In the new Ultimate Universe, The Maker (the original Ultimate Universe's twisted Mister Fantastic) used time travel to create his ideal Earth by systematically preventing anyone from ever becoming a superhero and by establishing a secret council of supervillains.
The Maker's Council rules the world from the shadows, but he's now gone, locked in his own facility, The City, by Howard Stark.
That's left Howard's teenage son, Tony, to take on the codename Iron Lad and team up with this world's Doom (a broken Reed Richards) to set things right. First, they stole the frozen Super-Soldier Captain America from the icy depths. Next, they broke the Asgardian God Thor out of prison and were followed by his warden, Sif.
However, the Maker's Council did not want Iron Lad unmaking the world they had built. Council member Captain Britain confronted the team, badly wounding Thor but losing an eye to Iron Lad.
The Council then launched an attack on New York City using Stark satellites, with Tony and his allies barely escaping with their lives but now framed as terrorists.
The Ultimates #1 opens with Tony and Doom enacting their plan to restore the world's superheroes by sending them an explanation of their true purpose on their world, technology to help them become the heroes they should have been, and a recap of their intended history.
The problem is, it doesn't work.
Spider-Man was a success, but we see that Clint Barton rejected becoming Hawkeye (as did many heroes). Captain Marvel is shown losing control, while we learn most of the duo's intended targets died while testing our their new powers. This world is just too different, but on the plus side, Captain America is now awake and part of the Ultimates team.
We then catch up with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, learning that the former hid Iron Lad's offer of becoming a superhero because he didn't want to end up a wife-beating madman like his Earth-616 counterpart.
When Captain Britain attacks, Janet decides to become The Wasp and, following a heart-to-heart with Cap, Hank embraces his destiny by transforming into perhaps the biggest Giant-Man to date.
With that, the new Ultimates team assembles: Iron Lad, Doom, Captain America, Thor, Sif, Giant-Man, and The Wasp. However, they only have 17 months until The Maker emerges from The City. Can they fix the world before whatever he's become emerges from The City? That remains to be seen...
THE ULTIMATES RETURN TO GREATNESS! Spinning out of Jonathan Hickman and Stefano Caselli's ULTIMATE UNIVERSE #1, rising stars Deniz Camp (CHILDREN OF THE VAULT, 20th Century Men) and Juan Frigeri (INVINCIBLE IRON MAN) assemble an all-new team of ULTIMATES in a series that kicks off the next chapter of the new Ultimate line.
Six months ago, Tony Stark sent Peter Parker a radioactive spider to set him back on the course to become Spider-Man. Since then, Iron Lad (Stark), Captain America, Doom, Thor and Sif have begun to do the same for other lost heroes, building a network of super-powered heroes hungry for change… Now they must band together to destroy the Maker's Council and restore freedom and free will to a world ruled from the shadows!