Comics Cavern

In the wake of Ultimatum, the Ultimate Marvel universe has undergone tremendous change - and to drive the point home, Marvel cancelled all of the line’s ongoing titles, then rebooted Ultimate Spider-Man and debuted the new Ultimate Avengers ongoing. Oh, and they also destroyed New York City and killed, like, almost everybody.

Iron Man is currently MIA from the new team of Ultimates, as he is busy headlining the Warren Ellis-penned mini Ultimate Armor Wars, the first issue of which opens with a look at the ruins of Manhattan through the eyes of Tony Stark. The ruined buildings, the flooding, and the masses of the dead are a lot to take in, but one of the strangest sites is this billboard, which reveals that a Marvel mainstay has defected!

It’s a whole new world (albeit with the same old spam) - and things are so upside-down that Howard the Duck has somehow become Warner Bros. property! That’s right, in the Ultimate Universe, DC Comics’ parent corporation owns Steve Gerber’s legacy and Marvel’s most important fowl (for the next few months, anyway - until Disney and its many animals take over the House of Ideas).

It’s true what the ads say - in the new Ultimate Marvel, there are no rules! Just try to keep Howard away from Ultimate George Lucas. After the Ultimatum wave, I’d say there’s no need for another disaster anytime soon.

In the aftermath of the Ultimatum wave, the Ultimate Marvel universe bears more resemblance to the real world than ever. Even Ultimate YouTube gets just as much spam! I was pretty impressed with how in touch Brian Bendis is with the problems facing the Net here on Earth-1218 when I read this panel from Ultimate Spider-Man #3:

On the same day that I came across this article online:

Like, 90% of the heroes are dead, the Daily Bugle and Baxter Building are both gone, Peter Parker and MJ are splitsville… but spam lives on.

So much for escapist entertainment.