The newest iteration of Ultimate Marvel has made a huge splash with fans already, to the extent that it’s the one part of the House of Ideas that fans agree is the best. The new Ultimate books have done something quite different form the old ones; the old ones started out with a more slavish devotion to classic Marvel, while the new Ultimate Universe has flipped the script. This has led to vastly different versions of Marvel classics in books like The Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, The Ultimates, and Ultimate Black Panther. The latest Ultimate book, Ultimate Wolverine, has taken a page from this playbook, refreshing some old Wolverine tropes.
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Ultimate Wolverine first appeared in Ultimate Universe: One Year Later. Fans were surprised by this, since readers had seen an adamantium skeleton labeled “Weapon X” in 2024’s Marvel Free Comic Book Day Special, and it’s become a very welcome surprise. This new Wolverine definitely plays on the old mind-controlled supersoldier trope that has been a huge part of Wolverine’s history, as revealed in Ultimate Wolverine #1. However, Ultimate Wolverine has found new ways to make this trope fresh.
The New Ultimate Wolverine Takes a Large Dash of Winter Soldier to Makes Things Fresh
The new Ultimate Universe is a world controlled by villainy. It was created by the Maker, the Reed Richards of the old Ultimate Universe, and he did his best to create a world that he felt was perfect. The world is led by the Maker’s Council. Mutants have much more representation in this world, with both Russia and Japan — known as Hi no Kuni — being home to mutants. Russia is run by Colossus, his sister Magik, and longtime Wolverine villain Omega Red, while Hi no Kuni is ruled by Sunfire. The main mutant homeland is Russia and they’ve been able to get their hands on the ultimate weapon — Wolverine. Ultimate Wolverine #1 reveals both their preparation of Wolverine, including bonding adamantium to his skeleton and adding ways to control his mind, as well as showing off who he might have been before through his first target, Nightcrawler.
The Wolverine of the Ultimate Universe is a brainwashed assassin, which is something that Wolverine fans have experienced many times over the years. In the 616 universe, Wolverine was meant to be a mind-controlled assassin for the powers of the West. There have been multiple stories, both from the 616 universe and from alternate universes, of a brainwashed Wolverine. In the ’90s, Wolverine’s solo title dealt heavily with the consequences of Weapon X on Wolverine’s mind. It looks like this is also going to be the way that Ultimate Wolverine goes; there’s no way that Ultimate Wolverine is going to stay under the control of Colossus, Magik and Omega Red, and there will definitely be stories about Wolverine finding out who he really was, which he can’t remember right now. This is not a new type of Wolverine story; however, even longtime Wolverine fans are excited for this book and its revelations.
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The reason for this is simple — they are taking it in a new direction. Marvel itself billed this version of Wolverine as the Ultimate Winter Soldier, and that makes a lot of sense. The Winter Soldier was Bucky, retrieved after surviving the drone plane bomb that Cap thought killed him. The Soviets transformed Bucky into a brainwashed supersoldier, putting him in stasis when they aren’t using him. This is also what is happening in Ultimate Wolverine. The book’s first issue showed soldiers finding a very injured Wolverine in the aftermath of a battle, one that seemed to involve Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Mystique against the Eurasian Republic. They bring him back to Russia, and they begin to experiment on him, with the second issue of the book revealing where the Eurasians got the know how to bond adamantium to his skeleton — the Maker killed Doctor Cornelius of the Weapon X project and took his research decades ago. They’ve erased much of his memories, set up failsafes to keep him under control, and keep him in stasis between missions. They even call him their Winter Soldier.
The first two issues of the book have a very similar vibe to older Wolverine stories, but adding in the Winter Soldier twist gives it a sense of something new. One of the biggest problems with superhero comics is the cyclical nature of everything. Superheroes are created with certain tropes that are considered a part of their bedrock, and it doesn’t matter how much things are changed, the status quo is always reset. Every few years, Wolverine has to deal with Weapon X related shenanigans. Someone who has read Wolverine since the ’90s has experienced several of these stories, because it’s an important part of who Wolverine is. Ultimate Wolverine is doing the exact same thing, but adding in the Winter Soldier makes something old new again.
Ultimate Wolverine Could Become the Best Version of Both Weapon X and the Winter Soldier
Weapon X stories can be very good, but they can also be rather trite, and that’s become a problem every time Wolverine goes back to that well. Stories like “Weapon X” and “The Shiva Scenario” are the gold standard of Weapon X stories, but they are both over three decades in the past. Since then, most stories that deal with Weapon X have been okay at best, with outliers like “Assault on Weapon Plus” reaching the levels of previous Weapon X stories, because they are walking on already well-trod ground. As for the Winter Soldier, the meat of that story began twenty years ago. “The Winter Soldier” is an excellent story, and it’s hard to top. However, Ultimate Wolverine may be able to top both the best Weapon X stories and “The Winter Soldier”.
The new Ultimate Universe is such fertile ground for stories and so far Ultimate Wolverine has been using that to its advantage. The first two issues of the book have combined amazing action scenes with compelling lore while taking readers into the Eurasian Republic’s Directorate X. The book has been able to take parts of both Weapon X and Winter Soldier and found new ways to make them work. There’s so much story that this book can tell, from the truth about Logan’s life before becoming the Winter Soldier to the drama of the leadership of the Eurasian Republic and Directorate X, that readers could be getting something that will last the ages, all because writer Chris Condon and artist Alessandro Cappuccio found new ways to use old tropes.
Ultimate Wolverine #2 is on sale everywhere comics are sold.
