Who is The Maker? Everything to know about this alternate version of Reed Richards
With Marvel's new Ultimate Universe thriving, the villain The Maker has quickly become one of the comic book giant's most recognizable villains among fans. An evil Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Marvel universe Earth-1610, the villain recently made a huge splash in The Ultimates #4, which featured him torturing the Reed Richards of Earth-6160.
The Maker has essentially been the creator of the new Marvel Ultimate universe. In the comic books, he wanted to create a world without superheroes, which led him to time travel and do so as well. This ultimately led to a world that was bleaker and was ruled by the supervillain. Now, with him being locked away in his city by Howard Stark, superheroes have finally started popping up in this reality.
The Maker is a corrupted version of Reed Richards
The Maker, or this version of Reed Richards, first appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 in January 2004 and was created by Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis, and Adam Kubert. While this version of Reed became Mr. Fantastic and formed the Fantastic Four alongside Ben Grimm / The Thing, Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, and Johnny Storm / The Human Torch, he eventually went down a dark path.
When the Ultimatum Wave struck, Sue Storm was gravely injured and Reed left her in a bad state, however, he is preparing to propose to her as well. When Sue woke up, she rejected Reed's proposal. This caused the Fantastic Four to disband and Reed to move back in with his abusive father, Gary, which further deteriorated his mental health. He eventually ended up killing his own family.
As Reed's downfall continued, he couldn't distinguish himself from his greatest villain, Doctor Doom, and was then almost killed by Sue and Johnny Storm. This led to Johnny burning a good part of Reed's face. Then Reed put on a helmet to cover his scars, which made him fully embrace himself as a villain and start calling himself The Maker.
Through the years, The Maker has been a part of many important events in Marvel Comics, such as the Secret Wars, and even created an Earth in his own image - Earth-6160.
How did The Maker create the new Ultimate Universe?
Marvel launched the new Ultimate Universe in January with Ultimate Spider-Man #1, which was officially designated at Earth-6160. This universe was created by the Maker, who went back in time to ensure that he could create a reality in his own image and make a world where superheroes don't exist at all.
The villain infiltrated the Baxter Building of Earth-616 to rob a databank with information on all its heroes. He then stole tech from the Illuminati to build a teleporter. He used the machine to jump to another universe and eventually arrived on Earth-6160, which was going to follow Earth-616's history. Through the help of the Immortus Engine, he time-traveled to the past.
Using the databank he had stolen, he decided to reshape 6160's world history in his image and prevented any superhero from ever being created. He then declared himself as the world's imperator while taking this universe's Reed Richards as his prisoner.
Stay tuned for more updates on Marvel's current Ultimate Universe.