TheUltimate Galactus Trilogy is a collection of threecomic booklimited series published byMarvel Comics. All three series are set in theUltimate Marvel universe and are written byWarren Ellis. The series showcase the arrival of the planet-eating entityGah Lak Tus on Earth.

Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
Cover ofUltimate Extinction 1 (Mar, 2006), art byBrandon Peterson
Created by	Warren Ellis
Publication information
Publisher	Ultimate Marvel imprint ofMarvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Title(s)	Ultimate Nightmare Ultimate Secret Ultimate Extinction
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a set oflimited series.
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	Ultimate Nightmare October2004 — February2005 Ultimate Secret May — December 2005 Ultimate Extinction March — July2006
Number of issues	Ultimate Nightmare: 5 Ultimate Secret: 4 Ultimate Extinction: 5
Main character(s)	Gah Lak Tus Silver Surfer Nick Fury Fantastic Four Ultimates Mahr Vehl X-Men
Creative team
Writer(s)	Warren Ellis
Artist(s)	Ultimate Extinction Brandon Peterson
Penciller(s)	Ultimate Nightmare Trevor Hairsine (1-2, 4-5) Steve Epting (3) Ultimate Secret Steve McNiven (1-2) Tom Raney (3-4)
Inker(s)	Ultimate Nightmare Simon Coleby (1-2, 4) Nelson DeCastro (2-5) Tom Palmer Sr. (3-4) Mark Morales (4) Rodney Ramos (4) Ultimate Secret Mark Morales (1-2) Scott Hanna (3-4)
Letterer(s)	Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist(s)	Ultimate Nightmare Frank D'Armata Ultimate Secret Morry Jay Hollowell (1-2) Rob Schwager (3-4) Ultimate Extinction Paul Mounts (1) Justin Ponsor (1-5) Jason Keith (5)
Editor(s)	Ultimate Nightmare Jennifer Grünwald Nick Lowe Ralph Macchio Joe Quesada Jeff Youngquist Ultimate Secret Nick Lowe Ralph Macchio John Barber Nicole Wiley Ultimate Extinction John Barber Ralph Macchio Nicole Wiley Joe Quesada
Reprints
Collected editions
Hardcover	ISBN 0-7851-2139-0

Published from August 2004 to May 2006, the three series were titledUltimate Nightmare (#1 - 5, Oct. 2004 - Feb. 2005),Ultimate Secret (#1 - 4, May - Dec. 2005), andUltimate Extinction (#1 - 5, Mar. - July 2006). They were all written byWarren Ellis.

Ultimate Nightmare is a five-issuecomic booklimited series. Issues 1, 2, 4 and 5 were penciled byTrevor Hairsine and inked bySimon Coleby. The third issue was drawn bySteve Epting. Ellis notes that "Ultimate Nightmare was originally intended as a set-up for a big Ultimate-line event thatMark Millar was going to do. Mark, however, has had health issues for some time, and that and his workload led to him bowing out and me once again being asked to step in and help out. And then, while I was getting intoNightmare,Joe Quesada had the idea of turning this event into a trilogy...So I needed to come up with a credible second step in the trilogy fairly quickly."^[1]

Ultimate Secret is a four-issue comic book limited series with art bySteve McNiven.

Ultimate Extinction is a five-issue comic book limited series began in January 2006, cover dated March, and was illustrated byBrandon Peterson.

Abroadcast disrupts the world's communications systems, fillingtelevisions andcomputer monitors with images of death and destruction that cause thousands of people to commit suicide. The broadcast ripples across thepsychic plane, and attracts the attention ofS.H.I.E.L.D. andCharles Xavier, with both tracing the source to theTunguska wasteland inRussia, the site of a massivecomet crash over a century ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. CommanderNick Fury leads a team of heroes -Captain America,Black Widow and Sam "Falcon" Wilson - on a reconnaissance mission, whileProfessor X sends the X-MenJean Grey,Wolverine andColossus to investigate. Neither team is aware of the other's involvement.

The two teams trace the signal to an abandoned complex built in the era of theSoviet Union and encounter an army of mutated humans, all engineered by a now-defunct Soviet super-soldier project designed to create versions of Captain America. Two characters who make appearances, though unnamed, are UltimateUnicorn and an Ultimate version ofRed Guardian. After defeating the humans the two teams meet, with Fury's team capturing the X-Men and then discovering the source of the broadcast - a sentient, self-repairing robot calledVision. Vision explains that it traveled to Earth 100 years ago, and when its ship malfunctionedit crashed in Tunguska and was later captured by the Soviets, who amputated portions of its body and grafted them onto Soviet Army volunteers to create experimental super-soldiers. Vision has repaired itself enough to communicate with the world and warns Fury of an impending threat: the Eater of Worlds calledGah Lak Tus. The X-Men subsequently escape and Fury's team takes the Vision back to S.H.I.E.L.D for further analysis.

A secretS.H.I.E.L.D. installation inNew Mexico investigating revolutionary methods of space travel is attacked by the alienKree. This forces resident scientist Dr. Philip Lawson to change to his true identity ofCaptain Mahr Vehl and battle the attackers. Although able to successfully defend the installation, Mahr Vehl is rendered unconscious and is eventually questioned by Fury. Mahr Vehl explains he is a member of the Kree himself, and that they have been observingEarth to determine if humanity poses a threat to the Kree in the largergalaxy. Observing mankind's violent nature, Mahr Vehl reveals that the Kree have recently decided to confine humanity on Earth until the entity Gah Lak Tus can destroy them, thus ending the potential threat. Realizing that other Kree will be coming and that the threat the Vision foretold is now very real, Fury summons theFantastic Four and theUltimates.

A Kree force attacks the installation soon after but is stopped by a combined team of heroes. Another team of heroes - with Mahr Vehl's aid - storm the Kree ship while the aliens are on Earth. The commander,Yahn Rgg, activates the self-destruct mechanism, but not before Mahr Vehl hacks into the ship's database and downloads its contents into his memory banks. With the information gained from both Vision and the Kree, Fury contemplates how to deal with the coming threat of Gah Lak Tus.

Fury enlists the aid ofReed Richards andProfessor Xavier onceSilver Surfer arrives to "herald" the approach of Gah Lak Tus, who is discovered to be a swarm of thousands of sentient ships stretched 100,000 miles (160,000 km) long and within only a week's journey from Earth.

The heroes Captain America, Falcon,Iron Man and Mahr Vehl have several battles with Gah Lak Tus' heralds, theSilver Men, and allow Reed Richards, Charles Xavier and Jean Grey time to develop a plan. Xavier and Grey make psychic contact with Gah Lak Tus, which completely repulses the entity and distracts it. Richards then uses a weapon known as the "Nevada gun" and teleports the latent energy of aBig Bang into the heart of the Gah Lak Tus swarm. With 20% of its mass destroyed by the blast, the entity retreats. Richards then programs Vision with plans for the weapon and sends it into space, in the hopes that other races will be able to benefit and fend off Gah Lak Tus.Nick Fury's only comment on the matter is "thehuman race can kick the hell out ofanything."

The series has been collected into a number ofvolumes:

• Ultimate Galactus Trilogy (368 pages, hardcover, Marvel Comics,ISBN 0-7851-2139-0, softcover, June 2009,ISBN 0-7851-3722-X) collects:
  • Ultimate Nightmare (120 pages, Marvel Comics, March 2005,ISBN 0-7851-1497-1,Panini Comics, December 2006,ISBN 1-905239-55-6)
  • Ultimate Secret (96 pages, Marvel Comics, January 2006,ISBN 0-7851-1660-5, Panini Comics, December 2006,ISBN 1-905239-51-3)
  • Ultimate Extinction (120 pages, Marvel Comics, August 2006,ISBN 0-7851-1496-3, Panini Comics, December 2006,ISBN 1-905239-54-8)

• Ultimate Galactus Trilogy HC Review,Comics Bulletin
• Ultimate Secret #1 Review,#3#4,Comics Bulletin
• Ultimate Extinction #3,Comics Bulletin
• Examining the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy,ComicsVerse