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The Ultimate universe was meant to update some characters and also provide a gateway into the comics without the burden of continuity.
At launch, the comics were huge and sales were massive (it was Marvel’s second highest seller only being topped by Morrison’s New X-men). But it has to be noted that the main Ultimates book was plagued by delays and the second story arc (I,e Ultimates 2) took what...almost 2 years to complete or something (this was a time when a lot of top titles experienced significant delays). In essence, there was never an ongoing main Ultimates book until after Ultimatum. But what really killed the Ultimates was Bendis revamping the main Avengers line. It basically meant that the concept of an updated Avengers book was unnecessary because 616 had done this to huge results (New Avengers, Dark Avengers and even Mighty Avengers were all top sellers).
Ultimate X-men was the second launch (alongside Ultimate Spider-man). Sales were also high (I believe it was one of Marvel’s top selling X-books for a while) but just like the Ultimates, Marvel did stuff in the main line like Astonishing X-men by Whedon which just overshadowed whatever was going on with Ultimate X-men (I think because of Whedon’s short run on the book and now is infamous reputation people forget just how huge Astonishing X-men was). Another thing that hurt Ultimate X-men was changing creative teams and the uneven quality that came with these changes. Some stuff was just unnecessarily grim dark.
The crown jewel of the line (IMO) was Ultimate Spider-man which I believe set a record for the longest run by a creative team on a title (i.e Bendis and Bagley). That book is a modern day classic and is probably Bendis best work at Marvel outside of his Daredevil run. This title maintained its quality all the way into the Miles Morales run and was consistently successful until Bendis left.
Ultimate FF started off ok but quickly derailed with some very strange ideas (hoof footed Dr Doom?) and the book lost sales after its massive first issue sales.
It has to be noted that most of the ongoing Ultimates books were fairly successful until Ultimatum. Ultimatum was basically a “superhero torture porn” event where many primary characters were permanently killed in the most gruesome ways imaginable. I don’t know what Marvel was thinking here because it was one of the most ill conceived events I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.It basically broke the Ultimate universe and there was no coming back from this. That was pretty much the death knell of the universe.
However, the Ultimates success cast a very long shadow over Marvel overall. The MCU (especially Phase 1) was very Ultimates influenced and the first Avengers movie was basically an adaptation of Ultimates 2 with some elements of Ultimates 1 sprinkled in. The Josh Trank FF movie was basically an adaptation of Ultimate FF (although that movie is a story in and of itself), and even MCU Hulk’s origin featured him trying to recreate the supersoldier serum which turned him into a monster which is exactly like the Ultimates version (minus the cannibalistic and rape nonsense).
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I don't think it failed, it pretty much launched the 21st century Marvel comics,
and it launched the MCU, so it's really successful in my opinion.
The reason it lost it's original prominence is that those books originally worked,
because they are done by big name creator like Millar, Bendis, Ellis, and such.
Later on we just don't get these big names on the Ultimate Universe,
maybe apart from Kirkman and Hickman?
DC is doing Earth One the way Marvel originally did Ultimate Universe,
big name creators and big name artists, the real All-Star line,
and Earth One was never as popular as Ultimate Universe anyway.
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I loved the Ultimate line till things got out of hand and it seemed like it ignored what it was supposed to be doing. Then Jeph Loeb came in and really ruined everything with his Ultimatum event.
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A lot of people blame Loeb, but I think he was just following the general ideas that the other writers had set. His execution wasn't great and I don't think he really thought about the follow-through, but the idea that they could have one of those "big comic events" with a realistically high body count is an idea that fits right in with a lot of stuff the Ultimate books had already been doing.
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[QUOTE=Alan2099;5582825]A lot of people blame Loeb, but I think he was just following the general ideas that the other writers had set. His execution wasn't great and I don't think he really thought about the follow-through, but the idea that they could have one of those "big comic events" with a realistically high body count is an idea that fits right in with a lot of stuff the Ultimate books had already been doing.[/QUOTE]
There was no one left after Loeb got done whacking everyone. There was no hope of continuing the line after the Ultimate Loeb massacre. Even if editorial mandated this it sure made Loeb look bad.
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Does anybody remember what happened after Ultimatum? I mean other than Spider-man.
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[QUOTE=Thor-Ul;5583133]Does anybody remember what happened after Ultimatum? I mean other than Spider-man.[/QUOTE]
Millar came back for 3 Ultimates miniseries which to me were horrible.
The FF kept going until Doomsday where Richard's turned evil.
The X-men were completely gone there was a mini by Loeb called Ultimate X where he introduced Jimmy, Wolverines son.
It kinda limped on until Death of Spider-Man where it was revamped with Miles, and Hickman came aboard on New Ultimates.
Then it was a rotating cadre of writers and artists on The New Ultimates.
Nick Spencer reintroduced the X-Men with Kitty as their leader
This all led to Cataclysm where the 616 Galactus invaded the Ultimate Universe after this there was only Bendis on Miles and a couple of really bad minis which eventually led to Secret Wars
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[QUOTE=jackolover;5582308]Isn’t the Ultimate Universe still around? I thought there was a recent storyline where Evil MU Miles Morales was trying to suck good Ultimate Miles back to the UU? What happened to the UU in Venom to make it go to seed?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Huntsman Spider;5582359]No one knows yet. Maker just lands there, in a devastated and empty cityscape with signs asking what happened to the Ultimates.[/QUOTE]
Lockjaw teleported there briefly. From [I]Lockjaw[/I] #4 (2018):
[IMG]https://static3.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Lockjaw-Marvel-DC-crossover.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=831&dpr=1.5[/IMG]
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[QUOTE=charliehustle415;5583140]Millar came back for 3 Ultimates miniseries which to me were horrible.
The FF kept going until Doomsday where Richard's turned evil.
The X-men were completely gone there was a mini by Loeb called Ultimate X where he introduced Jimmy, Wolverines son.
It kinda limped on until Death of Spider-Man where it was revamped with Miles, and Hickman came aboard on New Ultimates.
Then it was a rotating cadre of writers and artists on The New Ultimates.
Nick Spencer reintroduced the X-Men with Kitty as their leader
This all led to Cataclysm where the 616 Galactus invaded the Ultimate Universe after this there was only Bendis on Miles and a couple of really bad minis which eventually led to Secret Wars[/QUOTE]
Ah, thanks. I had read Bendis' X-men and those crossovers with the Ultimate X-men left me confused. I left after LoebUltimatum and it seems after that the Ultimate Universe died like... three times.
[QUOTE=Ravin' Ray;5583265]Lockjaw teleported there briefly. From [I]Lockjaw[/I] #4 (2018):
[IMG]https://static3.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Lockjaw-Marvel-DC-crossover.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=831&dpr=1.5[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Those pesky Squadron Supreme wannabes again.
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[QUOTE=Dreaded Porcupine;5582972]There was no one left after Loeb got done whacking everyone. There was no hope of continuing the line after the Ultimate Loeb massacre. Even if editorial mandated this it sure made Loeb look bad.[/QUOTE]
This basically.
There was basically nowhere to go after Ultimatum.
It’s difficult to maintain interest in a line when so many fan favorites were brutally killed.
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The Ultimate Universe was a success. It was R&D for the MCU and the 616 Universe.
It succeeded for what it did with Spider-Man (Peter & Miles) and Nick Fury alone. That got to test out several story liens and concepts for multiple characters.
Then they brought some of those elements to the 616, and if you haven't noticed the 616 is R&D for the MCU and other Disney multimedia now.
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[QUOTE=Ravin' Ray;5583265]Lockjaw teleported there briefly. From [I]Lockjaw[/I] #4 (2018):
[IMG]https://static3.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Lockjaw-Marvel-DC-crossover.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=831&dpr=1.5[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Oh, they used her Rebirth/movie look.
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I don't know that it failed overall. It was a massive sales success especially in the beginning and it launched some great concepts that were adapted in broader media.
It eventually failed with me because it started out as a modern take of the Marvel Universe but then devolved into this "let's throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" concept that very quickly muddled its continuity, to the point the Ultimate continuity became more problematic than the main Marvel continuity.
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[QUOTE=Frontier;5583473]Oh, they used her Rebirth/movie look.[/QUOTE]
I'm tempted to recolor them in the current Heroes Reborn SS colors just to get a rise out of some. :p
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[QUOTE=Thor-Ul;5583321]Ah, thanks. I had read Bendis' X-men and those crossovers with the Ultimate X-men left me confused. I left after LoebUltimatum and it seems after that the Ultimate Universe died like... three times. [/QUOTE]
Yeah totally!
They tried to revamp it so many times but the damage was done