The Ultimates was one of the biggest hits of Marvel’s turn of the century Ultimate line of comics, changing the superhero landscape and laying down the ground for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For whatever reason, the comics line was retired in 2015, the Ultimates universe vanished and that was that.
Until recently, when a new universe designated ‘Ultimate’ appeared, starting with books featuring Black Panther, X-Men and Spider-Man.
Now it’s time for the return of the Ultimate Avengers, which I still wish were actually called the Ultimate Avengers, an adjective ain’t a noun!
Anyway, despite this being the debut issue, it’s not the start of the team’s story, that came in Ultimate Invasion #1 and Ultimate Universe #1 – I looked them up, there not being an editor’s note from Wil Moss. There is a recap at the start, but really, it’s a tad annoying.
As the strip begins the Stark Tower in Earth 6160 New York has exploded, killing thousands, and the heroes from the special – Iron Lad, Doom, Sif, Thor and Captain America – have escaped six months into the future. They’ve been framed by evil Reed Richards, The Maker, who is trapped in his facility, The City, but due to be released 18 months from the heroes’ new time location. Can the good guys use time travel to undo The Maker’s evil and stop him triumphing when he’s free again?
Teen genius Tony has been monitoring the 616 universe, and plans to spark a wave of heroes on his own world based on the Avengers there. Doom – the native version of Reed Richards – has doubts.
Captain America too, but nevertheless, the Ultimates 1.0 plan is enacted.
So much for that. But do heroes give up, despite having caused the death of several potential members? They do not!
Six months later, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, exterminators extraordinaire, are chatting as they attend their latest gig.
Someone has been sending Hank dreams and, it turns out, Jan too.
Who’s causing Hank to make an emergency stop? It’s Tony and friends, making a direct approach after assuming the dreams weren’t going to prompt Jan and Hank to choose a life of heroism.
Will Hank and Jan accept Tony’s offer and be transformed into superheroes? I expect you can guess, but the details are loads of fun.
I recommend you try this issue if you haven’t already. Yes, the art by Juan Frigeri isn’t up there with that of original Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch – the early shots of Tony talking to the group are incredibly samey, and the work really needs an inker to supplement the modelling efforts of colour artist Federico Blee – but the pages get better as the double-sized issue goes on. By the time an adversary enters the fray I was rather enjoying the look of things, with details such as the doughiness of this Hank a fun tweak on the regular variety.
‘The preening Frank with the magic blade…’ Love it! I’ve never heard of writer Deniz Camp but his dialogue is sharp, even when it’s a matter of infodumps – he does a commendable job of weaving in details from the earlier stories of this new continuity.
I found the ‘mathematics of heroism’ as worked out by Tony and Doom absolutely fascinating, though the constant use of ‘math’ did my head in. I know this is a US comic book, but still, it’s as ugly as the plural of Lego supposedly being ‘Legos’- just don’t!
The story really comes alive once the Hank and Jan sequence arrives and we see the relationship between the two, the fact that there’s something going on with Hank in particular, and the outcome of their latest exterminating assignment. Their attitude to preserving life is inconsistent, which could make for some complicated moments down the line. Also, that’s a very interesting piece of kit they’re using…
And I don’t trust this version of Sif, who’s definitely giving Tony the side-eye in the final splash panel.
I don’t know if there’s some kind of showrunning thing going on, but Jonathan Hickman, who wrote the aforementioned Ultimate Invasion and Universe books, contributes one of his graphics, purporting to show the political of the world as remade by The Maker and his supervillain Council. It’s deeply fascinating.
Mild sarcasm aside, I really rather enjoyed this issue, which benefits from sharp lettering from Travis Lanham, attractive despite the traditional kiddie-ish Ultimates lower case font.
The cover, drawn by Dike Ruan and Alejandro Sánchez, is a bit of an odd one, with everyone looking down and super-gloomy. I get that the ‘origin box’ is an important aspect of the heroes’ plan but we could have had everyone looking forward, with Tony proffering it at us as if we’re the potential hero; a downbeat image is not great for a first issue.
I’d love to know what you thought of this issue if you tried it – can Marvel capture lightning in a bottle with a new Ultimates Universe?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I wanted Sif to look more like her myths but considering she’s already not an idiot or an adulteress, why not keep ignoring the myth?
Jan continues a trend of character not being defined by previous iterations or her gender. She has her shrinking ability (and why does she seldom grow anywhere when Pym particles do both?) and she’s already being a human bullet through the bad guys. It’s like having the Stern version back that Bendis erased.
That suitcase tho’. Could a brain damaged Pym create a humanitarian Ultron? Not that they should do it. The next writer would just evil up a good Ultron to prove they’re not as clever as they think they are.
I do like these Ultimates better than Millar’s. I think it’s down to Hickman having a more heroic view of humanity than Millar
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Hmm, I’m not sure what that Sif would look like, I’m so used to the Marvel version.
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