For almost as long as the Ultimate Universe has been around, Marvel has been killing it off. It seems like every other year, from Ultimatum to Cataclysm, the Ultimate heroes has seen Cosmic scale, world killing events far more regularly than their 616 counterparts. And now even with the entire Ultimate Universe destroyed, (along with the entire Marvel Multiverse), these characters just will not die. Ultimate End #1 aims to chronicle the struggle of extra dimensional counterparts having to share living space in a world they're not accustomed to.
In our newly constructed reality of Battleworld, the bulk of the 616 heroes, along with all the main ultimate heroes, are forced to share the domain of Manhattan. This results in a somewhat confusing mythos involving two Baxter Buildings, a Triskelon that i feel noone must work at, and in many cases, two of the same hero running around a space not much larger than a burrow of real life New York. This is especially contrasted when we see our 616 Spiderman arrive at a meeting between the 616 Avengers and the 1610 Ultimates. It is at this meeting that we first get to see people questioning the new status quo of Battleworld.
Let me be clear. There is no evidence that any of these heroes are the same as their pre Secret Wars counterparts, but there is no evidence to the contrary either really. All of the heroes at this clandestine meeting seem to have very full memories of their native realities, but no memory of the final incursion that erased both worlds from existence. In place of that knowledge is a very shaky memory taken from the mind of 1610 Tony Stark, notably still an alcoholic. In his recollections, someone working for Stark Industries finds a whole in spacetime, which when poked, pulls Bigger Tony from his bathroom in 616 face to Face with Younger Tony. It is ultimately implied that this hole in spacetime caused the uniting of their respective worlds, leading to Battleworld. Now to the reader this is a bold faced lie, but the memory must exist for a reason.
While this issue sets the stage for a spectacular beatdown between the two groups of heroes with a gorgeous two page faceoff, as seen through The (Ultimate?) Punisher's scope. The spread is eeirly reminiscant of Civil War, but really makes the whole " Who's Side Are You On?" thing a lot more complicated. While Ultimate End #1 has a strong first issue, you can't help but feel like Marvel is working way too hard at keeping the key secrets of Battleworld hidden for now, leading the tie-in writers to have to tip-toe around the main story. Hopefully this means that as the main story gets further on, we'll be able to discern more from the jumbled editorial scrap-heap that is Battleworld.
Ultimate End gives the reader our first look at our favorite characters who didnt make it out of the multiverse reborn, but does so without giving anything away that they weren't ready to. The cliff hanger of the first issue certainly implies that these heroes actions will have major consequences on the rule of Doom, but still dosnt get us anywhere in solving the mystery of Battleworld
No comments:
Post a Comment