10 Insanely Powerful Characters Who Prove the New Marvel Ultimate Universe is Better Than the Original

The original Marvel Ultimate Universe took familiar Marvel Comics characters and reinvented them for a new generation of readers, updating their origins for the modern day. That meant that Marvel took often mythical heroes and turned them into more realistic characters in many cases, which sometimes weakened them, while also promising at first that death was permanent in this universe. However, after the “Time Runs Out” storyline and Secret Wars, this universe was dead. In 2023, Marvel brought back a new Ultimate Universe by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch, and this time around, there were even bigger reinventions and some very powerful characters in this world.

Here are 10 examples that prove that the new Ultimate Universe of Earth-6160 has more powerful characters than the original Ultimate Universe.

10) Grimm (Nico Minoru)

In Earth-616, Nico Minoru is a sorceress from the Runaways who has become a fan-favorite character. She became so popular that she was reimagined in Spider-Man’s world in the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man animated series. However, in the new Ultimate Universe of Earth-6160, she is even more powerful and might be one of the most powerful sorcerers in Marvel. She debuted in Ultimate X-Men #3 (2024) by Peach Momoko as a friend of Armor.

She originally had a magnifying glass that helped her identify fellow mutants, and she took on the name Grimm when she joined the Children of the Atom. She is a mutant here, and her X-gene activates through a blood pact that happened when her magnifying glass broke and gashed her cheek, turning it into a staff. As a mutant with mystical powers, she is both a sorceress and a psychic, and she showed her true power by banishing the Shadow King with her Staff of One.

9) Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

In the original Ultimate Universe, Spider-Man was a teenager who did everything he could to help people and then ended up dying after a battle with Ultimate Green Goblin, although he would later return and admit that his spider-DNA kept him alive. However, in the new Ultimate Universe, Peter Parker is stronger than he ever was on Earth-1610. Here in this new world, he debuted in Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024) by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto.

Instead of being a teenager, this Spider-Man is a middle-aged man who is married to Mary Jane and has two kids named Richard and May. Unlike the mainline Spider-Man, Peter becomes a hero here as an adult since The Maker ensured he was never bitten by the spider as a teenager. Instead, Tony Stark gave him his powers 20 years after he was supposed to originally receive them. This made Peter a mature adult when he gained his powers, and this allowed him to properly train and become a powerful hero.

8) Black Panther

Black Panther debuted in Ultimate Black Panther #1 (2024) by Bryan Edward Hill and Stefano Caselli. Just like in the main Marvel Universe, Black Panther is King T’Challa, the ruler of Wakanda. However, here, he is planning for an upcoming war against Moon Knight, and the stories are centered around Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu, both of whom are the Maker’s underlings, trying to annex Africa for the Maker’s control.

There are other differences in this world, as both Storm and Killmonger work as a guerrilla resistance. As for his powers, he has the same kinetic-energy Vibranium suit, but it is even more powerful. T’Challa also has the superpower to hear and command Vibranium directly, which is important since it is not a metal but is actually symbiotically alive and bonded with Wakanda. Thanks to the mystical connection, this Black Panther is more powerful than he ever was on Earth-1610.

7) Captain America

Captain America in the original Ultimate Universe was mostly the same in power levels as the one from Earth-616, but with even more old-time stuck-in-the-past morals. The Captain America from the new Ultimate Universe debuted in Ultimate Invasion #4 (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch. His origin was the same, being frozen during World War II. His return saw him recruited into the Ultimates 1.0 resistance, where he served as the moral center of the team.

The big change here is that the Maker ensured the Super-Soldier program never existed and then assumed that Steve Rogers never existed as a hero. Iron Lad and Doom time-traveled with the Immortus Engine and recovered Rogers before he could end up erased from history. Unlike the original Ultimates version, where he was revived in a democracy, he was revived in the Maker’s fascist world and became more hard-edged, a hero willing to kill.

6) She-Hulk (Lejori Zakaria)

She-Hulk was a completely different character in the new Ultimate Universe. Instead of Jennifer Walters getting her power from her cousin’s blood transfusion, this version is a woman named Lejori Zakaria. She debuted in Free Comic Book Day 2024 Ultimate Universe / Spider-Man #1, with her main-series introduction in The Ultimates #3 (2024) by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri. In this world, Bruce Banner detonated gamma tests in the Pacific and created a contaminated Gamma Island.

Most people there died or were horribly mutated, but Lejori grew stronger and became this world’s She-Hulk. She has a powerful healing factor, once regrowing a lost hand, and she also kept her intelligence, a step up from the mainline Hulk. This version of She-Hulk is the protector of Gamma Island, and she later became a member of the Ultimates in exchange for the team helping restore her island. Her main enemy is Bruce Banner, who is part of the Maker’s Council in this world.

5) Sif

Sif is a very important part of the new Ultimate Universe as a founding member of the Ultimates. She made her debut in Ultimate Invasion #2 (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch, and then returned in the first issue of The Ultimates. In this new world, the Maker had helped Loki rise to power, destroy the Bifrost, and imprison his brother Thor. Sif was Thor’s jailer, but then she became his lover, and the two of them helped form the Ultimates to fight back against the Maker.

What makes this version of Sif so interesting is that she is shown to be on Thor’s power level, which is a huge jump from any other variant of her character. She was so formidable that she was able to keep Thor imprisoned until Doom and Iron Lad broke him out. It should be noted that Sif does die in the series, but this is as an ultimate sacrifice to kill Mangog and help Thor assume the All-Storm, which triggers a Ragnarok that wiped out the old Asgardian pantheon.

4) Iron Lad (Tony Stark)

Tony Stark isn’t Iron Man in the new Ultimate Universe, but is instead Iron Lad. In this world, Howard Stark was this world’s Iron Man, and Tony was his teenage son who first appeared in Ultimate Invasion #1 (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch. He ends up as the leader and founder of the Ultimates resistance team and builds the Iron Lad suit while powering it using the Immortus Engine. He doesn’t have the Earth-616 addiction problems and is training to become the next Iron Man.

What makes this version of Tony Stark so special is that he uses the Maker’s absence, which was thanks to Howard Stark and Doom, to help rebuild the idea of heroes in this world. What makes him so powerful, though, is that his actions built the structure needed to finally take the battle to the Maker and his fascist regime. Tony used the Immortus Engine to travel through time and plant origin boxes throughout history to allow the forgotten heroes to finally gain their powers.

3) Thor

Thor made his debut in Ultimate Invasion #2 (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch. When the Maker altered history, the only main changes coming to Asgard were Loki officially taking control, destroying the Bifrost, killing Odin, and then imprisoning his brother for treason. Unlike the original Ultimate Universe’s Thor, who was powerful but was unsure about his godlike origin for a long time, this version knew from the start who he was, and he was powerful enough to overpower almost any Asgardian, save for his jailer, Sif.

When Iron Lad and Doom freed him, he joined them to start the Ultimates resistance force and took the battle to the Maker. In this world, this Thor is as powerful as the Earth-616 version, which is more powerful than the original Ultimate Universe version. Thor showed his might and power after Sif died when he ascended into the All-Storm and destroyed the old Asgardian pantheon in a significant god-tier power escalation.

2) Doctor Doom (Reed Richards)

Doctor Doom was the most powerful hero in the new Ultimate Universe, and the reason he was a hero is that he isn’t Victor Von Doom. Instead, Reed Richards became Doom in this world. While Reed Richards from Earth-1610 became the evil warlord known as the Maker, the Reed from Earth-6160 became Doom, and the two variants were locked into a mighty battle in this world. He debuted in Ultimate Invasion #2 (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch and first appeared in his Doom persona in Ultimate Invasion #3 (2023).

The shock here was that Doom is a hero, and he set out to free heroes such as Thor while also working on building a resistance force that would eventually become the Ultimates. The Maker sabotaged the flight that created the Fantastic Four, which saw Johnny Storm die, Ben Grimm die by suicide, and Susan Storm have her cells destroyed, leading to cancer. He then tortured this Reed for decades, brainwashing him into becoming Doom. However, Reed kept his genius-level intellect and used it to help in the war against the Maker.

1) Maker

The most powerful character in the new Ultimate Universe can’t be anyone other than the Maker. In the original Marvel Ultimate Universe, the Maker was one of the most dangerous villains in existence, Reed Richards, who went totally evil and almost conquered the entire world. While that was a powerful villain, the Maker here is a god, not unlike Doctor Doom in the Secret Wars series. The Maker created Earth-6160 and then altered things through history so the heroes who could have stopped him were never born or never received their powers.

He used the Immortus Engine time machine and a databank of heroes he stole from the Baxter Building on Earth-616 to achieve his goals. The Maker then ruled the world as a tyrant and built his own circle of villains to serve his needs. The one thing to note about the new Ultimate Universe of Earth-6160 is that the story opens with Howard Stark and Doom trapping the Maker inside the city for two years so they can find a way to revive the heroes to fight when he returns. That made the story a complete self-contained tale, starting with Ultimate Universe #1 (2023) and ending this year with Ultimate Universe Finale (2026).

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