Successes and Failures of the Ultimate Marvel Universe

[The Overlord]

Ultimate Marvel was once one of the most successful parts of Marvel's publishing line but now seems mostly dead.

What are the successes and failures of the Ultimate Marvel Universe? I will say a lot of the scientific and costume upgrades worked very well. The spider that bites Peter Park being genetically engineered rather than radioactive is a great update and the movies uses Captain America's Ultimate costumes.

In terms of failures, some of the comic books in the Ultimate Universe have really shown their age, those old Ultimate issues feel like a time capsule from the early 2000s. A lot of the "heroes" like Captain America or Wolverine have very few positive traits and do heinous things that make them unsympathetic. To balance that, most of the villains in the Ultimate Universe are either generic greedy thugs or evil puppy-eating monsters to make the heroes more sympathetic. Ultimate Magneto was a far less character than 616 Magneto, for example. Even 616 Sandman is a far more interesting character than Ultimate Sandman, who is a greedy thug who beats his girlfriend, while 616 Sandman is a far more gray character. I will say Ultimate Shocker has a better backstory than 616 Shocker.

[Steroid]

In regards to a success I will say the biggest success and shock for me was Millar somehow managing to make Ultimate Hawkeye the most badass MF'er on two legs.

As far as failures go I say look no further than Jeph Loeb and Ultimatum. IMO he pretty much killed the line with one of the all time worst event in the history of comics.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, Ultimatum ultimately killed the line, excuse the pun.

There was one last success after that point though: Miles Morales. He couldn't save the line, but was popular enough to move to 616 and now has his own video game and animated movie.

[dzub]

Ultimate Nick Fury pretty much made the 616 one a memory

[shooshoomanjoe]

I'm one of the few people that loved Ultimatum. It still remains as one of my favorite reads.

[Huntsman Spider]

Ultimate Marvel was once one of the most successful parts of Marvel's publishing line but now seems mostly dead.

What are the successes and failures of the Ultimate Marvel Universe? I will say a lot of the scientific and costume upgrades worked very well. The spider that bites Peter Park being genetically engineered rather than radioactive is a great update and the movies uses Captain America's Ultimate costumes.

In terms of failures, some of the comic books in the Ultimate Universe have really shown their age, those old Ultimate issues feel like a time capsule from the early 2000s. A lot of the "heroes" like Captain America or Wolverine have very positive traits and do heinous things that make them unsympathetic. To balance that, most of the villains in the Ultimate Universe are either generic greedy thugs or evil puppy-eating monsters to make the heroes more sympathetic. Ultimate Magneto was a far less character than 616 Magneto, for example. Even 616 Sandman is a far more interesting character than Ultimate Sandman, who is a greedy thug who beats his girlfriend, while 616 Sandman is a far more gray character. I will say Ultimate Shocker has a better backstory than 616 Shocker.

Pretty much, especially on Ultimate Shocker, which played well into the theme Brian Bendis was establishing throughout Ultimate Spider-Man, especially vis-a-vis Norman Osborn with and later Roxxon, that corporate executives caring for little or nothing else except money and power were the ultimate menaces of society and to humanity.

In regards to a success I will say the biggest success and shock for me was Millar somehow managing to make Ultimate Hawkeye the most badass MF'er on two legs.

As far as failures go I say look no further than Jeph Loeb and Ultimatum. IMO he pretty much killed the line with one of the all time worst event in the history of comics.

Oh, yeah. That scene where he killed all the Liberators' goons with just his severed fingernails and then whispered into the security camera to "run" was priceless.

[ActualLibrarian]

I thoroughly enjoyed Ultimate Magneto. I hope the MCU copies him instead of making him a black/white character like in 616. Just make him a villain.
0ZScFby.jpg

[superduperman]

Good things:

Spider-Man

Nick Fury

Cap's costume. Most of the costumes, actually.

The Ultimates being a government entity and funded by the government.

Tony having to need a support team to climb into his suit.

Hawkeye.

Bad:

Bruce and Betty's relationship. There was nothing healthy about that.

X-Men.

Black Widow.

Tony himself as a person.

Wasp. She was clearly needy and was willing to overlook a lot of bad things to be with a man.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's relationship.

Some of these elements made the book more realistic and believable but it also made some of the characters unlikable. There are others I'm on the fence about. Like their Thor. And Galactus. They had their ups and downs. Their FF started out fine but when they turned Reed into a villain, they were clearly going downhill. Most of the aliens in general.

[The Overlord]

I thoroughly enjoyed Ultimate Magneto. I hope the MCU copies him instead of making him a black/white character like in 616. Just make him a villain.
0ZScFby.jpg

Just a villain is a dime dozen at Marvel. That's what Red Skull is for. Turning one of the greatest Anti-Villains in comics into just another villain is a huge downgrade.

[Huntsman Spider]

Good things:

Spider-Man

Nick Fury

Cap's costume. Most of the costumes, actually.

The Ultimates being a government entity and funded by the government.

Tony having to need a support team to climb into his suit.

Hawkeye.

Bad:

Bruce and Betty's relationship. There was nothing healthy about that.

X-Men.

Black Widow.

Tony himself as a person.

Wasp. She was clearly needy and was willing to overlook a lot of bad things to be with a man.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's relationship.

Some of these elements made the book more realistic and believable but it also made some of the characters unlikable. There are others I'm on the fence about. Like their Thor. And Galactus. They had their ups and downs. Their FF started out fine but when they turned Reed into a villain, they were clearly going downhill. Most of the aliens in general.

Generally agreed, especially on Spider-Man. As for the Ultimates being a government-backed entity and S.H.I.E.L.D. being explicitly an American military intelligence organization instead of being formed by an international alliance, I did like how Millar addressed the pitfalls of such a thing, that in a world where superhumans really did exist, governments would weaponize them for the sake of shady geopolitical agendas, and of course, that would horrifically backfire down the line.

[CaptainUniverse]

Cataclysm was great, at least I thought it did a better job than Ultimate Nightmare or Ultimatum did:

Ultimate003.jpg

[CrimsonEchidna]

Honestly even before Ultimatum, I think Mark Millar as the architect had a habit of making the tone of the Universe pretty shlocky. Stuff like Hank Pym being an outright wife beater, Steve Rogers being jigonistic, the incest subtext between Pietro and Wanda (which Loeb later canonized), Logan straight up trying to murder Scott.

There was definitely some undeniable high points but when looking back I'm not surprised when new people go back and read the Ultimate Universe in the present day and wonder what all the hype was about. lol

[ActualLibrarian]

I think the hype around the Ultimate Universe was more promoted as an adult superhero sandbox. Kind of like LOTR and Game of Thrones. There is always room for that dark and gritty story so long as it it contained in an alternate universe. Whether or not people are going to like it is another matter. You can have these adult themes like GOT but you have to really back it up with a great story. Ultimates 1+2, Ultimate Spider-Man, some of Ultimate X-men and a lot of Hickmans work on Ultimates was actually very enjoyable.

[Triniking1234]

Read Ultimate F4 and Ultimate POWER!!!

[CaptainUniverse]

Read Ultimate F4 and Ultimate POWER!!!

Ultimate Power was such a mess but...I have to admit the last three issues where the original Squadron Supreme shows up to kick the crap out of the Ultimate Universe heroes and their Supreme Power counterparts was pretty fun.