Ultraverse

The Ultraverse was the default setting of Malibu Comics' major series, a world in which a mysterious Entity on the Moon (the core of a crashed interdimensional spacecraft) sent outbursts of energy called the "Jumpstart" effect, which gave certain people superhuman powers. These beings came to be known as Ultras, the most popular and well-known of which was Ultraforce. The other sources of superpowers in the Ultraverse were magic, the nanotech "wetware" developed by the hidden civilization of the underground-dwelling Fire People, or simply from being an alien from another planet or universe. Scientific analysis of these Ultras allowed some of these aspects to be artificially copied or genetically spliced into various human beings.

Behind the Scenes

The Ultraverse was fairly successful at first, even producing a short-lived Ultraforce cartoon TV series. But when Marvel Comics bought out Malibu, the Ultraverse was radically redesigned. In the event that would come to be known as "Black September" (or B.S., to most fans) the entire continuity was rebooted. Some characters were changed or retconned out of existence, many series were canceled, and (big surprise) heroes visiting from the Marvel Universe came to dominate the remaining books. After a year and a half of this situation, Marvel finally closed down the whole company.

The Marvel Multiverse earth designation is Earth-93060.

Possible Revival

Steve Eagleheart was commissioned to revive the Ultraverse with the title "The Strangers" around 2003. However, nothing came from it.

Another possible revival of the Ultraverse and their characters has been repeatedly denied by Marvel executives. Joe Quesada explained in an interview from 2004 that the initial structure of the deal made "next to impossible to go back and publish these books".

Other Media

Despite its short existence, the Ultraverse had two properties adapted to other media

Ultraforce (Animated Series, 1994-1995 )

A short-lived Ultraforce animated television series that ran for 13 episodes, it was based on the first version of the Ultraforce comic book, produced by DIC Productions, L.P., and Bohbot Entertainment. The cartoon featured the roster of Prime, Hardcase, Prototype, Topaz, Ghoul, Contrary, and Pixx, with appearances of the Night Man and the Strangers.

Night Man (Live-action Series, 1997-1999)

Adapted from the Ultraverse character, the syndicated series produced by Glen A. Larson had 2 seasons and 44 episodes. Three episodes were written by the character creator, Steve Englehart, and guest appearances by David Hasselhoff, Little Richard, and Donald Trump.

Lionsgate Entertainment released a complete series DVD in 2018. To a bigger sales impact, the box is promoted as a Marvel property, even when the whole concept was based on Malibu Comics property.

Merchandising

There was also an Ultraforce action figure line produced by Galoob. The line included a basic series with the versions of the members of the animated show and a subseries called Ultra 5000 that included alternates suits of several members and enemies.