Warning: Spoilers for Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1The new Nick Furyis the most evil version of the character ever, and he’s just proven it by committing the horrific murder of Marvel’s most wholesome team: the Power Pack. It’s not exactly a new trick to make a story dark, but it works here because of just how over-the-top it is, and how far this book goes to make readers hate this guy.
In Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1 by Deniz Camp, Jonas Scharf, Mattia Iacono, and Travis Lanham, the Ultimate Universe's new version of Nick Fury proves how evil he is by killing this universe’s Power Pack in brutal fashion, meaning that the young heroes never have a chance to rise up against this world’s dictatorship.
The issue is structured as a confession by Fury, with the brutal child murder only one of the acts that pushes Fury to eventually betray his evil masters, who unfortunately were expecting him to do so.
Ultimate Nick Fury Killed the Ultimate Power Pack, Cementing How Bleak This Universe Is
The Worst Version of Nick Fury - Ever
The Power Pack is usually the most family-friendly of Marvel teams. Gifted superpowers by a dying alien, the band of four siblings have starred in child-friendly comics series off and on since the 1980s. Even when they haven’t had their own title, they’ve been reliable supporting characters for other characters and teams in their lighter adventures, such as the Fantastic Four. Not that the group haven’t had their share of dark adventures. Like the best child-friendly media, the Pack confront adult themes through a childlike lens, most famously finding themselves entangled in the X-Men’s Mutant Massacre in the '80s.
Truthfully, Marvel villains don't really matter in the grand scheme of the wider universe, but the Ultimate Universe has found a way to change that.
This story isn’t the first time that the Power Pack has been used to show just how awful an alternate universe is. Marvel Zombies / Army of Darkness #3 by John Layman, Fabiano Neves, June Chung, and Russ Wooton embraces the classic zombie movie trope of zombie kids with the Pack. Meanwhile, Exiles #61 by Tony Bedard, Jim Calafiore, Mark McKenna, JC, and Dave Sharpe goes a step further, showing a horrifically fused Power Pack in its return to the Age of Apocalypse timeline.
Nick Fury Killing the Power Pack Is the Ultimate Universe's Most Unbelievable Choice Yet
Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1 Cover by Rafael Albuquerque
Part of what’s fun about Fury’s brutality in Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1 is how it’s deliberately over-the-top. There are two things that a villain can do to become irredeemable in an audience’s mind: kill kids or kill a dog. On one page, Fury does both, killing not just Power Pack, but also the Inhuman dog Lockjaw. It’s so dark and over-the-top evil that it comes all the way back around and becomes funny again. This Nick Fury is a blast to read about, even as he does horrific things like killing the Power Pack.
Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Custom Image by Kate O'Donoghue
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