The Ultimates - the first government-sponsored cadre of Super Heroes - was assembled to face the threats to humanity too insanely powerful for other operatives to handle. Led by a general who gave an eye in the service of his country, the super-powered roster includes a billionaire playboy in a high-tech suit of armor, a World War II super-soldier whom fate has thrust into the twenty-first century, an environmentalist icon who claims to be an ancient Norse god, and a scientist whose mutant power allow her to shrink to the stature of an insect.

The alien shapeshifters called the Chitari were defeated by the Ultimates in a decisive battle, but suspicious activity leads the Ultimates to believe that not all of the aliens were destroyed in that cataclysmic attack. Stark Industries has developed a means of quickly and easily detecting Chitari DNA, but the federal government refuses to adopt the technology, claiming that if the tech is widely available, the Chitari will find a way to fool it.

Frustrated by the government's seeming unwillingness to protect its own people, Captain America takes matters into his own hands, leaking the technology so that it can be manufactured and distributed throughout the country. His radical actions sow discord among the Ultimates and within the highest levels of government, raising a troubling question: Could this disunity and chaos be playing right into the Chitari's hands?

Meanwhile, Hank Pym, who desperately wants back on the Ultimates team, has been feverishly experimenting with his ants in the hopes of finding his own alternate method of detecting the Chitari. When he appears to be successful, it could spell doom for the alien menace - but only if the Ultimates can finally set aside their differences long enough to recognize their true enemy...
Creators