Marvel’s New Ultimate X-Men Reveals First Details

Marvel Comics has released new details on its relaunch of Ultimate X-Men. The book is a part of Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe, debuting alongside Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Black Panther. Each of these series spins out of Ultimate Invasion, which saw Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch team up to introduce a new take on the Ultimate Universe. While we know Peter Parker will be a married Spider-Man and Black Panther will go to war with Moon Knight, little has been revealed about Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men. Ultimate Universe #1 included a prelude to Momoko’s opening story, but now Marvel has provided a description of the first issue.

Marvel’s March 2024 solicitation includes Ultimate X-Men #1. The solicitation states that a teenage girl named Hisako Ichiki will be the headliner of the series. “Hisako Ichiki is a teenage girl who just wants to live a normal life – go to school, hang out with her friends, ignore the political strife broiling over after the events of ULTIMATE INVASION – but life has other plans for her,” the solicitation for Ultimate X-Men #1 reads. “In Japan, urban legends have sprung to life and brought some unusual new powers with them…Meet Armor, Maystorm and a group of new Ultimate X-Men the likes of which you’ve never seen before!”

Marvel relaunches Ultimate Universe

The Ultimate Comics line largely continued throughout the 2000s, but eventually saw some of its most popular characters move to the “main” Marvel-616 universe as a result of 2015’s Secret Wars. This was mostly for the benefit of Miles Morales, but the Ultimate version of Reed Richards, the evil “The Maker,” also crossed over as well, and kickstarted the events in Ultimate Invasion. Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch previously spoke about helping to restart the Ultimate Universe.

“What made the Ultimate Universe originally really interesting was that it was a reflection of the world outside your window, in the moment that you were living in. What does it look like in the world we’re living in now?” Hickman said when the new Ultimate Universe was announced. “It’s kind of shocking how much the world has changed in that period of time. The idea of what it would be like to see the genesis of super heroes in a brand-new world is a really fascinating exercise.”

“You don’t ever have to have read any of the Ultimate Universe to enjoy this,” Hitch added. “There’s some great comics in there, but this doesn’t need you to be familiar with that stuff. You just need to get in on page one and enjoy this because the story takes you where you need to go.”