Ultimates 1

Ultimates
File:UltimatesVol1-1.jpg Cover to Ultimates Volume 1, #1. Art by Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
No. of issues	13
Creative team
Written by	Mark Millar
Penciller(s)	Bryan Hitch
Inker(s)	Paul Neary

Ultimates (referred to here as Volume 1) is the first volume of comic book series published by Marvel Comics, about a titular group of superhuman heroes who work for the U.S. government (though in later volumes this relationship is severed). Like the other titles Marvel's "Ultimate" line, it is a re-envisioning of one of Marvel's core books, in this case, The Avengers, and set in the Ultimate Universe, which is separate from Marvel's main shared universe, the Marvel Universe. The Ultimates stories are published in a series of miniseries. Written by Mark Millar, and illustrated by penciler Bryan Hitch and inker Paul Neary, it was the fourth comic series to appear in the Ultimate Marvel line, preceded by Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. Sales of the first issue ranked 4th in the top 300 comics for that month.

Publication History

Ultimates Volume 1 #1 debuted in February 2002 (cover date March 2002), and running for thirteen issues.

Bryan Hitch describes his Ultimates work as "widescreen, cinematic compositions" and has expressed his interest of translating his work for movies. This miniseries was affected by delays and the artist admits to having to work hard to recover from reputation as a slow artist after his work on the first Ultimates series stating "‘Cause I think people still now see me as an unreliable artist."

Plot

"Super Human" (Ultimates #1-6)

S.H.I.E.L.D. general Nick Fury is entrusted with establishing a strike force of government-sponsored superheroes. Initial recruits include scientist couple Henry and Janet Pym (Giant-Man and Wasp) tasked with developing a super-soldier serum based on Hank's Giant-Man formula. Bruce Banner (The Hulk) is also recruited to focus on recreating a super-soldier serum responsible for the original Captain America. Billionaire playboy Tony Stark and his (Iron Man) project are also brought aboard. Attempts at courting anti-establishment icon and self-proclaimed Norse god Thor fall through due to his outspoken criticism of the United States' foreign policy. The team is almost complete when S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers the preserved body of Steve Rogers, the super-soldier missing in action since World War II. After a successful revival, he is given command of the strike force, now called the Ultimates.

Following its establishment, criticism of the Ultimates gradually builds, due to the inflated billion-dollar budget of the Triskelion, the Ultimates' headquarters built off the coast of Manhattan. Bruce Banner, invited primarily because of his work on the super-soldier serum that defined Captain America's super powers, is unable to deliver workable results. He is further shamed by the progress of Hank Pym's research, the (albeit good-natured) taunting by several of his teammates and discovering ex-girlfriend Betty Ross's dinner date with Hollywood actor Freddie Prinze Jr. Following these events, Banner injects himself with serum that combines the Captain America and Hulk formulas, rationalizing to Betty that the Ultimates will now have something to fight. He transforms into the ultra-violent, sociopath Ultimate Hulk, whose subsequent rampage through Manhattan kills 852 people. He directly pursues Betty and Prinze, expressing the desire for sex with Betty and death for her date. Janet Pym shrinks enough to fire electrical pulses into his brain; this knocks Bruce out. Banner's involvement in Hulk's rampage is concealed by Betty Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. to prevent a public relations disaster. The day after, Bruce Banner is in captivity in the Triskelion and Manhattan is recovering from the attack. Thor, The Wasp, Giant Man and Captain America are going to Tony Stark's for dinner. As Wasp gets ready, her husband accuses her of dressing cheaply to impress Cap. They argue and he reveals she is a mutant. This leads to him slapping her in the face and her hitting him with a photocopier. A fight enuses. Meanwhile, at Tony's, the conversation leads to why he became Iron Man. Stark drops a bombshell: he has a brain tumour and he wants to give something back before he dies. Hank sprays Janet with insect repellent while she's shrunk and she runs under a table. He sends millions of ants after her and she is overwhelmed.

"Homeland Security" (Ultimates #7-13)

The Ultimates discover the existence of the shape-shifting Chitauri, an alien race that enslaves and colonizes entire solar systems. Following the development of the grave threat, S.H.I.E.L.D. black operative Black Widow (Natasha Romanova), former olympic archer Hawkeye (Clint Barton), and the mutant siblings Scarlet Witch(Wanda Maximoff) and Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) are integrated into the Ultimates. The Ultimates lead a S.H.I.E.L.D. invasion of the Chitauri's base of operations in Pollomach learning too late of the Chitauri trap, which wipes out the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force.

The team find out about Hank Pym's wife beating and, against Fury's will, Cap goes after him. He finds him in a bar and begins to make him fight. Giant Man grows to full size and attempts to defeat him but is soon brought down by Steve, who drops a tanker of poles on him in a construction site. S.H.I.E.L.D arrives and Pym is fired.

In America, the Chitauri infiltrate the Triskelion to covertly conquer the world when thousands of ships of the Chitauri high command appear, ordering their ground forces to immediately evacuate Earth, and to activate a bomb large enough to wipe out the entire solar system. During their evacuation, the Chitauri discover that the Ultimates and a large contingent of the S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force survived the blast, courtesy of Iron Man's experimental force field generator. Thor teleports the survivors to the Chitauri's base in Phoenix, Arizona to engage the Chitauri ground forces.

The battle rages, but the situation is slowly disintegrating. The bomb cannot be defused, the skies are choked with Chitauri spaceships and Herr Kleiser, the Chitauri leader, proves too formidable for Captain America to defeat. Finally, Thor uses his mythical hammer Mjolnir to teleport the bomb to another dimension. American Air Force and Navy jets arrive and engage the Chitauri fleet. Captain America authorizes the weapon of last resort and thousands of feet above the battle, Banner is thrown out of a helicopter. The impact prompts an immediate Hulk transformation, and he proceeds to eat Herr Kleiser. Captain America redirects the Hulk against the Chitauri fleet by suggesting they questioned his heterosexuality. With a cry of "Hulk no sissy boy...HULK STRAIGHT!", he promptly destroys it. The Hulk is sedated with an anti-Hulk serum, causing him to revert to an unconscious, exhausted Bruce Banner.

The world celebrates the Ultimates, who celebrate in turn at the White House. Nick Fury walks past the Oval Office to the balcony overlooking Washington and notes to the nearby honor guards that "It's not every day that you save the world."

Reception

Michael Konzcal from popmatters.com praises Mark Millar's writing in the first 8 issues stating the writer "is able to walk a very fine line of keeping the story measured yet entertaining".

Keith Dallas from comicsbulletin.com in the review of the "Homeland Security" story arc states the artwork is "visual magnificence" however is concerned about the dark writing of the characters stripped of their "super-heroic nobility" and was "disheartened by the book’s tone and cynicism". Kevin Forest Moreau gave this story arc 4.2 out of 5.0 stating it is an "engaging read, filled with intriguing and amusing modern takes on classic Marvel characters" whilst praising Bryan Hitch's artwork by saying it is "amazing, gorgeous artwork, which continues to set the standard for cinematic photo-realism."

Ultimates #1 ranked 4th in the top 300 comics in January 2002 period with sales of 149,289.

The Ultimates Vol 1 hardcover, which collected the first six issues, was ranked 11 in the Top 100 graphic novels for October 2004 with pre-order sales of 4,728.

Bibliography

The series has been collected in 2 trade paperbacks and 1 hardcover.

Trade paperbacks

Ultimates Vol. 1: Super-Human	(ISBN 0-7851-0960-9)	collects Ultimates #1-6
Ultimates Vol. 2: Homeland Security	(ISBN 0-7851-1078-X)	collects Ultimates #7-13

Hardcover

Ultimates

(ISBN 0-7851-1082-8)

collects Ultimates #1-13

See Also

• Ultimates
• Ultimates 2
• Ultimates 3