Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe: The Ultimates

Super Heroes Get New Origins and Continuity

Sep 20, 2008

Now in its third "season," the Ultimates are Marvel Comics best-selling Ultimate Universe spin-off. The Ultimates are made of Thor, Hulk, Capt America, Wasp and Giant Man

Jeph Loeb, teamed with artist Joe Madureira, is set to steer the motley team of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe to certain doom in the latest, much hyped Ultimates 3: March On Ultimatum. Jeph Loeb previously wrote for such titles as Spider-Man, Superman, Batman and Hulk, but since accepting a Marvel contract in 2005 he’s been busy shaking things up exclusively in the Marvel Universe.

Ultimates: Ultimate Universe’s Answer to the Avengers

Marvel fans are now primed to embrace the edge-of-your-seat drama gracing the pages of the Ultimate Universe’s answer to the Avengers. The Ultimates team is composed of the Ultimate Universe’s Iron Man, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Giant-Man, and the Wasp. The team deals with such modern-day drama as domestic violence, mental illness, alcoholism and even sex tapes. After a series of high profile wins, the original Ultimates became national celebrities.

However, following internal conflicts including the public execution of the Hulk, the Ultimates have shuffled their line up and the roster now stands with Nick Fury, Captain America, Iron Man, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Rocketmen, and the Four Seasons.

Ultimate Universe is a Marvel Alternate Reality Created in 2000

The Ultimates are one of the latest reincarnations of popular Marvel characters to hit the so-called Ultimate Universe. Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, part of an initiative by current Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada to attract new readers, was created in 2000 as one of Marvel’s many alternate realities. The Ultimate Universe includes Marvel’s mainstream heroes such as the X-Men, Spider-Man and the Fantastic 4, but with different origin stories and a more modern, some say cynical, take on life as a masked vigilante.

Ultimate Universe Includes Updates Origins for X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic 4

Ultimate Spider-Man went on sale in 2000 followed by Ultimate X-Men and then The Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic 4. Super hero origins are revisited and simplified in the Ultimate Universe, which is now undergoing a more thorough origin story in Ultimate Origins. For example, it was recently revealed that the mutant gene responsible for many X-Men mutants was actually a product of the super soldier experiment that created Captain America.

Mark Miller and Bryan Hitch Create Best Selling Ultimates

The hit Marvel series first appeared in March 2002 with the Ultimates #1. Wildly popular for its entire first 2 “seasons” and critically acclaimed for snappy writing and well-crafted, visually stunning art, the modernized super hero team was first created and written by Mark Miller and Bryan Hitch.

Without the complicated continuity surrounding Marvel fans earliest and most popular characters, Miller and Hitch were able to stretch the characters in new ways. Ultimate Thor, one of the Ultimates, is long thought by his to be schizophrenic, for example. The Ultimates’ Giant Man and Wasp have a dramatic, on again off again relationship that is marred by a domestic violence.

Ultimates Volume 3: #1 debuted at first atop the list of best-selling comics in December 2007, following in the footsteps of Miller and Hitch’s best sellers Ultimates volumes 1 and 2. Since December, the story has set events that many say will lead to the destruction of the entire Ultimate Universe.

Ultimates: March Ultimatum Saga #1, on sale October 1, 2008, is a must-read to see what fate Jeph Loeb has crafted to the popular team. Many pre-stories to the events are taking place in series such as March On Ultimatum: Ultimate Fantastic 4 and March On Ultimatum: Ultimate X-Men. The March On Ultimatum series is technically a separate title in the Ultimate Universe, but will contain many cross overs, including within the Ultimates book.

Ultimates Graphic Novels

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Oct 6, 2008 7:52 PM

Craig Sanders :

Next to the recent Iron Fist story arc, the Ultimates is the best that Marvel is putting out. It takes talent to fill a lineup with people you dislike, (and each member of the team is worthy of loathing) yet make their story compelling. I was originally very against the whole "Ultimate Universe" idea, but it has been working out well.

But I'll never forgive Quesada for the spiderman restart.

Oct 6, 2008 8:27 PM

Stephanie Cox :

I agree that the first two seasons of the Ultimates were fantastic. However, I think Jeph Loeb practically ruined season 3, which is no small task. I had high hopes for it.

Oct 7, 2008 3:17 AM

Matt John Walker :

I totally agree, I think Jeph Loeb was the wrong man for the job and to be honest, I think he's actually been really off his game on almost everything for a long while now.

They should have left the first two volumes as the Ultimates and then had vol.3 rebranded as Ultimate Avengers so it could be viewed as a seperate entity and not taint the memory of the Millar/Hitch years.