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Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates (Collected Editions)
Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, Vol. 1
A perfect jumping-on point for new readers, as American Reconstruction begins! Can the shattered nation recover after the dramatic events of United We Stand? President Cap takes charge, Thor makes a momentous decision, the Iron Patriot debuts, and Black Widow becomes Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.! But as the country slowly rebuilds, President Cap must come face to face with a painful reality, and find out who is behind the latest wave of attacks on his fragile nation! What is the secret of Scorpio? How will Captain America juggle his duties as President and handle the ever-deadlier Hydra insurgency? And who will come out on top...when the Iron Patriot attacks?!
Collecting: Ultimate Comics: Ultimates 18.1, 19-24
Collecting: Ultimate Comics: Ultimates 18.1, 19-24
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 6, 2022
Reconstruction time, and the coming of the Iron Patriot. Captain America wants a new Ultimates without Iron Man and Thor! Sue Storm has a huge mission. Terrorism and HYDRA abound. Can they rebuild America or will the coming of the West Coast Ultimates destroy any chance of lasting unity?
On my third reading, I must admit Sam Humphries has grown on me, I like how he works really cleverly around the big three (Cap, Stark & Thor). Having Sue Storm in the Ultimates is a master touch; best of all is the darkness of the West Coast team and their boss. A strong Three Star read, 7 out of 12.
2022 read; 2017 read; 2013 read
On my third reading, I must admit Sam Humphries has grown on me, I like how he works really cleverly around the big three (Cap, Stark & Thor). Having Sue Storm in the Ultimates is a master touch; best of all is the darkness of the West Coast team and their boss. A strong Three Star read, 7 out of 12.
2022 read; 2017 read; 2013 read
December 31, 2015
I have two theories for how Marvel names their comics:
1. Someone who is clinically insane makes up names in order to confuse people. This creates some sort of a secret "in-club" of people who know how to decipher the names.
2. Marvel assumes that their readers can't understand large numbers so they have a lot of "Volume 1" books.
How else can you explain titles like this one ("Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, Volume 1"), which is actually issues 18.1 and 19 through 24 of an ongoing arc? Or the two Spider-Man titles I borrowed from the library (Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol.1 and Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1), both by the same author, but which are completely different?
Anyway, this volume is fun if all you want is a bunch of mindless action. I made the mistake of thinking this was a new starting point, so I was sadly disappointed.
1. Someone who is clinically insane makes up names in order to confuse people. This creates some sort of a secret "in-club" of people who know how to decipher the names.
2. Marvel assumes that their readers can't understand large numbers so they have a lot of "Volume 1" books.
How else can you explain titles like this one ("Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, Volume 1"), which is actually issues 18.1 and 19 through 24 of an ongoing arc? Or the two Spider-Man titles I borrowed from the library (Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol.1 and Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1), both by the same author, but which are completely different?
Anyway, this volume is fun if all you want is a bunch of mindless action. I made the mistake of thinking this was a new starting point, so I was sadly disappointed.
November 8, 2017
Entertaining, with a feel-good team-up ending. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. Thor & Tony's banter is nice to see too.
September 24, 2013
To date I haven't been that pleased with Humphries as a writer, but this was definitely his strongest work yet on the Ultimates.
On the plus side, his introduction of West Coast Ultimates feels very true to the spirit of the series. In addition, the battle with California is exciting and big-picture in a way that the best Ultimates have been.
On the minus side, toward the front half of a book, during the Scorpio plot, the dialogue and writing is a bit more hackneyed. Also, Tony's brain tumor continues to be one of the stupidest plots ever in comics, and I felt that Humphries anti-climaxed a lot of built-up plot momentum in the last couple of pages of the issue.
However on the whole this one rated about 3.5 stars, and I *almost* rounded that up to 4.
On the plus side, his introduction of West Coast Ultimates feels very true to the spirit of the series. In addition, the battle with California is exciting and big-picture in a way that the best Ultimates have been.
On the minus side, toward the front half of a book, during the Scorpio plot, the dialogue and writing is a bit more hackneyed. Also, Tony's brain tumor continues to be one of the stupidest plots ever in comics, and I felt that Humphries anti-climaxed a lot of built-up plot momentum in the last couple of pages of the issue.
However on the whole this one rated about 3.5 stars, and I *almost* rounded that up to 4.
September 21, 2015
Ugh, this COULD have been good, but uh, it wasn't. :(
I find the whole Captain America as POTUS concept to be pretty pathetic.
Not a fan of Sam Humphries.
I find the whole Captain America as POTUS concept to be pretty pathetic.
Not a fan of Sam Humphries.
October 11, 2017
Yikes. Cap as the president crosses over from “Eh, I don’t know” to “Ok, I was right, this is a very dumb decision.” He hasn’t done anything as president except EXILE MUTANTS FOR NO REASON and that’s not even in this book. All he does is fight. “I’m the president, but I gotta get down and dirty and actually fight.” Then you don’t need to be the president!
Also, I’m way over Tony talking to his tumor. Give me a break.
West Coast Ultimates would be fun if they weren’t insane. They were recruited by Nick Fury but they are fighting...against Cap and the country...even though Nick is on their side...? Quake is doing this because it’s right and she wants to unify the country...by fighting against Cap and the country? Wonder Man is yet again, another Hulk reject. Very tired of this concept. And Black Knight is just nuts and the last time we see him he’s just left on the moon without being injured or dead. He got up there! I assume he can just come right back!
This is just bad.
Also, I’m way over Tony talking to his tumor. Give me a break.
West Coast Ultimates would be fun if they weren’t insane. They were recruited by Nick Fury but they are fighting...against Cap and the country...even though Nick is on their side...? Quake is doing this because it’s right and she wants to unify the country...by fighting against Cap and the country? Wonder Man is yet again, another Hulk reject. Very tired of this concept. And Black Knight is just nuts and the last time we see him he’s just left on the moon without being injured or dead. He got up there! I assume he can just come right back!
This is just bad.
August 17, 2023
I'm getting really tired of Ultimate comics, which is fair because I've been reading them all summer. But this one really made me feel it. I was enjoying Humphries on Ultimates but I'm starting to wonder if he was helped by some leftover Hickman plot propulsion or something because this is all the boring mindless patriotism and masculinity of Ultimates without even any of Millar's edgelord flair that is at least something. This book is just muddy, occasionally confusing, and very dull.
December 15, 2019
Lame story, terrible political angle, terrible antagonists add up to a pretty substandard book and not what the Ultimate Universe was created for. Having different versions of classic characters is one thing, having them show no semblance of their former selves is another. The art, by three different pencillers is very good but not enough to combat this poor script. Overall, a pretty bad read.
April 18, 2024
Badly written, indifferently drawn, stupidly numbered. Hot garbage, start to finish.
WHY IS EVERY COLLECTION VOLUME 1? This is actually like volume 10 or something. And Marvel wonders why people don’t read their stupid books any more.
WHY IS EVERY COLLECTION VOLUME 1? This is actually like volume 10 or something. And Marvel wonders why people don’t read their stupid books any more.
December 26, 2025
Really wasn’t sure what was going on here & why there were 616 characters unexplained. Whole vibe felt off with Iron Patriot in particular feeling like a poor shift for Stark’s character. Didn’t end up finishing this one.
January 29, 2019
Very disappointing after United We Stand.
May 20, 2019
The Ultimates continues the fight for a safe America when the opposition gets their hands on their own superheroes
June 7, 2022
So dumb. Trite patriotism. Convenient and ridiculous villains. Poor illustration. Continuing to utilize the worst of the recent Ultimates plots (Anthony and President Cap).
November 26, 2025
Pretty enjoyable but nowhere near as good as Mark Millars run
May 3, 2016
The incredibly ill-titled ULTIMATE COMICS: THE ULTIMATES is a pretty easy-going, light-hearted book when compared to other arcs in the "don't get no mo 00s" saga that the Ultimates have been since their inception.
A characteristically bull-headed Captain America, president of the United States, finds that he is not too adept at playing the game of congressional seats. In fact, in a rather hilarious running gag, he keeps on locking feuding parties in a room "until you've hashed it out!! I'm needed in the field!!!"
Tony Stark and his sentient brain tumor Anthony form a delightful team, maybe in part based on Tony and the kid in IM3? I'm a bit unsure as to when this story arc came out with regards to Shane Black's movie, but one thing's for sure: it's a post AVENGERS (the first movie) book.
Gone are the internecine squabbles, the self-absorbed posturing and the petty meanness that was so characteristic of the Ultimates in previous incarnations, to be replaced by a friendship and a (sometimes unearned) longing for the good old days when buddies Cap, Thor and Tony were just out kicking butt together.
Writer Sam Humphries crafts a pretty good story out of this, culminating in the three heroes banding together to stop an orbital weapons platform from crashing into Sacramento, each bringing something personal to the table. My only niggle is that the book seems to play pretty fast and loose with continuity of the overall UMU as well as stuff that only happened a couple of issues ago. Cassie Lang is congratulated for doing so well against Hydra... but she was fighting WITH Hydra against Spider-Man? The West Coast Avengers were created after 9/11 to be a "more discreet" version of the Ultimates... but the Ultimates were VERY post-9/11?
I'll give Humphries some benefit of the doubt as to this new Ultimate Vision (the third!), as it seems that there's a lot more to be told there.
All in all, some decent big screen action comics if you're not too hung up on the details like me.
A characteristically bull-headed Captain America, president of the United States, finds that he is not too adept at playing the game of congressional seats. In fact, in a rather hilarious running gag, he keeps on locking feuding parties in a room "until you've hashed it out!! I'm needed in the field!!!"
Tony Stark and his sentient brain tumor Anthony form a delightful team, maybe in part based on Tony and the kid in IM3? I'm a bit unsure as to when this story arc came out with regards to Shane Black's movie, but one thing's for sure: it's a post AVENGERS (the first movie) book.
Gone are the internecine squabbles, the self-absorbed posturing and the petty meanness that was so characteristic of the Ultimates in previous incarnations, to be replaced by a friendship and a (sometimes unearned) longing for the good old days when buddies Cap, Thor and Tony were just out kicking butt together.
Writer Sam Humphries crafts a pretty good story out of this, culminating in the three heroes banding together to stop an orbital weapons platform from crashing into Sacramento, each bringing something personal to the table. My only niggle is that the book seems to play pretty fast and loose with continuity of the overall UMU as well as stuff that only happened a couple of issues ago. Cassie Lang is congratulated for doing so well against Hydra... but she was fighting WITH Hydra against Spider-Man? The West Coast Avengers were created after 9/11 to be a "more discreet" version of the Ultimates... but the Ultimates were VERY post-9/11?
I'll give Humphries some benefit of the doubt as to this new Ultimate Vision (the third!), as it seems that there's a lot more to be told there.
All in all, some decent big screen action comics if you're not too hung up on the details like me.
September 30, 2025
Read this review or all of my reviews on my site!
President Cap. Hydra. Fury doing Fury things.
It’s certainly a jam packed volume… but for all that happens, what has actually changed?
Feels like they’re trying to reboot a reboot while holding together entirely too much damage they (the writers) have done to this version of the universe.
Overall: it’s fine, but I’m not surprised that this line doesn’t last long. Being yet another Volume 1 doesn’t help. Onward!
Side note: Cap is a terrible President. 😃
Notes. Spoilers.
You know, I kind of get the commentators that are saying he shouldn’t be doing this. There’s a whole country that needs saving—especially now. Does the President ever have the time to save individuals?
As weird as it is… this storyline is really starting to grow on me.
Pun intended.
Here we go again?
Huh. Anthony is real enough to talk to external people. I somehow didn’t expect that. More and more interesting.
I thought this universe already had a Vision. Who was both more female and not on Earth anymore.
And what exactly is he going to do?
Good.
July 22, 2013
The Ultimate series' are still recovering from the mess that was Ultimatum, not just story wise but from the subpar writing that followed it. Every since then the Ultimate universe has just felt too much like a normal comic story, and not held up to the high standards the universe originally held. Like the current volume of X-men this one feels like a move in the right direction just not there all the way.
I liked a lot of what they did in this volume, but all of it was just too crammed in. I felt like the over all events that take place would have been better paced over one or more trades worth of space. The worst part was
I liked a lot of what they did in this volume, but all of it was just too crammed in. I felt like the over all events that take place would have been better paced over one or more trades worth of space. The worst part was
January 8, 2017
President Cap holds court this issue.
Intro of the Ultimates version of the Titanium Man who’s making short work of Hawkeye until Cap, Thor, and Iron Man show up. They enlist Titanium Man to help rebuild America instead of destroying it. Who wouldn’t vote for President Cap?
Hot HYDRA action (not really that hot) and the reveal of who is Scorpio? Not sure I cared.
Intro of the West Coast Ultimates – Wonder Man, Tigra, Vision, Black Knight and Quake. Best quote is from Wonder Man. “I am an American death machine.”
Would have like to seen more action from the West Coasters and less of the exchange between Stark and his intelligent brain tumor, but a good read overall. All this and Iron Patrot too.
Intro of the Ultimates version of the Titanium Man who’s making short work of Hawkeye until Cap, Thor, and Iron Man show up. They enlist Titanium Man to help rebuild America instead of destroying it. Who wouldn’t vote for President Cap?
Hot HYDRA action (not really that hot) and the reveal of who is Scorpio? Not sure I cared.
Intro of the West Coast Ultimates – Wonder Man, Tigra, Vision, Black Knight and Quake. Best quote is from Wonder Man. “I am an American death machine.”
Would have like to seen more action from the West Coasters and less of the exchange between Stark and his intelligent brain tumor, but a good read overall. All this and Iron Patrot too.
May 15, 2015
I would actually give this comic a 4.5 Star rating, due to the fact that the West Coast Ultimates were poor villains since they were fooled quite easily. I enjoyed how Captain America wanted to remain on the field and didn't allow his position as President prevent him as much to do his work. The interaction with Tony and his tumor were pretty entertaining and showed a side of Tony that was more fatherly. I also enjoyed Tony's small run with the Iron Patriot alias. I also enjoyed the reference with Nick Fury's disguise being the same as the Earth-616 version. This is a great read, and would recommend this to any fan of the Ultimates
March 6, 2014
I would rate this around 2.5 stars. There's nothing outstanding about this story, which isn't great, since Ultimate Comics historically are supposed to have some poignant twist on your average Avengers/Ultimates story. I feel bad being so negative about it, but I feel like the Ultimate Universe outlasted its necessity a couple of years ago.
March 28, 2015
Wow where do i begin with how bad this book is. The writing is some of the worst i have read in a long time. The story makes little to no sense and charachters are running around like headless chicken with zero build up leaving the reader feeling tge shallowness of the story. Bottom line dont waste your time reading this!
July 25, 2013
just straight up gibberish for gibberish's sake. president captain america, iron man with a talking tumor, no-cloak-axe-thor...stoopid. enough with the ultimates, already.
November 17, 2013
Sunday morning coffee book.
April 26, 2014
The Ultimates continues to be all over the map in terms of quality. At this time, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man is the only ongoing series worth reading.
October 26, 2014
About as bad as possible. Hated it.
March 2, 2015
Ults is actually really good here. No, really. Cap is president and dealing with Hydra, and Tony's talking to his brain tumor, and there are Infinity Gems, and it's really just... a whole lot of fun.
April 5, 2015
3.5 rounded up to a 4 because it was easy to get through and the West Coast Avengers finally showed up.
April 30, 2015
¡Los Ultimates te necesitan a vos, máquina, para reconstruir al país de las barras y las estrellas... ¡presidido por el Capitán América!! ¿Serán estos los primeros indicios del principio del fin?
August 3, 2015
Better than a lot of the earlier Ultimates stuff, but that's not saying much. Still, enjoyable enough.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews