Ultimates

The Ultimates
File:The Ultimates2 issue1.jpg Members of the Ultimates, on the cover of The Ultimates 2 #1. Art by Bryan Hitch.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics (Ultimate imprint)
First appearance	The Ultimates #1
Created by	Mark Millar Bryan Hitch
In-story information
Base(s)	Triskelion
Member(s)	Nick Fury Captain America Iron Man The Wasp Hawkeye Quicksilver Scarlet Witch Thor The Hulk Giant-Man The Black Widow

The Ultimates are a group of fictional characters, a government-sponsored team of superheroes in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, appearing primarily in their self-titled comic book limited series The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2, published by Marvel Comics, written by Mark Millar and drawn by Bryan Hitch. The series started out as a monthly publication in 2001, but due to the large amount of time required by Millar and Hitch to complete each issue, the series has been released irregularly on a less-than-monthly schedule. Each thirteen-issue miniseries is regarded as a "season" of the same title. The team is a re-imagining of the Marvel Universe superhero team, the Avengers.

Their first series, simply titled The Ultimates, ended in April 2004. The current series, The Ultimates 2, began in December 2004 and has published twelve of thirteen issues as of September 2006. A third series, The Ultimates 3, is planned after the conclusion of The Ultimates 2, and will feature a new creative team in the form of Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira. It has recently been confirmed that The Ultimates 4 is also currently in the works, with a creative team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has even stated there is a creative team in mind for an eventual The Ultimates 5.

The tone of the story is widely considered to be darker, more cynical, and more cinematic than most traditional comic books. A prominent theme is the scope and legitimacy of state power, with superheroes - or "persons of mass destruction" as they are described in the series - acting as metaphors for the immense resources of a modern superpower. In this respect, it resembles The Authority, a comic book series that both Hitch and Millar have each worked on, though at different times.

Characters

The Ultimates

Notable members of the Ultimates include Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, the Wasp, Giant-Man, General Nick Fury, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.

• Captain America, real name Steve Rogers. Patriotic, nationalistic, jingoistic and reactionary. Maintains a stereotypical 1940s attitude in the modern post-2000 world. Rogers underwent six months of surgery and steroid treatment during World War II to become America's first Super-Soldier. At the end of the war in 1945, he led a mission to sabotage a prototype hydrogen bomb developed by the Nazis with extraterrestrial technology, and was thrown into the North Atlantic Ocean, where he was frozen. He remained in suspended animation until his body was rediscovered in the present day and revived, just in time to take the field leadership of the new government-sponsored superhuman force known as The Ultimates as its leader under General Fury's command.
• General Nick Fury. Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the branch of the U.S. military devoted to meta-human threats, though its original purpose was the takedown of the Soviet Union). General Fury is an African-American in this re-imagining -- the original Fury was Caucasian -- but retains other features of his mainstream counterpart. For example, he wears an eye patch due to an injury in the Persian Gulf War. While Fury usually leads the team via a comm-link from their home base, he has occasionally joined the team on field missions, employing advanced spy technology (e.g. invisibility) to stay alive. He also makes various cameos throughout the Ultimate Marvel Universe, more so than the other Ultimates. Reportedly, Millar and Hitch have both indicated that his characterization and image are loosely based on Samuel L. Jackson.
• Iron Man, real name Tony Stark. Billionaire industrialist, playboy and inventive genius. Creator of the Iron Man powered armor. Stark has an inoperable brain tumor: doctors estimate he has between six months and five years to live. As a result, Stark decides to do something of worth before he dies. He is portrayed as an alcoholic, as he was for a time in the original comics. During the second series, Stark becomes engaged to Black Widow, giving her a suit of black armor as an engagement present.
• Thor. Allegedly the exiled Son of Odin. Maintains a cult of personality around himself with his preachings of political conspiracies orchestrated by the New World Order. According to his dossier, he is Thorleif Golman, an ex-nurse who suffered a nervous breakdown and spent 18 months in a mental institution. He appears to have super-powers which include flight, the ability to manipulate the weather, super-strength and also exhibits a degree of omniscience. He also wields the allegedly magical hammer Mjolnir, which can teleport objects into other dimensions. One of the mysteries behind Thor is whether or not he really is the Thor of Norse mythology. The later appearance of Loki, who mysteriously appears to taunt Thor and subsequently appears with an opposing supervillain team, appears to give credence to Thor's claims. He refuses to be an official member of the team, which he considers pawns of the military-industrial complex, but offers to be on call anytime there is an emergency that requires his help. Mark Millar claims to have based the character loosely on conspiracy theorist David Icke.
• The Hulk, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. Noted scientist attempting to rediscover the Super-Soldier Formula that created Captain America. Insecure and neurotic, he uses an experimental version of the formula on himself and was transformed into the mindless Hulk. In addition to being childlike and violent, the Hulk is shown not only as a sexual being (in contrast to the Marvel Universe version, which does not emphasize this aspect) with no morality or restraint and a voracious cannibal. In the "Ultimate War" issue of the Ultimate X-Men, he escapes and eats his six-person nursing staff, and consumes the extraterrestrial Chitauri leader in the climax of the first Ultimates miniseries. As the Hulk, he is virtually unstoppable but easily manipulated. Banner was thought cured of his adverse condition, but recreated the Hulk amid his resentment and inability to recreate Captain America's super-soldier serum, being treated as a milquetoast by his teammates and for being cuckolded by his ex-girlfriend, Betty. Although not technically a member of the team, the Hulk is kept in isolation for safety reasons and called on as a living weapon only as a last resort. After the events of Ultimate Hulk vs. Ultimate Wolverine, Banner returns to fight alongside the Ultimates, having "embraced his inner sociopath."
• Giant-Man and the Wasp, are Henry and Janet Pym, a married couple as they were in the original comics. In this re-imagining, their strained relationship includes emotional, verbal and physical abuse on Henry's part toward Janet. Janet subsequently began a relationship with Captain America, which itself has become strained, in part due to their generational differences, and in part due to Janet's attempts to re-establish a friendship with Henry. As in the mainstream comics, Henry Pym is a world-famous scientist with tremendous powers of growth; but whereas the mainstream Wasp is a normal human altered by chemical and technological means, the Ultimate Wasp is secretly a mutant with a wasp-like physiology, including, for example, insect-like appetite and laying eggs. Janet is also Asian in the Ultimate line.
• The Black Widow and Hawkeye, are Natasha Romanova, a former KGB spy and expert assassin and Clint Barton, an archer with almost superhuman accuracy. They were originally part of the Ultimates' covert operations "black ops" team, but were subsequently moved to public status after their backgrounds were falsified for public consumption.
• Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, a pair of mutant siblings. Pietro has the power of super speed, and Wanda can affect probabilities with her powers. Unlike the original mainstream versions of these characters, they have not abandoned their ties to Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy; they still believe in mutant supremacy. Because of their mutant status, they remain a part of the black ops section. They are often depicted touching and relating to each other intimately, which has led to fan speculation that the two share an incestuous relationship.

The Reserves

"Phase 2" of the super-soldier program, these are soldiers slated to join the Ultimates, which would decidedly add a much more straight forward soldier aspect to the team, as these characters are all military personnel.

File:Ultannu.jpg

The Reserves.

• Rocketmen, wearing customized armor suits based on early Iron Man designs. Four are members of the Ultimate Reserves, while the others serve actively as general super-soldiers.
• Giant-Men, seven men injected with a modified version of Hank Pym's "Giant Man" Formula, allowing them to grow well past 60 feet in height. In issue #9 of Ultimates 2, all the giant-men were seemingly killed by the Liberators' foot soldiers.

In recent issues of Ultimates 2, certain foot soldiers have been equipped with light blue enhancement suits that bestow flight and super-strength upon the wearer. Based on panel illustrations, it can be inferenced there are around 100+ troops with these suits.

The following characters have yet to assist the Ultimates.

• The Four Seasons, four marines who derive their powers from their uniforms. Their costume designs and abilities follow the season motif.
• Lieberman (deceased), the only Reserve member (besides Giant Men) whose powers were not costume-based. He was injected with the Super-Soldier serum and, as a result, exhibited enhanced speed and strength, as well as nearly indestructible skin. He also possessed an innate connection to the S.H.I.E.L.D. supercomputer. However, his central nervous system collapsed after he saved fifty seven people from a fire in New York City; the strain of the super-soldier serum killed him. It is suggested that there have been several other soldiers like him who died the same way.
• The Human Sentinels, Sixty of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents in Sentinel battle armor that has enough hardware to take on a fleet of the old Sentinel models. Special polychrome coatings prevent magnetic fields from harming them in any way. They also have helmets to deter telepathy.

Other reserves are mentioned, Thunderbolt and Intangi-girl, but they were not yet operational in their original appearance, and have not yet reappeared.

Allies

All the other Ultimate Universe title characters (Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four) have interracted with the Ultimates at various times; however, characters who have thus far only appeared in conjunction with the Ultimates are:

• Falcon, Samuel Wilson, an explorer, adventurer, and scientist who utilizes a backpack with high-tech folding wings to fly. Sam Wilson first appeared in Ultimate Nightmare, then worked on the Vision, demonstrating a high level of understanding technology. He is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. rather than an official member of the Ultimates, or Reserves.
• Captains Britain, France, Spain, and Italy, of the European Defense Initative, are the European Union's super soldiers. Their super-powered suits allow them to exhibit superhuman strength, endurance, flight, and are immune to drowning. They assisted in the capture of Thor and rebuilding of America following the Liberators' attack.
• Mahr Vehl, Pluskommander Geheneris Halason Mahr Vehl, human name Dr. Phillip Lawson, first appeared in Ultimate Secret, as the head scientist of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s space program. He is a Kree alien who underwent surgery to appear human. When necessary, Lawson can activate a cybernetic battlesuit from his wrist watch to gain superhuman strength, flight, endurance, shielding, invisibility, and an arm-based cannon. He has yet to reappear.
• Vision, discovered in a Siberian military base during Ultimate Nightmare, the Vision was held for research at the Triskelion. After the defeat of Gah Lak Tus, the Vision is dispatched to herald its arrival on other worlds, along with the warning that "humans can kick the Hell out of anyone." Dr. Pym created a robot based on the Vision midway through Ultimates 2, dubbed Vision II.
• Carol Danvers, a United States Air Force Captain, former director of security at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Aerospace Development Station 9, transferred to personal aide to General Fury. First appearing in Ultimate Secret, it is she that incarcerates Mahr Vehl and is then assigned to watch him at all times. Because of this, Sue Storm teases her about having an alien boyfriend. Captain Danvers makes her reappearance in Ultimate Power.

Enemies

Aside from the Hulk, the Ultimates have fought and encountered several super powered foes, including Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, the Ultimate Six and the product of an abandoned Russian supersoldier program. They have also fought the X-Men twice, though it was not until recently that Fury declared the X-Men enemies of the state. They also tangled with the villain Deathlok, whom they defeated with the assistance of Spider-man.

The Chitauri and their leader, Captain America's wartime nemesis, Herr Kleiser, have proven to be formidable enemies of The Ultimates. A reptilian alien race based on the mainstream Marvel Skrulls, the Chitauri also appear to be partly based on the shape-shifting reptiles of the conspiracy theories of David Icke.

The Ultimates have over the years defeated or killed a number of super-villains; most are detained in the Triskelion. A list of imprisoned supercriminals include:

• Magneto (Escaped)
• Longshot (Escaped)
• Mystique (Posing as Magneto)
• Herr Kleiser (Dead, remains kept imprisoned to prevent him from regenerating)
• Sinister
• Deathstrike (Status Unknown: neck snapped by Longshot although she possesses a healing factor)
• Ultimate Six

• Green Goblin (Kept in cryogenic suspension)
• Doctor Octopus
• Electro
• Kraven
• Sandman (Scattered into several isolated jars)

• Hobgoblin
• Omega Red
• Deathlok
• Vulture

• Elijah Stern (Created Vulture's suit, now forced to work for Fury)

The latest enemies of the Ultimates are the Liberators, the superhuman strike force of an international coalition that invades the United States out of fear for the incursion of The Ultimates in foreign soil. They seemed to have been influencing most of the events which transpired during the majority of The Ultimates 2 series. During the final battle in New York, the entire team was killed by their Ultimates counterparts with the exception of Perun, and the Liberators' ally Loki.

Main article: The Liberators (Marvel Comics)

Story Arcs

Volume 1

Super-Human (#1-6)

Template:Spoiler The team is initially formed by General Fury and the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in response to the emergence of supervillains, specifically to Magneto's attack on the White House in Ultimate X-Men. In order to recreate the "Super Soldier Serum" that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America, General Nick Fury recruits elite scientists Bruce Banner - whose estranged fiancée Betty Ross is Fury's PR assistant - and Janet and Hank Pym. Surprisingly, billionaire playboy Tony Stark joins the team, donning his "Iron Man" armor.

Then, there is a miracle: after fifty-seven years, scientists have retrieved the frozen body of Captain America out of the Arctic Ocean. Banner revives the Captain, however Captain America is convinced that he has fallen into Nazi hands and quickly tries to escape. He is stopped by Hank Pym, aka Giant-Man. "Cap" has an emotional reunion with his old friends Bucky Barnes and Barnes' wife - and Cap's ex-fiancée - Gail. Then Fury tries to recruit a super-powered anti-establishment crusader named "Thor." Thor declines, contending that the Ultimates are to be lackeys of a corrupt superpower.

The Ultimates' first enemy comes from within. After being constantly rebuked by Betty Ross, and overhearing a conversation between Fury and the Pyms where he was made into a laughingstock, Banner finally snaps and takes action. To give his team an enemy to fight against (as well as missing the personal empowerment of being the Hulk), he recreates the Hulk and goes on the rampage, devastating much of Manhattan and causing horrific casualties in his wake. Thanks to judicious use of public relations spin, the quelled disaster comes off as a victory for The Ultimates -- hailed as heroes for subduing the Hulk. Later, Stark invites the team over to his Park Avenue home for a black-tie dinner. Thor and Steve Rogers are the first to arrive. However, the team suffers from inner turmoil as tensions between Janet and Henry Pym result in Pym violently assaulting his wife. Tony Stark also reveals that he has an inoperable brain tumor.

Homeland Security (#7-13)

Captain America tracks and finds Hank Pym, who has gone into hiding after beating his wife Janet. The Captain beats Pym to a pulp, despite the fact that Pym grew to giant size in the practically one-sided fight. However, when Captain America visits Janet afterwards, the news makes her even sadder.

In the meantime, the decades-long covert war between the human race and the shape-changing extraterrestrials known as the Chitauri (loosely based on the original Marvel aliens the Skrulls) comes to a head as the Chitauri infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., sending S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agents and The Ultimates together on a wild-goose chase to Micronesia, which turns out to be a massive booby trap, while the Chitauri secretly conquer the world.

When the Ultimates escape the Chitauri's trap, the aliens prepare to begin their plans for world domination from an infiltrated military base in Phoenix, Arizona. However, a fleet of Chitauri motherships suddenly arrive, bringing news that their enemies across the galaxy have been fighting back, and that they had been driven to the backwater of the galaxy. Instead of taking over Earth, the Chitauri leadership decides to set off a device that will obliterate the solar system and retreat to the "lower fourth dimension." In the final clash between The Ultimates and the Chitauri, Bruce Banner is thrown out of an aircraft - deliberately provoking his transformation into the Hulk. Manipulated by the battlefield strategies of Captain America, the Hulk "victoriously" deals a decisive blow to the alien threat by literally devouring the Chitauri leader, while Thor teleports the alien explosive device into another dimension (the wastes of Nastrond, home of Fafnir the Dragon) where it detonates safely. The story ends with Captain America and the Wasp coming together, despite the attempts of a deeply rueful Hank Pym to make amends.

Volume 2

Gods And Monsters (#1-6)

It has been a year since the Chitauri invasion and things are starting to look bad for The Ultimates. Cap is sent into Iraq to defuse a hostage situation. This incident prompts Thor to leave the team and talk of a conspiracy to get The Ultimates to enter conflict in the Middle East. Jan and Cap are also dealing with the generational gap between them. Dr. Banner is regularly being visited by Hank, who join together to create more super soldiers. Tony and Natasha have entered into a relationship. Thor is told by Volstagg in a restaurant that Loki is on the loose and plans to stop Thor's mission before a waiter tells Thor he is talking to no one. Soon, things go very bad as Banner's connection to the Hulk is exposed. Both Cap and Fury suspect Thor, but the Norse god denies it. During the trial, Matt Murdock gives an impressive defense, but Banner is still sentenced to death. After the trial Banner is tricked into drinking a sedative by Fury and brought to a carrier to be nuked. It was later revealed that at the last minute, Banner Hulks out and survives, later calling Hank to thank him.

The Ultimates' next goal is containing Thor, who they believe is becoming more violent. Fury takes the team to meet the super soldier wing of the European Defense Initiative to plan Thor's capture. Thor's "brother", Dr. Gunnar Golmen (Loki in disguise), tells the team that Thor is actually an insane ex-nurse named Thorlief who stole Gunnar's bio-mechanical hardware to become Thor. The team, along with the European super soldiers, go off to arrest Thor. The ensuing battle begins in Thor's favor, but he is eventually captured when Quicksilver takes his belt, which renders Thor powerless, as Loki manipulated the space-time continium so that the belt would become the source of Thor's power. Thor is put in Banner's old cell where Loki taunts him and tells him of a traitor in The Ultimates' ranks. Meanwhile, Fury brings Cap, Tony and Hawkeye into his office to say that something's happened in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Hank Pym has been fired by Fury and joins an amateur group of wannabe superheroes called the Defenders. Hank and The Defenders plan a bust against a gang who are stealing cigarettes. However, the bust goes wrong and a photograph of Hank naked appears on the front page of The Daily Bugle. Later Hank meets with the traitor in the Ultimates who states that he / she is doing so because of an opposition to American foreign policy. The traitor then informs Hank that The Ultimates have just invaded a country in the Middle East.

The Ultimates 2 Annual #1: The Reserves

The Annual follows a day in the life of Nick Fury. After the Ultimates stop a hostage situation on an aircraft mid-flight, Fury reveals Phase Two of the project; increasing the number of super-soldiers in the team from nine to twenty-six. The Reserves consist of three Rocketmen, five Giant-Men, "The Four Seasons," Thunderbolt, Intangi-Girl, Owen, Rusk and O'Donaghue. The last reserve member, Lieberman, has been injected with the Super-Soldier serum and as a result he has enhanced speed and strength, nearly indestructible skin and is also connected to the S.H.I.E.L.D. supercomputer.

At a private function, Fury gets into an argument with a general named Viktor over the legality of these super-soldiers. Later, Mister Nix, "the World's Greatest Hitman", is contracted to kill Fury. He is equipped with an experimental rifle, one of only two in the world that can fire through solid objects.

Fury briefs Lieberman in private that if Rogers is ever compromised or killed in the line of duty, Lieberman will be there to replace Rogers as Captain America or take him down. However, while rescuing fifty-seven people from a burning building, his body rejects the Super-Soldier serum and his central nervous system collapses, killing him. It is revealed that Lieberman is only the latest in a string of failed volunteers who have been administered the serum.

Finally, Mister Nix has Fury set in his cross-hairs but is interrupted by his operator who has discovered who hired him. Before she can tell him, Fury has re-appeared in the cross-hairs aiming the same rifle at Nix, and kills him. Fury had hired the hitman himself in order to eliminate him as a potential threat.

Grand Theft America (#7-13) (Ongoing)

Template:Future comic Weeks after the Ultimates attacked and occupied a Middle Eastern nuclear facility and destroyed all of the warheads, Hawkeye and his family are attacked in their home, killing his wife and children. After reviewing security tapes of the attack Nick Fury has Captain America arrested, utilizing the Ultimate Reserves. Captain America is detained in Triskelion.

Hawkeye was not killed but captured, drugged and interrogated, whereby a number of state secrets and security codes were extracted from his head. , and the true traitor on the team was Black Widow

With the Triskelion's security codes in their hands, an anti-American terrorist organization cripples the station's defenses and disarms their aerial navy and kills most of their staff. Moments later, a massive invasion of America begins, originating in every country in America but focusing primarily on Washington D.C. and New York City, utilizing foot soldiers in suits giving them flight and low-level super-strength. The superhuman invaders are subsequently referred to as the Liberators. America is seized in less than an hour. The Ultimate reserves are overwhelmed and killed, and the Statue of Liberty is toppled, much like Saddam Hussein's statue was during the 2003 Iraqi Invasion.

The American government is overthrown. Hank Pym, now working with The Liberators, keeps the American populace in line using the Ultron robots he created. However, The Liberators appear to have made several critical errors in their plans: they underestimate Hawkeye, who kills all of his captors using his own fingernails as projectiles, Iron Man, who downloaded information on the Liberators out of Black Widow's brain before knocking her out with a champagne bottle and Wasp, who has hidden in Captain America's cell in the Triskellion. After being subdued, Wasp reveals to Schizoid Man that she had already released Captain America. Cap then proceeds to defeat all of Schizoid Man's replicas, freeing Wasp and leaving the Triskelion looking for Thor and any other survivors.

Thor is mysteriously absent from his cell. Tony Stark suits up in the first Iron Man prototype suit and flies into an orbital space station with the objective of activating Iron Man 6 which, judging by its storage casing, is an enormous and powerful suit of armor. Air Force One is intercepted and crippled by Perun and Crimsom Dynamo, who return it to Washington. Captain America and the Wasp infiltrate the White House and discover Hawkeye has already freed Betty Ross, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Nick Fury.

Before they get a chance to chat a troop of enemy soldiers fly in, along with The Abomination, Swarm, and Hurricane. Captain America is flung through a wall and lands near a waiting Al-Rahman, who is eager to battle. Bruce Banner appears outside of the White House and, after one of Crimson Dynamo's robots steps on him, turns into the Hulk and tears the robot in half.

Captain America and Al-Rahman battle. Quicksilver interrupts Hurricane's attack on Hawkeye, and pushes her beyond her body's limits, killing her.

The Abomination confronts the Hulk, believing his superior intellect, size, and strength will guarantee victory, but suffers a massive barrage of blows before his arms are ripped off by the Hulk, and then decapitated with a single punch.

The Wasp injects herself with a sample of the Giant Man serum and steps on Swarm. Captain Britain and the European Union supersoldiers appear and liberate Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, who all join the fight in New York. Tony Stark appears in Iron Man 6, an enormous airship with multiple laser cannons, over Washington and vaporizes the Crimson Dynamo and empties the skies of the Crimsom Dynamo drones.

Hank Pym, forseeing the defeat of the Liberators, commands his Ultron fleet to attack and subdue the remaining foot soldiers, insisting they were infiltrating the Liberators all along.

Captain America battles the Colonel fiercely near the Washington monument and eventually overpowers him, but is tackled by a group of foot soldiers while Al-Rahman prepares to execute him. Lacking sufficient strength, Hawkeye asks the Hulk to help him throw Cap's shield at Al-Rahmein, slicing off his hands. Captain America frees himself from the Liberator foot soldiers and impales Al-Rahman in the Washington Monument pool with the weapon the Colonel attempted to execute him with.

The Liberators seemingly defeated, Loki reveals his true power to the regrouped Ultimates and warns them of their impending doom. The Scarlet Witch promptly modifies some probabilities and a moment later Thor reappears, his scars gone, hair and beard back, holding his hammer.

The Ultimates 2 Annual #2

After Liberator's attack on the United States was foiled, the nation was left weak and fragile. As the various superheros attempt to rebuild New York, turmoil and lawlessness are increasing in other parts of the nation. Captain America is one of the many superheros trying to rebuild the shattered city, but he begins to suffer flashbacks of a World War II operation involving an attack on Arnim Zola, a Nazi scientist attempting to create Nazi supersoldiers.

To his horror, Captain America discovers that Zola is in fact still alive as an artificial intelligence, helping the US government create weapons. Taking advantage of the Liberator's attack, Thomas Jenks, a computer technician with Ku Klux Klan ideals, releases Zola and begins to revive his supersoldier projects.

Captain America and Sam Wilson team up to track down and stop Zola. Unfortunately, tensions rise between the two heros as the race and age differences between them become apparent. They manage to work out their differences and focus on tracking Zola. Eventually, they succeed in finding the base he is operating from, and with the assistance of some liberated prisoners, defeat Zola and his army of KKK thugs.

After the battle, Captain America and Wilson realize that the entire nation needs them, not just New York, and both heroes agree to take the long way back and help as many people as possible.

Awards & Recognition

The "Super-Human" storyline running through the first six issues of the first series won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Story for 2003.

Trivia

• In the DC comic Superman / Batman(issues #20-25), the title characters find themselves involved in a dispute with a group of alternate universe superheroes known as The Maximums, who are analogues of The Ultimates much the way Marvel's Squadron Supreme served as substitutes for DC's Justice League. The Maximums, unlike The Ultimates, are based out of San Francisco.

• While Pym tries to sell Nick Fury on the Ultron and Vision robots, Quicksilver accuses his sister, the Scarlet Witch, of flirting with one of the VISION robots. This is an obvious reference to the Scarlet Witch of the 616 universe who married the android Vision that was created from the body of the original Human Torch by the 616 Ultron Android who was in turn created by the 616 Hank Pym.

• In issue 1 of Ultimates 2, Loki can be seen in the restaurant scene involving Thor and Volstagg. After Volstagg warns Thor of Loki's escape and mission of chaos, Loki can be seen in the background wearing a green suit and smirking.

The Ultimates Movies

On July 20, 2004, Marvel Entertainment and Lion's Gate Family Home Entertainment announced that they would be producing a 66-minute animated movie titled Ultimate Avengers, based on The Ultimates, which was released on DVD February 21, 2006. It does not include the member Hawkeye.

A sequel, Ultimate Avengers 2 was released on August 8th 2006. It introduces African superhero the Black Panther, who rules the African nation of Wakanda.

Further information: [[:Ultimate Avengers]]

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks

The Ultimates Vol. 1: Super-Human	(ISBN 0-7851-0960-9)	collects The Ultimates #1-6
The Ultimates Vol. 2: Homeland Security	(ISBN 0-7851-1078-X)	collects The Ultimates #7-13
The Ultimates 2 Vol. 1: Gods And Monsters	(ISBN 0-7851-1093-3)	collects The Ultimates 2 #1-6

Hardcover

The Ultimates Vol. 1

(ISBN 0-7851-1082-8)

collects The Ultimates #1-13