Notice! Spoilers for Final Universe: One Year Later ahead!
The final version of Marvel Nick Fury is a shocking reinvention of the character, taking his classic use of "Life Model Decoy" androids to a disturbing new level. Although Fury has long been synonymous with the use of LMDs, the sinister forces controlling Marvel's Ultimate Universe have turned the technology against him in a way few readers predicted.
Final Universe: One Year Later – written by Deniz Camp, with art by Jonas Scharf – revolves around Ultimate Fury's attempt to destroy the villainous Maker's Council, the secret rulers of this timeline's Earth. As director of HAND, an evil equivalent of SHIELD, Fury ostensibly serves the Council, although the one-shot reveals he is secretly acting against them.
In a twist, at the end of the issue it is revealed that Fury is actually one of a series of malfunctioning Life Model decoys, who is promptly destroyed and replaced with a subservient version.
Marvel Just Killed Off Ultimate Nick Fury – And Then Revealed He Was A Robot All Along
Final Universe: One Year Later – Written by Deniz Camp; Art by Jonas Scharf; Color by Mattia Iacono; Travis Lanham Lyrics
When Fury's attempted coup on One year later fails, Emmanuel Da Costa kills him, at which point readers learn that the Ultimate version of Nick Fury is an android, programmed to serve the Creator and his Council. These life-model decoys have an ingrained flaw, however, which is that Fury's heroic nature corrupts their programming, causing them to rebel - and requiring them to be routinely replaced. It's a horrifying change, turning the MCU's iconic superspy into an infinitely replaceable android. However, it also makes perfect sense in the Ultimate Universe.
Here, Nick Fury is reimagined as a completely disposable asset. To the Creator and his Council, he is a tool that can be destroyed when broken and rebuilt to serve his purpose. This view of the character serves to emphasize the inherent power that the Creator's Council wields, as well as establish how difficult the task of stopping them will be. When they are in control of such an evil system, any acts of defection within the system do not matter. They can replace the broken part and continue business as usual.
Nick Fury's role in the Ultimate Universe is a radical change for the character
See why it's the right move
This new vision of Nick Fury paints a perfect picture of the work required for the Maker's world to function and deconstructs the idea of Nick Fury. This version of Nick Fury kills a man for questioning whether the Ultimates are right. In his past, after joining the Creator, he killed the Inhumans, killed the Power Pack, and helped eliminate dozens of superheroes so that the Creator's rule would remain unopposed. His hands are stained with blood in the name of serving what he believed to be the greater good.
This fundamental deprivation of Fury's agency in this timeline is an important narrative choice, however, as it further emphasizes the power wielded by the Creator and his Council to reshape the world.
The Ultimate Universe radically reinvented Nick Fury, transforming him from a spy into an android who can be replaced whenever his masters see fit to do so. This fundamental deprivation of Fury's agency in this timeline is an important narrative choice, however, as it further emphasizes the power wielded by the Creator and his Council to reshape the world. Even more important, it is deconstructs the idea of Nick Furycondemning him to an endless cycle of living his life by “the greater good”And then dying for nothing.
Final Universe: One Year Later is now available from Marvel Comics.