Marvel Just Changed Everything You Know About the Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel is currently on Year 2 of its Ultimate Universe, and with that comes drastic changes to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Iron Lad (Tony Stark) has been working to build his Ultimates to the point where they can take down The Maker and his evil council. Marvel has introduced several new iterations of heroes and villains all across its Ultimate lineup of comics, but we’ve yet to meet the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy… until now. The cosmic heroes are on par with the Avengers and Ultimates, but their Ultimate origin is a stark contrast to the one most fans are familiar with. WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Ultimates #8. Continue reading at your own risk!

The Ultimates #8 comes from the creative team of Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee, and VC’s Travis Lanham. It’s an issue dedicated to America Chavez, who the Ultimates rescued earlier on in the series. The Ultimates learn that America Chavez is a Guardian of the Galaxy, and her team has traveled from the 61st century to bring her home. The only problem is America Chavez has no memories of them.

Marvel’s Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy explained

Marvel gave fans a sneak peek at the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy’s debut back in October. Their roster consists of Star-Lord, Ultimate Nullifier, Cosmo, and Captain Marvel. While their names may be recognizable, they are far from the same versions of the heroes in the Earth-616 universe. For example, Star-Lord is a bald monk-looking figure with a white beard, reminiscent of Peter Quill’s “Master of the Sun” persona during Al Ewing’s run on Guardians of the Galaxy. Ultimate Star-Lord is referred to as Master of the Solar System, Lord of the Twelve Houses, and the Land Beyond the Sun.

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Ultimate Nullifier borrows the name of the powerful Marvel weapon. Their claim to fame is defeating Mephisto with one shot from their N-guns. Ultimate Nullifier makes easy work of She-Hulk, nullifying her in her tracks. Cosmo is the Ultimate Good Boy, and Captain Marvel has the blue skin of the Kree along with their Hala tracksuit. She is also the wielder of the Omni-bands and has a vested interest in America Chavez. Along with being teammates, they were also lovers.

Cosmo tries to repair America Chavez’s memories but finds they’ve been ripped from her head by the Maker. Since America has no memories, Captain Marvel offers hers up instead. We see America Chavez and Captain Marvel fighting side-by-side together, while also sharing a kiss. They make a formidable team, and it’s clear why the Guardians have gone through so much trouble to retrieve their teammate. Unfortunately, America chooses to stay with the Ultimates to help them in their fight against the Maker.

How The Maker influenced the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy

When the Maker changed the Ultimate Universe to prevent heroes from ever existing, it had a ripple effect through time that reached the 61st century. When Captain Universe started to experience grief and pain radiating from the 21st century, the Guardians sent a team of their most experienced heroes to the past to investigate. Only one returned alive with a warning of “The Unmaker.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy follow the oath, “Save everything.” That’s what they set out to do by turning the entire 61st century into an ark/century ship and driving it into the Superflow, the informational space between universes. They still experienced challenges, including ones that teased Kang the Conqueror, Planet Hulk (a world full of Hulks), and the death of Galactus. When their ship was destroyed, all the surviving Guardians were scattered throughout time. Captain Marvel found herself in the distant past, and America Chavez landed inside a 62-year span of “hard time” between 1963 and 2024. This was most likely set up by the Maker to prevent time travelers from interfering with his meddling of the Ultimate Universe.

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America Chavez somehow broke through that block of time, which is how the Maker got his grubby hands on her. Cosmo was able to get America’s scent, thereby leading the Guardians of the Galaxy to her. Captain Marvel warns that they’ve seen the future of the Ultimate Universe, and it leads to Maker winning and the Ultimates losing. Nevertheless, America is convinced they can change the future. The Guardians of the Galaxy leave America Chavez with a temporal flare she can use to signal them if she ever needs their help.

It’d be great if the Guardians of the Galaxy returned to help topple the Maker. One can even envision an Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy comic down the line, following their adventures as they try to find their missing teammates. There are 10 months remaining until the Maker returns, so we should know if that happens before 2025 concludes.