Only 2 issues left. Will we lead the secret of the eyestalks? I mean, you’d think… Well, we open on Kuwait, “years ago,” as voice over tells us Wolverine, now a famous killing machine, carried a badly wounded Nick Fury out of a war zone on his back, walking across the desert (Barefoot, even). The person telling us this is very suspicious about it. And that person is…
Fury told Peter his best friend took his eye. Is that what happened here?
Getting caught stealing isn’t really grounds for a man to be tortured and left to die. What is he, a cop? At any rate, Ross says this will get out and people will want to talk to Fury, including the president, who wants to instant the super soldier program. Ross says Fury could be the first true Captain America, but Fury wants no part of that. He says he’s not that kind of man. Ross asks him what he’s going to offer the world, and Fury smiles.
Well, that’s sure a collection of familiar names, one of them more relevant to our purposes than the others.
Is this going to line up with what we know of Richard Parker’s work history? I mean, odds seem low, but… Back in the present, the FF are still checking out the eye thing. Reed thinks it wants to communicate. Now that they know these things are popping up everywhere, they’ve resumed trying to study it. Carol Danvers orders Wendell Vaughan to find out who put this one here and why. 15 years ago, over a montage page of testing and research, Fury briefs the president, mentioning how Dr. Storm was poached by the army for their Baxter Building project, and also that Dr. Parker is back from leave, since, as it’s 15 years ago, Peter was just born.
As it turns out, Richard is just outside the building, as Mary has driven up with Peter to give him a ride home. They share some fun banter, not knowing the Hulk is being created inside… Until Hank comes running out and Richard goes running in, and…
The Hulk exists now. And he’s green, like he was in UMTU, before the Ultimates book decided he should be gray. But his rampage is cut short when he sees baby Peer and his injured mother on the ground, and he reverts to Banner, horrified.
Did Mary die there? Did she get replaced by a clone or something?
Yes, in the “more grounded” world of the Ultimate Universe, the Watcher is just a bunch of posts. Only one issue left, and this comic is suddenly creating a lot more continuity headaches than it’s solving. Can they stick the landing? I do not remember.