Warning: Spoilers for Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1The new Nick Fury is the most evil version of the character ever, and he just proved it by committing the gruesome murder of Marvel's healthiest team: the Power Pack. It's not exactly a new trick to make a story dark, but it works here because of how over-the-top it is and how far this book goes to make readers hate this guy.
In Final Universe: One Year Later #1 by Deniz Camp, Jonas Scharf, Mattia Iacono and Travis Lanham, the new version of the Ultimate Universe by Nick Fury proves how evil he is by brutally killing this universe's Power Packmeaning that the young heroes will never have the opportunity to rise up against the dictatorship of this world.
The issue is structured as a confession from Fury, with the brutal murder of a child being just one of the acts that leads Fury to eventually betray his evil masters, who unfortunately expected him to do so.
Ultimate Nick Fury killed the Ultimate Power Pack, cementing how dark this universe is
The worst version of Nick Fury – ever
The Power Pack is generally the most familiar Marvel team. Superpowers gifted by a dying alien, the group of four brothers have starred in children's comic book series since the 1980s. Even when they haven't had a title of their own, they've been reliable supporting characters for other characters and teams in their lighter adventures, like the Fantastic Four. Not that the group hasn't had its share of dark adventures. As the best media for children, The Pack confronts adult themes through a children's lens, the most famous of which is entangled with the X-Men. Mutant Massacre in the 80s.
This story is not the first time that the Power Pack was used to show how horrible an alternate universe is. Marvel Zombies / Army of Darkness #3 by John Layman, Fabiano Neves, June Chung and Russ Wooton embraces the classic zombie movie trope of zombie kids with the Pack. About that, Exiles #61 by Tony Bedard, Jim Calafiore, Mark McKenna, JC and Dave Sharpe goes a step further, showing a horribly fused Power Pack upon his return to the Age of Apocalypse timeline.
Nick Fury killing the Power Pack is the most unbelievable choice in the final universe
Final Universe: One Year Later #1 Cover by Rafael Albuquerque
Part of what's fun about Fury's brutality in Final Universe: One Year Later Number 1 is how deliberately exaggerated it is. There are two things a villain can do to become irredeemable in the public's mind: kill children or kill a dog. In one page, Fury does both, killing not only Power Pack but also the Inhuman dog Lockjaw. It's so dark and evil that it comes back and becomes funny again. That Nick Fury is amazing to read, even when he does horrible things like kill the Power Pack.
Final Universe: One Year Later #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.