Ultimate Incursion

January 2025 Update

Sorry about the radio silence. I’m keen to keep this Substack focused on the OG Ultimate Universe and there has been nothing for a while but there might be a couple of things to mention now - have you seen Marvel have announced and Ultimate Epic Collection line? Looks great, hoping the re-print everything as I love a consistent spine on my shelf.

Now to the main item…

With the new Ultimate Universe in full swing and entering its second year we’ve finally had a bit of confirmation. When asked directly about Donny Cates’ original pitch for the Ultimate Universe in his Substack Tom Brevoort answered;

And it would also be wrong of me to disclose any ideas that Donny may have had for an ULTIMATE launch, as he may one day yet still be able to use them somewhere, whether at Marvel or elsewhere.

Brevoort is usually not afraid to disclose plot and pitch ideas when the time is right. His Substack is full of such anecdotes. His unwillingness to discuss Cates’ pitch here also makes perfect sense, most of the anecdotes shared are decades old while Cates’ is fairly recent and Cates’ is fully able to take that pitch and repurpose it either at Marvel or elsewhere as Tom notes.

Interestingly, Brevoort states ‘as he may one day yet still be able to use them somewhere’ certainly leaves all of this speculation on the table. Taking into account previous hints and speculation, it is clear that Cates was in fact at one moment writing Ultimate Invasion, it is also clear that his Ultimate Invasion was very different to Hickman’s eventual series. Cates teased using deeper cuts from the original Ultimate Universe, something absent in Hickman’s story. Outside of The Maker and Miles Morales appearing in Ultimate Invasion #1, the original Ultimate Universe is not important at all, The Maker is playing with a completely different universe, yes a universe with visual cues from the original Ultimate Universe such as the costumes, however they feel more like homages than anything else. 

I think Cates’ Ultimate Invasion involved bringing back the original Ultimate Universe, or at least a version of it. I think the cover to Ultimate Invasion #1 alludes to that. The Ultimates on the cover are the original Ultimates and not the Ultimate army seen within Hickman’s series. Obviously it is possible that Cates’ story would not have featured the Ultimates as they are on the cover either - that isn’t how they ended within the Ultimate Universe, albeit, it would certainly be more appropriate if it had involved the original Universe. It could also have meant Cates' was to bring back a golden-era of the Ultimate Universe rather than a direct continuation. It is also worth noting that the Ultimates appearances in Spider-Men 2 and Ultimates2 that took a similar approach - my head canon is that these are versions of, not the actual 1610 characters.

Taking the cover at face value, the illuminati, Miles, The Maker and the original Ultimates, an implication of smashing through dimensions (an incursion perhaps) combined with Cates’ special thanks in issue 1 (an issue that is being revisited in a Free Comic Book Day (new)Ultimate story by Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar and Jonas Scharf), I don’t think we’re done with Cates’ plan yet. Let's break this down;

Ultimate Incursion - With Timeslide #1 by Steve Foxe and Ivan Fiorelli we are teased with a number of Marvel events and storylines including something called Ultimate Incursion.

That's not the only Ultimate reference in the issue, it also features snapshots of both Ultimate Wolverines, from the original and new Ultimate universe. The new Ultimate Wolverine makes sense as the purpose of Timeslide #1 is to provide an in-narrative tease for upcoming storylines and events. The inclusion of the original Ultimate Wolverine poses the most questions, was this an artist or editorial error, or was it deliberate. If deliberate it certainly alludes to the original, or a version of the original Ultimate Universe (or Wolverine at the very least) being incorporated someway.

The use of the word Incursion in the upcoming event certainly draws some connections to Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run and Secret Wars event. Its use could imply a couple of this;

• This a flashback storyline to celebrate 10 years since Secret Wars, we’ll see more of the event, or perhaps more thematically the Time Runs Out storyline from the Ultimate’s point of view.

• It’s a new incursion of some kind, perhaps Cates’ original Invasion plan rebranded, or The Maker’s new plan as he leaves the City. How or why The Makers plan for the 6160 Ultimate, involves an incursion with either the 616 or 1610 universe is something we’ll have to wait and see how the storyline develops to understand. Again, the cover to Ultimate Invasion #1 and the plot of the first issue could certainly be connected to an Incursion. Venom #200 certainly alludes to The Makers plans being an issue for the 616 universe and we’ve not seen that within Ultimate Invasion or the new Ultimate Universe.

The Free Comic Book Day issue seemingly supports connections to Ultimate Incursions, the cover features The Maker crushing two worlds together, eerily similar to how Incursions have been visualised within the Avengers and Secret Wars storylines. The solicitations add some further context as the story is seemingly the prologue to the upcoming Ultimate event. “Plus, an exclusive prologue to this summer’s blockbuster ULTIMATE event from Deniz Camp, Cody Ziglar & Jonas Scharf!”

While this doesn’t seem to link to Cates’ directly as the creative team on the FCBD issue are Deniz Camp (current writer of the Ultimates), Jonas Scharf (artist of the Ultimate Universe One Year On oneshot), and Cody Zigalr (current writer on Miles Morales: Spider-Man). The preview depicts a version of the interaction between The Maker and Miles Morales from Ultimate Invasion #1, in this instance drawn by Scharf and potentially from Miles’ point of view.

This interaction is a plot thread that initially felt like it would have repercussions to Ultimate Invasion, but didn’t, however, it is seemingly important for Ultimate Incursion storyline. Ziglar’s involvement implies Miles’ importance, so perhaps the 616 is heavily involved? We could hypothesise that the Miles interaction was a leftover from Cates’ pitch, or a thread left so they could revisit these initial ideas and that now is the time too “to use them somewhere”. Donny Cates hasn’t been linked to the FCBD book or Ultimate Incursion anyway as of writing this piece. Other writers involved in the FCBD story could imply he won’t be involved. Cates’ is seemingly on the road to recovery but it’s unclear if he is currently working on any active projects. It could be he’s not. It could also be that the Camp et al. are just working on the FCBD story due to availability or building the connective tissue to connect to whatever comes next.

The Maker is currently trapped within the City in the new Ultimate Universe, with the Ultimate line seemingly building up to his return. The books are not only releasing month by month but are progressing month by month with the narrative as well. Reinforcing the concept of counting down. It’s likely, The Maker’s return, the FCBD and ‘Ultimate Incursion’ are all building to the same thing. Ultimate Incursion might be that thing.

My personal theory is that on The Maker’s return means one of two things happen; he is defeated and/or his plan was to create a ‘weaker’ Universe that he could create an Incursion in order to replace with his old world. Regardless of if Donny Cates’ has anything to do with it, I think we’ll see the original Ultimate Universe in Ultimate Incursion. What that means for the new Ultimate Universe (it’s proved a success so Marvel aren’t going to end it) or the old Ultimate Universe (it's the imprints 25th anniversary - Marvel aren’t going to let that pass quietly) is anyone guess. It is also Secret Wars’ 10th anniversary so it all kind of falls into place. One thing feels certain following some comments by Deniz Camp is that the new Ultimate Universe line isn’t going away once The Maker returns.

Yeah, I would say we’re building to something in 18 issues. I’ve seen a lot of people say things like, “Oh, the series is going to end at 18 issues. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying we’re building to something big at the end of 18 issues. So yes, 18 issues is guaranteed, but I’m sure that it will be at least a little bit longer than that, you know.2

Can the new Ultimate Universe and the original co-exist? Maybe. I hope so.

A couple more notes;

Bryan Hitch alluded to working on more Ultimate related titles post Ultimate Invasion but that seemingly hasn’t happened. Could he have meant Ultimate Incursion. Was this event locked in from the start?

The Maker and Miles Morales aren’t the only Ultimate characters to survive the end of the original Ultimate Universe, so did Jimmy Hudson. Jimmy had initially featured in X-Men: Blue, he then joined with a symbiote in Venomized (don’t ask) and then seemingly disappeared and did not feature at all in the X-Men’s Krakoan era. Strangely, he recently resurfaced in Venom War: Deadpool by X-Men Blue writer Cullen Bunn. It very much felt like an editorial piece, moving characters into place for future storylines, as Deadpool frees Jimmy only to hand him over to the comic version of the TVA. He has subsequently appeared in the TVA mini series. This is purely speculative but they’ve put Jimmy in a multiversal title/storyline just prior to the seemingly multiversal Ultimate Incursion storyline. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jimmy was to play a part in the upcoming event too.

Just as a wrap up in in the process of finishing up the print edition of Rumble, featuring exclusive content not featured in the ‘zines including interviews with Mahumd Asrar and André Lima Araújo and so much more.

If you’re interested in the digitals issues of the ‘zine, head of to rumblecomics.gumroad.com

Hopefully, I’ll be back soon.