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Ultimate Comics: Avengers (Collected Editions)
Ultimate Comics: Avengers, Vol. 3: Blade vs. The Avengers
Vampires are afoot! Somebody is leaving behind a bloody trail of bite marks and Blade's stake-ready to take them on. Could the figure in an iron suit be involved? And what about the new figure leaping around in a devil costume? By superstar creators Mark Millar (Civil War) and Steve Dillon (PunisherMAX)!
Collecting: Ultimate Comics Avengers 3 1-6
Collecting: Ultimate Comics Avengers 3 1-6
186 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Mark Millar
1,514 books2,561 followersMark 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 24, 2012
Marvel's Ultimates and Blade versus an army of vampires? I wasn't excited about the idea, but Mark Millar has a talent for big superhero fights and this one delivers nicely on that. I also enjoyed Blade's descripton of a recurring nightmare where he's about to kill a certain sparkly emo vampire but always wakes up just before staking him.
September 22, 2018
Cap America's Earth-616 chainmail armour: vampire-proof since 1941.
Cap America's Earth-1610 cosplay suit... made of paper.
Vote: ☆☆☆½
I' m always been a fan of vampires, Blade and late Steve Dillon's art, but never liked very much at all Marvel's Ultimate Universe and Mark Millar is always an hit or miss for me, his graphic novels swinging from masterpieces to smoking piles of a crap, so when I've seen this volume on my usual saturday morning trip to local book shop I thought: "Mmmm... let's try it".
Luckly it was a funny ultra-violent quick read (so many splash pages that you are going to finish this in an heartbeat), getting better and better after an awful first half, internal single issues cover artworks by various artists were great ones, and the scene of Blade dreaming to kill Twilight's Bella and Edward like in a famous and hilarious web meme made me laugh to tears, but it just lacked bite *LOL*.
Not bad at all if you liked Marvel Zombies silly stories, but it could have been far better.
January 4, 2013
I'm not a fan of Mark Millar. I found Kick-Ass to be a poor attempt at gritty humor, filled with racism, sexism and homophobia. To be frank, if I had noticed Millar wrote this book before I picked it up from the library, I wouldn't have picked it up. Instead, I noticed Steve Dillon and vampires.
This isn't what you would call a "good" book. I'm behind on my reading of the Ultimate Universe, and there were several characters (Nerd Hulk and a new Daredevil) that seemed like they could be interesting. This book didn't do much to encourage me to read more, and (spoiler alert) didn't leave much of possibility for future exploration of these characters. There wasn't much of a plot, and there were huge leaps between scenes that really needed further explanation.
What it did have: Steve Dillon and vampires... and Blade. I have a soft spot for Blade. I really enjoyed the Midnight Sons (back in the day), and still enjoy even a poorly written Blade. It's unfortunate that the comic book Blade has been adjusted to reflect the movie Blade.
I really enjoy Steve Dillon, but have a hard time supporting that enjoyment when he has a large cast of characters to draw. The man only has a handful of faces in his bag of tricks. I like the style, but the colorist is very important when the cast gets too big (this story has a huge cast).
And vampires. Well, they were there, they were killing folks. If you liked Marvel Zombies, this is about as good as that, but with vampires and better art. In other words... Meh.
This isn't what you would call a "good" book. I'm behind on my reading of the Ultimate Universe, and there were several characters (Nerd Hulk and a new Daredevil) that seemed like they could be interesting. This book didn't do much to encourage me to read more, and (spoiler alert) didn't leave much of possibility for future exploration of these characters. There wasn't much of a plot, and there were huge leaps between scenes that really needed further explanation.
What it did have: Steve Dillon and vampires... and Blade. I have a soft spot for Blade. I really enjoyed the Midnight Sons (back in the day), and still enjoy even a poorly written Blade. It's unfortunate that the comic book Blade has been adjusted to reflect the movie Blade.
I really enjoy Steve Dillon, but have a hard time supporting that enjoyment when he has a large cast of characters to draw. The man only has a handful of faces in his bag of tricks. I like the style, but the colorist is very important when the cast gets too big (this story has a huge cast).
And vampires. Well, they were there, they were killing folks. If you liked Marvel Zombies, this is about as good as that, but with vampires and better art. In other words... Meh.
December 30, 2016
Headed home... Will review tomorrow.
January 8, 2019
9th book read in 2019.
Number 553 out of 757 on my all time book list.
Misleading title: should read Blade tries to help and the Avengers act like jerks.
Number 553 out of 757 on my all time book list.
Misleading title: should read Blade tries to help and the Avengers act like jerks.
December 10, 2011
It starts out written so badly that I have to wonder if this is Millar's big F-you finale to Marvel, now that he's going off to self-published Millarworld full time.
Then it gets tolerable for the second half, and I realize that this *isn't* Millar's last - and I wonder if he was just overcommitted when he wrote the first issue or two. Sometimes these super-popular types get like that. Certainly Bendis has his moments when I'm sure he's got too many books going at once.
I am getting twitchy about Millar these days - can't quite gauge whether he's a fascist or just likes to write about fascist worldview to illustrate the fallacies. It's also sometimes hard to appreciate his books when he's blatantly channeling his inner (outer?) screenwriter. I read a reviewer who once said of Millar that he uses comics as his Hollywood pitches. This book is less directly a pitch because of the complexities of putting this much of the Ultimate Marvel universe into easily-digestible form. That redeems this for me a little. And the ending *is* good.
The art isn't bad but isn't awesome.
Then it gets tolerable for the second half, and I realize that this *isn't* Millar's last - and I wonder if he was just overcommitted when he wrote the first issue or two. Sometimes these super-popular types get like that. Certainly Bendis has his moments when I'm sure he's got too many books going at once.
I am getting twitchy about Millar these days - can't quite gauge whether he's a fascist or just likes to write about fascist worldview to illustrate the fallacies. It's also sometimes hard to appreciate his books when he's blatantly channeling his inner (outer?) screenwriter. I read a reviewer who once said of Millar that he uses comics as his Hollywood pitches. This book is less directly a pitch because of the complexities of putting this much of the Ultimate Marvel universe into easily-digestible form. That redeems this for me a little. And the ending *is* good.
The art isn't bad but isn't awesome.
November 27, 2017
The first Ultimates run is among my favorite in comics both in terms of art and story telling and I'll always love Millar for creating that work. This is not that. It feels cheap and half assed and the artwork boring at best and unfinished at worst. At the same time, as ready as I was to be done with this title, the ending felt rushed.
February 4, 2020
Excellent art by Steve Dillon, but it’s a little disappointing that Blade doesn’t have a bigger role in the story. He doesn’t even get to save the day in the end and the threat is vampires, which is his specialty.
September 19, 2011
A master vampire hunter is turned into a vampire and begins to co-ordinate the vampires of the world into an attack on SHIELD HQ with the ultimate plan of turning supes into vampires. Meanwhile Blade is arrested while the vampires run riot and a couple of superheroes are turned, leading into an almighty bloodbath battle!
Mark Millar continues his champion run in this new line of Ultimates with the third installment filled with pedal-to-the-metal action and snappy dialogue. He's joined this time around by artist Steve Dillon, he of Preacher fame, who has a good time turning some well-known and beloved heroes to the dark side.
It's a really fun read with both guys obviously enjoying their work, producing some nice twists in the story and some fantastic fight scenes. I particularly enjoyed Millar's skewering of the Twilight series. He has Edward say something like "Even though I'm a hundred years old and have a hundred years of art, literature, and experience, I'm still fascinated by a 16 year old girl's opinion of her Ugly Betty box-set and which girl at school she thinks gave her a nasty look" and then Blade shows up with a drawn sword. There's also a bombshell of a ending making me want to read the next in the series even more. If you've enjoyed the Ultimates series so far, you'll love this volume.
Mark Millar continues his champion run in this new line of Ultimates with the third installment filled with pedal-to-the-metal action and snappy dialogue. He's joined this time around by artist Steve Dillon, he of Preacher fame, who has a good time turning some well-known and beloved heroes to the dark side.
It's a really fun read with both guys obviously enjoying their work, producing some nice twists in the story and some fantastic fight scenes. I particularly enjoyed Millar's skewering of the Twilight series. He has Edward say something like "Even though I'm a hundred years old and have a hundred years of art, literature, and experience, I'm still fascinated by a 16 year old girl's opinion of her Ugly Betty box-set and which girl at school she thinks gave her a nasty look" and then Blade shows up with a drawn sword. There's also a bombshell of a ending making me want to read the next in the series even more. If you've enjoyed the Ultimates series so far, you'll love this volume.
Read
March 6, 2015Not sure how to review this one. I read it mostly because of my son's sudden interest in Blade :) I guess I liked it. It sounded good and it looked even better. It was however finished in a heartbeat :) I like a little bit more "bulk" on my books. Still, good fun - though not recommended to younger readers due to several skimpily clad ladies and lots of decapitations (requisite gore included).
September 30, 2025
Read this review or all of my reviews on my site!
You’ve heard of Marvel Zombies? Well if that wasn’t terrifying enough… what about Marvel Vampires!
It’s actually a really neat story. Blade shows up, so vampires are real. Only this time around, they’ve figured out that turning Super Vampires might just be their big shot.
Neat idea. Solid execution. A few more deaths. Marvel Ultimate yo.
By far my favorite Ultimate Avengers so far.
Onward!
Notes. Spoilers.
… so that’s Blade all right.
And apparently a new Daredevil. Kill him off offscreen… for what?
That’s quite a variant on the Daredevil costume… and he didn’t last long.
Vampire Hulk. Oh my. I can’t decide if that’s more terrifying or if the weaknesses he might get level the playing field slightly.
Creative. Does it not count as torture and murder if it’s a vampire!
Edgar: 💕 Stella 💕
Stella: ❤️ Edgar ❤️
Blade:
I love it.
The confidence… this won’t last long.
…
One panel. He lasted one panel.
He’s got a point you know.
Yeah okay. That’s a neat trick.
February 11, 2021
Book 3.
When a number of costumed heroes are mysteriously killed Nick Fury assembles the Avengers to investigate. However, the arrival of vampire hunter Blade reveals that the threat is much more dire than Fury imagined.
There is a very weird tone to this book.
Millar has gone to great lengths up to this point to make his interpretation of the Marvel heroes edgy, realistic and mean, which continues here for the main Avengers, but then out of nowhere he drops in this strangely goofy story of Blade and the vampires. The two tones collide like a car crash and you spend the entire book trying to unpick the wreckage.
Honestly it put me very much in mind of the bizarre horror/comedy tone of Robert Kirkman's 'Marvel Zombies'. Maybe that was the intention (was 'Marvel Zombies' making headlines when this was written maybe?).
The problem for me was that I actually enjoyed the Blade versus the vampires stuff here, with the Daywalker being the only likeable character in the whole book. I particularly liked the fact that he spends most of his time telling the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. how stupid they are. Because they absolutely are.
Liking that element proves to be a problem because it's very much a minor aspect of the story and instead the focus is on dumb ideas like 'What if Nerd Hulk were a vampire and not a dweeb anymore?'. As I say, tonally it's weird.
The book ends with a major character death that lands with absolutely no impact and that's like a microcosm of the book as a whole.
I think I would've rather just read an Ultimate Blade book.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *
When a number of costumed heroes are mysteriously killed Nick Fury assembles the Avengers to investigate. However, the arrival of vampire hunter Blade reveals that the threat is much more dire than Fury imagined.
There is a very weird tone to this book.
Millar has gone to great lengths up to this point to make his interpretation of the Marvel heroes edgy, realistic and mean, which continues here for the main Avengers, but then out of nowhere he drops in this strangely goofy story of Blade and the vampires. The two tones collide like a car crash and you spend the entire book trying to unpick the wreckage.
Honestly it put me very much in mind of the bizarre horror/comedy tone of Robert Kirkman's 'Marvel Zombies'. Maybe that was the intention (was 'Marvel Zombies' making headlines when this was written maybe?).
The problem for me was that I actually enjoyed the Blade versus the vampires stuff here, with the Daywalker being the only likeable character in the whole book. I particularly liked the fact that he spends most of his time telling the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. how stupid they are. Because they absolutely are.
Liking that element proves to be a problem because it's very much a minor aspect of the story and instead the focus is on dumb ideas like 'What if Nerd Hulk were a vampire and not a dweeb anymore?'. As I say, tonally it's weird.
The book ends with a major character death that lands with absolutely no impact and that's like a microcosm of the book as a whole.
I think I would've rather just read an Ultimate Blade book.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *
September 21, 2023
Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade Vs. the Avengers left me thoroughly disappointed. The writing felt flat and uninspired, failing to engage the reader on any meaningful level. Characters like the new Daredevil and Nerd Hulk were introduced but lacked any development, making it hard to care about their presence in the story.
What's worse is that the Avengers themselves came across as unlikeable and lacking depth. It's challenging to root for characters when you don't feel invested in their journey or motivations.
The biggest letdown was Blade, who seemed to be the only redeeming factor in the story. However, even he was sidelined during the climax of the conflict, leaving readers longing for more of his involvement.
To make matters worse, a major character death fell flat and had no emotional impact, robbing the story of any potential depth or consequence. Overall, Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade Vs. the Avengers had little going for it, making it a forgettable and unsatisfying read.
What's worse is that the Avengers themselves came across as unlikeable and lacking depth. It's challenging to root for characters when you don't feel invested in their journey or motivations.
The biggest letdown was Blade, who seemed to be the only redeeming factor in the story. However, even he was sidelined during the climax of the conflict, leaving readers longing for more of his involvement.
To make matters worse, a major character death fell flat and had no emotional impact, robbing the story of any potential depth or consequence. Overall, Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade Vs. the Avengers had little going for it, making it a forgettable and unsatisfying read.
August 11, 2023
So... was Millar jealous of Marvel Zombies*?
I just would like to know what happened here. Why did he come back at all? Did they offer him a dump truck of money? He just feels so checked out in these books. He never bothered to develop his new team at all. He drops the new team members as fast as he introduces them, and despite being a new team also can't resist bringing in Captain America and Hawkeye constantly.
The boon itself is both dumb and kind of dull. Super-powered vampires should be way more fun than it is in practice.
It was nice to finally have captain america show off some of those genius tactics we keep being told about, but was ruined when all the characters needed to talk about how cool it was afterwards.
*I know Millar technically created Marvel Zombies, but Kirkman has developed and played with it far more than he did.
I just would like to know what happened here. Why did he come back at all? Did they offer him a dump truck of money? He just feels so checked out in these books. He never bothered to develop his new team at all. He drops the new team members as fast as he introduces them, and despite being a new team also can't resist bringing in Captain America and Hawkeye constantly.
The boon itself is both dumb and kind of dull. Super-powered vampires should be way more fun than it is in practice.
It was nice to finally have captain america show off some of those genius tactics we keep being told about, but was ruined when all the characters needed to talk about how cool it was afterwards.
*I know Millar technically created Marvel Zombies, but Kirkman has developed and played with it far more than he did.
August 22, 2022
FFS Every single woman that appears in the book is called a bitch. Every single one.
Story is so offensively stupid that is difficult to believe this wasn't written by a 10 year old boy trying to impress his older comicsgater brother.
The story starts with Blade in bed with 3 women because he is such a manly man. Then vampires come in and turns out under the covers he was still wearing his pants and had a shotgun and his katana. How did they have sex without the girls noticing? That's the level of the plot for the whole story.
And to top it all, art is by Steve Dillon, the same face variety (that is: none) as Howard Chaykin, but even worse.
I would need a way to give negative stars to properly rate this shit
Story is so offensively stupid that is difficult to believe this wasn't written by a 10 year old boy trying to impress his older comicsgater brother.
The story starts with Blade in bed with 3 women because he is such a manly man. Then vampires come in and turns out under the covers he was still wearing his pants and had a shotgun and his katana. How did they have sex without the girls noticing? That's the level of the plot for the whole story.
And to top it all, art is by Steve Dillon, the same face variety (that is: none) as Howard Chaykin, but even worse.
I would need a way to give negative stars to properly rate this shit
June 6, 2025
What was the point of this? Uninspired violence without the writing to back it up. Granted I did not follow much of the Ultimate universe, but was this the intro to this new (uninspired, uninteresting) Daredevil? Created just for this book to be a vampire and die by the end of the story? Avengers and Cap are assholes being mean to hulk? Blade likes women in an unironic "the '70s weren't enough" way? At least the "___ kills the Marvel Universe" books have some humor to them. Even Steve Dillon's art was lacking. Why do all the people in this book look the same?
October 31, 2017
I enjoyed this comic.
It was a fun read. Although a bit silly, the story wasn't boring.
By the end of the issue, I wanted the second... so it definitely held appeal.
It also made me laugh. There was some pretty witty dialogue.
Overall, it was almost a 4... but the writing just wasn't tight enough to pull it off. The plot was interesting, and as I mentioned before- it held my attention.
That's a hard thing to do, especially when it comes to superheroes.
It was a fun read. Although a bit silly, the story wasn't boring.
By the end of the issue, I wanted the second... so it definitely held appeal.
It also made me laugh. There was some pretty witty dialogue.
Overall, it was almost a 4... but the writing just wasn't tight enough to pull it off. The plot was interesting, and as I mentioned before- it held my attention.
That's a hard thing to do, especially when it comes to superheroes.
July 1, 2023
4.5 Stars
So we get the Ultimate Avengers and Blade vs. vampires, including several super heroes that have been turned. Millar seems to be having a lot of fun with the Ultimate Avengers. He just put whatever he found fun into the stories. Punisher vs. Ghost Rider, vampires, etc. Very entertaining series.
So we get the Ultimate Avengers and Blade vs. vampires, including several super heroes that have been turned. Millar seems to be having a lot of fun with the Ultimate Avengers. He just put whatever he found fun into the stories. Punisher vs. Ghost Rider, vampires, etc. Very entertaining series.
June 27, 2018
An OK but soulless story about vampires attacking the Ultimate Avengers team of mostly side characters made up for the series, such as the Nerd Hulk, who becomes a vampire. Nothing bad, but nothing great either.
January 24, 2021
Goodreads'de neden bu kadar düşük puan aldığını anlayamadığım harika cilt.Alt metni çok zengin konu itibariyle de fena değil Mark Millar gayet akıcı ve sürükleyici yazıyor.Steve Dillon'un çizimleri ise herkese göre değil tarzını seviyorsanız kesinlikle bir şans verin.
November 5, 2021
Una divertida historia de vampiros enfrentándose al grupo de Ultimate Avengers, con el dibujo de Steve Dillon para demostrar que también podía dibujar grupos de héroes.
No cambia la vida pero es mucho mejor a la historia de vampiros que se contaba en paralelo en los X-Men.
No cambia la vida pero es mucho mejor a la historia de vampiros que se contaba en paralelo en los X-Men.
April 23, 2022
The only thing worse than Mark Millar is Mark Millar paired with this illustration team. I REALLY didn't like the styling of this arc. I had one enjoyable page in their Twilight parody, but it wasn't enough to bump up a star rating. Unfortunate that this is the first Blade comic I've ever read.
July 29, 2018
Overall, meh. But they did put in the one scene where Blade chases down the twilight vampires and that had me rolling.
January 28, 2019
Basically Marvel Zombies but with vampires except the art is boring, blade is barely in it, and it really serves no purpose.
April 29, 2019
The ultimate take on vampires when Blade arrives and the vampires attacks the team.
August 9, 2019
I fucking hate anything related to fucking vampires.
April 30, 2020
This was a complete loss for me. The writing was lame and I absolutely do not like Dillon as an artist. He is the worst.
August 10, 2022
I read this out of context with what was happening at the time. I came away with a lot of questions. Blade was a badass, but everything else was confusing.
October 27, 2022
"Blade vs The Avengers" is as completely stupid as it sounds. But it's fun to see the Avengers as vampires, and I love Steve Dillon.
August 15, 2023
The best part was the cameo of not-Edward and not-Bella from Twilight.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews