The Ultimate Super Villains

Marvel Berkley/Byron Preiss Productions Prose Novels

by Stan Lee (Editor), Angelo Di Loreto (Narrator), Michael Jan Friedman (Illustrator)

This groundbreaking anthology features over a dozen brand-new, never-before-published tales starring the most vicious foes of Marvel's super heroes: the Super Skrull's conflict with the Avengers; the evil god Loki's latest attempt to snare his half-brother Thor; a mutant who brings Magneto and X-Men's Professor X together in a unique manner, and more. Contributing writers and illustrators include Michael Jan Friedman, Greg Cox, Ann Nocenti, Dick Ayers, Ron Lim, and others.



RUNNING TIME ➜. 12hrs. and 19mins.

©2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Crime, Short Stories, Audiobook, Anthologies, Science Fiction

Audible Audio

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Ian Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of short stories. I'm not usually a big fan of anthology books, but this was a good mix and a standard for the most part, so surprised me how much I enjoyed it.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable collection of seventeen stories featuring random Marvel villains rather than their superhero counterparts. It must be noted that the word "ultimate" in the title does not refer to the confusing alternate-world reboot versions the comics presented in years following this series, but to the traditional definition of the word. It's a somewhat mixed bag, as should perhaps be expected, because the heroes are so much more well known; the good guys appear every month in their own titles, whereas the baddies only get to take their shots on a rotating basis, right? I was a bit let-down by some of the stories about the more famous characters. My favorites were The Ringmaster in a story by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll, Magneto as presented by Adam-Troy Castro, Typhoid by Ann Nocenti, and Sandman with The Wizard by Tom DeFalco. James Dawson's story of an un-named villain closes the book with a very dark and memorable story. As was the custom with the Preiss-produced Marvel anthologies, each story is illustrated by a different well-known comics artist. Not the best of the series, but still... Make Mine Marvel.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one at a goodwill for cheap and since I'm a sucker for both Marvel Comics and Super-villains in general, I was quite excited to dive into a collection of short stories on them.

Quite the mix in quality here (not going to lie, I wasn't expecting great things) but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed some of the stories. Less so the well known villains, I've seen enough of Loki, Dr Doom or Ultron that they don't intrigue me as much. But some of the lesser known characters had some good reads. I never thought I'd enjoy a story about the Ringmaster or the Painter of a Thousand Perils.

Worth a go if you're a fan of Marvel, its nice to have a new perspective on villains that don't get fleshed out in most stories.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good, but I wanted more depth in most of the stories. I liked the idea of seeing life through the perspective of the “bad guys,” but it wasn’t as much as I wanted. A few stories were quite good, but a few were too slow for my tastes.

I was between three and four starts for the book but went for three because of the narrator. I wasn’t impressed by his voice or delivery.

Free on Hoopla, but the way.

[Kristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of it is very.... average. But a few of the stories are fantastic. The unknown villain. The ringmaster. Paste pot Pete. The painter. Were diamonds in the rough with some of them. The more well known villains were the less interesting stories.

[Eric Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed seeing another side to super villains. I'm usually not into short stories, but these were very well done. My favorite was the Ring Master story. Runner up was paste pot Pete.

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories, I have always held a fascinated by Marvel's Villains. However I did not know a fair few on them, Venom and Magnetos were the ones I enjoyed the most.

[Derrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting. While I enjoy the back stories of villains, this was done oddly. My favorite story was the last one on the disk that was 2 discs total. I like 1 long story.

[ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this a 3 1/2 as some of the stories were well put together while others were severely lacking. Exploring the psyche of super villains was fascinating from a psychological standpoint and some of the humanistic qualities that normal people feel on a regular basis (granted on a much smaller scale) was intriguing when shown within those super villains that haunted our childhoods. The final story which explores the future years of a super villain was particularly haunting and what that conveyed to me will likely be the story that stays the longest. The other nice thing about this collection is it is not entirely made up of common villains that everyone knows but those that I had never heard of also get their chance to shine and show what composes their make-up. Definitely a read worth getting for anyone who enjoys comics, but also a worthy read for anyone interested in what the bad guys are thinking while getting their punishment from the heroes.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great concept, but I was overall disappointed with it.