Ultimates
|
|
Template:Superteambox The Ultimates is a comic book published by Marvel Comics, part of the Ultimate Marvel line featuring classic Marvel Universe characters re-imagined for a modern audience. It is written by Mark Millar and drawn by Bryan Hitch. The series was first published in 2001, and continues to be published, albeit very sporadically. In theory, the series is monthly, although in practice it has become a quarterly publication, at best.
The Ultimates are the Ultimate Marvel Universe version of the superhero team The Avengers. It shares similarities to its source material, but like the other Ultimate titles, has undergone deconstruction and reimagining. The stories take place outside of the regular Marvel Universe and bear no relation to the latter's continuity. They also have a darker, more cynical tone and resemble more a large-screen action movie than a traditional comic book. In this respect, it also resembles The Authority, another comic book that both Hitch and Millar worked on, but at different times.
The Ultimates' lineup initially consisted of the Ultimate Marvel Universe versions of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, The Wasp, and Giant-Man (a.k.a. Ant-Man, Yellowjacket and a couple of other aliases), with General Nick Fury as their government liaison. Later members included The Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.
| Contents |
The Team
- Captain America is Steve Rogers - jingoistic, nationalistic, and prone to violence (as are most of his teammates). He has more of a 1940s attitude than the original version did (even in the 1940s), which often makes him look reactionary. Rogers underwent six months of surgery and steroid treatment during World War II to become America's first Super-Soldier. At the end of the war in 1945, he led a mission to sabotage a prototype hydrogen bomb developed by the Nazis with extraterrestrial technology, and was thrown into the North Atlantic Ocean, where he was frozen. He remained in suspended animation until his body was rediscovered in the present day and revived, just in time to take the field leadership of the new government-sponsored superhuman force known as the Ultimates.
- Iron Man is Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist, playboy and inventive genius who created the Iron Man powered armor. Stark has an inoperable brain tumor which will kill him anytime between six months and five years and wants to do something of worth before he dies. He is portrayed as an alcoholic, as he was for a time in the original comics. He has recently become engaged to the Black Widow, giving her a suit of armor as an engagement present.
- Thor is a man who claims to be the exiled Son of Odin. He has built a cult of personality around himself with his preachings of a political conspiracy orchestrated by the New World Order. According to his file, he is an ex-nurse who suffered a nervous breakdown, spending 18 months in a mental institution. He appears to have super-powers, including flight, the ability to control the weather, super-strength and also exhibits a degree of omniscience. He also wields the allegedly magical hammer Mjolnir, which can teleport objects into other dimensions. One of the mysteries behind Thor is whether or not he really is the Thor of Norse mythology. He refuses to be an official member of the team, which he considers pawns of the military-industrial complex, but offers to be on call anytime there is an emergency that requires his help. Mark Millar claims to have based the character loosely on conspiracy theorist David Icke.
- The Hulk is Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, who attempted to rediscover the Super-Soldier Formula that created Captain America. Insecure and neurotic, he used an experimental version of the formula on himself and transformed into the mindless Hulk. In addition to being childlike and violent, the Hulk is shown to be also a perpetually horny maniac with no sense of morality or restraint. In his Hulk form, he is also virtually unstoppable, but easily manipulated. Banner was thought cured of his condition, but recreated the Hulk because he was resentful about being surrounded by people with super-powers. Although not technically a member of the team, the Hulk was kept in isolation for safety reasons and was called on as a living weapon only as a last resort.
- Giant-Man and The Wasp are Janet and Henry Pym, a married couple as they were in the original comics, but here they are emotionally and physically abusive towards one another. As in the comics, Henry Pym is a world-famous scientist, but the Wasp is secretly a mutant and much more wasp-like than the original. Giant-Man's powers are derived from hers, which was apparently a source of resentment to him.
- The Black Widow and Hawkeye are Natasha Romanova, a former KGB spy and assassin, and Clint Barton, an archer with almost superhuman accuracy. They were originally part of the Ultimates' covert operations ("black ops") team, but were subsequently moved to public status after their backgrounds were falsified for public consumption. The Widow seems to have genetic or cybernetic enhancements. She has a romantic interest in Tony Stark.
- Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, a pair of mutant siblings. Pietro has the power of super speed, and Wanda can affect probabilities with her powers. Unlike the original version of these characters, they have not abandoned their ties to Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; they still believe in mutant supremacy. Because of their mutant status, they remain part of the black ops section. They are often depicted touching each other intimately, which has led to fan speculation that the two share an incestuous relationship.
The Ultimates
The 13 issues of the first series were collected in two trade paperbacks or one oversized hardcover
The Ultimates Vol. 1: Super-Human (collecting #1-#6)
The team is initially formed by General Fury and the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in response to the emergence of supervillains, specifically to Magneto's attack on the White House in Ultimate X-Men. In order to recreate the "Super Soldier Serum" that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America, General Nick Fury recruits elite scientists Bruce Banner - whose estranged fiancee Betty Ross is Fury's PR assistant - and Janet and Hank Pym. That all three have superpowers is an additional asset. Surprisingly, playboy billionaire Tony Stark joins the team, donning his "Iron Man" armor.
Then, there is a sensation. After 57 years, scientist have retrieved the frozen body of Captain America out of the Arctic Ocean. Banner revives Cap, who thinks he has fallen into the hands of the Nazis and tries to escape, but is stopped by Hank Pym, aka Giant-Man. Cap has an emotional reunion with his old friends Bucky Barnes and Barnes' wife - and Cap's ex-fiancee - Gail. Then Fury tries to recruit superpowered anti-establishment crusader "Thor", who declines because he thinks that the Ultimates are merely lackeys of a corrupted superpower.
The Ultimates' first enemy comes from within. After being scolded at by Betty Ross and overhearing a conversation between Fury and the Pyms where he is pictured as a laughingstock, Banner snaps. To give his team an enemy to fight against, and because he misses being powerful and terrifying, he recreates the Hulk and goes on the rampage, devastating Manhattan and causing horrific casualties. Thanks to judicious public relations spin, the disaster comes off as a victory for the Ultimates, who are hailed as heroes when they subdue the Hulk. However, tensions between Janet and Henry Pym result in Pym violently assaulting his wife.
The Ultimates Vol. 2: Homeland Security (collecting #7-#13)
Captain America searches and finds Hank Pym, who has gone into hiding after beating his wife Janet. Cap literally beats him into pulp, but when he visits Janet Pym, this news makes her even sadder, as she sees her hopes for saving her marriage destroyed.
In the meanwhile, the decades-long covert war between the human race and the shape-changing extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri (loosely based on the original Marvel aliens the Skrulls) comes to a head as the Chitauri infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., sending them and the Ultimates on a wild-goose chase to Micronesia while they secretly conquer the world.
When the Ultimates escape the Chitauri's trap, the aliens prepare to set off a device that will obliterate the solar system as alien motherships gather above the city of Phoenix, Arizona. In the final clash between Ultimates and Chitauri, Bruce Banner is thrown out of an airplane so that he turns into the Hulk. Manipulated by the battlefield strategies of Captain America, the Hulk deals a decisive blow by literally devouring the Chitauri leader, while Thor teleports the alien bomb into another dimension (the wastes of Nastrond, home of Fafnir the Dragon) where it detonates safely. The story ends with Captain America and the Wasp coming together, despite attempts of a deeply rueful Hank Pym to make amends.
The Ultimates 2
Ultimates 2 takes place one year after the battle with the Chitauri.
Ultimates 2 Arc 1: Gods and Monsters #1-6
After Captain America rescues nine hostages in war-torn Iraq, Stark tries to give a positive spin on the use of a "Person of Mass Destruction" to Larry King. Meanwhile, Thor's sanity is called into question when he meets with Volstagg the Voluminous at a New York restaurant. Someone leaks Bruce Banner's identity as the Hulk to the press, creating a public relations disaster for SHIELD and the Ultimates, who suspect Thor responsible. Captain America comes to Thor in person, and he claims that Loki, his evil half-brother has come to Earth, and is conspiring to turn all the Ultimates against him.
Soon Banner is put on trial: as he awaits his fate the trial becomes a highly publicized event in the media. Soon Fury shows up and hands him a bottle of champagne, claiming that the case has been thrown out, which is an unfortunate lie that Banner fails to realize as he succumbs to the drugged champagne. The unconscious Banner is transported to a carrier where SHIELD plans to detonate a nuclear bomb to guarantee his death. But Banner awakens shortly before the bomb goes off, his eyes an intense green.
After Rogers reads Banner's eulogy, the Ultimates return to their lives with half-hearted tears, but more than anything else, pity for Banner's tragicomic loneliness. Pym, who has been slowly eased off the team in the past months, returns to his apartment and receives two messages: one regarding the designs for Ultron, and more ominously, a mystery voice thanking him. From an unknown location, we see a man who may or may not be Bruce Banner walking away from a payphone.
While the Ultimates fight mundane crises like drug deals, and building fires, Tony Stark gives one present to Natasha: an Iron Woman suit, in exchange for another: her hand in marriage. Natasha accepts. Meanwhile in Europe, super-soldiers are also being developed by the European Defense Initiative, and massive protest results. When a standoff between the protest and the Italian police occurs, Thor intervenes.
In Brussels, Nick Fury calls together an emergency meeting of the Ultimates with EDI's James Braddock and Gunnar Golmen. Golmen briefs the Ultimates on a secret that both Fury and the EDI have known for a long time: Not only is Thor Golman's brother, but he is also a delusional mental patient who stole the technology the EDI had developed to replicate the mythical powers of the god of thunder. The Ultimates join the EDI super soldiers and track Thor to Norway, where Thor claims that Gunnar is actually Loki, but the team does not believe him.
Thus begins the passion play. As the battle rages, Thor declares that he is the conscience of the team, and once he is out of the picture, the superhumans would be used in non-defensive situations, but everyone writes him off as crazy. In a move of sheer desperation and will, Quicksilver removes Thor's belt, stripping him of much of his power. The God of Thunder has fallen, and is incarcerated in Banner's old cell. Gunnar Golmen appears to him, revealing himself to be Loki, and mocks his situation. Loki claims he was not responsible for the information leak, and that there is a traitor on the team. Not long after, the rest of the Ultimates are called to a situation in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Pym has been approached to join the Defenders, a group consisting of Ultimate versions of Valkyrie, Power Man, Hellcat, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Son of Satan. In his free time Pym, desperate to remain involved with the Ultimates, tries to sell the idea of robot super-soldiers to Nick Fury. Fury turns him down. Desperate for fame, the Defenders try to stop a warehouse raid, but things go badly and Pym is forced to step in as Giant-Man. What follows becomes an embarrassing front page story on the Daily Bugle. Pym laments his plight to a mysterious friend, who casually informs him that the Ultimates crippled a country that day.
Trivia
In Ultimates #4, Nick Fury and the Pyms talk about an upcoming Ultimates movie which Hollywood wants to produce. They debate on which actors should play them. The results are:
- Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson
- Captain America: Brad Pitt
- Iron Man: Johnny Depp
- Giant-Man: Matthew McConnaughey
- The Wasp: Lucy Liu
- Dr. Bruce Banner: Steve Buscemi
Other appearances
In the Ultimate universe the team is connected to other heroes, including Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. While said to be independent, the X-Men have tangled with or fought the Ultimates before and General Fury shelters them and (to an extent) supports Xavier's agenda since the other option is all-out war, which normal humans probably could not win.
Fury occasionally helps Spider-Man clean up the mess after his battles and in concealing his identity. He has also offered Peter membership in the Ultimates when he turns 18, and tends to aid him when things go really bad. Fury's motives are unclear, but he may be motivated partially because he likes Peter and knows he may be of some use (not to mention he is tying up most of the New York rogues' gallery), and he also wants to get his hands on the technology and genetic code of Peter's enemies (especially the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, contained in the Ultimate Six story arc).
The latest X-Men arc has made it clear that Fury is not that influential; despite control of the Ultimates, he has enemies higher up who consider the heroes a mistake, and want to go back to the former policy of executing post-humans with the use of the Sentinels. Fury has dealt with this mess by "not" warning Xavier and telling him "not" to get involved, while basically telling him to get on with it.
Meanwhile the team has co-starred with Ultimate Spider-Man in the mini-series Ultimate Six and the Ultimate X-Men in Ultimate War and Ultimate Nightmare and the Ultimate Fantastic Four in Ultimate Secret. The Ultimates continue to appear around the Ultimate Universe.
In addition, the Ultimates made a short appearance in the mini-series Ultimate Adventures, which starred a Batman analogue called Hawk-Owl. They invaded his secret headquarters and tried to persuade him to stop his vigilante activities. He defeated Captain America and Giant-Man in hand-to-hand combat, despite the fact that both characters have held their own against immortal space aliens and the Hulk.
On July 20, 2004, Marvel Entertainment and Lion's Gate Family Home Entertainment announced that they would be producing a 66-minute animated movie titled The Avengers, based on The Ultimates, which would be released on DVD in 2006.