ULTIMATUM
Full Name: Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind
First Appearance: Captain America 321
What's Their Problem? Founded by the anti-nationalist Flag-Smasher, ULTIMATUM is an anarchist organization dedicated to destroying all institutions and symbols of nationalism. ULTIMATUM believes nationalism is an unnatural, destructive concept that has divided humanity into hundreds of isolated factions. The group wishes to establish a one-world government without artificial boundaries or borders. From their point of view, they are only trying to make the world a better place by eliminating the irrational differences by which people of different countries separate themselves. Unfortunately, ULTIMATUM believes that the ends justify any means. They have committed numerous acts of terrorism to advance their fanatical mission.
Weapons: Besides having the usual assortment of guns, bombs, and rockets, agents of ULTIMATUM frequently use jet-propelled flying skis. Perhaps they like to hit the slopes after a long, hard day of blowing up buildings and terrorizing innocent people.
Favorite Quote: Most ULTIMATUM agents are not very talkative, so I'll cite this rallying cry their founder Flag-Smasher used in Marvel Team-Up (Vol 2) 3: "We pledge allegiance to no flag! One world! Indivisible! That, my friends, is liberty! That, my friends, is justice!" It's not as catchy as HYDRA's "cut off one limb and two more shall take its place," but I guess it works in a pinch.
Heroes They Keep Running Into: By virtue of its mission, ULTIMATUM operates on a global scale, and it has fought a wide variety of heroes, including Captain America, Silver Sable, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and the Punisher. Due to his patriotic identity, Captain America is especially likely to end up a walking target for trigger-happy ULTIMATUM agents. Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., the experts when it comes to dealing with high-tech terrorists with delusions of grandeur, often have to mop up after ULTIMATUM.
People Who Think They're Not So Bad: Due to their fanatical agenda and tactics, ULTIMATUM just doesn't make very many friends and allies. You would at least expect Flag-Smasher to have cordial relations with ULTIMATUM, but that's not the case. He was pitted against ULTIMATUM after he learned the Red Skull was secretly financing and manipulating the group. Flag-Smasher later purged ULTIMATUM of the Skull's agents. Yet he still occasionally clashes with members who are, incredibly enough, even more radical in their anarchist/anti-nationalist beliefs than he is.
Most Despicable Act: Hijacking a plane full of innocent people and threatening to kill them all if Captain America didn't surrender to them was extremely ruthless. So was constructing an EMP doomsday device that would have destroyed all advanced technology across the globe. Attempting to start a war between the United States and Symkaria also wasn't nice, although at that point ULTIMATUM was being used by the Red Skull. Then there was the time ULTIMATUM organized all the street gangs in New York City to destroy Wall Street, the time they tried to disrupt international trade talks by assassinating the delegate from Japan, the time they launched a full-scale attack on Washington DC, ect, ect. Like I said, ULTIMATUM gets around, and they never do things quietly.
by Ben Herman
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