Earth's Mightiest Strike Team

 

It's been over twenty years since Marvel launched its new line of books based on familiar Marvel characters but whose lives and origins were recycled to exist in another universe--an effort spearheaded by the 2000 series Ultimate Spider-Man and the 2001 title Ultimate X-Men, before finally getting the Avengers on board as The Ultimates in 2002. It was a more piecemeal approach than was taken with the new universe titles (eight new books, all released as full-fledged series during October-November of 1986)--yet while that collection of titles had other things working against them (e.g., the exclusion of any other Marvel super-beings), the underlying concept of Marvel launching a sub-universe of comics titles within their long-standing Marvel Comics line was essentially the same, the difference being that the Ultimate books consisted of characters already familiar to readers for the most part.

There's no doubt that The Ultimates takes a more hawkish approach to a government-backed team concept than The Avengers, whose own government ties weren't disclosed until much later in the book's run. Described as a super-human defense initiative, the Ultimates operate under the umbrella of S.H.I.E.L.D.* and work in tandem with the division's forces as well as federal troops--while Tony Stark, happy to lend his expertise to the effort as long as he benefits financially and in a public relations capacity (or so he tells inquiring minds), also brings his new Iron Man armor to the party. Everyone is there to follow orders and go into missions by the numbers, with the Ultimates benefiting from support crews and armed forces backup.

*Taking a leaf from the "Heroes Reborn" reboot of The Avengers, which by contrast saw Fury and the team having a bumpier road in their working relationship and eventually leading to the Avengers declaring their independence.

And so with that in mind, what compels those on this team who bear the same names but have lives very different from their counterparts in the Avengers--Henry Pym, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Janet Pym, et al.--to sign on the dotted line of this "task force" we'll come to know as the Ultimates? The double-page cover to its first issue accords this very different group of charter members all due grandeur--but have they a mission statement beyond their patriotic duty, or are they essentially soldiers on call?

For some insight, we can turn to the architects of the new initiative, Nick Fury and Tony Stark, for their perspective on those that SHIELD has short-listed to comprise it--a conversation which puts us front-row to witness the beginning stages of the Ultimates, where the carefree Stark reveals that he indeed has a conscience.

Later, in the still-under-construction Triskelion, SHIELD's new island H.Q., we look in on the trials being conducted for Hank Pym's growth experiment. But where our Hank took those steps in seclusion, this one has an entire staff and a state-of-the-art facility at his beck and call.

As an aside, if you're under the impression that this Jan and Hank have avoided the domestic difficulties of their counterparts--hoo boy, think again.

Bruce Banner is the odd man out in this series, and that's a good thing as it injects an unknown quantity into what appears to be a smooth operation thus far. Banner, his "Hulk problem" no secret to either SHIELD or the government, heads a project of his own, attempting to duplicate the super-soldier serum which produced Captain America and running into one dead end after another. As a result, he's beginning to see Hank Pym as something of a competitor in terms of resource allocation--but a development arises that changes the map on that a little.

Note to Nick Fury: Having armed guards in the room when Cap awakens is a sensible precaution. Having said guards locked, loaded, and aiming at this particular patient during his initial interview is just plan stupid if your goal is to garner trust and a state of calm. The result: Cap's reaction to Fury's news is explosive, to say the least, as he assumes that this is all part of an elaborate ruse on the part of his "captors."

Eventually, with a good deal of help and patience from Fury, Cap comes to accept the truth of his situation and is subsequently fully briefed on the Ultimates initiative, after which he agrees to come on board once Stark and Fury extend the offer. (They would have been fools not to.)

Soon enough, PR executive Betty Ross (currently separated from her husband, Banner) has organized the initiative's launch gala, a who's who where we can eavesdrop on discussions of others who are still expected to be included on the team--and where we get an idea of how much the government expects to benefit from its investment in SHIELD's new strike team (though officially billed as a team of assembled heroes "to take care of the post human problems the armed forces can't handle anymore," a variation of the descriptive splash page header language we've seen in Avengers issues but which now has a proactive air about it).

Thor, so much more different than our own, is a compelling addition on paper--an activist/lecturer who writes self-help books and adds his voice and image to protests on the world stage, initially averse to Fury's offer to work for (as Thor puts it) "a military industrial complex who engineers wars and murders innocents" and believes it's "only a matter of time before [the Ultimates] are sent to kill for oil or free trade." His SHIELD profile is equally intriguing: a "crazy ex-nurse who had a nervous breakdown close to his 30th birthday and spent 18 months in a lunatic asylum." All of that said, he steadfastly believes he is the Norse god of thunder, a claim that no one can take seriously yet remain at a loss to disprove.

As for his reticence, the relaxing atmosphere of a cordial meal with Stark and Steve Rogers does exactly what Stark intended it to in terms of fostering friendships and building bridges.

There's also Hawkeye and the Black Widow, SHIELD covert operatives at the top of their game and reassigned to the "public" team--as well as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, who have their own reasons for joining this high-profile outfit with connections which they can exploit to suit their own political agenda.

The Ultimates series ended up having what appeared to be a shaky run--thirteen issues which, thanks to a bimonthly publication schedule which kicked in around the halfway point, took over two years to conclude, its final issue (the resolution of Earth's conflict with the shape-changing alien race "the Chitauri") lagging for a period of five months. Yet judging by its final caption, you'd think it had been smooth sailing all the way: "Coming Soon: The Ultimates Volume Two," which began another limited arc in early 2005 at an even more unstable rate of release. Yet along with its spinoffs (and no doubt a nod to the Spidey book, a critical success from what I recall of the general feedback at the time), the concept represented a seismic shift in Marvel's production line which paved the way for what we've seen on both the big and small screen. That assessment is by no means an endorsement--perhaps more of an acknowledgement of the way things appeared to be headed for the company in the 21st century.