The Ultraforce is a fictional superhero group that appears in American comic books published by Malibu, and later Marvel.
The group consists of various Ultras in Malibu's Ultraverse, including the super-strong Prime; Hardcase, one of the first public Ultras and the most famous; Prototype, Ultra-Tech's armored spokesperson; Topaz, warrior queen of Gwendor; the undead Ghoul, the last surviving member of the Exiles; and the mysterious Contrary, who organized the team and provided their technology.
In a similar fashion to the Avengers and Justice League, Ultraforce was an assemblage of ultras (superheroes) who each had an existing series of their own.
After the purchase of Malibu Comics by Marvel, Ultraforce began a crossover with the Avengers in the Black September event with Avengers/Ultraforce.
The Ultra's team were also depicted in a multitude of events such as Black September, Phoenix Resurrection, Ultraforce/Spider-Man, and Ultraverse Unlimited.
When Prime and Prototype were fighting in the land, The villain Atalon, king of the fire people, brought them underground.
[8] In the battle with Attalon, the young ultra Pixx sacrificed herself to disable the nuclear arsenal of the villain and was killed by the increasing radiation.
He participated in the battle against some 'angels' created by Metabio Corporation and that was freed accidentally by the ultra Siren, who joined the team too.
Marvel's Black Knight became the leader of the new group, which consisted of him, Prototype (Bob Campbell), Prime, Topaz, and Ghoul.
In the next months, new members arrived in the team included the mysterious Lament and the vigilante Wreckage, who apparently had committed various murders that were investigated by Ultraforce.
[23] Afterwards, Amber Hunt and Ghoul investigated the Exiles' graves and found the Progeny, an alien menace from the future.
[24] In an investigation about the ultra Foxfire, Ultraforce met Timothy Halloran, the Mastodon, who was committing murders in the sewers of New York.
[26] After the murderous attack of some of his teammates against Dog, the Black Knight expelled Topaz, Ghoul, Lament and Wreckage from the team.
[28] It was revealed that Prime, Lament, and Topaz were infected by the Progeny virus and fought his counterparts from 50 years in the future that came to cure them.
In the aftermath of the invasion, and with the help of Maxis, the Black Knight returned to his home dimension with the exiles Siena Blaze and Reaper via an interdimensional portal.
[32] Prototype (Bob Campbell) becomes the new leader and accepted new members from the Exiles: Hellblade, Ripfire, Amber Hunt, Ironclad, and the robot Maxis, who was now deprived of his original mission.
Hardcase explained to them he was not erased by the Black September, but was shunted instead into a limbo, where he created the creature Demonseed as a companion in the loneliness.
Hardcase was Tom Hawke, a Hollywood actor who became one of the first publicly known Ultras (the blanket term for superhumans in the Ultraverse) formed the first superhero team in his universe, The Squad.
After the Black September event, Hardcase was apparently removed from existence, but he returned in Ultraforce Vol.2 #13 and took part of the final arc of the book.
He used the Prototype armor developed by the company but he was injured in a demonstration and lost an arm after fighting the villain Arena.
[38] Jimmy with Bob, after uncovering Ultra-Tech's corruption, opted to overthrow the company and become independent heroes, fighting the Japanese organization, Techuza.
Contrary is a mysterious woman who discovered the technology of the ancient Fire People, building a secret academy for young ultras and a special airship with transportation abilities.
[40] Years later, Contrary tracked down several of these children for her Academy of the New Elite and was opposed by the runaways teens called Freex.
When Marvel relaunched the Ultraverse, in the Black September (comics) event, Contrary was erased from existence, and her whereabouts are unknown Topaz is a character created by Mike W. Barr, appearing first in Giant-Size Mantra #1.
Topaz was outraged by the new reality, but Pixx of the Ultraforce calmed her by showing her an image of the "true power behind men".
Topaz, still disturbed for what she considered an unnatural order, consented to join UltraForce, even though it was led by a man, Hardcase.
Jonathan Martin was one of the young people affected by the Theta Virus, which provided superhuman powers but also killed its host without assistance.
[43] Ghoul survived, being buried for a while, and rose from his grave with an altered appearance, meeting Hardcase and became a member of the Ultraforce.
[45][46] In June 2005, when asked by Newsarama whether Marvel had any plans to revive the Ultraverse, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada replied that: Let's just say that I wanted to bring these characters back in a very big way, but the way that the deal was initially structured, it's next to impossible to go back and publish these books.There are rumors out there that it has to do with a certain percentage of sales that has to be doled out to the creative teams.
While this is a logistical nightmare because of the way the initial deal was structured, it's not the reason why we have chosen not to go near these characters, there is a bigger one, but I really don't feel like it's my place to make that dirty laundry public.