Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Iron Man (Howard Stark) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Obadiah Stane (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- The Maker (Reed Richards-1610) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Emmanuel Da Costa
- Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- George Washington (Drawing)
- Harry Osborn (Mentioned)
- Galactus (Galan) (Only on screen as a static image or video record) (First appearance)
- The Punisher (Frank Castle) (Only on screen as a static image or video record) (First appearance)
- John F. Kennedy (Only on screen as a static image or video record) (Death)
- Jacqueline Kennedy (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- America Chavez (First appearance)
- Roxxon Corporation (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- The Maker's Council (Mentioned)
- Hellfire Club (Mentioned)
- Stane/Stark Industries (Mentioned)
- Oscorp Industries (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Post-Humans
- Taa-ans (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Mutants (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Skrulls (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Kree (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
Locations:
- Earth-6160
- Stane/Stark corporate spy satellite
- Holo-Program Room
- Japan (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Mount Suribachi (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Hiroshima (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Latveria (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- The City (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Moon (Luna) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Savage Land (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Japan (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Holo-Program Room
Items:
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Giant-Man and The Wasp's Suits
- Iron Man Armor Model 1
- Iron Man Armor (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Iron Lad Armor
Synopsis for 1st story
On July 4, Captain America, Iron Lad, Wasp and Giant-Man raids the White House to "save America."
Earlier.
Tony Stark shows Steve Rogers a holo-program of Howard Stark's personal files about the last 75 years of how the Maker had changed Earth since 1963. Rogers goes through nine days looking through the events, which includes the foundation of the City in Latveria, the Maker being the first human to set foot on Earth's moon and his meeting with President John F. Kennedy, the Savage Land being despoiled by Roxxon, and very violent vigilantism in the 1970s.
In the present.
Wasp and Giant-Man hold off fighting H.A.N.D. agents to allow Iron Lad and Captain America to enter the Oval Office and confront a subordinate of the Maker's Council: Midas, an "ultrapreneur" who wears Howard's original Iron Man armor and is the owner of the White House. Midas amicably greets Rogers and Tony, stating that he appropriated the armor shortly after Howard's betrayal to the Maker much to Tony's anger. Midas then turns his attention to Rogers in which he explains how he bought the White House after he struck a deal with the Maker by assassinating JFK in 1963. After boasting this, Midas tries to broker a deal with the Ultimates to cease their resistance rather than violently eliminating them. Rogers flatly rejects his offer and reiterates his intentions to save America. This only makes Midas laugh in amusement, in which he accuses Rogers of having a narrower view of what is America.
Midas goes into a monologue on what truly represents America: commerce. Pure capitalism and the pursuit of wealth had been the foundation of America and every other nation on Earth. Rogers is not sold by Midas' words and proposes his deal: the Ultimates know what Midas is keeping inside the White House's basement, and they are putting a stop to it. Midas responds by attacking Rogers and Tony. Tony takes the opportunity to blast a hole to the basement and causes Midas and the Ultimates to fall into the very bottom. There, everyone finds a woman trapped in a machine that is draining her cosmic energy.
Midas explains that the woman came from the future as the result of some sort of violent expulsion or an escape gone wrong. When the Council took her, they did not know much about the woman as she refused to speak to them. Regardless, they and Midas realized the woman possessed significant quantities of cosmic radiation, and they exploited her for financial gain, conducting research on her technology and body to create cosmic-ray shielding for use on interstellar space shuttles and a cure for all remaining cancers - in which Midas scientists are currently turning it into a lifelong daily treatment at $10,000 a dose. Furthermore, Midas used her as an energy source to power half of Maryland and Virginia. Even Midas' armor is directly powered by the woman's energy that makes him formidable against his enemies.
With Wasp and Giant-Man rendered unconscious from the fall, Midas effortlessly overpowers Rogers and Tony (whose armor is shut down into power-saver mode). During the one-sided battle, Midas goes into a rant on his views on America. He points out historical figures such as Hernan Cortez and Christopher Columbus who discovered the Americas were conquerors and warlords who ruthlessly exploited its resources for profit that he finds nothing to be ashamed of. The United States had practiced slavery for economic reasons in which slaves were even used to build the White House and sold on the foundation's lawn. When the United States ceased to exist in 1969, Midas considered the nation had served its purpose by cutting out what was difficult and kept only what was profitable in the North American Union and Regional Subsidiaries. The Maker and his Council gave the Americans "freedom from want."
Just as Midas is about to land the killing blow to Rogers, Wasp regains consciousness and sabotages the machine, thereby weakening Midas' armor. Rogers uses his shield to land a crippling neck injury on Midas since his armor is made of gold, a soft metal. Though defeated, Midas spitefully tells Rogers that if the Ultimates free the woman, parts of America's electrical grid will fail and render hospitals, airports and traffic systems useless which will potentially kill thousands of lives. Despite Midas' warnings, Rogers takes the woman out of the machine. As the Ultimates walk out of the burning White House, the woman tells them her name is America.
Sixteen months remaining...
Solicit Synopsis
SHOCKING SECRETS OF THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE REVEALED!
• Captain America reckons with the Maker’s dismantling of nations…by visiting the White House!
• Leading to a massive brawl between MIDAS and this young band of freedom fighters…
• …but Midas has been holding a superhuman hostage as a power source!
• PLUS: The dark history of what used to be the United States on Earth-6160…Trivia
- During the Ultimates' assault on the White House, a little girl notices Captain America's "A" symbol and asks her mother "What does the letter on his head stand for, mommy?" This is a reference to the Earth-1610 Captain America's infamous declaration first uttered in Ultimates #12. The Earth-6160 Captain America doesn't answer the girl's question. The throwback line is a deliberate twist that reflects on a United States that is currently defunct and divided under the control of the Maker's Council.
- Midas' "freedom from want" line is a reference to one of the Four Freedoms that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at his State of the Union Address on January 6, 1941: "The third is freedom from want which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants, everywhere in the world."