Who Is Marvel’s Ultimatum? Meet the Evil Version of Miles Morales

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ introduced us to a new, evil version of Miles Morales. However, the Earth-41 Morales – the evil guy who became the Prowler in that universe – isn’t the first evil Miles Morales we’ve ever seen. In fact, the first evil Morales has been around since 2017. So, who is Marvel’s Ultimatum, and what universe is he from?

Ultimatum is the supervillain nickname used by Earth-616’s version of Miles Morales. He is a criminal who worked closely with Wilson Fisk and ventured into the Earth-1610 universe, where he stole equipment from Iron Man, Captain America, and Hank Pym to wreak havoc back in his world.

Throughout this article, I’ll refer to him as Evil Miles, or Ultimatum, whereas we’ll call the Earth-1610 version Good Miles, or Spider-Man. They already faced off and had a few universe shifts already, making this a particularly interesting story. We’ll also touch upon the Spider-Verse animated saga and try to figure out if Ultimatum might become a part of it.

Who is Ultimatum?

Ultimatum is a supervillain from Marvel Comics that first appeared in ‘Spider-Men II’ #1 in 2017. However, when he first appeared, he was known only as Miles Morales – he didn’t become Ultimatum until 2019, specifically, ‘Miles Morales: Spider-Man’ #1. So, who is this evil-doing Miles Morales?

He comes from the Marvel Comics mainstream universe, unlike his counterpart, Good Miles, who comes from Earth-1610. Good Miles’ universe is called the Ultimate Universe in Marvel Comics, which is a part of the reason why Evil Miles takes the mantle of Ultimatum, but we’ll get to that a bit later.

As you probably know either from the comics or the Spider-Verse films, Good Miles was never meant to become Spider-Man. He was bitten by a radioactive Spider from Earth-42 – in other words, the spider was brought to his dimension and bit Miles, resulting in Earth-1610 having two Spider-Men, while Earth-42 had none.

Well, the Earth-616 version of Miles Morales – our Evil Miles – was never bitten and never gained superpowers. He more or less had nothing in common with Good Miles – even their appearance was completely different. He also wasn’t of African-Puerto Rican descent.

Instead, Evil Miles was a petty criminal and a gangster who worked for the Rigoletto Crime Family. He ended up in prison, and so was Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. Evil Miles’ cellmate, Small Hands, offers a lot of money to Morales to kill Fisk, but he refuses, going to Fisk instead.

Small Hands then tried killing Kingpin himself, but Evil Miles stepped in and stabbed Small Hands instead, saving Fisk’s life while earning a huge scar across his face in the process. For that, Fisk promised to forever be in his debt.

Working with Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin

The two bailed out of prison together and opened a restaurant. Soon, Kingpin killed Rigoletto and took over his business, but Evil Miles fell in love with a girl named Barbara Sanchez and wanted out of the crime game. Fisk helped him achieve that, erased any indication that Morales ever existed, and found the couple a nice place to settle down.

Unfortunately, happiness didn’t last long, as Barbara passed away suddenly, leaving Morales utterly devastated. Fisk suggested that when his wife Vanessa passed away, he had some people help him explore the Multiverse and find a place where his wife was still alive.

As they tried finding the universe where Barbara was alive, it alerted Peter Parker of Earth-616 and Good Miles, the Spider-Man from Earth-1610, who was brought to Earth-616 with his entire family earlier. The first encounter between Good and Evil Miles happened right before Evil Miles stepped into a portal to Earth-1610 and shot Good Miles in the process.

Once there, he met that universe’s Barbara Sanchez, and long story short. He ultimately returned to Earth-616, but not empty-handed.

Evil Miles brought the Earth-1610 version of the Green Goblin with him to Earth-616, and while he was in that particular universe, he managed to steal some equipment from the Avengers – specifically, from Iron Man, Captain America, and Hank Pym. He used the Pym Particles and the stolen equipment to become a supervillain and called himself Ultimatum.

Evil Miles and Kingpin reunited to run the streets again, using Green Goblin’s blood to develop a super-dangerous drug they sold on the streets of New York.

Naturally, he became one of the main antagonists of the Miles Morales: Spider-Man storyline. After all, it’s true that the two only share a name, but he’s certainly a more personal villain for Good Miles than any other he has faced so far – excluding his Uncle Aaron, who was the Prowler, of course.

Does Ultimatum die in the comics?

As we speak, Ultimatum is still alive in Marvel comics. As I’ve mentioned, he currently operates on Earth-616 as the supervillain Ultimatum. In Miles Morales: Spider-Man #19, we learned exactly what his plan was.

He had the Prowler, aka Aaron Davis, and Good Miles captive when he explained that his plan was to send Good Miles and his entire family back to their native Earth-1610 universe, after which nobody could stop him from taking over Brooklyn and beyond.

However, Evil Miles’ henchmen couldn’t locate Good Miles’ family, and after Davis heard that, he broke himself and Miles free, knocked out Ultimatum, and escaped before he could wake up.

I won’t spoil the fun, but the ‘Ultimatum Saga’ ends a couple of issues later, although Evil Miles does not die, that’s for sure. The Morales family is left scarred but alive, which is the most important thing.

Could Ultimatum appear in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse?

When you’ve heard Evil Miles, you probably thought: ‘Hey, that’s the guy that appears in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’ If you did think that, though, you’d be wrong.

Across the Spider-Verse did include an evil version of Miles Morales – but not Ultimatum. Instead, this is Miles Morales from Earth-42 – the Earth that was left without its Spider-Man due to the spider ending up on Earth-1610 and biting our Miles, Good Miles. In this universe, it was Miles who became the Prowler, not Uncle Aaron – although the two worked together.

We don’t have much more info due to the film ending on a cliffhanger, but I’m certain that Prowler Miles will play a huge role in the following movie, ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse,’ expected to drop on March 29, 2024. 

As for Ultimatum, he hadn’t appeared in the Spider-Verse yet, but could it happen? You absolutely bet it could. Perhaps not as an Earth-616 version, but Earth-616B – just like Peter B. Parker, Good Miles’ friend, and mentor that appeared in both Spider-Verse films so far.

Remember how I told you about Wilson Fisk introducing the Multiverse to Evil Miles, saying he was looking for a universe where his wife was still alive? That’s exactly what happened in the first film, Into the Spider-Verse.

Perhaps that version of Fisk knew Evil Miles as well, and now, he could venture into the story in Across the Spider-Verse in search of his own lover, Barbara Sanchez. If it happens, he probably won’t play a significant role, but I think it could be a cool way to tie in another interesting comic book storyline into the mix and maybe even have Evil Miles and Prowler Miles team up.

Only time will tell, I guess.

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