What parts of the Avengers film come from the Ultimate Universe?

[Plawsky]

That's right - another thread related to the Avengers movie. And why not? The movie is awesome!

It has been said many times that the movies draw a lot of inspiration from the Ultimate Universe. In fact, it's this connection that got me started on the Ultimate books (and comics in general, really). However, the movies obviously draws from all sorts of different source material from the past fifty years. But what comes from the Ultimate Universe?

It should go without saying that there are, indeed, SPOILERS! below.


SHIELD

Before Ultimates, SHIELD was a group of spies. Ultimate SHIELD is responsible for preemptively putting together a ragtag group of Earth's Mightiest Heroes to become the Ultimates. This MO is very much like how the Avengers are put together in the film.

Nick Fury

The appearance is an obvious connection. But really, he acts a lot like Ultimate Fury, too. He's in charge of the Avengers, running things from behind the scenes. He's also manipulative, lying to the team about the circumstances of a friend's death to convince them to come together as a team. He's not just in the background of everything, he's leading the fight.

Tony Stark

I'll admit that most of my 616-Iron Man reading has been from the post-alcohol days, but Robert Downey Jr really seems to embrace Mark Millar's playboy Stark from Ultimates. He's very eccentric and rarely seen without a drink in his hand. Though, his origin is clearly not Ultimate.

Captain America

He uses a gun!!!

Hawkeye

The costume is an obvious nod to the Hitch designed Ultimates outfit. He's also seen as Fury's right hand, and he always gets the job done. I'm hoping Avengers 2 has a fingernail scene.

Other bits and pieces:
-The Chitauri. Sure, it was in name only, but it's still from Ultimates.
-Cap's trading cards. Straight from Ultimates.

I'm sure there's some stuff that I'm missing.

[wyokid]

Did Natasha and Clint have a relationship in 616? I'm not really familiar with the 616 versions.

[Morentez]

Hulk being a result of a failed Super-Soldier experiment.

[Codah]

Did Natasha and Clint have a relationship in 616? I'm not really familiar with the 616 versions.

Yeah but it was nothing like it is in the UU. The movie was clearly pulling from the UU on that one.

Hulk being a result of a failed Super-Soldier experiment.

Good call.

I'll go with Cap being Christian. It's probably safe to assume he was one in the early days of 616 but he never said anything like "There's only one god, and he doesn't dress like that". That's pure Millar Cap. Despite the fact that overall, movie Cap is nothing like he is in the UU.

Also, one thing that's very interesting is the fact that through all of these movies, SHIELD has been the constant. SHIELD got all the heroes together, much like the UU. The interesting part is, though, that at the end Tony is constructing Avengers tower and Nick Fury talks about how the heroes will assemble themselves in the future. It's weird/cool how Avengers was almost a farewell to the thing that brought it all together. Obviously Marvel won't let SHIELD just fade away but the Avengers became MUCH more 616-like with the film's ending.

[Sparrowsabre7]

The prayer/memorial board at the end is definitely Ultimate inspired. The forest battle with Thor may have shades of Ultimates 2 influence. The shot of Hawkeye jumping off that building firing an arrow is very reminiscent of that Ultimate Hawkeye cover.

Not from the film but this art book shows heavy Ultimate influence considered for the Avengers costumes, particularly that one of Thor

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansit.../news/?a=59249

[Balfro]

To expand upon SHIELD, the film started using the Ultimate SHIELD emblem (it was the 616 emblem on the prequels).

[sage6paths]

I can't remember. Did the 616 have helicarriers before the Ultimates came out? Or did they put that idea into the 616?

[DoctorOak]

616 had Helicarriers (and other various flying vehicles) for a long, long time before Ultimates. The Ultimates didn't even have a Helicarrier to begin with, just the Triskellion and normal military aircraft.

I actually really liked that about the original Ultimates series, the flying cars and stuff in mainstream is just a bit too cheesy. I'd have rather had the Triskellion in Avengers than the Helicarrier, but at least they used the setting well.

Cap's costume is obviously far more inspired by his Ultimate look than his mainstream counterpart, so that's another one. There's also the fact that the movie effectively plays out the same way as the first Ultimates book (the first half of the story sees the team fighting itself, the second half sees them joining together to fight off the Chitauri invasion), and is - overall - basically a mix of the first two Ultimate series. The Chitauri here replacing the Liberators in function and effectively being more of a mirror of that storyline in the end than their own; the forest scene with Iron Man and Cap fighting Thor being a nod, if nothing else, to the first half of Ultimates 2 and of course the final scene with the memorial being really quite similar to what we see in Ultimates 1 after the Hulk battle.

Also, Nick Fury in the movie really does strike you as the kind of guy that could quite easily lose an arm, and still pick up a gun with the other one and blow the hell out of whatever's pissed him off. He may not have had the opportunity to be as shady and manipulative as Ultimate Fury yet, but I don't really think there's any question that Fury of the Ultimates is the mould for this character.

[taylor51]

Yeah but it was nothing like it is in the UU. The movie was clearly pulling from the UU on that one.


Good call.

I'll go with Cap being Christian. It's probably safe to assume he was one in the early days of 616 but he never said anything like "There's only one god, and he doesn't dress like that". That's pure Millar Cap. Despite the fact that overall, movie Cap is nothing like he is in the UU.

Also, one thing that's very interesting is the fact that through all of these movies, SHIELD has been the constant. SHIELD got all the heroes together, much like the UU. The interesting part is, though, that at the end Tony is constructing Avengers tower and Nick Fury talks about how the heroes will assemble themselves in the future. It's weird/cool how Avengers was almost a farewell to the thing that brought it all together. Obviously Marvel won't let SHIELD just fade away but the Avengers became MUCH more 616-like with the film's ending.

I dunno, Whedon focused a lot on the "man out of time" angle, and while he may be missing Millar's grit, he's also a soldier through and through, which I feel are the hallmarks of Ultimate Cap (compared to the MU's focus on him being the embodiment of "American" ideals).

[Drz]

The ending is from Ultimates 2, both Feige and Millar have pretty much said that. Captain America (like Codah said) being Christian is very Ultimate, because Marvel is too shy to go religious with 616-verse for Cap and Punisher thesedays.

[Sparrowsabre7]

Tony Stark getting rid of a bomb (though without Thor's help this time :P) though that whole sequence was nearly verbatim from the cgi short "Iron Man Adventures" where Tony throws a robot that's about to blow up into space and then falls to earth before being caught by the Hulk).

Thor using a supercharged lightning attack was somewhat Ultimates too, though he wasn't suspended in mid air while he did it (shame).

Hulk being the one to completely trash the leader, while shutting him up at the same time is also fairly reminiscent of his trouncing of Kleiser (albeit with a less masticatory end :P)

[Havok C.]

This is kinda speculation more than pointing out Ultimate stuff, but did anyone get the feeling that Black Widow's checkered past that was mentioned in the movie lead to her betraying the team in later movies? I feel like that might be the case and if so thats pretty "Ultimate" of her.

[NapoleonBlownapart]

Bruce Banner was brought on because he's a scientist, not because he's The Hulk. This is the same as how he ended up working with The Ultimates.

[RockyBanks]

Cap's costume is obviously far more inspired by his Ultimate look than his mainstream counterpart, so that's another one.

IMO, Cap's costume from Captain America is more similar to his UU look (muted and utilitarian), while his costume from The Avengers looks more 616 to me (bright and flashy and kinda cheesy).

There's also the fact that the movie effectively plays out the same way as the first Ultimates book (the first half of the story sees the team fighting itself, the second half sees them joining together to fight off the Chitauri invasion), and is - overall - basically a mix of the first two Ultimate series. The Chitauri here replacing the Liberators in function and effectively being more of a mirror of that storyline in the end than their own; the forest scene with Iron Man and Cap fighting Thor being a nod, if nothing else, to the first half of Ultimates 2 and of course the final scene with the memorial being really quite similar to what we see in Ultimates 1 after the Hulk battle.

This is what really stood out to me. The Avengers is essentially a mash-up of the storylines of The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2.

I dunno, Whedon focused a lot on the "man out of time" angle, and while he may be missing Millar's grit, he's also a soldier through and through, which I feel are the hallmarks of Ultimate Cap (compared to the MU's focus on him being the embodiment of "American" ideals).

I hadn't thought of that. The "man out of time" aspect of Cap's character doesn't really work in 616, because he was only out of commission for about 20 years. In the UU and the movies, he was out for much, much longer.

Bruce Banner was brought on because he's a scientist, not because he's The Hulk. This is the same as how he ended up working with The Ultimates.

Ooh, that's a good one. I'd like to see how SHIELD deals with the backlash from the victims of Hulk's past rampages.

[manymade1]

Did Natasha and Clint have a relationship in 616? I'm not really familiar with the 616 versions.

They did in the early issues.