Ultimate Avengers: The Movie

**½

Any questions? Any questions not about the Hulk?

As a longtime comic book fan I rejected the “Ultimate” line from Marvel Comics. The “Ultimates” were a reboot of the Marvel Comics universe without any overlap or baggage from the true universe. Their artwork seemed geared towards children and appeared to rehash the origins I already knew. So I chose not to read any Ultimate Spider-Man, or whatever other books they released, until that universe came crashing down, killing off a great deal of its main characters. That no longer seemed like kid’s stuff to me.

Black Widow, Captain America, and Gen. Nick Fury

I would say that these are not the Avengers familiar to those who have enjoyed Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers, but that would be a lie. At first I thought the only connection between those movies and the “Ultimates” was that Nick Fury went from a white, cigar chomping, one eyed, World War II veteran to a comic rendering of Samuel L. Jackson, who was too young to have fought in WWII. In fact, most of the storyline elements come from this “Ultimates” timeline.

Most of the Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and the Wasp.

As I did not read those books, I gleaned a lot from this 2006 cartoon movie. I would recommend this 75 minute movie as a history lesson. It was one for me. And here are some of the differences between the Marvel canon and from The Avengers and Ultimate Avengers: The Movie.

• Dr. Bruce Banner and becoming the Hulk — originally Dr. Banner turned into the Hulk when a nuclear gamma bomb doused him in a huge amount of gamma radiation; but in the Ultimates he was attempting to recreate the Super Soldier Serum©.
• Steve Rogers and becoming Captain America — this origin is consistent, it is the rebirth that differs. Originally the Avengers find Cap’n America in the late 1960’s, but now it is S.H.I.E.L.D. and his recovery is much later.
• The Wasp and Ant Man, aka Giant Man — originally the Black Widow was a villain and the Wasp–Janet Van Dyne–was the only female founding member of the Avengers. She had a relationship with Hank Pym, who could initially only shrink down, but eventually learned to turn himself gigantic. Pym was the resident genius ahead of Iron Man, who kept his identity secret longer in the Marvel comics than in the Ultimates or in Iron Man.
• The formation of the Avengers — the Avengers were initially formed as a response to Loki…but there was no S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury had nothing to do with it. In the Ultimates Fury seems to have recruited them, as shown in live action movie as well. In fact, the Chitauri invade in both of these movies as well, but without Loki’s assistance in Ultimate Avengers: The Movie.
• Back to the Black Widow — I guess at some time she did join S.H.I.E.L.D., but that was long after she joined the second iteration of the Avengers. Hawkeye, “Agent Barton” in Thor and The Avengers was also a reformed villain who aligned with Captain America when the original Avengers quit; but in the Ultimates Black Widow’s past is already behind her and she is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
• And lastly Thor — Thor gets his costume from Thor in the Ultimates universe, although Mjolnir—his hammer—looks unlike either the Marvel universe or movie versions. His origins on Earth differ in this movie, his movie, and in the original Marvel comics.

Thor trying to stop the Hulk, with Mjolnir’s help.

As I said, this is a colorful, and at times enjoyable, history lesson. It could use an English accent for some narration, but otherwise this would have been a dream come true to watch in 9th grade history class.