In this review of The Ultimates #17, Doom continues in his secret mission to recreate the Ultimate Universe’s Fantastic Four.
THE ULTIMATES #17
Writer: DENIZ CAMP
Artist: JUAN FRIGERI
Main Cover: DIKE RUAN
Variant Covers: INHYUK LEE, RICKY YAGAWA, BJÖRN BARENDS
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: October 22, 2025
The Ultimates #17 is a montage of multiple moments in Doom’s search to rediscover his own version of the Fantastic Four. It opens with him back in school, as the young Reed Richards is being asked what the fourth dimension is, before cutting to the present, wherein he concludes its a prison to be escaped. Doom has been teaching a sub class of Ultimates 3.0 candidates into Project 4 in the attempt to recreate the accident that made the familiar 616 iteration of the team.
In a conversation with Iron Lad, Doom reveals that while he was once Reed Richards, he also knows that he Maker (the ultimate foe of this universe) is also a version of Reed (something revealed in Ultimate Spider-man: Incursion).
The Ultimates #17 serves more so as a sequel to Ultimates #4 (2024), as we finally get to see the fruits of Doom’s labours in “Project 4”. Between recruitments and fast paced battles, this series hasn’t seen much in the way of pay offs yet, so it’s refreshing to see this plot thread get paid off. I’ve been a fan of the cautious optimism in Camp’s work, and while there is still an element of body horror present, I love that even in this world gone wrong, Doom can get a happy ending.
We intercut Doom’s process of creating and training the Project 4 candidates with the torture Doom was subjugated to by the Maker. Doom and Ms. America were able to build a machine that could successfully imbue cosmic rays into a candidate with a minimum casualty rate. Doom learns to train and trust his teams while still grappling with his failures both as a scientist who got his original team killed, and his torture at the hands of the Maker.
Hank Pym meets with Doom, empathizing with his choice paralysis and guilt. Hank offers him the notion that “Just because something is broken, doesn’t mean it needs to be fixed” and that tragic things happen in the past in order to lead to the way they are meant to be int he present. Doom celebrates the success and formation of the Fantastic Force, as well as the successful replication of the original cosmic accident on 4 lab mice. He and Hank let the mice free, just as Doom has freed himself from his guilt.
I’m also relieved to see Hank Pym get some play. Pym has largely been left on the backburner as the shrinking violet (pun not intended) of the group, so actually having him have an effect interpersonally is quite refreshing.
It’s great to have an issue in this series with The Ultimates #17 that actually resolves some of the loose plot threads left earlier in the series. With the confirmation that this iteration of the Ultimate universe truly is coming to a close, I am fearful and frustrated that the rest of the unresolved narratives (the Iron Fist, Bucky Barnes Red Skull, the disappearance of Jim Hammond, etc) may either get left behind or glossed over abruptly.
Phil Noto returns for from his stint on Ultimates #4 (2024). His work is beautiful as usual, and while the fourth issue was a dark and depressing twist on FF lore, The Ultimates #17 gets to see Noto use his full range to illicit a much more hopeful ending. I love all the alternate designs for the Fantatstic Force and how he twists the four main archetypes. I’ll be happy to see these characters return in the larger Ultimate Endgame. Not to mention the emotional gut punch of depicting the emptiness in Doom’s life via the empty outlines of the rest of the Fantastic Four. It’s a clever visual metaphor.
