We’re coming to the end of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, so you’d think the publisher would be done introducing new, Ultimat-ized versions of the classics. Guess what? You’d be wrong. Because — and spoilers past this point — The Ultimates #19 introduces a last second swerve that completely changes what we thought was going on with The Wasp in this book. Because she’s not really working for Nick Fury; she’s working for The Vision.
Since Ultimate Universe: One Year In, we’ve known that The Wasp is a traitor on the team, and has been working for Nick Fury and H.A.N.D., aka the folks the Ultimates are trying to take down in order to free the world. That’s bad enough, but even worse she’s doing it under the nose of her sweet, dumb husband Hank Pym.
Ultimates #19 by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri even seems on the surface to be the story of how and why Janet Van Dyne turned against her fellow man to join Team Maker. But there’s a big, big swerve by the end of the issue. In the past, we discover how against her better instincts she fell in love with Hank, a man who truly seemed to care about her. Even when The Maker manipulated events so that Hank would never become the genius he is in the main Marvel Universe, she still loved him, broken brain and all. That’s when she was recruited and trained, four nights a week, though not by Nick Fury.
While it’s not explicitly laid out there, the “person” who recruited her was Vision, not Fury. However, she’s essentially been working as a triple agent, not a double agent: for Vision, who had her work for Fury, seemingly against The Ultimates, but always on the side of good.
How do we know it’s the side of good? Over in Ultimate Endgame #1, H.A.N.D. pulls off a successful attack on the Ultimates Network, taking it down and blowing up their satellite, the Triskelion. In the wake of this blow, Hank gets hurt, and to save his life, Wasp reveals she’s been working for Nick, with him taking them both prisoner. Fury is going to hold Hank prisoner while making Janet continue to work for him, until Janet says, “I can’t do this anymore. Do you hear me?”
Fury thinks she’s talking to him, but she’s not — and a ghostly hand reaches through his body, pulling out his positronic brain (all the Furys in the Ultimate Universe are life model decoys).
“She doesn’t work for him,” says the owner of the hand. And as the other H.A.N.D. soldiers shoot each other, it continues, “She works with me.”
Just in case you weren’t clear who this robot with a red face, red and white body and cape is, the caption teases, “Next: Behold the Vision!”
So yeah, this is Ultimate Vision. As for who Ultimate Vision is, and what his place is on the Endgame board, TBD. But to throw out some pure speculation, Hank Pym, Vision, Wasp, and Ultron have all been mixed together in continuity before. In the Ultimate Universe, Ultron-82, aka U-82, aka “Uatu” was introduced in the Ultimate Universe: Two Years In special. He’s a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy lost in time, and has been watching humanity for millennia. It’s entirely possible that U-82 has something to do with the creation of Vision, and has been subtly manipulating events, versus just watching and recording.
With only a few issues left to go, all the answers should be before us, sooner rather than later. As for whether there are more surprises in store in The Ultimates? Yeah, probably.
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