Ultimate Wolverine #1 is here, kicking off the first new ongoing title in the second year of the reborn Ultimate Universe. And as advertised, the new Ultimate Wolverine is also the Ultimate Winter Soldier, carrying that codename as a mindless weapon in the service of the Creator's villainous cabal.
And like the Marvel Universe's Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, the Ultimate Wolverine version has a backstory rife with tragedy and the loss of old friends, combined with elements of Logan's classic Weapon X origins. But for the new Ultimate Wolverine, his time as the Winter Soldier will come at an even greater personal cost than it did for Bucky.
Spoilers ahead for Ultimate Wolverine #1
Ultimate Wolverine #1 by writer Chris Condon, artist Allessandro Cappuccio, color artist Bryan Valenza, and letterer Cory Petit alternate between showing how the new Ultimate Wolverine transformed into the Creator's Winter Soldier and his final bloodthirsty mission afterward. from his first appearance in the recent Ultimate Universe: One Year In one-shot.
In a series of flashbacks, we are shown a dying Logan being captured as the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Eurasian Republic, one of the Creator's territories that is controlled by the Rasputins, Colossus and Magik, and their cohorts. It turns out that the reason he survived is because of his vaunted healing factor, and he's also part of the mutant resistance fighting the Rasputins.
The Rasputins have their scientists perform the same experiments that were done on the Marvel Universe's Wolverine as part of Weapon But instead of giving him the codename Wolverine, they call him their Winter Soldier, making him their personal assassin.
In the present day, the Winter Soldier is sent on a mission to eliminate some of the mutant rebels who were once his allies; in this case, a cell led by none other than the new Ultimate versions of Mystique and Nightcrawler, one of Wolverine's closest friends and allies from the conventional Marvel Universe.
Ultimate Wolverine/Winter Soldier quickly tears through his soldiers with the same ruthless efficiency as his conventional counterpart, eventually interacting with Mystique. She transforms into Colossus, attempting to summon Wolverine, but her super senses are not fooled, and Mystique is brutally dispatched as quickly as she is introduced, at the end of Wolverine's adamantium claws.
Tragically, it turns out that, just like in the core Marvel Universe, Ultimate Nightcrawler and Ultimate Wolverine are old friends, and Nightcrawler begs Wolverine's inner self to recognize him. Unfortunately, it was to no avail, as Wolverine also kills Ultimate Nightcrawler.
The story ends when Wolverine is recovered by one of his military handlers who congratulates him on the operation before taking him home. As Wolverine returns home in the hold of a plane, he smells Nightcrawler's blood on his claws, but it is unclear if there is any hint of recognition of his old friend's scent.
For now, he remains a seemingly unstoppable killing machine that has already killed two powerful and popular X-Men characters, living up to the reborn Ultimate Universe's reputation for pulling no punches when it comes to the fate of its characters.
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