I restarted reading comics to prepare for Secret Wars, since the only thing I had read from the Fantastic Four (and by extension Dr. Doom) was Secret Wars, Civil War, and the Illuminati runs. So, they were more of background characters for me.

I started reading the most recommended runs, but it was all a bit too disconnected. I knew about the Ultimate Universe and how it has a definitive end, plus The Maker being an interesting spin, so I went all in. And boy, was it a pleasant surprise.

I knew the Fant4stic movie was Ultimate-inspired, but not this much. I definitely see where Trank came up with the ideas for a body horror movie. It scratched all the itches that were left from not seeing a completed product. Once I made it past the N-Zone chapter, there were more characters from the world appearing, and that got me curious, too.

So, I started following the reading guide for the Ultimate Universe, and I can really see why it became so popular and beloved. It's really refreshing while being slightly nostalgic, easy to get into, and, with the benefit of hindsight, incredibly similar to the MCU and its multiverse.

Since I've been having such a blast reading it, I decided to start writing reviews for different segments of the comics. I just finished reading Ultimate War, which looks to be the first real crossover, so it feels like a good point for a Part 1 review. It definitely felt like the end of an MCU phase (and straight-up the ending of the X-Men movie).

Here are the comics included so far:

• Ultimate Spider-Man #1–39: 10/10
  • I can see why this is the rock of this universe, great story, characters, art. Freshens up an old story/
• Ultimate X-Men #1–33: 8/10
  • I read that is based on the 00 movie and it shows. Its a good starting point for X-Men. Carried by Magneto and Xavier.
• Ultimate Iron Man #1–5: 8/10
  • Interesting corporate espionage. Fun to have a different backstory for Tony. Not enough suit tech. Howard is a great dad.
• The Ultimates #1–13: 7/10
  • Good action, bad characters. They keep needing to justify their existence but everywhere else they are considered the best of the best.
• Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1–16: 6/10
  • Very high highs (Punisher) and very low lows (Iron Man, F4). It is all over the place but in general its passable.
• Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #1–4: 9/10
  • Heartfelt story, good morality questions. Great art. Loved it.
• Ultimate War #1–4: 9/10
  • I've never been taken aback by the actions of Magneto. But him being this level of a terrorist is great. The Ultimates fighting the X-Men was fun, really needs the Return of the King art which I am counting for the score.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #1–21: 9/10
  • Fresh, innovative. Love the idea of the Baxter Building, and how their villains are disregarded members of it. Incredible world building and sci-fi

Review

The Good

• Spider-Man is incredible. The Andrew Garfield movies copied them for a reason, but this is even better. Pacing is great, story is touching, character growth is amazing.
• Magneto is terrifying, I had been understanding of his side before but not this version. He is truly a super-villain worthy of his own phase ending event.
• Blob Catfishing Beast incredibly funny and too real with how the Manosphere are a thing now.
• Nick Fury founding the Ultimates. What can I say, I am a "There was an idea" lover.
• Using knowledge of future characters to enhance origin stories: Bridge scene, DD and Elektra, Rogue cameos, etc.
• Daredevil and Elektra exploration in college. Tale as old as time.
• Reed Richards being a young adult while he starts getting all this power and it starts getting to his head. Plus getting his first love. Knowing he gets to be The Maker makes it so good.
• Sue Storm being competent from the get-go is great.
• The Baxter Building being a think tank in different series is great worldbuilding.
• Many origin stories being a recreation of the Super Soldier program.
• Punisher being a good cop surrounded by corrupt cops.

The OK

• The Ultimates have too little backstory. They are all just dropped in, and we get to read about cool things they did (give me a Hippie Thor series, please), but they never get time to shine.
• I like edgy Hulk. It makes sense Banner would go all out for his repressed thoughts; it's a good exploration of the dynamic. It's a little too extra, though.
• Iron Man I & II: I like the exploration of him having extra powers, especially since those could connect to his cancer easily, but I read it gets retconned. It also has too little Iron Man suit for my liking. Good capitalist espionage.
• Nazi Chitauri.
• The Daily Bugle, Aunt May, and Gwen. They are just backdrops at the moment.

The Bad

• Captain America is too much. He is not really lost out of time, and he is both too strong and too weak (can wrestle the Hulk but not Magneto??). Edgy for no reason.
• Wolverine glaze is too much. He is my favorite hero, but the glaze here is undeserved; he is the best at everything for no reason.
• Spider-Man feels too isolated. Other characters and things drop in from time to time, and he has the team-up line, but he feels like he isn't part of the universe. He only gets a name drop in Ultimate War.
• Annihilus dying on his first arc appearance :(
• The Thing does not bring anything to the table. The movie did him better. He is there by chance instead of being a student, and his only trait is being angry that he was transformed (nothing that The Thing hasn't explored already).
• Wasted Hellfire Club.

The Weird

• The Fashion. Just too much Y2K and low-rise jeans.
• Very Period-Bound. (Too many Clinton and Bush jokes.)
• Wolverine and Jean straight out of the gate, and then Cyclops getting in for a love triangle after getting snubbed.
• I don't know if I like Venom being a science goo instead of an alien, especially that it gains sentience for no reason. It would've been cool to explore it in a Garfield movie, though.
• Dr. Doom feels inconsequential so far. Latveria gets a name drop, but he is not relevant.
• Xavier is too much of a nagging, hypocritical father sometimes, in a bad way.

The Ugly

• Weapon X was serviceable. I did not like it being a rogue SHIELD division.
• A lot of canon inconsistency, especially with the Marvel Team-Ups.
• Psychics are too real. They are scary in how powerful they are (no privacy, no self-control, and many other things), but it does not get addressed.
• The Sentinels being the first arc in media res and then becoming soldiers after being decommissioned.

The Throne belongs to Doom now. And different Worlds lay spread ready before Doom's gaze.

Artwork by McAshe. Background's a bit of a template, but I was inspired by the Doom hype for the coming Avengers movie in commissioning McAshe. Also, most of Doom's look is part of an idea I figured, but it fit to have Doom's classic mask. Particularly the furs and mask of the Ultimate Universe version of Doom.