Ultimate Origins
This is it: The story that finally reveals the conspiracies behind the entire Ultimate universe! When they first met, Bruce Banner mysteriously warned Spider-Man that “Everything is connected.” Now it’s time to discover the jaw-dropping secrets that men have fought and died to protect. From the dark days of World War II to the frightening present, journey through history to learn what’s really behind the Super Soldier and Weapon X Programs, and how heroes such as Captain America, Nick Fury, and Wolverine have more in common than codenames and costumes. The dream team of Brian Michael Bendis and Butch Guice (Captain America, Iron Man) unite for the first time for the Ultimate series of the year that is a must-read lead-in to Ultimatum! Collects Ultimate Origins #1-5.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars A solid book that’s actually better than the book it leads into
What happened to Marvel’s Ultimate universe? It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that the Ultimate books were selling very well and kept consistently entertaining, and then, something happened. Besides Brian Michael Bendis’ ongoing run on Ultimate Spider-Man and Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s Ultimates (when that series didn’t get hit with delays), the rest of the Ultimate universe became a parody of itself. Ultimate X-Men became a shell of its former self, while Ultimate Fantastic Four would flirt with moments of brilliance, only to plummet down towards mediocrity. All of the sudden, the universe where old favorite characters were supposed to get fresh starts and free of old continuity became stale, leading to Marvel’s declaration of Ultimatum: a series written by the once-great Jeph Loeb that is supposed to re-shape the Ultimate universe forever (and given Loeb’s butchering of the Ultimates on Ultimates 3, and what we’ve seen so far in Ultimatum, the future doesn’t look too good). Before Ultimatum though, Bendis gets to reveal just how much elements in the Ultimate universe are linked together with Ultimate Origins, which tells tales of Nick Fury, Captain America, Bruce Banner, and many, many others who are all interconnected. While Bendis’ storytelling is always compelling, what’s to be found here just isn’t all that interesting unless you are a die hard follower of the Ultimate universe. Butch Guice’s artwork however is great, and is reason enough to check this out. Despite its flaws, Ultimate Origins is solid enough, and far, far better than anything found so far in Ultimatum. All in all, if you still follow the Ultimate universe, or you once did, Ultimate Origins is worth a look at the very least.
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