Ultimate Avengers 2 Trailer Available
June 7, 2006 | 3 Comments
Unfortunately Marvel isn’t listing any information about it yet, probably still caught up in the success of X-Men 3. However, IGN has the trailer already so that works out. Considering how much I enjoyed the first movie I was plenty excited to know it will be coming to DVD August 8th.
This movie, subtitled “Rise of the Panther” seems to concentrate quite a bit on Black Panther. This departure from the basic Ultimates story line may prove to make a better film, but I also fear that any departure from Mark Millar’s fantastic work is a bit of a shame.
The oddest thing in this trailer is Iron Man’s appearance. Initially they show him in the standard red and yellow costume, but quickly cut to mostly footage with him in a black and white costume. This costume appears to me to be the War Machine armor warn by Jim Rhodes in classic Iron Man stories. It also resembles the armor Black Widow (aka Natalia Romanova) wore in the Ultimates, which was a wedding gift from Tony Stark. Oddly though, if you watch the trailer slowly there is at least one scene where Black Widow is standing with the black and white suited Iron Man, pretty much throwing that second theory out of the water. The question remains, is that in fact Tony in the armor, Jim Rhodes, or is Marvel animation throwing us some odd curve ball? I’ll let you know in my review after the 8th…
Tags: "ultimate avengers", avengers, black panther, black widow, dvd, iron man, jim rhodes, mark millar, marvel, movie, natalia romanova, preview, tony stark, trailer, ultimates, war machine
Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk - First Impressions
February 28, 2006 | 6 Comments
I’m now two issue into the six issue limited series, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk. Damon Lindelof, co-creator of the hit TV series Lost is writing this. I haven’t been watching Lost, but
Initially I picked this up because it takes place in the Ultimate Universe, which hasn’t let me down yet. It was the opening sequence of the first issue that really grabbed me. On page 3, Hulk rips Wolverine in half! Yes, Logan has an adamantium skeleton, but that says nothing about the joints in that skeleton. Hulk then throws Wolverine’s legs up on top the nearest mountaintop.
The story then jumps back and gives the back story Wolverine gets himself in this situation. Apparently after a failed state sanctioned death penalty using a nuclear bomb on Hulk. Somehow he survived this and now Logan has been sent to finish him off.
Issue #2 gives similar back story on how Hulk survived and what Banner has been doing in the meantime. This issue moves a lot slower and doesn’t actually step the story forward at all. However, it is important to understand both Hulk and Wolverine’s motivations going into this massive battle.
After these two, the next four are setup for the battle royal first implied in the opening sequences of the first issue. I personally can’t wait. Let’s hope Lindelof doesn’t treat this like Lost and continue dragging it out. Bring on the battle!
Tags: "comics books", "Damon Lindelof", "hulk vs wolverine", "ultimate universe", adamantium, bruce banner, comic, comics, hulk, logan, lost, marvel, ultimates, Wolverine
Ultimate Avengers - The Movie
February 21, 2006 | Comments Off
Marvel released the straight to DVD movie Ultimate Avengers today. This PG-13 rated animated action/adventure film is the first in a series of at least four animated feature length films and two tv series Marvel has in the works, including: Ultimate Avengers 2, an Iron Man movie, a Dr. Strange movie, a Fantastic Four series, and a “Wolverine and the X-Men” series.
The movie centers around Captain America, Nick Fury, and Bruce Banner almost equally. The story told here stays true to the basic characters and universe defined in The Ultimates. Mostly this movie stands as a setup for further Ultimate Avengers movies, but it succeeds admirably at this.
I have to say, if all of them are as good as this film, Marvel is crazy not to run them through the theater first… Go rent or buy this, Marvel needs encouragement to continue pumping out a couple of these each year!
Tags: "dr. strange", "ultimate avengers", animated, avengers, black widow, bruce banner, captain america, cartoon, comic books, comics, dvd, fantastic four, hulk, iron man, marvel, nick fury, shield, steve rogers, thor, tony stark, tv, ultimates
Ultimate Iron Man
February 7, 2006 | 2 Comments
When I found out Orson Scott Card was writing Ultimate Iron Man, I had to check it out.
Card is without compare my favorite author. His portrayal of children as intelligent full characters captured me at a young age. Many other authors leave children as one-dimensional after thoughts. Used to build character of others, but with none of their own. In fact, his character development is fantastic all around.
Anyway, it was no surprise that Card decided to begin his Ultimate Iron Man series with Tony Stark as a child. Stark was always just a rich snob with a fancy suit to me. Card made him a gifted child with unique abilities. This portrayal of Iron Man made him have neural tissue distributed throughout his body, not just in his head, giving him the advantage of great intellect, but this was coupled with suffering. His entire body hurt constantly, like having second degree burns all over.
Card take Stark through to early adulthood when he gets his first taste of alcohol, setting the ground work for his alcoholism. Apparently, the distributed neural tissue greatly enhances the effects and adds some relief to the constant pain. I’m a bit uncomfortable with this justification of his alcoholism…
Anyway I look at it though, this is the first time Iron Man has ever been made interesting to me. This series gets two thumbs up from me.
Tags: alcohol, alcoholism, card, comic, comics, iron man, ironman, marvel, orson scott card, stark, tony stark, ultimate, ultimate iron man, ultimates
The Ultimates
January 12, 2006 | 6 Comments
I just completed reading the full first Ultimates run (1-13) and am now up to date on the current run (1-9). There is only one word that describes The Ultimates series.
Dark.
There isn’t a single character in this series so far without some massive flaw. But I’ll get to that in a moment…
The Ultimates is a recreation of The Avengers in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. This is a primarily non-mutant super hero team that is commissioned by the government as a division of S.H.I.E.L.D. In this reality, mutations have become somewhat common as they are cropping up all over the world. These mutants are hated and this story all plays out in the Ultimate X-Men series. However, science has also progressed to the point where manipulations are being made to “normal” humans’ genetics, giving super powers. These artificially enhanced humans are then made members of the Ultimates, or are villains.
Even Ultimate Spider-Man falls under this “requirement,” Fury informed Peter Parker that when he turns 18 he will be required to join the Ultimates.
Another interesting note about this series is the way the Ultimates don’t actually have much reason to exist. There aren’t any significant super villains in the series, no global fights to justify their existence. In fact, they wait until the 11th issue before revealing the first non-member global threat. This is only a 13 issue original series.
The second, currently ongoing series has a similar start. There is a lot of back story and character development, which I appreciate, but again no massive threat until the current issue (#9) which justifies government creation of the “super team”.
Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of action in this series. My point is that the other “bad guys” existence can be directly attributed to the work S.H.I.E.L.D and the government in general is funding. Or, in some cases members of the Ultimates themselves. Clearly the authors want the readers to wonder about the politics and justification of this super army. Maybe they want us to wonder about our own militaries on a smaller scale. Do aggressive militaristic groups spawn additional?
Anyway, one thing that kept me intrigued by this series was the lack of true hero in any of the members of this super team. Here’s a quick rundown of the flaws in each of these character which stops me from being able to idolize any of them, as I might someone like Spider-Man.
Captain America [Steve Rogers]: Uber-aggressive “old” codger, 40’s mind set. Sees things in black and white.
Iron Man [Tony Stark]: Playboy alcoholic, flaunts his place as one of the world’s richest men.
Wasp [Janet Pym]: Secretly a mutant, loaned genetic material to Hank so he could make great scientific breakthroughs. Publicly dates Steve Rogers while still married, but continues to screw Hank. She has other subtle flaws, but in many ways I like her the least.
Giant Man=>Ant Man [Hank Pym]: Secretly cheated to get where he is professionally. Wife beater. ‘Nuff said.
Hulk [Bruce Banner]: arrogance leads him to self experimentation. Hulk rampage leads to over 800 civilians killed. Cannibal.
Nick Fury: Pawn of a larger scheme he may be a part of. Plays like Samuel L. Jackson in a Pulp Fiction/XXX kind of way. An ends justify the means sort of guy.
Thor: Possibly insane. Conspiracy theorist. Ultra left wing. Violent opposition to American dominance. In many ways I find many of these traits endearing, but the writing clearly does not intend them as positives.
Scarlet Witch [Wanda Maximoff]: Daughter of Magneto. Known Terrorist, only in this for the money. Belive in mutant supremacy. Implied incestuous relationship with Pietro.
Quicksilver [Pietro Maximoff]: Son of Magneto. Known Terrorist, only in this for the money. Belive in mutant supremacy. Implied incestuous relationship with Wanda.
Black Widow [Natasha Romanova]: Her evil is a massive spoiler… Trust me though, it’s bad.
Hawkeye [Clint Barton]: The one we know the least about, and in turn, I think he’s clean…
There are also a pile of “reserves” who are all portrayed as mindless puppets to whatever S.H.I.E.L.D wants of them.
As I devour each issue in this series I find myself torn between loving and hating the series. I guess either emotion conveys conviction, and I’m still reading it. Mark Millar was successful at least in hooking me.
Tags: ant man, avengers, black widow, bruce banner, captain america, comic book, comic books, comics, giant man, hawkeye, hulk, iron man, Magneto, mark millar, marvel, nick fury, quick silver, scarlet witch, shield, steve rogers, super hero, thor, ultimate, ultimates, wasp, x-men
Ultimate Fantastic Four
December 11, 2005 | 6 Comments
I’ve never been a fan of the Fantastic Four. At all. They sort of go against everything I love about Marvel. They have life easy, their beloved by the community, and have unlimited funds. This is very different than Spider-Man who is trying to hold his life together while being hated for his altruism.
Anyway, I decided to get my hands on Ultimate Fantastic Four purely to find out if Brian Michael Bendis had put the same touch on this series as he had on The Avengers. Though I was skeptical, he did it here as well. I just finished reading Ultimate Fantastic Four 1-6 and these characters are interesting to me for the first time.
Sadly Bendis left writing Ultimate Fantastic Four after issue 6. Apparently that’s when he concentrated on reinventing the Avengers, which was certainly a success as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, my hopes are a bit lowered for the rest of the series. I intend on reading it regardless, check back on my impressions.
I may even need to see the movie now…
Tags: bendis, brian michael bendis, comic, comics, fantastic four, marvel, trade, ultimate, ultimate fantastic four, ultimates
New Avengers, New Comics Legend
November 23, 2005 | 5 Comments
Over the last few months of reading Amazing Spider-Man, a continually running core plot point has been his membership in a newly reformed Avengers. Never having been a huge Avengers fan, I wasn’t initially very interested, but this interest has slowly increased.
I just completed reading New Avengers Volume 1: Breakout, which collects New Avengers #1-6. After completing this, I was hooked. The writing was just all out fantastic. I hadn’t been this excited about a comic since the Ultimate Spider-Man Collection. It was then it hit me.
Bendis wrote Ultimate Spider-Man, and he also wrote New Avengers. In fact it was him who dissolved the original Avengers. That series has been compiled in the aptly named Avengers Disassembled.
Bendis has also been involved in writing Daredevil, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four. In the meantime he created and wrote Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Secret War, Alias, Powers, and House of M. He’s also responsible for bringing Spider-Woman and Luke Cage back to life.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on as many Bendis written stories as I can. As far as I’m concerned he’s a living legend like Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, or Steve Ditko. In 5-10 years all the comics based movies will be driven by the characters and worlds Bendis is creating and expanding right now.
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