Synopsis
Ultimates² (2017 series) #2 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
On the splash page Big G reminds us of some of the events in the 1st series. How the 5 Ultimates changed him from the planet-killing Devourer to the Lifebringer, seeder of worlds. In return he helped them to see what lies outside the multiverse. While there he (but not the humans) met the multiversal Eternity (of whom Eternity-616 is but a facet) and learned that he, and hence the multiverse, was now in chains. And the Really Big E charged him with finding who'd done this. In the last issue of that series he transformed Anti-Man (Conner Sims) into his new Herald and sent him to bring the Ultimates to help him. But earlier he'd also learned that Lord Chaos and Master Order want him changed back into the Devourer.
Last issue Anti-Man captured 4 of the disbanded Ultimates (Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Captain Marvel and Spectrum) and brought them to his master on his Taa II worldship. BP and CM continued to strongly disagree over Civil War II until the 5th member America Chavez appeared and told them she was now leader of the team.
There's a chunk of flashback in the middle of this issue where Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) remembers how the meeting with Galactus concluded. She reminded everyone that the Government had ordered them to disband and now America wanted them to gather in secret and work with Galactus who she didn't trust not to revert to being the Devourer. Big G couldn't answer that but MAC (Ms America Chavez) reminded *her* that she promised to heed the call if ever she needed help. CM reluctantly agreed to answer when necessary.
Now Dr Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel) tells Chavez and Monica Rambeau (Spectrum) on Taa II how his dad inspired him to embrace the strange, which must include snow falling in space outside the ship. America says it isn't snow and Monica (in her light-form) with her cosmic awareness declares that it's bits of another reality.
We learn that Galactus and Anti-Man are elsewhere, and we see that they are in the Superflow (or Overspace) where the abstract entities live. Present are the 3-faced Living Tribunal with Chaos and Order who are petitioning him to turn the Lifebringer back to the Devourer Of Worlds because his change has upset the cosmic balance. Lord Chaos rants that it's all a conspiracy and the multiverse should be destroyed, but Master Order calmly asks for the Tribunal's judgement. He also adds that when they tried to reason with G he attacked them (last series #6). He suggests that if Galactus won't become the Devourer again he should be destroyed and replaced.
2 of the ex-Ultimates are in a meeting in the Alpha Flight space station, Colonel Danvers in reality and the others including King T'Challa (Black Panther) as holograms. Danvers tells the assembly that the Kronans have alerted her (as Ambassador Extraordinary for the human race) that the Chitauri are active again. She's surprised when Henry Peter Gyrich accepts what she says and supports whatever she thinks best. It's at this point that she has the flashback to the end of last issue. Which coincides with a request for help from MAC. So she cuts the meeting short, and hologram BP says he has to go too. Only Philip Nelson Vogt seems unhappy/suspicious about this.
Black Panther and Captain Marvel materialise in Taa II and are also confused by the presence of 'snow', which forms into a huge white face declaiming "Nothing dies". America Chavez appears urging them to run because 'it' has got in. But instead BP and CM combine in an attack with energy daggers and force blasts which seem to do a lot of damage. T'Challa confesses that his daggers are set to a frequency that resonates with Carol's own which she paranoidly, but probably correctly, suspects as him exploring her weaknesses. Blue Marvel and Spectrum join them as the broken image rebuilds itself. But BM is ready and controls his energy blasts to form a shell to contain their visitor.
Adam Brashear asks to interloper to tell them his story. It turns out that it's (the ghost of) the Shaper Of Worlds and he gives them a brief resume of what he did in between the end of the 7th Cosmos and the start of the current 8th (in Silver Surfer (2014) #13-15 during the Secret Wars event). With the help of SS and Dawn Greenwood and his pupil Glorian he tried to recreate a single universe, but Glorian betrayed and killed him. And the 8th Cosmos arose anyway. But in that moment he saw the One Who Is One, and the Others.
The distressed being tries to break out of his shell but Adam asks Monica to do what they'd practised. Spectrum's light form affects his brain to give his power a boost, and a strengthened globe holds the Shaper. Brashear comments that he'd theorised (early in the previous series) about the ending and restarting of the multiverse, and Chavez confirms that it did happen. The ghost says he's come back to warn Galactus about these vast beings who haven't died.
Meanwhile the Living Tribunal pronounces his judgement that Big G should continue as he is. The old Cosmos has gone and the hierarchy of the new Cosmos is readjusting to form a new balance which must be allowed to settle. Master Order is glad to hear the LT confirm this. And he and Lord Chaos make *their* move in this game as they kill the Tribunal.
Characters:
Plus: Anti-Man (
Conner Sims), Blue Marvel (
Adam Brashear), Living Tribunal, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Philip Nelson Vogt, Spectrum (
Monica Rambeau), Ultimates.