In 2012, we got one of the GREATEST movie crossovers EVER. Rogers, Stark, Romanoff, Thor, Banner and Barton all came together to work together when the world needed them to, so they could fight the battles that the world never could. But what if I told you this wasn’t the first Superhero movies to do this?
6 ENTIRE YEARS before The Avengers came out, we got a film starring the superhero team of the same name, with the same characters, and a similar plot.
People always talk about how the MCU gained inspiration from the Ultimate Comics, but the movie I’m about to tell you about was actually the first time we saw the ideas from the ultimate comics being brought to cinema.
In 2006, Marvel and Lionsgate made an animated film called: Ultimate Avengers.
This was supposed to be an animated retelling of the comic line called: “The Ultimates”
The Ultimates were a more modern, darker and edgy version of the Avengers, and the comic series began publication in 2002.
The Ultimate comics were and still are largely controversial, despite also being the comic best retelling of the Avengers to date. The comics made a lot of shocking choices that split the Marvel fanbase. Some really enjoyed the Ultimates, and the comics sold really well, but the comics are also being criticized to this day.
But because of the early success of the Ultimates, an animated movie made sense back in 2006. But now, it’s hard to find anyone talking about the film. It’s all but forgotten now in 2023, since the MCU has practically stollen the spotlight from any other superhero movie.
But let’s talk about the Ultimates, because it paved the way for a lot of Avengers films that followed.
First of all, Black Widow plays a prominent role in this film which, at the time was quite unusual. There wasn’t many Avengers rosters with Black Widow, so this we the first time we’ve saw Black Widow as a founding member of the Avengers on screen.
Captain America in this movie is also quite similar. But instead of fighting against Red Skull in WW2, he fights against CHITAURI ALIENS
I am not making this up. And yes, the Chitauri are the main villain of the movie, just like in the MCU Avengers.
Unlike the MCU Avengers, the Chitauri are not being controlled or released by another villain in this film. They seem to be a lot smarter than in the MCU.
They shapeshift on their own, and pilot a ship heading towards earth, which is why the Avengers need to assemble to stop them.
And it all starts with Captain America.
Captain America in this movie goes through alot.
The movie begins with him fighting in the war, and seeing the Chitauri for the first time. You know that reveal in Captain America: The First Avenger?
The one where u find out the German guy has a red skull?
Well you basically get that in this movie, but in this one, he’s an ALIEN.
Because that makes much more sense than having sunburn…
so then boom klow pow dah plaow pang bam
German alien guy dies and Steve stops big rocket ting and ends up on ice, missing his date.
Cool.
When he wakes up, he goes berserk, escaping the shield headquarters and running outside, where he looks around him he realizes he’s not home while Nick Fury tries to comfort him.
The final lines of this scene are the best of this movie.
Steve asks “did we win”
To which Fury simply replies: yes as the scene fades out.
And everything up until this point is similar the the MCU, but this is where things start to differ…
In the MCU Avengers we get a scene of Cap in an old fashioned type room with his punching bag, but in Ultimate Avengers we get a different scene.
We see Steve walking down a sidewalk, walking past all the stores in the city on the as he sees cars drive past him.
He then walks past a tech store where he sees camera technology for the first time.
In just 5 seconds of no dialogue you already see how different this world is for Steve.
He then visits his old friend Bucky, and in this universe he didn’t “die” and become the Winter Soldier, and instead grows old with Peggy Carter, who is actually named Gail in this universe.
The audience really gets to see how the world as Steve knows it is gone, and it becomes tragically cemented when Steve and Nick Fury visit the graveyard filled with Steve’s fallen comrades.
And as a Captain America fan, I really like this.
The entire MCU kind of skips over Cap’s new world adjustment, it’s only briefly mentioned in the Avengers movies, and we don’t see it in the First Avenger. We don’t get any of that until WINTER SOLDIER nearly 4 years after the first Cap movie.
Cap being the main character in this film is really great.
He tries to lead the Avengers to stop the Chitahuri from getting them from stealing the needed information from Shield headquarters, but the team fails, and falls apart.
But when the Chitauri attack again, Steve is the first one there to stop them, and Ultimately leads the avengers to a victory. I think this Avengers movie tells a better story for Captain America then any Avengers movie to ever come out SINCE.
That’s why it’s, in my opinion, one of the greatest animated superhero movies up there with Into the Spider Verse
But let me know what you think,
Was Ultimate Avengers Cash or Trash?
Let me know down in the comments, or get the conversation started in the Fan Area Forums Pages.