Ultimate Marvel
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Ultimate Marvel is an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and updated versions of the company's most popular superhero characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. However, the characters have new origins, freeing them from the sometimes convoluted back-histories of the original versions which were thought to turn off new readers unfamiliar with the continuity.
The imprint was launched in the 2001 with the publication of Ultimate Spider-Man. While some of the series (including Ultimate Spider-Man) were seemingly aimed at younger readers than most Marvel titles, others (such as Ultimates) seem written for an older audience. Nevertheless, the Ultimate imprint as a whole was intended to attract and serve new readers beyond the existing Marvel fan base, although long-time fans have generally embraced the line.
The stories and characters of Ultimate Marvel have been adapted to reflect the differences between the present and the era of their predecessors, most of whom were created in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, Ultimate Spider-Man gains his superpowers from a genetically-engineered spider rather than a radioactive spider, and his alter ego, Peter Parker, originally a photographer for the Daily Bugle newspaper, now has a part-time job as the paper's webmaster. Another noteworthy aspect of the Ultimate Marvel universe is that many of the characters are more youthful than their regular-continuity counterparts. In some cases, this is simply a result of taking the characters back to their origins - Spider-Man and the X-Men were teenagers at the beginning of their respective series - but other cases involve more striking changes. In particular, the backstory of the Ultimate Fantastic Four has been compressed so that they gain their powers when Reed Richards, the eldest, is only twenty-one years old.
The characters in this line exist outside of the regular Earth 616 continuity of the Marvel Universe and therefore do not interact with their "original version" counterparts. However, recent announcements from Marvel have hinted that a crossover is planned between the two worlds.
In the Ultimate imprint's first few years of existence, some readers speculated that its great popularity might prompt Marvel to declare the Ultimate universe the "official" Marvel universe, replacing the traditional continuity. However, the strength of this rumor has diminished over time, as Marvel has shown no sign of cancelling either line.
Two writers noted for their work in the line are Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar. Former president Bill Jemas and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada were also deeply involved in the creation of the line.
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Titles
On-going titles
- Ultimate Fantastic Four
- Ultimate Spider-Man
- Ultimate X-Men
- Ultimates (based on The Avengers, currently Volume 2)
Current Mini-series
- Ultimate Iron Man
- Ultimate Secret ("Ultimate Galactus" trilogy, part 2)
Upcoming Mini-series
- Ultimate Extinction ("Ultimate Galactus" trilogy, conclusion)
Finished series
- Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
- Ultimate Adventures
- Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra (Part One)
- Ultimate Elektra (Part Two)
- Ultimate Nightmare ("Ultimate Galactus" trilogy, part 1)
- Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special (One-shot, conclusion to Ultimate Marvel Team-Up)
- Ultimate Six
- Ultimate War
Websites
- Ultimate Central (http://www.ultimatecentral.com)
- Ultimate Marvel Timeline (http://www.sequart.com/ultimatechronology.htm)