Marvel’s Ultimate Avengers. What has come, and
what is coming.
The year was 1945. In an attempt to prevent
the Nazis from launching its nuclear weapon
aimed towards America, the Allied forces sent
thousands of paratroopers, including Captain
America and his sidekick, Bucky, to a secret Nazi
base in Iceland. The Nazis were able to launch
the bomb, but through Cap's heroics, the bomb
detonated in mid-air. This sent him plunging to
the Arctic waters, thus, setting into motion
events which would be instrumental to the
formation of the Ultimates. Fast forward to the
present day. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is
finishing up a six-week vacation on Mount
Everest. The vacation provided him a newfound
focus on his "plan", which would "begin a brand
new chapter" in his life and the lives of those
around him. And therein ends the issue on a
cliffhanger note as we are left wondering what
Stark's "plan" was supposed to be and what it
ultimately has to do with the Ultimates.
After popular billionaire Tony Stark finally agreed to
volunteer Iron Man's services to the government in
its bid to create its own superhuman team, Nick
Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D., proceeded to recruit
other potential players. First up was Dr. Bruce
Banner, who was hired to continue his attempts to
recreate the super-soldier formula, which was lost
when Captain America plunged to the Arctic waters
in his final mission. Next up - the duo of Hank Pym
and Janet Van Dyne, Banner's colleagues who were
not exactly thrilled to work with Banner once again.
Hank Pym was able to perfect the Giant-man
formula, making Banner more insecure than ever.
However, it would appear that Banner's prayers have
been answered, as Captain America's frozen body
was finally found by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
The book opens with Giant Man testing his powers out,
as we also get our first look at the costume he'll be
wearing on the missions We then look in on Captain
America as he wakes up in the hospital, and we see him
view the idea that he's been of ice for fifty-seven years
as an elaborate Nazi plot. As Captain America fights his
way out of the hospital we see his flight is brought to an
end by Giant Man. We then see Captain America is
willing to listen to the fantastic ideas being presented to
him, and in a bid to convince him that he's been out of
circulation for such a long time, we see Captain America
visit his former partner Bucky Barnes, who we see is
dying of lung cancer. We then see Captain America is
forced to deal with the idea that everyone he's ever
cared for is dead, or very close to being there, and we
see him question what he's going to do with himself. We
then jump forward a bit where we see the answer is that
the Ultimates have got themselves a new leader, and his
name is Captain America.
The book opens with the Ultimates finding
themselves becoming an object of controversy, as
the general public are starting to view the team as
a leech that is costing millions of tax dollars, and
with no global threatening crisis for them to save
the planet from, we see that question is starting to
be asked is there even a need for this team to
exist. What's more we see the months of nonactivity are starting to eat at the team itself, as we
see tempers are starting to flare, and Bruce
Banner's continually inability to discover the secret
of the super-soldier serum has even denied the
program of this one seemingly easy to secure
victory. To add insult to injury we see Fury's
efforts to recruit the media darling Thor into the
Ultimates is met with a refusal by Thor to join a
team of government sponsored lackeys. With the
team coming apart at the seams before they even
enter their first battle we see Banner takes a
rather drastic action, as he injects himself with the
serum that transformed him into the Hulk, in order
to provide the Ultimates with a threat to face.
The book opens with the Ultimates arriving to
deal with the Hulk who is on a rampage through
Manhattan. However, we soon discover that the
plan seems to be to let each member of the
group tackle the Hulk separately, with Giant Man
getting to take the first crack at taking down the
Hulk. When Giant Man's size proves to be no
match for the Hulk, we see Iron Man arrives on
the scene, but he finds himself in a spot of
trouble when the Hulk rips his helmet clean off.
As Tony drives the Hulk back by expending all his
armor's power into a single burst, we see the
Wasp manages to distract the Hulk long enough
for Captain America's arrival. Surprisingly we see
Cap is able to fair quite well against the raging
beast, but the Hulk manages to get his act
together before he can be injected with the
antidote that would turn him back into Banner.
We then are witness to Thor's arrival at the
battle, and the Hulk gets a good taste of the
Mjolnir's power. However, in the end it is the
Wasp who manages to take down the Hulk, as
she shrinks down & physically reverts Hulk into
Banner using a well placed wasp sting.
The book opens by showing us the publicity
wing of the Ultimates is actively working to
keep the Hulk's connection to the group
from becoming public knowledge, as the
creature's rampage through Manhattan killed
dozens of innocent civilians, filled the city's
hospital with injured, and a good section of
the city was reduced to rubble. We then see
the focus is placed instead on the idea that
the Ultimates managed to secure their first
victory, and thanks to the charisma of Tony
Stark & Thor's winning ways the Ultimates
look to enjoying the adulation of the general
public. The story then splits it's focus as we
look in on Thor, Captain America & Tony, as
these three men enjoy a dinner together,
and we see Tony makes a rather surprising
revelation about why he's playing the role of
hero. The book also turns its attention to
Janet & Hank Pym as we see these two are
far from being happy campers. In fact in one
of the most chilling displays of violence this
book has offered up yet, we see these two
engage in a heated argument that evolves
into fisticuffs, and by the end something
very unsettling has occurred.
The issue begins as Nick Fury, Steve Rogers,
Betty Ross and Tony Stark attend a memorial
service for those that died in the ‘Hulk Incident’
at the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
We then join a secluded and mentally unstable
Dr. Bruce Banner at the Triskelion holding area
where we learn that Banner is traumatized by
the events that he had caused when combining
his formula with the super soldier serum that
had turned Steve Rogers into Captain America.
We learn that the Triskelion has neatly covered
up any connection that the Hulk had to the
United States Superhuman Defense Initiative.
We also learn that all is not it seems with the
Hulk’s effect on Banner and his ability to control
what is happening to him. We then join the
aforementioned members of The Ultimates as
they pay a visit with the hospitalized fellow
member Janet Pym ‘The Wasp’. We learn that
the disappearance of Henry Pym is related to the
recent spousal abuse, which left Janet Pym in
hospital. We then join Betty Ross, Tony Stark
and Steve Rogers at a local diner where we
learn of Betty Ross’s friendship and past with the
Pym’s and Hank Pym’s past of spousal abuse.
We then join Nick Fury as he has called a
meeting with The Ultimates. Meanwhile Steve
Rogers through a series of clever Satellite and
computer searches tracks down Henry Pym and
so the issue concludes.
The book open with the Black Widow & Hawkeye
on a mission, as we see they each make their way
into separate office buildings, and in a shocking
display of violence we see they begin to
systematically slaughter every living soul inside
these buildings. We then see that the two heroes
are joined by heavily armed government troops,
who join in on this seemingly senseless display of
violence, but when the innocent civilians start
fighting back we see that everything is not what it
looked to be. As Hawkeye narrowly avoids being
blown to kingdom come by an explosive device,
we see he is left dangling helpless off the side of
the building, while the people he was attacking
move in for the kill. However, a rather impressive
leap by the Black Widow has her saving Hawkeye's
bacon, and we see the two heroes head back to
base having successfully eliminated every person
who worked inside those two office buildings. We
then see that the innocent civilians that occupied
these buildings were really sleeper agents of an
alien invasion force, and the proof comes in the
form of the dead bodies reverting to their true,
decidedly grotesque forms post mortuum. As the
issue ends we look in on Captain America, who is
all set to teach Hank Pym a lesson he won't soon
forget.
The book opens with Captain America confronting
a plastered Hank Pym, and we see Cap's old
fashioned values include a healthy disrespect for
men who use women as punching bags, and as
such he basically asks Hank to step outside. As
the tension escalates, we see Hank Pym is quick to
grow to his giant size, but thanks to Captain
America's years of combat experience, and a
nearby construction site, it is Hank who ends up
losing this contest. We then look in on the
Ultimates as the group prepares to launch an
attack upon an alien stronghold in the nation of
Micronesia, and while Tony Stark turns to the
bottle for a quick boost of courage, we learn
Hawkeye has a series of little traditions that he
carries out before rushing off into battle, and
during this sequence we learn he's a father. The
book also looks in on Banner who we see is trying
to find a cure to his condition, but one also gets
the sense that he's not altogether sound mentally,
and that part of him actually enjoys being able to
transform into a raging engine of mindless
destruction. After looking in on Janet, as she
makes it clear that she is not pleased that Captain
America beat up her husband, the book ends with
the Ultimates heading off to kick a little
extraterrestrial butt.
The Ultimates #10 begins with a
flashback to 1944. Captain
America, wearing his retro leather
mask and military style uniform,
dangles from a train in Nazi
occupied Poland. Some previously
unmentioned enemy, an alien
shapechanger wearing the guise of
a Nazi named Kleiser, stands on
the train above him, revealing a
plot of Nazi/Alien complicity. But in
cinematic style, the alien is
thwarted as the train explodes
sending him and his Nazi
comrades... to the four winds.
Cut to modern day and Captain
America and his fellow Ultimates
are on route to Micronesia to thwart
the aliens again. This time, he
travels aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D.
Heli-Carrier, an aircraft carrier
retrofitted with four giant rockets.
It's no SDF-1, but it's not alone
either. Bryan Hitch's stunning
multi-plane cross-hatching (what
the experts like to call: drawing)
really shines with a two-page
spread depicting an entire fleet of
heli-carriers.
The book opens with the leader of the Skrull
invasion force basking in the glory of his latest
victory, as the trap devised to lure a massive
S.H.I.E.L.D. invasion fleet & the Ultimates to an
isolated location where they could set off a
massive nuclear device looks to have dealt with
this possible opposition. As the gloating villain
details the role that his people have played
throughout history, we learn that their last bid to
take over the world resulted in World War II. We
then see that with the destruction of the
Ultimates, along with most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s
fighting force, the invasion is moving forward
unopposed, and with their stolen identities which
they are able to take on when they consume the
flesh of the person they wish to become, we see
that over the decades the Skrull invaders have
placed themselves in positions of power, so they
effectively control the various fighting forces that
remain. However, we learn that thanks to Iron
Man's force field, the Ultimates and a small group
of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents survived the attack, and
they are busy preparing their response to this
sneak attack. To this end we see Captain America
sends out a message to all the various soldiers
telling them that America needs their help, and
that they should disregard any orders telling
them not to come running & help the Ultimates
drive off this alien infestation.
As Iron Man and Thor lay waste to the
Chitauri fleet above, on the ground we
see Captain America is in heated
combat with the leader of this invasion
fleet. However, given his opponent is
able to shrug off attacks that would kill
most people, Captain America is having
a pretty rough go of it. We also see
Thor exuberant attacks on the fleet are
having the unforeseen side-effect as the
destroyed vessels are sent crashing to
the ground, endangering anything that
happens to be below them.
This conclusion to the
ULTIMATES’ first volume is
so epic it needed more pages!
Will the Chitauri alien
invasion finally succeed or
will the full firepower of the
Ultimates be enough to stem
the tide? And wait'll you see
Ultimate Hulk on the
rampage to end all rampages!
(mini-series)
The basic idea is that a Weird Unknown Event disrupts all
world communications systems, and that the epicenter of the disruption appears to be in the remote Tunguska region of Siberia.
Exactly one hundred years ago (in the Ultimate Universe timeline -- I'm monkeying with actual history just a little) an object exploded over
the Tungus River Valley. The Tunguska Event, as it's known, may have been an exploding meteorite, a
comet strike, an anti-matter event -- nobody knows.
But this disruptive signal is emanating from Tunguska Event Ground Zero, exactly one hundred years later.
The Ultimates, the US superhuman defense initiative, send in a team to investigate and solve with extreme prejudice. Since they're
without their Psi-Division of tame telepathic mutants,
they're unaware that the signal also extends into neuro-readable frequencies. The X-Men, believing that these are the telepathic wails of a
traumatised mutant, send in a team, with no knowledge that the Ultimates are also en route.
And none of them know what's really at Tunguska Ground Zero.
PART 1 (OF 4)
A new propulsion system devised by the U.S.
government puts Mars just days away. It creates
interplanetary opportunities unprecedented for the
human race. But someone — or something – wants
Earth’s progression into space to STOP. Let’s see
what that means to the ULTIMATES and the
ULTIMATE FF! And who is that mysterious white
and green figure on the cover above? Find out this
December!
PART 1 (OF 5)
The ULTIMATES return in this BLOCKBUSTER
first issue! It’s been one year since they stopped an
alien invasion, and now things get hard. New
members, new costumes and 12 months of gossip to
catch up on! Who's getting married? Who's
divorced? Who's gone nuts since we last saw them?
Why, just in this first arc we see Ultimate Hulk, the
secret origin of Ultimate Thor, and we get a look at
the entire Ultimate Universe as drawn by Bryan
Hitch! It’s guest-stars galore, with everyone from the
X-Men, Daredevil, Captain Britain and even The
Defenders.