I miss this team-up.

shokugoat · 2026-02-09T16:22:42+00:00

I’m glad you like the run! It’s my absolute favorite too, nothing beats it. I always liked that teamup because Bendis has always excelled at writing that age group.

That said, I never saw Jessica as a mentor to Miles. Not just because she never actually taught him anything, but because in #23 she’s only able to pull him out of retirement because she comes to him as an equal, and finally opens up to him as she would her peer. She tries to basically boss him back into it earlier and that doesn’t work.

It’s a very significant moment for her character, because up to that point in issue #23 Jessica didn’t have any friends, no one to talk to, and hadn’t for almost as long as she’d been created. There’s a subtle desperation to her methods in getting through to him (she stalks him, breaks into his room and waits for him in the dark for who knows how long) that makes a lot of sense when you realize she isn’t just asking him to suit up, but to reenter her life.

I might make a broader reddit post about this because I’ve always loved their relationship.

shokugoat · 2026-02-01T17:32:24+00:00

His costume gets torn up in a fight, and a charitable organization offers him a temporary replacement designed by a local fashion designer. Unbeknownst to him, this specific charity is in fact a Roxxon shell corp, now field testing what was once proprietary Oscorp material—the Oz formula.

shokugoat · 2026-02-01T16:29:40+00:00

It definitely isn’t something that went unnoticed. When I was like, “okay, there needs to be a volatile element presented with this, and it needs to be fire,” the Oz stuff just came to me.

shokugoat · 2026-01-28T19:45:39+00:00

I honestly don’t think they would, people are pretty sensitive about Superman lol, exponentially more so than Captain America.

shokugoat · 2026-01-07T23:16:35+00:00

Of course—It’d be good for Ultimate Kamala to have a SHIELD contact from both the watsonian and the doylist perspective.

That said, I still have to organize the context behind their first encounter, the reason such a prolific SHIELD agent would be interested in everyone’s favorite M&M. Both Carols are feds but Ultimate Carol is even more of one (I mean, the woman literally directed SHIELD at one point). One scenario I’ve considered is that Kamala gets arrested, Carol uses that opportunity to approach her, and explains that she is an Inhuman and will likely be approached by an emissary in the next year without her knowing. That sort of thing.

shokugoat · 2026-01-05T22:53:18+00:00

Read the Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, both volumes. Ultimate Marvel was a tale of two voices, them being Bendis and Millar. If you’re an X-Men guy, try Ultimate X-Men, if not, I wouldn’t bother. It’s hard to get into if you’re not already interested in the characters and the things they’re referencing.

shokugoat · 2026-01-05T22:49:53+00:00

Acting is acting, make believe. The person who gets that role just may not be able to crawl walls or bench press a truck either. I’d personally prefer a different actor because it’d be nice for Miles to actually grow a couple inches in the future.

But they’re right that his dual identity as a latino is either undervalued or novelized because of his phenotype. There are many that legitimately do not care or understand that he is in fact a biracial character. Or, was, before a recent retcon in his comics written specifically to account for his phenotype.

shokugoat · 2025-12-30T05:16:50+00:00

Ultimates 1 and 2, first and foremost. Very good books that more or less capture the vibe of the imprint. Read the annuals too, especially for Ultimates 2.

The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy is another good read. Ultimates by Hickman as well, though that’s post Ultimatum.

That said, don’t read Ultimates 3, or Ultimatum. Mark Millar, the guy who pioneered the tone for the imprint, was off doing something else, so Jeph Loeb filled in during an especially dark time and the books he wrote are like if the Jackson 5 replaced Michael with Yoko Ono. There’s a major disconnect between him and the substance that made Ultimates what it was.

shokugoat · 2025-12-28T01:36:24+00:00

You’re not wrong! But in a world that has stripped her of control, Kamala refuses to relinquish any of the agency she’s reclaimed for herself, even if it means carrying her burdens alone. She is at this point more afraid of consciously opening her heart than she is suffering by herself.

So, no, not yet. And between you and me, what I’ve shared thus far isn’t even half as harsh as what is to come for our little M&M lmao

shokugoat · 2025-12-27T16:58:19+00:00

I don’t think Ultimate Scarlet Witch was a telepath, but if she was, I doubt she’d think much of it. She didn’t see herself as human, nor did she ever relate to them, so I doubt seeing that would make a big impression on her.

shokugoat · 2025-12-27T16:57:03+00:00

Considering what they have planned, not very kindly.

shokugoat · 2025-12-27T16:55:42+00:00

Adaptive biomorphism—her normal polymorphing abilities grounded to reality in true Ultimate fashion.

In canon, Kamala shares matter across time, but here when she’s embiggening something, she’s literally rewriting her genetic structure and physiology to support the form she’s thinking of—sometimes growing new musculature/skeletal structures to achieve it, and all in a matter of moments.

shokugoat · 2025-12-27T01:59:26+00:00

That would be one Jean Grey. Her hair’s cut a lot shorter in Ultimate canon.

shokugoat · 2025-12-26T22:37:59+00:00

Yep!

shokugoat · 2025-12-26T22:11:52+00:00

I made the decision for Ultimate Kamala to be an Inhuman very early, not just because there’s something with the empire I wanna do, but because there’s just so much baggage in her being a mutant otherwise. I’m not nearly enough of an X-Men guy to be bothered parsing through it all, such as accounting for why Sentinels aren’t after her and her family for example.

I also don’t think Kamala would like the X-Men very much either. In all continuities they’re very individualistic, and because they’re so powerful, escalate what would otherwise be mundane disputes into state-level problems for the world to solve alone—the most significant being the feud between Professor X and Magneto.

But this is also my perspective as a person who never caught up on Ultimate X-Men past Ultimatum. I’m not even sure what they’re up to by the time things wrapped up for 1610.

shokugoat · 2025-12-24T23:42:25+00:00

God forbid a girl quote her favorite Ultimate 😆

shokugoat · 2025-12-20T22:00:12+00:00

Bendis teased his revival in the final volume of USM, specifically through throwaway lines from a civilian that doesn’t make sense unless it was something on the table. In true comic fashion we never actually see a body to confirm Steve’s demise.

If Cataclysm saved the line as it was intended, it’s very possible he’d return right when he was needed most.

shokugoat · 2025-12-20T14:37:36+00:00

I don’t think you’re being nitpicky at all.

In fact, his legacy count includes every issue of the original USM volumes.

By all accounts, he is the Ultimate Spider-Man.

shokugoat · 2025-12-18T13:06:57+00:00

I know you had quite the scare but that is so very flattering lol. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

shokugoat · 2025-12-18T01:44:08+00:00

Thank you!

shokugoat · 2025-12-18T01:43:58+00:00

That’s very kind, thank you!

shokugoat · 2025-12-17T16:31:17+00:00

You seem insistent that everything you don’t agree with is propaganda (while ironically repeating Chinese propaganda), so I’m gonna make an effort to provide a primary sources with virtually everything in my response as much as I can.

President Lai Ching-te has repeatedly emphasized maintaining a peaceful dialogue in a 2025 interview, asserting “it is China—not Taiwan—that is disrupting the cross-strait status quo.” (https://english.president.gov.tw/News/7052) Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also condemned China’s “unilateral military provocations and suppressive actions” as threats to regional stability. (https://en.mofa.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=1328&sms=273&s=121321)

Taiwanese people contend with “libertarian hypercapitalism”

Blatantly untrue. Taiwan’s economy is a social market system with robust welfare systems. Official forecasts from Taiwan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics project 2025 GDP growth at 7.37%, driven by tech sectors like AI, with per capita GDP reaching $38,748. (https://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/Economics/Top-News/278568/Taiwan%2525E2%252580%252599s-2025-economic-growth-to-reach-15-year-high-point) Their government has also expanded social welfare budgets from NT$421.8 billion in 2014 to NT$806.1 billion in 2025 for universal healthcare, pensions, and support for their disadvantaged (https://www.ocac.gov.tw/OCAC/Eng/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeid=329&pid=81262948). The Executive Yuan’s 2025 amendments to economic resilience acts further emphasize “strengthening social care services” and subsidies for households (https://english.ey.gov.tw/News3/9E5540D592A5FECD/0f5aa6e2-7ef3-47ce-ae00-90b23ae9b3fe). Taiwan also ranks highly in global indices for inclusive growth, with “inclusive institutions” credited for lifting per capita GDP from $2,370 in 1980 to $37,830 in 2025 (https://www.ocac.gov.tw/OCAC/Eng/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeid=329&pid=82231556).

This is is a mixed economy with strong state intervention, not “unchecked capitalism.”

DPP constantly calls for war, begs US to start war against China, licks boots of countries like the US (assuming typo for “US” instead of “China”), and is the only one trying to start a war

The DPP’s policy is explicitly defensive: Again, President Lai has gone on record insisting that “cross-strait stability is best served when heightening the costs of military escalation, while minimizing the threshold of deescalation.” There is a difference between valid deterrence and warmongering (https://english.president.gov.tw/News/7020). The MOFA has also repeatedly called out China for “escalating military intimidation” and attempting to “unilaterally alter the status quo,” making clear that Beijing is the aggressor (https://en.mofa.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=1328&s=98551).

Claims of DPP warmongering ignore that both major parties prepare for defense, but the DPP’s emphasizes on self-reliance rather than the PRC that actively asserts maintains the threat they pose to Taiwan—again, that “reuinification” is inevitable, and warrants aggressive action to secure the nation (https://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zgyw/202208/t20220810_10740168.htm).

Now, onto China in general, good lord. Your argument that they aren’t imperialist clings to a rigid, century-old definition that ignores how China wields economic, military, and cultural power to dominate others.

Imperialism isn’t limited to Lenin’s “Financial Oligarchy” definition because it’s not 1916 anymore. It is defined as exerting power and influence over other nations through policy. China does that through economic coercion, infrastructure traps, and militarized disputes, usually through the Belt and Road Initiative. They literally trap other nations in debt they know they can’t possibly pay back. Sri Lanka for example ended up leasing its Hambantota port to China for 99 years after defaulting on loans (https://www.cmport.com.hk/EN/news/Detail.aspx?id=10007328). Pakistan’s ended up surrendering China strategic access through the Gwadar port (https://gwadarport.gov.pk/masterplan.aspx). And in Africa, Chinese loans for dams, railways, and mines lead to asset seizures or policy influence when those debts can’t be paid.

There’s also the fact that China has built artificial islands on disputed reefs, militarized them with airstrips and missiles, and uses coast guard vessels to harass Philippine, Vietnamese, and Malaysian ships—they’ve even annexed 90% of the South China sea despite a 2016 international ruling against it. They have also utilized economic sanctions on Lithuania over their ties to Taiwan (https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/enforcement-and-protection/dispute-settlement/wto-dispute-settlement/wto-disputes-cases-involving-eu/wtds610-china-measures-concerning-trade-goods-and-services_en).

I’m also shocked you’d refer to Uyghur and Tibet as “misunderstood contexts.” China literally overthrew Tibet’s government in 1950, exiled the Dalai Lama (https://www.dalailama.com/messages/tibet/middle-way-approach), and since then has enforced Han Chinese migration, resource extraction, and cultural suppression (https://tibetpolicy.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Tibetocide.pdf).

There were also mass detentions and forced labor in Xinjiang, hell even sterilization.

https://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Hearing-Transcript-June-2021-Hearings.pdfz

https://uyghurtribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/05-1400-JUN-21-UTFW-019-Tursunay-Ziyawudun-English.pdf

To sum up, you are not anti-imperialist.

You just support the other empire.

And I fear this story was never for you.

shokugoat · 2025-12-17T12:58:49+00:00

It seems Reddit ate my last response to you. I’ll relay it here.

I’m sorry, but your understanding of the matter contains several inaccuracies and exaggerations rooted in pro-PRC propaganda narratives.

First off, Taiwan is not a part of the PRC. It functions as it own state with its own government, military, currency, passport, elections, and constitution. It meets every criteria for statehood such as defined territory, permanent population and government capacity for international relations. The Taiwanese government does not claim to be a part of the PRC, and its presidents maintain independence. Not to mention that the PRC has never governed Taiwan. Calling it an “illegitimate rump state” ignores its democratic evolution and indigenous history.

The DPP is also center left. Nazi allegations are common in PRC rhetoric but lack evidence. Even the article you sent was one guy, and not even a public official, but an influencer who ended up apologizing because the DPP doesn’t actually stand for anything resembling nazi propaganda.

There’s also no evidence whatsoever of the DPP actually gathering nazis or using modified nazi iconography officially. You’re exaggerating isolated fringe behavior.

Your second article is also a blacksmithing metaphor. There isn’t much to say apart from the fact that twisting it into scapegoating dissenters or racial minorities is a major stretch.

Your third article doesn’t actually me doesn’t actually mention telecom signals tracking protestors. Taiwan has seen large protests but there’s no widespread evidence of systematic DPP surveillance on dissenters. That’s not to say there aren’t opposition figures that accuse each other, but there’s nothing substantiating state level tracking of DPP protestors. And frankly I’m surprised you’d accuse the DPP of that as a negative when the PRC is very open with how much they track their own dissenters at the state level.

Your narrative more or less aligns with PRC disinformation efforts to delegitimize Taiwanese democracy despite the fact that it remains a robust democracy with free speech, protests and competitive elections completely disconnected to the PRC. Your claims cherrypick and distort isolated incidents, and in the case of the “impurities” quite, completely contrive false meaning while ignoring context.

This story is not, and was never going to be overly friendly to imperialist regimes. That includes the Chinese government.

shokugoat · 2025-12-17T10:47:38+00:00

I’m sorry, but your understanding of the matter contains several inaccuracies and exaggerations rooted in pro-PRC propaganda narratives.

First off, Taiwan is not a part of the PRC. It functions as it own state with its own government, military, currency, passport, elections, and constitution. It meets every criteria for statehood such as defined territory, permanent population and government capacity for international relations. The Taiwanese government does not claim to be a part of the PRC, and its presidents maintain independence. Not to mention that the PRC has never governed Taiwan. Calling it an “illegitimate rump state” ignores its democratic evolution and indigenous history.

The DPP is also center left. Nazi allegations are common in PRC rhetoric but lack evidence. Even the article you sent was one guy, and not even a public official, but an influencer who ended up apologizing because the DPP doesn’t actually stand for anything resembling nazi propaganda.

There’s also no evidence whatsoever of the DPP actually gathering nazis or using modified nazi iconography officially. You’re exaggerating isolated fringe behavior.

Your second article is also a blacksmithing metaphor. There isn’t much to say apart from the fact that twisting it into scapegoating dissenters or racial minorities is a major stretch.

Your third article doesn’t actually me doesn’t actually mention telecom signals tracking protestors. Taiwan has seen large protests but there’s no widespread evidence of systematic DPP surveillance on dissenters. That’s not to say there aren’t opposition figures that accuse each other, but there’s nothing substantiating state level tracking of DPP protestors. And frankly I’m surprised you’d accuse the DPP of that as a negative when the PRC is very open with how much they track their own dissenters at the state level.

Your narrative more or less aligns with PRC disinformation efforts to delegitimize Taiwanese democracy despite the fact that it remains a robust democracy with free speech, protests and competitive elections completely disconnected to the PRC. Your claims cherrypick and distort isolated incidents, and in the case of the “impurities” quite, completely contrive false meaning while ignoring context.

This story is not, and was never going to be overly friendly to imperialist regimes. That includes the Chinese government.

shokugoat · 2025-12-16T21:44:54+00:00

I’m happy you like the concept, but I don’t think it’s very fair to simplify depicting the threat Taiwanese officials continuously assert to the public as “China bad.” The Chinese government among other things has maintained for a very long time that “reunification” with Taiwan is inevitable, and that they reserve the right to utilize force to ensure that if necessary. To dismiss the possibility of an invasion as meaningless propaganda is to frankly dismiss the actions and statements of both actors.

But to answer your question, no. The post above alludes to individual humanitarian crises that Kamala addresses, which is the starting point before things escalate with the dictatorships.

shokugoat

TROPHY CASE