Ultimate Avengers

For the comic books, see Ultimates and Ultimate Comics: Avengers.

Ultimate Avengers
Promotional poster for Ultimate Avengers
Directed by	Curt Geda Steven E. Gordon Bob Richardson
Produced by	Bob Richardson
Screenplay by	Greg Johnson
Story by	Greg Johnson Boyd Kirkland Craig Kyle
Based on	The Ultimates  by Mark Millar Bryan Hitch
Music by	Guy Michelmore
Cinematography	Tae-Ho Han
Editing by	George P. Rizkallah
Studio	Marvel Animation Lionsgate MLG Productions 1
Distributed by	Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	February 21, 2006 (2006-02-21)
Running time	72 minutes
Language	English

Ultimate Avengers (also known as Ultimate Avengers: The Movie) is a direct-to-DVD animated film loosely based on the Marvel Comics limited series The Ultimates, and released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment as part of the Marvel Animated Features series. The DVD was released on February 21, 2006 in America, and in Europe on October 2, 2006. The film made its television debut on April 22, 2006 on Cartoon Network's Toonami block with a TV-PG-V rating. The film features Captain America, Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp, Thor and Black Widow as they form the team The Avengers to foil an invasion by extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri.

Plot

In the last days of World War II in Europe, Captain America, due to enhancement by a "Super-Soldier Serum", prevents the Nazis from launching an intercontinental missile. They are also soon revealed to be shape-shifting extraterrestrials led by one acting as SS officer Herr Kleiser. The exploding missile knocks the Captain out and he falls into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, presumed dead. 60 years later, Captain America is found and revived by a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by General Nick Fury. Bruce Banner and Betty Ross lead a team of scientists working to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum in order to try and stop the real power that backed the Nazis - the alien Chitauri. Banner thinks the Super-Soldier Serum is the key to him controlling the Hulk, and he secretly uses his blood to try to create a cure, instead of using candidates that had been selected for the rebirth procedure.

The Chitauri destroy a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite designed to track the alien ships. So Fury is forced by superiors to order the implementation of "Project Avenger", to gather together a team of superhumans. Fury tries to recruit - with mixed success - Giant Man (a scientist recently redacted from S.H.I.E.L.D), Wasp (Giant Man's wife), Iron Man/Tony Stark (an industrialist playboy), Thor (the Norse God of Thunder) and Black Widow, a S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin. After several setbacks, including a botched mission that led to almost the entire team quitting, the heroes unite to fight the Chitauri. Although successful, the team must then fight an out of control Hulk. Banner wanted to try his new serum against the attacking aliens, releasing his alter ego for the battle. The team managed to eventually distract the Hulk long enough for Betty to calm him, and Banner is then incarcerated.

Voice cast

• Justin Gross as Captain America / Steve Rogers
• Marc Worden as Iron Man / Tony Stark
• David Boat as Thor
• Olivia d'Abo as Black Widow / Natasha Romanov
• Fred Tatasciore as The Hulk
• Michael Massee as Dr. Bruce Banner
• Nolan North as Giant-Man / Hank Pym
• Grey DeLisle as Wasp / Janet Van Dyne-Pym
• Andre Ware as General Nick Fury
• Nan McNamara as Prof. Betty Ross
• Jim Ward as Herr Kleiser

Additional voices by Dee Bradley Baker, Steven Blum, Keith Ferguson, Quinton Flynn, Kerrigan Mahan, Aileen Sandler, Fred Tatasciore, and James Arnold Taylor. Jamie Simone served as the voice director.

Reception

Overall reception for Ultimate Avengers was positive with critics often praising the animation and voice acting of the film, however David Cornelius from eFilmCritic.com stated that "It's too violent for younger viewers, but not mature enough for older ones. It's a movie trapped in between target audiences." but Marc Kandel stated that it was still "More satisfying than live-action cousins Daredevil, Elektra, Punisher…".

See also

• The Ultimates
• Ultimate Avengers 2
• Marvel Animation

External links

• Official Ultimate Avengers website
• Marvel's Ultimate Avengers page
• Toon Zone's Ultimate Avengers page
• Ultimate Avengers at the Internet Movie Database