Avengers Not Quite Ultimate In First DVD Release

June 29, 2009 Patrick Hickey Jr. DVD & Blu-Ray 0

ultimate-avengers-dvdWhen the original announcement was made that Marvel was venturing out into the world of animation to make a straight to DVD feature on “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” The Avengers, every comic book fan this side of Albuquerque jumped for joy.

However, “Ultimate Avengers,” while still being a solid venture into the world of animation, doesn’t hold water when compared to its source material, leaving die-hard fans of the series to dig up old issues for nostalgia, instead of watching it develop all over again on the small screen.

Based on Mark Millar’s classic series, “The Ultimates,” “Ultimate Avengers” is simply a rehashed origin story of the group to suit modern times. While the personalities of many of the characters in The Avengers have stayed true to their comic book origins, several characters are given smaller roles in the film, taking away some of the spark and comic relief that made “The Ultimates” such an enjoyable read.

For instance, Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, while still retaining some of his “bad-boy” charm, isn’t given nearly enough opportunities to inject his wit and charisma into the story and his famous battle with alcoholism is merely suggested, rather than exposed.

The same goes for the Norse God of Thunder, Thor. Even though we get a small taste of his remarkable power in a great fight scene with the Hulk, he is portrayed more like a Fabio rip-off than an immortal with limitless strength and intellect.

While many lines are taken away from Thor and Iron Man, many are given to the Black Widow and Nick Fury, creating an undoubtedly entertaining aura, but creating something else in the process that looks and feels totally different than what fans have come to expect from the Avengers.

On the whole, “Ultimate Avengers” is an entertaining attempt to bring classic characters to life and is a good starting point for anyone new to the series. Traditional fans of the series however may find that their favorite characters have been changed to an extent that is unacceptable, even if it is still enjoyable to watch.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14260 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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