Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Ultimates #1! Marvel Comics’ new Ultimates in the newly-established Ultimate Universe of Earth-6160 have just officially been introduced with the debut of the team’s full roster. The idea of the new Ultimates, and the build-up to the team’s ultimate formation, has been quite some time in the making, spanning multiple comic titles and major events that laid the groundwork for this new corner of Marvel continuity. And now, after all those storylines, it has all culminated in the Ultimate Universe’s flagship title, The Ultimates, with the official formation of this modernized ‘Avengers’.

In The Ultimates #1 by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri, Tony Stark (Iron Lad), Reed Richards (Doom), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Thor, and Sif decide that the only way to fix their world – which was broken by the multiversal villain, the Maker – is to create and then recruit superheroes, those whose destinies were stolen from them by the evil Reed Richards himself. And in the end, they are successful in doing just that with the inclusion of their universe’s versions of two of the original founding Avengers: Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne aka Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Just as Iron Lad did with some of the other heroes of this world – including Spider-Man – he sent Hank and Janet the means to become the superheroes they were always meant to be. In their case, Stark gave them their suits equipped with Pym Particles, allowing Janet to shrink down to become the Wasp, and Hank to grow as tall as a building to become Giant-Man (a moniker that’s historically been interchangeable with Ant-Man). With these new recruits, the Ultimates have officially assembled: Iron Lad, Doom, Captain America, Thor, Sif, the Wasp, and Giant-Man.

Marvel’s New Ultimates is Missing A Few Legacy Avengers – Where Are They?

While the formation of the Ultimates is an exciting development for this new Ultimate Universe, the official roster does seem to be missing a few key names that have long-been associated with both the original Ultimates and the Avengers: Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. Black Widow became a member of Earth-616’s Avengers early in the team’s history, as did Hawkeye, and both were among the first members of Earth-1610’s Ultimates. Hulk was a founding member of both the original Avengers and the original Ultimates. So, why are they not included in this new team?

This issue confirms that Hawkeye was given the same chance to become a superhero as Hank and Janet, but decided not to take it. Any information on Black Widow has yet to be revealed, leaving her as a mystery yet to be solved. The Hulk, on the other hand, isn’t just absent from the Ultimates, he’s one of their main villains. The Hulk is a member of the Maker’s Council, a secret society that rules the world from the shadows, and he represents a cult-like group with major global influence, The Children of Eternal Light.

Hulk – who has merged with Bruce Banner into a twisted version of the classic Doc Green – was totally corrupted into one of the Maker’s pawns, and as such, has the power to impact the world at large for the betterment of the Maker’s Council, and no one else. It was Hulk who cast the deciding vote to orchestrate a catastrophic attack on New York City and blame the heroes who would become the Ultimates, branding them as terrorists, and it is the Hulk who stands as one of the team’s greatest hurdles moving forward.

Aside from the three heroes most associated with the early establishment of an Avengers/Ultimates team, other legacy members such as Captain Marvel, Sentry, and long-time Avengers ally, Black Bolt were killed (Captain Marvel died of an accidental ‘suicide by superpower’ courtesy of the Ultimates, while the other two were killed by the Maker). Similarly, Doctor Strange is being held captive by the Maker/the Maker’s Council, though his status and whereabouts are currently unknown.

Who Are the New Ultimates? Everything Revealed About the New Modernized Avengers

The Ultimates #1 reveals that Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne ran their own pest control company before they were given their suits equipped with Pym Particles by Tony Stark. However, they are just the latest to join this newly-established team – what about the rest of them?

Tony Stark is the teenage son of Howard Stark, the original Iron Man, who worked closely with the Maker and was even asked to join the Maker’s Council. It’s through Howard’s experience learning the sinister inner-workings of the Maker’s mission that readers are then introduced to Doom, the version of Reed Richards of this reality who the Maker molded into Doom and turned into his own personal head scientist. Doom and Howard become close, leading to Howard revolting against the Maker, which coincides with an attack from the future led by this universe’s ‘Kang the Conqueror’.

The attack from the future on the Maker resulted in the fall of the City, a time-displaced Citadel that acted as the Maker’s base of operations. With its fall, the Maker became trapped within the City, which is where he’s currently (temporarily) imprisoned.

After turning on the Maker, Howard died, and he passed down his legacy to his son, Tony, who immediately aligned himself with Doom. Together, Doom and Tony find the frozen body of Captain America before traveling to Asgard and freeing Thor – who was imprisoned due to the Maker’s meddling. Lady Sif was Thor’s warden, and she followed him to Earth to bring him back to his cell, though Sif was quickly convinced to join this righteous mission instead, thereby becoming one of the original members of the Ultimates herself.

The Mission of Marvel Comics’ New Ultimates, Explained

Now that the roster is set, and the team is ready for action, it’s important to flesh out exactly why the Ultimates assembled in the first place. As previously mentioned, the Maker single-handedly threw the world of Earth-6160 into disarray for the sake of establishing his own global empire. He did so through time travel, which he used to systematically neutralize, kill, or corrupt every major player in the Marvel Universe.

After the events of the essential-reading miniseries Ultimate Invasion (which detailed the aforementioned origins of Stark and Doom, and the attack on the Maker from the future), the Maker has been locked within a temporal prison of his own design, one which will automatically open in less than two years. That means the Ultimates have only that tiny window in which to operate, and they are restoring the stolen destinies of the heroes the Maker neutralized, and then recruiting them into the Ultimates in order to form a team strong enough to dismantle the entirety of the Maker’s Council.

The stakes are incredibly high for this new team of modernized Avengers, as their world is literally hanging in the balance. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to fix the world the Maker so thoroughly destroyed before the villain is freed from his temporal prison, but their chances just got a little bit better, as now the full Ultimates roster has officially been assembled.

The Ultimates #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.