Ultimate Invasion #[nn]

History

Originally, writer Donny Cates was attached to the project as a follow-up to his Venom run, in which the Maker had featured prominently, but a serious car accident forced Cates to withdraw; Cates received a special thanks credit in the first issue. Marvel then brought in Jonathan Hickman, who redirected the story away from Cates's plot entirely, choosing instead to build something that could, in Hickman's words, 'really only exist in the comic space.' Hickman reunited with artist Bryan Hitch — their first collaboration since Hickman's own *Ultimate Comics: Ultimates* run in 2012 — with colors by Alex Sinclair and letters by VC's Joe Caramagna. The four US issues (June–October 2023) were collected and published in France by Panini Comics on 6 March 2024 in a 184-page hardcover volume under their 100% Marvel line, simultaneously with equivalent Panini editions for Germany and the UK.

Trivia · 8 facts

• The Panini France volume (released 6 March 2024, ISBN 9791039123846) collects the complete four-issue US limited series *Ultimate Invasion* (Marvel, 2023) #1–4 in a 184-page hardcover format, and was the first French-language publication of these stories.
• Written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Bryan Hitch (colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by VC's Joe Caramagna), the series was originally intended for writer Donny Cates, who had introduced the Maker in his Venom run; after Cates was injured in a car accident, Hickman took over with a substantially different creative direction, and Cates received a special thanks credit in the first issue.
• The story establishes Earth-6160, a new alternate universe distinct from the original Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610), in which the Maker — the villainous Reed Richards of Earth-1610 — uses time travel to prevent superheroes from ever emerging, installs Loki on Asgard's throne, prevents the Fantastic Four's rocket accident, and creates a shadow government called the Maker's Council to rule the world.
• The Maker's Council as depicted in the series comprises villain-controlled geopolitical blocs: the North American Union (Howard Stark/Obadiah Stane), the European Coalition (Henri Dugarry/Captain Britain), the Eurasian Republic (Illyana Rasputina/Magik, Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Arkady Rossovich/Omega Red), among others including Bruce Banner's Hulk, Shiro Yoshida's Sunfire, Kenuichio Harada's Silver Samurai, and Ophelia Sarkissian's Viper.
• The first issue's main story features the Earth-616 Illuminati — Tony Stark (Iron Man), Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), T'Challa (Black Panther), Stephen Strange (Doctor Strange), Blackagar Boltagon (Black Bolt), Namor, and Charles Xavier (Professor X) — attempting to stop the Maker's escape, with Miles Morales (the Ultimate Spider-Man of Earth-1610) also playing a central role.
• Iron Lad (Earth-6160 Tony Stark) makes his first appearance in *Ultimate Invasion* #4, designing his own armor in homage to his father Howard Stark's Iron Man suit after Howard is trapped inside 'the City' alongside the Maker and a version of Kang; the series strongly implies that this Tony Stark may be a future Kang the Conqueror, as his armor design and the Iron Lad codename parallel Kang's own origin in Earth-616 continuity.
• The Kang appearing in the series is credited in GCD records as Nathaniel Richards, and commands an army of genetically engineered clones resembling classic Avengers (Thor, Captain America, Wasp, Giant-Man, and Vision) from the far future — a detail that underscores the series' time-travel-saturated narrative structure.
• The Panini France album directly seeded a wave of subsequent French-language Ultimate Universe publications, including *Ultimate Universe* (Panini France, October 2024) and a bimonthly *Ultimate Universe* anthology title launched the same month, collecting the new line of Ultimate titles (Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men, The Ultimates) that spun out of the events of this series.

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