The Ultimates

by Ted Adams

Explore the Stories Behind the Legends

The 1990s and early 2000s were a time of intense change and experimentation for Marvel Comics. Out of this emerged The Ultimates —a comic which would have an explosive impact on Marvel and the broader pop culture landscape.

Writer Mark Millar, with artists Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Paul Neary, reimagined the classic characters that made up Marvel’s premiere super hero team, the Avengers. Looking at them through a modern, post-9/11 lens, the creators treated the characters as super soldiers who reported to the US government.

Illustrated with full-color art, Ted Adam’s entry in The Marvel Age of Comics takes listeners through Marvel of the ‘90 the Marvel Knights imprint, the creation of the Ultimate universe with Spider-Man and the X-Men, and finally the Ultimates themselves. With its unique blend of grounded realism and over-the-top action, The Ultimates ensured that comic books and pop culture would never be the same.

168 pages, Paperback

Expected publication May 14, 2026

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for an advance copy of this history of one of Marvel Comics biggest reinventions, the idea of a super group of heroes and what this could mean in the twentieth first century, its reception and influence on the Marvel universe and movies that followed.

I have been reading comics for a long time. A very long time. My grandmother used to but them for me from the candy shop in the Bronx, and for some reason most of the comic she bought were Marvel. So I know comic history and continuity pretty well, better than I understand my own family tree even. Ups and downs, sales and cancellations, dead girlfriends, dead Captains, returned to life heroes, villains, side kicks, then killed again. I am used to this and can go oh yeah that happened. For those new to comics this can be a real hindrance. The history of the X-Men, heck the dating history of Scott Summers, aka Cyclops would cause AI data centers to drain all the groundwater on Earth to explain. There have been numerous attempts to make this easier for new readers, some successful, some just later ignored. The DC Universe has had numerous Crisis comics to tightened up their storylines, even a New 52. Marvel tried also, one a Reborn, which never really left the crib. And the Ultimate Universe. This was a new universe based on the classic stories, but told for a new audience. With new attitudes. Some did well, some did ok, but at the core was the team book, the Ultimates, and this book has cast a large shadow over comics. This book, The Ultimates, written by Ted Adams, is part of the Marvel Age of Comics Series and is a look at the team, the stories, and what came after.

By the end of the twentieth century comics had gone from great highs, to deep lows. Comic book stores were closing, video games were taking children's money, and companies were getting desperate to bring in new readers. The only problem was getting people to care about stories that had been around for 40 years, with 40 years of characters and history was hard to get people to invest in. Enter the idea of simplifying the stories. Go back to the core roots, and add that modern day touch. Spider-Man, the X-Men, Fantastic Four were modernized. But the big one was the Ultimates. A retelling of the Avengers story this added realism, modern mentions, a little bit of cinematic style, and British storytelling, with lots of violence, and a bit of sass. Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Wasp and Giant Man, were at the core, with more added as the story expanded. The stories took off, out-selling the original comics by quite a bit. Great art, stories that drew on the past, with a healthy dose of patriotism, and well lost of violence. The Ultimates began to effect the original Marvel line, causing stories like Civil War, and even being written into the burgeoning Marvel movies. But like many things in comics, the Ultimate line faded away, until recently restarted a few years ago.

True confession. I was never much a fan of the Ultimates. They weren't for me. However this was big, and did get a lot of people reading comics again, and probably helped sell the idea of making movies again. Adams does a good job of looking at what was going on in comics, what the Ultimate line was about and discusses the mostly English creators. Adams adds a lot of things I didn't know, why the team was called the Ultimates, some changes to stories, and even some changes to the creators working on it. For a short book this is very complete, and made me think about rereading the superlarge collection I have.

Adams is a very good writer, and one I would like to see more cover more comic history. A really good guide to a storyline that is still casting a shadow on the Marvel Universe, and one told really well.

[Justin Soderberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second round of books begins with Marvel Age of Comics: The Ultimates as Ted Adams gives us more on the way this title shaped the Marvel Universe.

Writer Mark Millar, with artists Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Paul Neary, reimagined the classic characters that made up Marvel's premiere super hero team, the Avengers. Looking at them through a modern, post-9/11 lens, the creators treated the characters as super soldiers who reported to the US government.

Illustrated with full-color art, Adam's entry in The Marvel Age of Comics takes readers through Marvel of the '90s: the Marvel Knights imprint, the creation of the Ultimate universe with Spider-Man and the X-Men, and finally the Ultimates themselves. With its unique blend of grounded realism and over-the-top action, The Ultimates ensured that comic books and pop culture would never be the same.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks when recommending new comic readers a Marvel series to read is how the new reader might have little context to go on when jumping in. Having no history with these characters makes understanding the new series a bit of a challenge. I commend Marvel to taking this and making a new universe where anyone can dive into a world where everyone is learning about these alternate versions of classic characters together.

Even better is having an author such as Adams breakdown the creation of the Ultimate Universe and the amazing team The Ultimates. Adams gives us insight to the origins of the universe, what made the team so special and how it changed comics going forward. While not required reading for those new the Ultimate Universe, it is for those who want know every detail about the comics and so much more.

Adams goes behind the panels and discusses the creators who made the Ultimate Universe and The Ultimates something special. Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Paul Neary, and many more! These creators took the task at hand and made something that stood out in comics and still has many years later.

Marvel Age of Comics: The Ultimates is a love letter to such a pivotal era in comics as well as useful guide for those who want more from this version of Marvel. Ted Adams brings together the creative risks, cultural context, and discusses the creators who made it special in a way that's engaging without ever feeling overwhelming.

Marvel Age of Comics: The Ultimates hits bookstores everywhere on May 14, 2026 from Bloomsbury Academic. The audiobook, narrated by Mack Sanderson, is available via Libro.fm!

NOTE: We received an advance copy of Marvel Age of Comics: The Ultimates from the publisher. Opinions are our own.

[Alex Sarll]

The time is ripe for a reassessment of the original Ultimates, at once a comic which set the template for the most impressive phase of the MCU, and one widely regarded as having in many respects aged incredibly poorly. Alas, I'm not sure this is it. Partly it's my being so very old that I found a lot of it superfluous; we're a quarter of the way through before we even get to The Ultimates, the rest following the impetus for the Ultimate Universe, the preceding titles therein, and the publicity, all of which I remember because I was there (man). But even if your knees never twinge and you find that history lesson informative, too much of what follows simply details the comic issue by issue, occasionally with some solid insights (on the colouring in the debut issue, say), but more often only saying what you can already see. Several times, it fails to follow a promising avenue; having emphasised how much better Ultimates was doing than Avengers when it launched, it later mentions in passing the revival of Avengers' sales and impact under Bendis, but doesn't address how that affected the dynamics. At times it even starts to feel like a whitewash; there are a few obligatory tuts at some of the pop culture references and edgelord tendencies which now look worst, but even as someone more forgiving of the series than many (in context, I like the line about the A not standing for France!), I found this too gentle, especially when paired with lines like the one praising the long-term influence of "Millar's fast-paced plots, witty dialogue, and well-developed characters". The interlude on the Ultimate Galactus trilogy bigs it up, never noting the absurd lengths to which it took decompression techniques which, yes, worked to impressive cinematic effect on Ultimates itself. And it's noticeable, in a round-up which otherwise carefully notes every subsequent iteration of the Ultimates title, how the abominable Ultimates 3 goes curiously unmentioned.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvel Age of Comics is turning into an excellent series of quick, easy-to-read books, taking a critical approach to different aspects of Marvel's history but still maintaining the spirit of what makes reading comics fun in the first place. The Ultimates by industry veteran Ted Adams continues the success of the earlier installments of the series, this time turning an eye to the Mark Millar and Hitch storylines of The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2. The writing in the book is excellent, with it being easy to read and with smart analysis of the Ultimate characters and storylines. I liked the attention that was placed on the creators of The Ultimates and the teamwork that they had in the creation of the comic series. Adams also did an excellent job detailing the history of Marvel Comics from the late 1990s and what gave rise to the Ultimate line. There are stretches of the book where it feels like The Ultimates is just being recapped without any analysis, but thankfully, that is a minor problem. I also like how Adams ties the context of The Ultimates into the real world which was dealing with the then recent 9/11 attacks.

The Ultimates by Ted Adams is an excellent book choice for comic readers, especially those interested in or nostalgic for the early 2000s.