The Ultimate Universe technically has two "beginnings", i.e. two different sparks/events that got the ball rolling for everything else. The first was the advent of the Super Soldier Serum and its first and only success, Captain America, during World War II. Those of you familiar with Cap, it's the same story as before. Those of you who aren't, here it is: Captain America is Steven Rogers, a young man who had a lot of gung-ho to join the Army but didn't meet the physical prerequisites. Rather than turn him away, the government allowed him to volunteer to be a guinea pig for the Super Soldier Serum, a formula that would turn him into, um, yeah...a super soldier. Stronger, faster, more durable than a normal person - this is what the serum turned Steve Rogers into. Alas, the Nazis had secret agents everywhere, and the scientist responsible for the serum was killed before it could be mass produced, his notes burned by those very Nazis. Hence, the secret to the serum was lost forever, save locked away in Steve Rogers' DNA. But, as fate would have it, Captain America was lost in a high-risk mission, and seemingly killed just before the war's end.
However, the fact that Captain America even existed drove the powers that be to try and recreate the process. The race to rediscover the secret of the Super Soldier Serum, or at least something close to it, has had a domino effect throughout the Ultimate Universe. Numerous scientists, conglomerates, research laboratories and seemingly every nerd with an at-home chemistry set has been working throughout the years to develop their own Serum, with various effects, both positive and negative. It really has become a genetic arms race, and even nuclear weapons have been placed on the backburner next to the concept of each nation having its own Captain America.
The race for the Serum has inadvertantly created many of the superheroes in the Ultimate Universe. As I mentioned before, the Hulk is perhaps the greatest tragedy/triumph in pursuit of this now legendary elixir. Some folks have neglected the Serum in favor of other ways of genetic enhancement, such as Dr. Henry Pym and his "Pym Particles", which allow one to grow to gigantic sizes. Tony Stark has turned to technology, creating the Iron Man suit which serves as a one-man army (though it needs an army of technicians to get off the ground).
Spider-Man is also a product of this very race, though through accidental means. Norman Osborn, owner and operator of Oscorp Industries, developed a miracle drug called "Oz". One of many guinea pigs used by Oscorp in the testing of Oz was a spider, which escaped from its cage and found and promptly bit a young teenager named Peter Parker. The Oz, mixed with the spider's venom, gave Parker his powers. Osborn was aware of this sudden mutation, and decided to try injecting himself with Oz. Unfortunately, the Oz by itself only served to transform Osborn into a giant, green-skinned monster, now affectionately known as "The Green Goblin". Accidents with Oz have also created Dr. Octopus and the Hobgoblin.
Now, before I continue and get some of you majorly confused, I need to tell you about the other "spark" for the Ultimate Universe, and that spark is the recent and rampant emergent of mutants. If you know the X-Men, you know what I mean, but for those who might not a mutant is someone born with special powers, seemingly the "next step" in human evolution. Recently mutants have been showing up by the hundreds, and the fact that so many people with super powers are suddenly here has sent most of the public into all-out panic. The most frightening of these newcomers is undoubtedly Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants, a group of mutant terrorists bent on conquering the planet. The government's knee jerk reaction was the Sentinel program, which employed giant robots called Sentinels to "keep the peace", but this only proved to add to the carnage. Some idealistic mutants ran to the banner of Professor Charles Xavier, who gathered them as a defensive fighting force known as the X-Men. The X-Men indeed saved Washington D.C. from one of Magneto's most prolific attacks, and henceforth have had a begrudging relationship with the American government.
But Magneto's assault on the capitol of the country had far greater consequences than scaring some homo sapiens silly. It was a signal to the government that action was called for. So, the powers that be chose General Nicholas Fury, an African-American military man with an impeccable record for getting the job done, to take charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., a new military establishment that would specialize in policing superpowered individuals. Nick Fury's first initiative was the creation of his own group of superpowered individuals, codenamed "The Ultimates". He hired Tony Stark (Iron Man), Dr. Henry Pym (Giant Man), Henry's wife Janet Pym (The Wasp, secretly a mutant whose DNA Henry used to develop his own Pym Particles), Dr. Bruce Banner (whose emergence as the Hulk ended up causing more harm than good), Thor (who really is the god of Norse mythology but everyone else just assumes is a crazy man with weapons of incredible power), and, in a twist we all saw coming, Captain America.
Cap, it turns out (and if you've heard this before, forgive me; I'm trying to cover all the bases), didn't die, but was frozen in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was the Super Soldier Serum, maybe a combination of the two, who knows, but somehow Cap was frozen in suspended animation, not aging a day since his last mission back in WWII. Now once again awake and ready for action, Captain America took the position of team leader for the Ultimates.
So, Nick Fury had his team, and they worked just as you would suspect a police force of super people would act: they were pricks. Well, now, that might be a bit harsh, but honestly, the Ultimates simply follow the law and Fury's orders without much protestation. S.H.I.E.L.D. even started sending them overseas to disarm and pacify whole countries. Obviously, this didn't go over so well with the rest of the world. S.H.I.E.L.D. was an American institution, and the fact that the ol' US of A had such tremendous power at their beck and call upset a lot of people.
And that's pretty much where it's at right now.
There's a few other things I could cover, like how the Fantastic Four came into being (accident with a teleporter) or how everyone banded together to stop a swarm of evil, planet-destroying robots called Gah Lak Tus, but none of that will really come into play for our game (unless it does, in which case I'll explain it then). But for the purposes of the Ultimate Avengers (not to be confused with the Ultimates in this storyline), these are the only really important things you need to know. Captain America begot Serum Race begot numerous heroes, and Mutants begot Formation of S.H.I.E.L.D. begot formation of Ultimates.
And that begot the formation of the B-Squad, or, as we like to call ourselves, the Ultimate Avengers
In the next post I'll go into detail about how the Ultimate Avengers came into being, and where our game diverts from the normal Ultimate Universe storyline.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment