The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people
to fight the battles that we never could.
Today, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is inescapable.
It's everywhere.
Most people are familiar with the fact
that these now beloved characters
are adaptations from long running comic book properties.
However, in 2008, when Iron Man first debuted on screen--
I'm just not the hero type.
--the idea of an interconnected universe,
let alone major adaptations of at the time B-listers
like Thor, Cap, and the Avengers would have been unthinkable.
However, that all changed because of one book--
The Ultimates.
I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.
The Ultimates, published in March of 2002,
was a 13 issue miniseries written by Mark Millar
and illustrated by Bryan Hitch.
A grounded, big budget sci-fi story
with the majestic execution of a Roland Emmerich film and razor
sharp dialogue barreled into comic book stores
across the country and was an instant force
to be reckoned with.
The series was a part of the burgeoning new publishing line
that the new head honchos of Marvel were pushing.
Out with the 616, in with the Ultimate Universe.
Bill Jemas, the former president of the Fleer Trading Card
Company, had been handed the reins of Marvel Comics
after the company was saved from bankruptcy at the 11th hour.
And when Jemas and the freshly minted editor in chief Joe
Quesada asked indie crime writer Brian
Bendis to make an alternate universe,
continuity-free Spider-Man miniseries
aimed at bringing in new readers.
It exploded in popularity.
The move turned into the longest running Spider-Man series
by one creative team ever and literally created
an entire pocket universe.
There are multiple realities, Peter.
This is Earth dimension 616.
I'm sorry.
You're saying there's a multiverse?
After the runaway success of what was eventually
titled Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel
went to young upstart Scottish writer Mark Millar
to see if he had to take on an Ultimate version of the X-Men.
He did.
He basically combined the best of early years of the book
with a sleek aesthetic of the Fox films.
You actually go outside in these things?
What would you prefer?
Yellow spandex?
Drawn by the Kubert brothers, this book
marked hit number two for the rapidly developing imprint.
So now Jemas and Quesada had a branding play.
Expand these two experiments into an entire line
of new reader-friendly titles that
would reposition the floundering post-speculator crash company
as a force to be reckoned with.
Only thing they could have never anticipated
is that this single move would be the pivotal moment that
would ostensibly guarantee the existence of the MCU.
Instead of waiting for screenwriters and directors
to decide how a comic character would look on screen,
Millar and Hitch decided to make a movie on paper.
What this would manifest would be arguably the most important
book of the next 20 years.
The work they would create would stylistically and narratively
under grid almost every decision that Marvel Studios would make.
I went forward in time to see all the possible outcomes.
How many do we win?
One.
The Ultimates takes place in the contemporary world of 2002.
It follows Nick Fury, drawn as Samuel L. Jackson,
as he attempts to put together a team of superheroes
in order to defend the Earth from extraterrestrial and
domestic threats.
And yes, if you're wondering, this
is exactly where the idea of Sam Jackson as Nick Fury
comes from.
While on the press tour for The Ultimates,
Millar himself pitched the book as Independence Day
with superheroes.
And in some ways, it's exactly that.
And in others, it's so much more.
Issue one of The Ultimates opens with a cinematic sequence
that shows Cap during World War II leading a group of GIs
against an Axis Power secret hideout, vanquishing the enemy,
and being frozen in ice.
It's hard to communicate just what a deviation this was
from the comics of the day.
This opening sequence?
This was something altogether new.
The character that The Ultimates recontextualized the most
at the time was Captain America.
The book played up his brash and sardonic sense
of humor, his superhuman abilities,
and toned down the 616 version's golden boy scout perception.
It made Cap cool in the most 2001 way possible.
All of these decisions, especially Hitch's Captain
America costume designs, filtered straight into the MCU.
Sure, they chose to embrace a slightly more lighthearted
characterization of Steve Rogers--
That is America's ass.
--but the idea of doing a period piece World War II origin movie
for Cap is basically just off the strength of the first issue
of Ultimates.
His fighting style and his relationships
with Tony and Thor are right from Ultimates.
Find the scepter.
And for gosh sake, watch your language.
In many ways, Steve Rogers is the POV character
that we learn about this strange new world through.
The book introduces us to Hank Pym, a.k.a.
Giant Man, Janet van Dyne, a.k.a.
Wasp, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor, all of which
are contextualized in a manner that could easily
be brought to the screen.
Their origins are streamlined, they're
drawn in a near photoreal style that mimics that of a camera,
and the narrative doesn't use captions, sound effects,
or thought balloons.
The book only uses narrative mechanics
that could be used in a film.
OK.
Did you ever see this really old movie Aliens?
And here's the craziest part.
After the successes of Ultimate Spidey and X-Men,
however, Ultimates would become arguably the biggest comic yet
for the Ultimate line.
Over the course of the 13 issues,
we follow The Ultimates as they put together their team,
deal with a rampaging Hulk, and then
are finally pitted against an invading alien force
in a dazzling showdown unlike anything that had ever been put
to the comics page previously.
Remember, this is 2002.
The Avengers at this time in the standard 616 universe
featured classic four-colored versions
of the characters that, believe it or not,
had been a middle tier team for close to 30 years.
Brian Hitch's version not only looked
like they could be in a movie, they
looked like they were the movie version.
He was the artist who shaped the aesthetic more than any other
since.
Yes, Jack Kirby created The Avengers,
but Hitch laid out the roadmap for how they, and virtually
every other character, were to be adapted.
So what did Marvel do next?
They tried to do it again, obviously.
I like it.
I know, it's great.
Right?
Another!
Debuting in 2004 and concluding in 2007,
Ultimates 2 did exactly what they needed it to do.
It was a shot in the arm of the Ultimate Universe
and in the brand of Marvel as a whole.
This time we follow The Ultimates
as they go up against Loki, who takes over the US
with a team of superpowered goons known as the Liberators.
The biggest difference between the Ultimates Universe
and the MCU is the handling of Thor.
In the 616, he's a god who bonds with a human and fights
for the oppressed as soon as he lifts the mighty hammer
Mjolnir.
In the Ultimates, it's unclear if he's
a technologically empowered eco-terrorist with a cult
following or an actual god.
When it came time to adapt the god of thunder
to the big screen, the powers that be
didn't touch any of the alterations
that Miller and Hitch had made.
They just went straight for the foundation of Kirby and Lee.
So is this how you normally look?
More or less.
It's a good look.
When asked about The Ultimates being the road map for the MCU,
Miller said "our first storyline was basically
Independence Day with superheroes,
Loki being the villain from our second book.
Kevin Feige was a big fan of the books
and told us it made him realize an Avengers movie could
actually be a lot simpler than they thought."
But that's not all where the influence of the Ultimates
stops.
Sam Jackson's Nick Fury showing up at the end of Iron Man?
Straight from The Ultimates.
In The Incredible Hulk, when they throw Bruce Banner
from a helicopter in order to get
him to change into the Hulk?
Right from The Ultimates.
Cap jumping out of the Quinjet jet in Winter Soldier
without a parachute?
Directly from The Ultimates.
Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?
But that's not at all where the influence of The Ultimates
stops.
But those are the pedantic literal adaptations
from The Ultimates.
It's really more the aesthetic, the feeling,
and the scope of the narrative that the MCU puts forth.
It just is The Ultimates.
Those two books provided the backbone
of an entire multi-billion dollar industry.
They provided the jumping off point
for how to faithfully and accurately adapt
60-year-old characters into the world of today.
Well, that's it for this video.
What do you think?
What iconic comic book storyline or book
should we do a video about next?
Let us know in the comments down below, and as always, please
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