After the reality-shaking events of Avengers: Endgame, there's no telling where the Marvel Cinematic Universe could go next. While the path forward will eventually involve bringing in the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and other mutant characters that were regained through Disney's acquisition of Fox, it's not entirely clear when those characters will enter the MCU. But now, a new report suggests that the MCU may adapt Ultimatum.

While that 2009 storyline marks a turned point for Marvel's Ultimate Universe, it still stands as one of the most controversial Marvel stories of all time. Despite this, there are ways in which Marvel Studios could reconfigure the controversial event to the big screen. Now, we're taking a look back at the story that closed the first chapter on the Ultimate Universe, and how the MCU could potentially adapt it.

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R.I.P. ULTIMATE MARVEL

Starting in 2000, Marvel's highly successful Ultimate Universe had largely achieved its initial goal of retelling and updating some of the more well-known stories for the various Marvel superheroes by the middle of the decade. Accordingly, comic book icons Jeph Loeb and David Finch were tasked with wrapping up many of the universe's narrative elements, paving the way for a line-wide reboot afterward.

The lead-up to Ultimatum came through various preceding miniseries', including Loeb's run on The Ultimates 3. The fallout from these and other stories saw Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver, former Ultimates and the children of mutant terrorist Magneto, killed. Swearing revenge on the Ultimates and humanity in general, Magneto uses his powers to steal Thor's hammer -- which in the Ultimate Universe is not bound by worthiness. By combining its lightning with his own power, Magneto changed the polarity of the Earth itself, causing massive natural disasters and worldwide destruction.

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This catastrophe heavily affected New York, which, as in the regular Marvel Universe, is home to most of the world's heroes. This leads to untold amounts of casualties, including the Invisible Woman, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Wasp, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Daredevil. Seemingly more powerful than ever, Magneto makes quick work of all who attempt to apprehend him, even going so far as killing Charles Xavier. To defeat the Master of Magnetism, the Ultimates recruited the aid of Nick Fury, who at the time was residing in the universe of the Supreme Power books. Upon returning home, he reveals to Magneto the truth behind the origins of the mutant species.

In the Ultimate Universe, mutants are not the next step in humanity's evolution. Instead, the mutant gene is the man-made result of genetic mutation research on Wolverine, which led to the global spread of the mutated genome. This had a cataclysmic effect on the treatment of mutants in the Ultimate Universe, who went from being simply feared and hated to being seen as a literal plague. The Ultimate Universe books would all be canceled following Ultimatum, before being relaunched and rebranded as Ultimate Comics.

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THE ULTIMATE CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

The choice of Ultimatum as a potential arc for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is certainly a head-scratching one, due to the how controversial and poorly received it was. In fact, many saw the event as the death -- or at least the beginning of the end -- of the Ultimate Universe. The story, much like its predecessor Ultimates 3, was known for contradicting elements of established Ultimate Universe continuity. The massive death toll was also criticized, particularly in how said deaths were handled. Mainstay characters like Angel and Daredevil were killed off-panel, while Wasp and Blob both had particularly gruesome, violent deaths involving cannibalism. Even the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing got in on the grim and gritty action, violently popping Dr. Doom's head like a balloon in revenge for his hand in Magneto's actions.

The MCU has dramatically changed source material for its own needs, however, as it did when adapting everything from Civil War to The Infinity Gauntlet. One possible way that the bare bones of the story could be used could see the Scarlet Witch killed off, which could bring Magneto into the fray if he is her father in this world.

Along with his Brotherhood, this could mark the start of his campaign against humanity for the deaths of mutants. Conversely, the revelation of the Ultimate Universe origin for mutants could instead be changed to mutants being revealed to the general public in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Much as the status quo and sociopolitical events began to center around mutants post-Ultimatum, an Ultimatum movie could similarly transfer focus from the Avengers to the X-Men within the MCU too. It's unlikely that Ultimatum's manmade origin for mutants or frequent instances of cannibalism will be used in the MCU, but there's certainly a chance that some elements of Ultimatum will make it onto the big screen.

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