Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Ultimates #18!
Stan Lee’s goal for the Marvel Universe was to make it a reflection of the real world, and Marvel just nailed it in the darkest way possible. As The Ultimates approaches its Endgame, Tony Stark is ready to reveal some harsh truths about humanity, but his speech about inequity and suffering comes straight from real life.
The Ultimates #18 is written by Deniz Camp, with art by Juan Frigeri. In the issue’s preview pages, Stark sends out a worldwide communique to the people of Earth.
“Life was supposed to be better than this, wasn’t it?” he asks, and for many readers dissatisfied with the state of the world, this question hits far too close to him.
“The Ultimates” Takes Stan Lee’s Mission For The Marvel Universe To The Next Level
The Ultimates #18 is written by Deniz Camp, with art by Juan Frigeri; Main Cover By Dike Ruan
As a product, Marvel Comics’ books offer a proprietary blend of escapist fantasy and reality. This can be traced back to the foundational work of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Ultimates #18 doesn’t just embody this, it challenges it, asking the difficult question: why do we need to escape into fiction in the first place?
The answer is dissatisfaction with the real world. Because the world around us often feels so chaotic and wrong, that people seek refuge in the orderly world of stories, where things work out in the end, and the heroes prevail. Except that’s not the world of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, either, because of the interference of the Maker.
Tony Stark’s monologue in The Ultimates #18 preview highlights the fact that, with this incarnation of the Ultimate Universe, Marvel has achieved a crystal clear reflection of the real world, in a way that Marvel has strived for since the days of Stan Lee. It is another major achievement for one of Marvel’s best books of the past decade.
Author Deniz Camp’s “The Ultimates” Perfectly Embodies Marvel’s Storytelling Style
The Ultimates #18, InHyuk Lee Variant Cover
The Ultimate Universe is ordered, but it is a totalitarian order, ruled by a secret supervillain cabal. It is a conspiracy theory scenario, and of course, like comics, conspiracy theories are another kind of escapist fantasy, a funhouse mirror reflection of reality. Ultimates author Deniz Camp’s keen awareness of this makes the book’s mirroring of real-world issues even more impressive.
So, the escapist fantasy dimension of the story hits extra hard when Tony Stark is able to speak directly to every person in the world, and say what so many are thinking:
Why do we want so desperately to escape? I think it’s because “reality” is millions starving despite unprecedented abundance. “Reality” is millions more going homeless, sleeping on sidewalks circling empty luxury high-rises. “Reality” is sanctioned genocide, irreversible environmental damage, and widespread oppression.
The reality is…we have no say in the course of our lives. We are not people, but cogs in a vast unfeeling machine that slowly grinds us down into painful nothing.
It is a harrowing speech, but one that validates 60+ years of Marvel’s commitment to reflecting the real world in its fictional context.
James Gunn’s Superman appropriated the term “punk rock” this year, applying it to a character traditionally associated more with the Boy Scouts. Deniz Camp’s The Ultimates, meanwhile, deserves recognition for its own punk rock ethos; it also should stand out to readers as the most “Marvel” Marvel book in years, one that would make Stan Lee proud.
The Ultimates #18 will be available November 19, 2025 from Marvel Comics.