User blog:ARTaylor/10 Years of Ultimate Avengers

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the release of both Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers II, being released on February 21st and August 8th respectively. These were the first two of eight direct-to-video features from Marvel Animation and Lions Gate Home Entertainment. The purpose for the animated films were to create the stories that the live action films could not, at least at the time.



The first film was based on the early The Ultimate comics by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. This story was chosen to bring together many well-known personalities, and be a kind of The Dirty Dozen. The story is mostly faithful to the comics, at times recreating scenes entirely. Though many of the character designs and stories are most influenced by the original comic books. It was a success and has become known as one of Marvel's best animated features. The film was the feature debut of numerous characters such as Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Giant Man, Wasp, and Betty Ross.



Before the first film was even released, production of a sequel, sometimes called Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther, was underway. Rather than continue adapting the source comics, the film was an extension of the first story and original. The film introduced elements not yet seen in the Ultimate universe like Black Panther and Wakanda. It also featured the sacrifice of Giant Man before this happened during the events of Ultimatum. While this too was successful and there were more animated features, it became the last in the brief series.

Both films ended up having an influence on the subsequent Marvel live-action features. Like the first animated feature, Captain America: The First Avenger features Captain America escaping a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and being talked down by Nick Fury after seeing modern day New York City. The Avengers also featured the Chitauri as well as Iron Man almost sacrificing his life to stop an alien invasion.

Fans never did get an Ultimate Avengers 3, though the closest we got was Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. With the subsequent purchase of Marvel by The Walt Disney Company it seems unlikely any of the MLG features will get a sequel. Still, these two will always be remembered as the features that began a brief but memorable run of successful animated features from Marvel Animation.