When you’re looking for the biggest threat a superhero universe could face, look no further than… Warren Ellis! As much as he seems to dislike ‘superhero’ comics, he seems to spend a good enough time writing about them. And you won’t get any complaints from me!
Apparently, ‘Ultimate Nightmare’ was never intended to be the first part of a trilogy. Instead, it was going to act as a prologue for an Ultimate Universe crossover by Mark Millar that never materialised when Millar developed health problems. So, instead, Ellis wrote two more mini-series to finish the tale off. Also referred to as the ‘Ultimate Galactus Trilogy’, the story introduces the Ultimate version of a massive player from the mainstream Marvel Universe. A six-part series of back-up features allowed Mark Millar to hop aboard and explain the origin of Gah Lak Tus and the Vision.
On Earth-1610, the X-Men and the Ultimates end up investigating the same mysterious signal in Tunguska, only to discover a cosmic-level threat is approaching their world…
Related Series: This story is told over the course of limited series.
Crossover: A series of back-up stories featuring the Vision runs through a number of ongoing Ultimate Universe titles, providing background information on Gah Lak Tus; each issue was a flip book that featured a Vision cover.
Must-Reads: Issues marked with a ✔are essential to the story.
Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Ultimate Nightmare #1-5
- ✔ Ultimate Secret #1-4
- ✔ Ultimate Spider-Man #86 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate X-Men #65 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate Spider-Man #87 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate Spider-Man #88 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate Fantastic Four #26 [2/2]
- ✔ Ultimate Extinction #1-5
See how this event fits into the wider Ultimate Universe chronology with this reading order:
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Ultimate Nightmare #1 All forms of communications technology across the world start displaying images of alien races watching their own destruction. When the loop doesn’t stop and people begin committing suicide all over the globe, Professor X (Charles Xavier) sends Marvel Girl, Colossus and Wolverine to Tunguska to discover the source of the transmissions (which Xavier believes is a new mutant). Elsewhere, Nick Fury prepares two of the Ultimates – Captain America and the Black Widow – to locate the source of the messages and stamp ’em out… 1st appearance: Falcon/Sam Wilson |
| ✔ | Ultimate Nightmare #2 Cap and the Widow are introduced to their new ally for this mission, the Falcon (Sam Wilson), when they arrive in Tunguska. They discover the source of the signal at an old Russian military complex at the same time as the X-Men, but from different entrances… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Nightmare #3 Both teams make their way through the complex, completely unaware of each other. The X-Men have a run-in with a cyborg super-soldier (this universe’s unofficial Red Guardian) and the Ultimates face a horned man (this universe’s Unicorn) who they kill in self-defense. 1st appearance: Unicorn |
| ✔ | Ultimate Nightmare #4 The Russians had been using this complex to experiment on their soldiers in an effort to create their very own super-soldier. Despite having been shut down for ten years, it’s still home to a number of failed experiments. Marvel Girl’s Phoenix powers kick in and she takes down the army of super-freaks, but begins becoming more aggressive and turning against Wolverine and Colossus. They discover a robot at the centre of the complex at which point Marvel Girl goes into a trance and announces everything must die… 1st appearance: Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov |
| ✔ | Ultimate Nightmare #5 While Captain America’s busy killing the Red Guardian, Black Widow, Falcon and Fury arrive at the centre of the complex. The Ultimates take down the X-Men. Announcing itself as the Vision, the robot interrupts by explaining that he crashed on Earth 100 years ago to warn them about Gah Lak Tus. The X-Men take the opportunity to escape and the Ultimates take the Vision back to America for the Falcon to study… 1st appearance: Vision |
| ✔ | Ultimate Secret #1 An alien species called the Kree send a Killform to sabotage the launch of SHIELD‘s new Asis space exploration vehicle. Away from the eyes of his teammate Carol Danvers, Agent Phillip Lawson activates a suit of hi-tech armour and intercepts the Killform. Hopelessly outmatched, the Killform destroys Asis and causes a massive explosion… 1st appearance: Captain Marvel/Mahr Vehl/Dr Philip Lawson, Carol Danvers, Kree (race) |
| ✔ | Ultimate Secret #2 Lawson’s real name is Mahr Vehl and he was sent to Earth by his fellow Kree to spy on humanity but ended up warming to the Earthlings; enough to risk his life to pull a nuclear device from the exploding Asis before it can do too much damage. Mahr Vehl destroys the Killform and passes out, coming around later in a SHIELD cell and being questioned by Carol Danvers and Nick Fury. Mahr Vehl reveals he’d been posing as Lawson to observe humanity and never learn how to leave Earth. Mentioning Gah Lak Tus in passing lets Fury know Mahr Vehl is telling the truth. Fury summons Reed Richards and Susan Storm for help. They, along with the rest of the Fantastic Four, are escorted to the Triskelion by Thor and Iron Man (Tony Stark). |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Ultimate Secret #3 Mahr Vehl explains Yahn Rgg of the Kree hopes to keep the humans on Earth so Gah Lak Tus can exterminate them all at once, removing the potential threat humanity poses to their empire. Wanting to save humanity, Mark Vehl wants to help out and turn against his race. Mahr Vehl and Iron Man rebuild the Asis to make it invisible to the Kree and, once it’s done, launch it into space. On the ground, Fury and his forces distract the Kree Killforms… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Secret #4 In space, the Asis lands aboard the Kree ship, and Hawkeye, Iron Man and Mahr Vehl begin killing their way through the Kree soldiers. Mahr Vehl (dubbed ‘Captain Marvel‘) takes all the information the Kree have on Gah Lak Tus and the vessel is destroyed, along with Yahn Rgg. Back on Earth, Carol Danvers and Mahr Vell are ordered to work with Sam Wilson and the Vision to prepare for the coming of Gah Lak Tus… 1st appearance: Yahn Rgg |
| ✔ | Ultimate Spider-Man #86 [2/2] The Falcon and Reed Richards work away on the damaged Vision robot in the hope of learning something that’ll help them stop Gah Lak Tus. Suddenly, the Vision repairs itself right in front of them and takes on a female form. |
| ✔ | Ultimate X-Men #65 [2/2] Vision shares her memories, starting with the first planet she was sent to to warn them of Gah Lak Tus, half a billion years ago… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 [2/2] The inhabitants of the first world transformed Vision from a spherical droid into a form that would mimic the shape and language of the beings of any world she would visit. If they failed to repel Gah Lak Tus, perhaps the inhabitants of another world would succeed… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Spider-Man #87 [2/2] The Vision travelled to many worlds, learning of their cultures and trying to combine all that knowledge to defeat Gah Lak Tus. Even when she travelled to a world of engineers and gave them 200 years notice before the ‘Endbringer’ arrived, they couldn’t save their armour-plated world. In all that time, no world survived. Now Earth is next… |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Ultimate Spider-Man #88 [2/2] Vision absorbs all of Earth’s knowledge and observes the Fantastic Four, Ultimates and the X-Men as they prepare for the end times. At the Xavier School, Marvel Girl almost tells Wolverine how she feels about him, but he stops her. |
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #26 [2/2] Having learned all she can, Vision comes to the conclusion that the Earth is doomed and prepares to leave to warn the next inhabited world. Gah Lak Tus is only 96 hours away… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Extinction #1 Nick Fury gives Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, the Falcon, Reed Richards and Sue Storm the task of figuring out a way to save the Earth from Gah Lak Tus. Elsewhere in New York, private investigator Misty Knight is hired to investigate the disappearance of Edward Schaffer‘s wife and learns she’s joined the Paul Maitreya Cult. Misty stakes out the cult and learns she’s not the only missing wife to have joined up. Paul Maitreya turns out to be a silver man with bizarre metal wings. Her stake-out is interrupted when a mystery bald woman guns down everyone in the cult’s meeting place. Misty tries to take the shooter down and notices her dragon tattoo. The assassin tears off Misty’s sleeve and reveals her Stark-built bionic arm. Misty is overpowered and the assassin escapes… 1st appearance: Gah Lak Tus (cameo), Misty Knight, Moondragon clones, Silver Men |
| ✔ | Ultimate Extinction #2 Tony Stark and Charles Xavier join the group of big brains trying to save the world, learning Gah Lak Tus is a swarm with a collective consciousness. The world is seven days away from death. Fury agrees to upgrade Cerebro to allow Xavier to attack the swarm psychically. With help from NY Police Captain Jean DeWolff, Misty Knight learns the assassin is a woman named Heather Douglas who died 22 years ago. Later, Paul Maitreya shows up at Misty’s office and attacks her, exploding the wall of her office. Captain America and the Falcon head into New York to deal with a terrorist bomb-threat, not realising they’re about to face Paul Maitreya… 1st appearance: Gah Lak Tus (full), Moondragon/Heather Douglas |
| ✔ | Ultimate Extinction #3 Cap and the Falcon force Maitreye away, allowing them to pick Misty Knight up and try to arrest her. She’s brought back to the Triskelion where Tony Stark angrily explains that Misty lost her arm saving people from a bombing in Manhattan and he built her a cyborg arm for her troubles. Reed Richards devises a way to defeat Gah Lak Tus at the risk of giving Nick Fury the ultimate weapon if the Earth survives. Xavier uses the upgraded Cerebro to psychically assault Gah Lak Tus. In retaliation, the swarm fires a Silver Man at the Triskelion. Iron Man and Captain Marvel attempt to defend the Triskelion, but the Silver Man defeats them… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Extinction #4 Misty Knight captures Heather Douglas when she tries to destroy a satellite dish at the Triskelion. Falcon questions Heather and learns she’s a clone of her dead mother, created by the Enclave. They also learn the cults that were set up by the Silver Men all over the Earth (including ‘Paul Maitreya’ – aka Silver Wings) were meant to to convince people to commit suicide to reduce the potential opposition to Gah Lak Tus. Captain Marvel and Captain America start taking down the Silver Men. Xavier and Jean Grey approach the Vision, asking for her help in defeating Gah Lak Tus. Reed Richards asks Nick Fury for all the Adamantium he can provide. Nick Fury is interrogating one of the captured Silver Men when an army of Heather Douglas clones attacks the Triskelion… |
| ✔ | Ultimate Extinction #5 The Ultimates and the X-Men fend off the Heather clone army. Xavier uses Cerebro to communicate with the entire human race to use their positive thoughts as a weapon against the dark consciousness of Gah Lak Tus. Reed reveals his plan to transport Gah Lak Tus into a new universe during its own big bang, using its power to destroy the swarm and end that universe with a nuclear missile. But the plan fails and only 20% of Gah Lak Tus is destroyed. However they do succeed in scaring the remaining swarm off. Nick Fury uploads the details of Reed Richards’ weapon into the Vision and seems pretty sure that the Earth can handle any future threat that comes its way… |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2 (2006) Jean DeWolff is killed by the Punisher over her secret dealings with the Kingpin. | ||
| ✔ | Ultimate Power #9 (2006) Carol Danvers becomes Director SHIELD when Nick Fury is stranded in another universe after ‘playing god’ one time too many. | MARCH ON ULTIMATUM |
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #42-46 (2007) The Fantastic Four encounter the Silver Searcher (Norrin Radd), a being who was the basis for the Silver Men. | |
| ✔ | Ultimate Vision #1-5 (2007-2008) Vision and the Falcon discover one of the Gah Lak Tus bugs is still on Earth; Vision’s relationship with the Falcon intensifies; Vision, AIM agent George Tarleton and the artificially created Dima destroy the bug at the cost of Dima’s life. | |
| ✔ | Ultimate Fantastic Four #52 (2008) Captain Marvel returns, standing among the heroes opposing Thanos. | |
| ✔ | Ultimate Comics Mystery #1-4 (2010) Captain Marvel continues to fight for Earth; Misty Knight is revealed to have joined the Roxxon Brain Trust. Ultimate Comics Doom #2 (2011) Misty Knight and almost all the other members of the Roxxon Brain Trust are killed by an alien creature. | ULTIMATE DOOMSDAY |
| ✔ | Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates #21-23 (2013) A new, human Vision (Robert Mitchell) emerges as one of the West Coast Ultimates. | |
| ✔ | Hunger #1-4 (2013) Gah Lak Tus merges with Galactus of Earth-616; Captain Marvel reveals the Kree were behind the creation of Gah Lak Tus; Captain Marvel dies trying to end the threat of Gah Lak Tus/Galactus. Ultimate Comics Cataclysm #0.1 (2013) The Vision is destroyed by Galactus, proclaiming her love for Falcon in her final moments. Ultimate Comics Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #4-5 (2014) Captain America dies during the fight with Galactus; Reed Richards sends Galactus into the Negative Zone to starve to death. | CATACLYSM |
| ✔ | All-New Invaders #5 (2014) Ikaris and his fellow Eternals bring Galactus out of the Negative Zone and back to Earth-616 where they plan to use him as a weapon against the Kree. | |
| Ultimates #2 (2015) Earth-616’s version of the Ultimates put Galactus through an incubation process in an effort to cure him of his hunger; this process likely removed any remaining traces of Gah Lak Tus. | ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT MARVEL |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Ultimate Galactus Trilogy | Ultimate Extinction #1-5 Ultimate Fantastic Four #25-26 (part) Ultimate Nightmare #1-5 Ultimate Secret #1-4 Ultimate Spider-Man #86-88 (part) Ultimate X-Men #65 (part) |
| Ultimate Galactus vol.1: Nightmare | Ultimate Nightmare #1-5 |
| Ultimate Galactus vol.2: Secret | Ultimate Secret #1-4 |
| Ultimate Vision | Ultimate Fantastic Four #25-26 (part) Ultimate Spider-Man #86-88 (part) Ultimate Vision #1-5 Ultimate X-Men #65 (part) |
| Ultimate Galactus vol.3: Extinction | Ultimate Extinction #1-5 |
Reading Order ©Omniverse Comics Guide, 2024
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