kree. This forces resident scientist Dr. Philip Lawson to change to his true identity of Captain Mahr Vehl and battle the attackers. Although able to successfully defend the installation, Mahr Vehl is rendered unconscious and is eventually questioned by Fury. Mahr Vehl explains he is a member of the Kree himself, and that they have been observing Earth to determine if humanity poses a threat to the Kree in the larger galaxy. Observing mankind's violent nature, Mahr Vehl reveals that the Kree have recently decided to confine humanity on Earth until the entity Gah Lak Tus can destroy them, thus ending the potential threat. Realizing that other Kree will be coming and that the threat the Vision foretold is now very real, Fury summons the Fantastic Four and the Ultimates.
A Kree force attacks the installation soon after but is stopped by a combined team of heroes. Another team of heroes - with Mahr Vehl's aid - storm the Kree ship while the aliens are on Earth. The commander, Yahn Rgg, activates the self-destruct mechanism, but not before Mahr Vehl hacks into the ship's database and downloads its contents into his memory banks. With the information gained from both Vision and the Kree, Fury contemplates how to deal with the coming threat of Gah Lak Tus.
Fury enlists the aid of Reed Richards and Professor Xavier once Silver Surfer arrives to "herald" the approach of Gah Lak Tus, who is discovered to be a swarm of thousands of sentient ships stretched 100,000 miles (160,000 km) long and within only a week's journey from Earth.
The heroes Captain America, Falcon, Iron Man and Mahr Vehl have several battles with Gah Lak Tus' heralds, the Silver Men, and allow Reed Richards, Charles Xavier and Jean Grey time to develop a plan. Xavier and Grey make psychic contact with Gah Lak Tus, which completely repulses the entity and distracts it. Richards then uses a weapon known as the "Nevada gun" and teleports the latent energy of a Big Bang into the heart of the Gah Lak Tus swarm. With 20% of its mass destroyed by the blast, the entity retreats. Richards then programs Vision with plans for the weapon and sends it into space, in the hopes that other races will be able to benefit and fend off Gah Lak Tus. Nick Fury's only comment on the matter is "the human race can kick the hell out of anything."
The series has been collected into a number of volumes:
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #48.
The "Kree–Skrull War" is a story arc that was written by Roy Thomas, and drawn by Sal Buscema, Neal Adams, and John Buscema. The story was originally published in the Marvel Comics comic book title Avengers #89–97.
Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1, a World War II combat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping man as leader of an elite U.S. Army Ranger unit.
Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, later known as the Ultimate Universe. Those characters include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Ultimates, the Fantastic Four, and others. The imprint was launched in 2000 with the publication of the series Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men in 2001, followed by The Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2002 and 2004 respectively providing new origin stories for the characters. The reality of Ultimate Marvel is designated as Earth-1610 as part of the Marvel Comics Multiverse.
The Skrulls are a race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They originated from the planet Skrullos and their empire is located in the Andromeda Galaxy. Their infiltration of Earth was a major event in the Marvel Comics universe as shown in the crossover event Secret Invasion.
Marvels is a four-issue miniseries comic book written by Kurt Busiek, painted by Alex Ross and edited by Marcus McLaurin. It was published by Marvel Comics in 1994.
The Fury is a fictional android character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, initially in the UK and later in the US. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of Captain Britain and the X-Men. The character was created by writer Alan Moore and artist Alan Davis, and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #387.
The Watchers are a race of fictional extraterrestrials appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are commonly depicted as all-powerful beings who watch over the fictional multiverses and the stories that take place in them, and are not allowed to interact with other characters, though they have done so on several occasions, when the situation demanded it. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the first Watcher to appear in the comics—named Uatu—debuted in Fantastic Four #13.
Earth X is a 1999 comic book limited series published by American company Marvel Comics. Earth X was written by Jim Krueger with art by John Paul Leon. Based on Alex Ross' notes, the series features a dystopian version of the Marvel Universe.
Vision (Aarkus) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by the writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared during the Golden Age of comic books in Marvel Mystery Comics #13, published by Marvel predecessor Timely Comics.
Captain Marvel is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and designed by artist Gene Colan, the character first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12. He is the first character to use the moniker Captain Marvel in the Marvel Universe.
Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories. The story is set in an alternate universe where the world's superhero population has been infected with a virus which turned them into zombies. The series was spun out of events of the crossover story-arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four, where the zombie Reed Richards tricked his Ultimate counterpart into opening a portal to the zombie universe only for the latter to contain the former from ever coming to his universe.
Geheneris Hala´son Mahr Vehl is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Warren Ellis and penciller Steve McNiven, the character first appeared in Ultimate Secret #1. Mahr Vehl appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe and is the Ultimate version of Mar-Vell.
The Chitauri are a fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, specifically in Ultimate Marvel. They were created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch for the Ultimate universe franchise in place of the existing Marvel Comics alien species, the Skrulls, which play a similar role in the franchise's mainstream continuity. Marvel later chose to distinguish between the Skrulls and Chitauri of the Ultimate universe. The race first appeared in Ultimates #8, and later had counterparts on Earth-616.
Ultimate Vision was a five-issue-long comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics during 2006-2007 under the Ultimate Marvel imprint.
Iron Man is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is the Ultimate Marvel version of the superhero Iron Man, who first appeared in the fourth issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mike Allred. He later appeared in the Ultimates and often appears in other Ultimate Marvel titles.
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book Fantastic Four #48, published in 1966.
The Maker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writers Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar and artist Adam Kubert, while his Maker identity was created by Jonathan Hickman.
Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand was a 2013 comic book crossover, set within the Ultimate Marvel imprint.
"Reckoning War" is an American comic book storyline written by Dan Slott with art by Rachael Stott, Carlos Pacheco and Andrea De Vito published from February to June 2022 by Marvel Comics. This story deals with the Fantastic Four clashing with the Reckoning, a group of aliens derived from a mysterious race called the Prosilicans, who orchestrate multiple alien invasions causing a catastrophic cosmic war, which also features Uatu, Nick Fury, Doctor Doom, the Silver Surfer, the She-Hulk, and the Jack of Hearts.