Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

In the last few years Marvel Comics has created a new universe, called the Ultimate Universe, which contains updated versions of many of its most famous characters. Captain America is one of those updated characters.

The Ultimate version of Captain America was created by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch for their series the Ultimates (itself an updating of the Avengers). While this is a modern interpretation of the character, many of the core elements remain in place.

The Ultimate Captain America is also Steve Rogers, a frail volunteer who goes through months of steroid treatment, surgery and finally the Super-Soldier formula to become Captain America. Bucky is his childhood friend and follows him as a photographer not as his sidekick.

In his last mission as Captain America he attempts to stop a prototype hydrogen bomb which has been created using alien technology. When the rocket carrying the bomb explodes he falls into the freezing Arctic Ocean and stays in suspended animation until Tony Stark’s exploration team discovers him. Unlike the mainstream Marvel Universe, Bucky is still alive and has married Roger’s fiancee Gail, thinking Steve long dead.

Captain America in the Ultimate Universe is definitely more inclined to use violence to solve problems, he’s also very uncomfortable with modern life. Steve Roger’s morals are firmly planted in the 1940s and many things about the present do not sit well with him. The only major difference to his uniform is that there are no wings on his mask and it is held on with a chin strap.

As in the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers becomes a central member of the Ultimates (the Avengers in the Marvel Universe). He ends up dating the Wasp after she becomes estranged from her abusive husband Henry Pym.

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