Marvel’s Ultimate Invasion follows Secret Wars with Miles Morales saga

With Secret Wars with Avengers on the not-so-distant horizon — projected to be released in 2026 — both Marvel fans and newcomers alike have had reason to Google the phrase “Secret Wars.” Multiple comic book events have borne that title, most recently in 2015, but now Marvel Comics is ready to meet fans in the present day. The company revealed a four-issue series called Secret Wars on Wednesday. Ultimate Invasion that picks up where 2015’s Secret Warsa point, which may give more insight into the future of the MCU. Secret Wars.

Ultimate Invasion also signals the unexpected return of the Ultimate Universe, an alt-universe that launched in the 2000s as a reboot of sorts featuring “ultimate” versions of Marvel’s most famous superheroes. Like any decent comic book reboot, it provided a good jumping-on point for lapsed fans; it also garnered enough success that it would later serve as one of the inspirations for DC’s New 52 reboot. The Ultimates didn’t last, though. Secret Wars (2015) put an end to the entire Ultimate endeavor, with just one exception — its very best idea: Miles Morales, the much-beloved alt-universe Spider-Man.

So it makes sense that Miles Morales is front and center at the forthcoming Ultimate Invasion, given how well-known he’s become. Ultimate Invasion’s writer and artist — Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch — make a lot of sense, too. Hitch and Hickman both worked on the first Ultimates series. Hickman also wrote the 2015 version. Secret WarsHickman was the mastermind behind the Krakoa era of gamification that brought an end to all this. Hickman, who is now the brain behind the Krakoa era’s current incarnation of the Krakoa series, is well-known. X-MenComics began with an epic reset in 2019. House of X/Powers of X.

“We both knew there needed to be a good reason to revisit the idea of ‘Ultimate Comics’ beyond telling a cool story or just getting to work together, which is something we’ve been trying to do for years,” Hickman told Entertainment Weekly. “So with that in mind, it couldn’t be replicating or revisiting what Bryan [Hitch]Did in the original Ultimates — creating a streamlined, modernized version that would eventually become the spine of the MCU — and it certainly couldn’t be what I did [in Secret Wars], which was a final chapter of a pre-existing universe.”

It also appears as though some version of the Illuminati (remember them from the MCU’s Multiverse of Madness?) will reconvene in Hitch and Hickman’s series; EW’s exclusive preview art depicts multiple former Illuminati members like Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic, Namor, and others. A major character is also in Ultimate Invasion will be The Maker, a villainous alt-universe version of Reed Richards; Hickman told EW that The Maker is “pretty much the perfect vehicle to get us from point A to point B.”

Readers of comic books will discover what this bizarre trip will be like. Ultimate Invasion Preview pages will be available as part of Free Comic Book Day, which takes place on May 6, 2023.