Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 5: Ultimate War

Ultimate X-Men (2001) (Collected Editions)

by Mark Millar (Writer), Chris Bachalo

The Ultimates vs. the Ultimate X-Men: the battle begins. When the X-Men do the worst thing they could to humanity, the government orders Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the rest of the Ultimates to bring them down. A small but lethal army, the Ultimates were created to face these and other newly rising threats to mankind. But the X-Men's founder, Professor X, hasn't been training his students for nothing -- and the youngs mutants just might take out the Ultimates first.

Collecting: Ultimate War 1-4

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.

His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.

Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.

Reviews

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright volume.

It starts off with Magneto killing people after his return and so the Ultimates target him and also Professor X and his X-Men thinking both are connected and the tension between the two team start and we see them going at it. They hide but will they be successful and whatever happened to Cyclops and Wolverine? Plus when the Ultimates do finally find the X-Men how will the fight be like and who will fall and what was Magneto's master plan all along?

Its an alright volume and sure there is some tension here and there but it kind of feels like wasted potential and sure the fights and pairings were cool but since it had only 4 issues it couldn't do that much in that span of time and so the writer resorts to quick fight and off-panel fightings but even ignoring that, things are kept vague at the end and yeah it kinda turns out to be disappointing plus the art by Bachalo is trash anyways. So yeah idk skip the volume or read it if you can handle the art.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The war of X-Men verse AVENGERS! I mean Ultimates!

So Magneto is a real piece of shit. After getting his memories back he decides to tell the world they're super fucked. So Xavier goes into hiding with his X-Men to try and get him back. At the same time Nick Fury assembles is Ultimates team to hunt down Magneto and slap a little sense into him. In doing so we have X-Men and Ultimates going head to head mostly because Magneto is pulling all the right strings.

This was a lot better than the last volume. A lot more fun with some great fights. Ever wanna see Wolverine take on the Ultimates/Avengers and fuck some shit up? He does some narly shit here that I loved. Oh and also we all know Wolverine did some sneaky shit to Cyclops, it's pretty screwed up how manipulative he is here. Also, Magneto as a villain is pretty cool here, he's super strong.

My re-read of the Ultimate X-Men universe has been pretty fun tus far. A 4 out of 5.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as Ults books go, this wasn't all that bad?

Granted, I hadn't read any of the Ultimate X-Men books so I was a bit lost as to how all of that worked. How old is Jean Grey here since Wolverine's apparently in love with her? I'm... uncomfortable. Storm's dialogue was god awful.

Other than that, the plot was okay. Avengers v X-Men because Magento is terrorizing America and threatening to kill all homo sapiens. As per ushe... This time the Ultimates are tasked with taking them down and Charles Xavier's X-Men at the same time for lying about Magneto being dead. I'm well aware that I'm rating this higher than most Ults books because it wasn't aggressively bad, women weren't being abused and the Hulk only ate people off screen.

So... yay?

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is an appropriate name for what was a historic clash between two of Marvel’s biggest super-teams. This pre-dated this year’s Avengers Vs. X-Men event by almost a decade, but this was set in the alternate Ultimate Universe. On the run and underground, the mutants gave as good as they got against the government-sanctioned Ultimates, this universe’s version of the Avengers.

This miniseries sets up Mark Millar’s final arc on the title he helped launch with Adam Kubert. Millar, with Brian Bendis, was one of the key architects of this then brand new universe and he ran and played with the concept. Unencumbered with continuity, he mined the X-Men’s decades old history for ideas and characters to “Ultimatize.” Along with Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men was one of the key books that served as pillars of this new universe.

This miniseries, with art by Chris Bachalo was better than the payoff in Millar’s final Ultimate X-Men arc. It was tightly scripted and had unified for four issues that ended in a cliff-hanger. It was what the culminating arc was not.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A new era for your X-Men begins tomorrow, but you, dear boy-- no longer play a part in it, dear boy."

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the best volume of Ultimate X-Men yet. It has the tightest scripting and plotting yet, even if this is really just a prologue to the big event in the next volume. But overall, Millar is very prone to the great stumbling block of the Ultimate universe as a whole: he's so busy beating us over the head with how much "edgier" these characters are than the ones we know that they don't really become their own people. And given when this was written, for "edgy" read "jackass".

[Bookwraiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this X-Men and Ultimates story line. You can't get better than Magneto being a completely savage zealot and the good guys bickering and fighting one another before taking the self-righteous madman on. The only thing I didn't totally love was the art. It was good, but at times, the main characters looked damn odd.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something about this book doesn't sit right with me. Sure it's got Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimates. Sure it's written by Mark Millar who's been a favourite of mine for a while. It's got some aggressive tactics and little of the "heroes posing while they monologue".

I don't know if this stuff ages particularly well. I read most of Ultimate X-Men a number of years ago, which I enjoyed quite a bit then. But the thought occurs to me that this stuff doesn't age particularly well - too many then-current references that stand out like a sore thumb eight years later.

Or maybe it's how UN-subtly Millar wants to demonstrate how "different" these guys are from the MarvelU originals ("it's times like this I realise precisely why you and I are divorced, Moira", said Xavier). Yeah I get it - but it sure brings the story's rhythm to a screeching halt every time you jab me in the eye like that.

I'm also not such a huge fan of the art - specifically, the caricature-like exaggeration in the characters' heads, and how confusing the action can be. The colours & inks are beautiful as all computer-generated work is.

Still, once the plot gets rolling it's pretty solid action and nice unpredictable twists and turns.

[Chris Borror · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is 112 pages and contains the mini-series Ultimate War issues 1-4. This was an exceptionally fun read!!!
Seeing The Ultimates take on the X-Men was a blast. Good old fashioned comic book entertainment. If you can’t enjoy that then I don’t know what you need in life to be happy. Definitely a recommend.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Millar pits his two Ultimate line teams against each other in a pretty compelling crossover. The differences between the ultimate characters and their 616 counterparts have never been more stark. I can see why Millar’s critics boil his work from this period as “what if everyone was just a nihilistic asshole,” but it’s hard not to see the gritty militaristic realism as an understandable and arguably appropriate reaction to 9/11. This is around the same time Marvel was publishing the Max line.

Chris Bachalo was doing some of his best work here. Some panels are a little hard to read, but there are also some all timer pages of his in this. I particularly love the covers by him and Isanove, and I wish we would have been able to see him color an issue with this same approach at some point.

[Joebot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not much resolved here for a big X-men v Ultimates fight. We'll see how far the ripples go from this story

[Shane Stanis · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Ultimate Year #7

There are some good moments, and the story opens up new paths for Ultimate x-men, but I found the art hard to follow, and I’m a confirmed non-fan of Millar by this point.

Read if you’re a Millar and/or Bachalo fan.

CW: all I really wanted from this story was for the wasp to punch cap in the face for calling her Honey and Sweetheart. Ditto for Black Widow & Fury.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

After beast accidentally revealed to Blob that Magneto was alive the brotherhood freed him and restored him to his former glory. Magneto has issued a challenge for America to surrender power to mutants or be eliminated. S.H.I.E.L.D headed by Nick Fury is not taking it likely and has created the Ultimates (basically a prototype of the Avengers: Captain America, Thor, Ironman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk and Wasp) to defeat Magneto. Suspicious of the X-Men he's also ordered them to be taken out as well! Fury has enlisted Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to work with the Ultimates against their father.

Fans who want to see Avengers vs. X-Men need to check this one out - it's pretty good for what it is with some nice interaction: Storm vs. Thor, Colossus vs. Ironman and Captain America reminding Wolverine of a past where they fought on the same side of which he has no memory.

Personally I prefer the X-Men solo, it gives more room for subtlety - here there are so many characters and a major story that there's little room for character development, still saying that it's fast paced and should please fans of both teams.

[Ben Nealis · Rating 5 out of 5]

magneto was cruel as can be. i mean he shot his own son/quicksilver's knees to shreds and din not feel one ounce of guilt.good book though.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still loving it! But now I'm sad because I'm out of comics. I just ordered 6-9 though, so more reviews to come.

[Jedhua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other Useful Reviews: Sesana's review

Book Info: This collection contains Ultimate War issues #1-4.


ABSOLUTE RATING: {2.5+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>



It's been six months since the X-Men supposedly killed Magneto in Washington D.C. But soon after the Brotherhood of Mutants blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and kill 800 New Yorkers, the country finds out the hard way that Magneto is in fact still alive and kicking. After formally taking responsibility for the attack, Magneto grants humanity another six months to prepare themselves for a mutant-led global takeover. In response to this startling turn of events, the US government puts the Ultimates to the task of neutralizing this threat before it's too late. In the course of their investigation, S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that Charles Xavier knowingly spared Magneto's life and kept this decision a secret from the public. When Iron Man and a strike team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents storm the X-Men's mansion seeking answers, they find that the X-Men are nowhere to be found. And shockingly, there's evidence to suggest that they have joined forces with Magneto!

All the information provided above can be found in the first chapter of this four-part miniseries. It's a rather unimaginative premise for a superhero vs. superhero book, and it failed to have me hooked at the last page of the issue. Immediately, I thought to myself that there was no way in Hell the X-Men would team-up with the Brotherhood; none of the Ultimate X-Men books preceding this indicate the slightest possibility of such an alliance, so it didn't shock me to find out later that things were nowhere as simple as Millar would have me believe (and that's putting it diplomatically). And I know the book is advertised as an X-Men vs. Avengers book, but it's really more like an X-Men vs. Avengers vs. The Brotherhood of Mutants book. This seemingly small technicality could probably have worked more in Millar's favor and made the story more interesting, but nothing much is done to capitalize on it.

Worse yet, I could never bring myself to really appreciate what was at stake. I really hate when comics try and tease for a really epic battle, and then use some half-assed excuse to justify it. Without "spoiling" too much here, I'll just say that there was a point during the first half of the story where the Ultimates are given the chance to try and hear the X-Men's excuse for their actions. But instead of at least *attempting* to eliminate one of two extremely formidable adversaries, the Ultimates childishly opt to ignore their testimony and take on both groups. With the fate of the entire free world hanging in the balance, I don't think it gets much more irresponsible than that. And am I supposed to believe Nick Fury also just stupidly went along with that decision too?



Most of the book's weakest moments take place when Millar slows down and shows the X-Men living together in their new secret base. In terms of writing, this is definitely an improvement over volume one, but Millar still appears unable to convey emotion in his characters, and relationships end up feeling empty. Perhaps the most blatant example of this was the team's reaction when they're told that Cyclops has died back in the Savage Land. I'm well aware that the team already had a lot to worry about when they got the news, but the lack of grief was pretty hard to ignore. In fact, it was mostly just business as usual for the team, and I could detect relatively little difference in attitude. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cyclops is one of the top three most central members of the X-Men! If the writer couldn't handle properly portraying the team's loss in the context of everything else he had going on, maybe he should have just waited until early in the next volume to bring it up fresh.

After two volumes featuring the character, I believe by now I've seen enough of Millar's Magneto to see that he's really not going anywhere new. At this point, I'm in two minds about the character. On the one hand, he does some really badass stuff here – combat-wise, and intellectually speaking – and he almost appears even more formidable than his Earth 616 counterpart. However, I find myself being annoyed by his presence; Magneto sounds way too vain and pompous, which does little to make me feel sympathetic towards his cause. And on the other side, when hearing from a non-mutant top government official in issue #1, Magneto is referred to as a "creature," a "thing," and a "monster" all on the same page. I suppose that's supposed to be ironic (given Magneto's complete disdain of humanity), but to me it just sounded too awkward and deliberate a jab at xenophobia/racism.





Judging from the few books I've read illustrated by Bachalo, I think I tend to generally enjoy his work. Whether what happened here can be attributed by a lack of experience or the poor selection of a colorist, is beyond me. All I know is that something was off, and this doesn't quite match the quality level I witnessed during his work on Amazing Spider-Man . And to make matters worse, there were times when the fight scenes were somewhat difficult to interpret. So the book was no more than mildly agreeable in the artwork department.

For me to say I had gotten something positive out of his run, Millar probably would have had to dial down the testosterone by half, as well as put more effort into the characterization and dialogue. I'm sure that even Kirkman's later work on the title isn't any worse than his, and that's a very depressing thought. So if Return of the King is any better than this, it couldn't be any better than 3 stars. It's a decent score, but I'm not willing to take that gamble.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good addition to the series. Normally the fighting between one group of heroes and another seems too fabricated, but here in this series and with the fact that mutants still haven't developed a really good long-term reputation, it actually made quite a lot of good sense. The battle between the two groups was very well-executed and it was impressive to see them standoff against each other. Especially considering that the Avengers are the ones who've gotten all the movies and made to seem like the strongest heroes... but in this comic the mutants are *incredible* in their powers against the Avengers/S.H.I.E.L.D. (especially when the right ones are pitted up against each other). Seemed quite epic with the return of Magneto and the devastation it caused. The only fairly low point was: what was up with the fake little negotiation between Professor X and Magneto? It took quite a few pages but seemed entirely irrelevant to the overall story. Ah well. Maybe it'll come back again later. The artwork was consistently great though (with only a few panels I would've preferred to be drawn better) and the story fit it perfectly. I read it through in basically one sitting and it makes me excited to see what will follow it up.... definitely things have been shaken up a lot.

[Ian · Rating 1 out of 5]

When Magneto launches an attack that kills hundreds in New York, the US Government discovers that Professor Xavier and the X-Men have been lying about the Master of Magnetism being dead. The X-Men then find themselves to fugitives, treated as terrorists like the Brotherhood of Mutants, with the Ultimates determined to bring them down.

I don't know how, but I continually forget how much I dislike Mark Millar's take on the Marvel Universe (Ultimate or otherwise).
Millar always seems to approach his stories with the mission statement that all of the characters involved should be horrible people, whether they're beloved heroes or not. For example, here the X-Men are all selfish and idiotic, whilst the Ultimates are ruthless fascists, with Captain America being the worst of them. Then, thrown in for good measure, we get an offhand reference to the Hulk turning cannibal and eating three nurses. Because why not?

I genuinely couldn't find anything in this book that I considered a redeeming feature, especially when Bachalo's artwork is an unpleasant mix of cartoonish and messy.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review / all my reviews available on my blog

Magneto is back and mad. The Brotherhood vs the Ultimates! The X-Men are nowhere to be found. At least not ent S.H.I.E.L.D.

Probably for the best, given the various infighting and differences of opinion in each and every one of these groups. They really do their best to constantly shake up teams in comics, don’t they.

One thing I never really had reason to consider before… you know what Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer, and Iron Man’s armor have in common?

They’re all made of metal…

Unfortunately for all the promises, surprisingly little actually happens. It will be interesting to see what’s next… but something more now would have been nice.

Onward.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Captain America just flies off the handle all the time. On the other hand, why does Nick Fury hate mutants?

And the whole thing where Professor X only keeps "mutant minds" online and ignores the Wasp (even though his mindreading powers should see through the whole thing)? It worked when I read it, but definitely not on reconsideration.

The one thing this book sells well is that Magneto and Professor X are leagues stronger than everyone else. That kind of gets lost in the main books where the other characters need to have some kind of purpose and Magneto needs to get his clock cleaned once a year.

[Dr K P Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of the adolescent style of darkness. Almost everyone in the book is a bit of a dick. Wolverine? Bit of a dick. Captain America. Also a dick. Tony Stark, sleazy alcoholic douche.

I'm guessing this was written in an era where extra gore made stuff "cool" bit for me it just made it seem not so much morally ambiguous but more as though it's trying too hard to be grown up.

I suppose it's a bit like Civil War as avengers fight X men (for no valid reason as far as I can tell) but just less interesting.

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I certainly wasn't hoping for 3/4 issues of this to be setup, but that's what we got. It feels like the actual "Ultimate War" is yet to happen in the Ultimate X-Men series, and the Ultimates are a bit of an afterthought. If it wasn't for the short fight between my favorite X-Men, Storm, and my second favorite Ultimate, Thor, this would be slotted under a 3/5. Petty, I know, but I just wasn't captivated, even though I understand why the issues kind of needed to flow this way for the universe as a whole to work.

[Sean Buzzard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am rereading this right now and still find that Millars work is head and shoulders above Marvels output past and present.
Magneto is more terrifying than ever portrayed, Captain America is remade into something you could actually see existing in the real world, Wolverine re-built to be radar invisible? Millar was riding some kind of creative lightning in this period.
How Cap beats Logan? C’mon.
The MCU time and again uses this stuff as source material, but they could never convey the sense of threat and high stakes of Millars early Ultimate universe work.

[Sam Whale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was (for the most part) one of the least edgy Mark Millar books I've read, especially when compared to the rest of his Ultimate X-Men books and the story really benefits from that. The characters were written to be a little more likable and a little more relatable with Tony Stark and Wasp being my favorites here. There were a couple of super grim dark bits which dragged things down, like this weird ass version of Hulk and Magneto continuing to be ablest which I hate but for the most part this was a fairly decent crossover story with some pretty bleh art.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of the X-men but have had mixed reactions while revisiting this series. Here begins Millar's final year on this title and his penultimate volume and it actually is a lot of fun. Magneto is back, the Ultimates (this Universe's version of the Avengers) think Xavier and the X-men are behind his return and that they're all in cahoots. This sets up several moving parts and creates an exciting, propulsive plot. The art is magnificent and this was a fun book.

[Rangga Sukmawijaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Persoalan muncul karena Magneto kembali setelah pemerintah mengira bahwa ia sudah mati. Xavier disalahkan karena ia menutup-nutupi fakta bahwa Magneto sebenarnya masih hidup. Serangan Magneto ke markas the Ultimates membuat Xavier dan X-Men disamakan derajatnya dengan Brotherhood of Mutants dan diburu. Maka para X-Men pun harus bersiap-siap berperang dengan the Ultimates.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimate War is a big step up from what has been a mostly disappointing run of Ultimate X-Men for me. The bulk of Millar's story feels like a three way philosophical chess match between Magneto, the X-Men and the Ultimate. It is smart and thoughtful and the ending slugfest is well earned.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story line is stupid. Like why are the Ultimates so keen on going to war. Are you that bored? Also, if someone is trying to be your ally and fix a mistake that they made, maybe you should consider it?

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this on sale, not realising was Vol.5 of larger 11 part series. Heroes fighting each other theme was much better in 'Civil War'. Overall rare disappointing Mark Millar writing (cartoonish and dull) and art was ordinary.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really didn't love this volume as much. I think some of it may have been because of the art, which just seemed darker and harder to discern, and also some of the lettering, which was difficult to read. The story wasn't really as exciting either.