Ultimate Avengers: The Movie

I got out of the whole comics thing in the nineties because at the time I was collecting Marvel comics (particularly X-Men and X-Factor) and after the whole Inferno saga it just got a little stupid and a little too caught up in its own little universe and the continuity was just getting too steep. However, when I was in England I thought I might try again, particularly with the Ultimate Marvel universe now in existence, and when I read them I was addicted. They were well written, and fresh and there wasn't much I had to know about them. It was great.

I have heard a bit about the animated Marvel movies, and then forgot all about them until all four turned up at Big W the other day. All right, I thought, I'll have a bit of this. So I bought them. And I sat down to watch Ultimate Avengers, noticing that Nick Fury was a black bald guy, rather than a greying white dude (so more Ultimates than Avengers), and the front cover was by Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch. Good stuff, so far.

The movie is an amalgamation of the first Ultimates series, starting off with Captain America in the second World War fighting Nazis aided by the alien Chitauri, and then ending up frozen for over fifty years until General Nick Fury finds him after searching for...goodness knows how long. With the Chitauri active again, Fury is told to start the Avengers initiative (reminiscent of the Iron Man live action movie), and although he's not happy with it, he does so. So it's a bit funny because the story follows the Ultimates in many ways, but deviates in a lot of others.

I really liked the storyline, and the animation was great. There were some moments which were quite ballsy (I was shocked at the Hulk jumping up and trying to rip Giant Man's throat out) and so it is very much aimed at a more adult audience. The portrayal of the Hulk was really good, suggesting that he is so much more powerful than the other Avengers that they need to really work together as team if they want to bring him down. The major storyline issue for me, though, was the fact that General Kleiser, Captain America's nemesis in the fifties, did not return to lead the Chitauri at the end. He is an alien and it would have provided closure.

The main problem I had with the movie, though, was the voice casting. Some of it was very acceptable (Olivia D'Abo was great as the Black Widow), but for many, particularly Fury, Stark and Rogers, I had difficulty rationalising those voices with the voices I'd always heard in my head. Captain America in particular seemed very wrong.

That said, it wasn't a bad start, so I'm interested in the sequel.

"B+"