Issues Covered:
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1-6
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1 #54-59
This week Luke and Devin get the definitive origin for the Fantastic Four that they actually like a lot, followed by Spider-Man going Hollywood, and in between there is some War of the Realms talk, audience participation, some real life stories, and honestly, this is a good one.
Check out the show notes and images after the jump!
Ultimate Fantastic Four #1-6
Writers – Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, Pencils – Adam Kubert, Inks – Danny Miki, John Dell, Colors – Dave Stewart, Letters – Chris Eliopoulos
21 years before current Ultimate Universe time, Reed Richards was born as an incredibly smart baby. He got picked on in school but luckily his friend Ben Grimm, the middle school linebacker, was there to protect him, partially because Reed tutored him. The Richards also liked Ben infinitely more than Reed who was reclusive but also didn’t have good soft skills so he’d deconstruct things. He started developing a portal to another dimension that was layer on top of ours and he started sending things through, partially because he wanted to escape.
Reed ended up showing his teleporter which grabbed the attention of Willie Lumpkin of the Mainland Technology Development agency which ends up offering the Richards money if Reed can attend the program at the Baxter Building. There he meets Professor Storm, his daughter Sue, son Johnny and their own portal to the N-Zone and the toys that Reed had been sending.
Time passes and under the tutelage of Dr. Arthur Molekvic, Sue and Reed have continued to work closely though there are enigmatic figures like Victor Van Damme. Reed is still trying to work on the teleportation but he’s got stress problems from not perfecting that, his family has ostracized him and he comes in to find Victor working on his formulas. When he looks at them though, he sees Victor caught things he didn’t and offers to work together. Molekvic meanwhile is fired by General Ross because he’s been continuing his experiments to create life and says he knew it would happen.
We then flash to the modern day where the teleporter has been constructed but Victor and Reed are arguing about the final formula. Johnny steals Reed to tell him to ask out his sister, while Ben also comes to visit. Everyone is prepared as they plan to teleport an apple to Guantanamo Bay but as they watch closely by, the teleporter envelopes them too.
When the light clears, the 5 of them are gone but Reed reappears as an elongated noodle man whom the military tries to kill before he can communicate, and then the teleporter explodes. Ben Grimm, now covered in rocks, wakes up in Mexico City.
Back at the teleporter Reed tries to figure what happened and discovers that Victor changed the coordinates at the last minute. They get the call that Ben showed up and Johnny meanwhile wakes up at a hospital in France where he accidentally lights on fire and they reach out about it.
Doctor Storm, meanwhile still long term coping with the loss of his wife, is trying to figure out what happened but Reed is more concerned about the scientific implications and meanwhile Sue has woken up in the subterranean base of the Molekvic and his monsters.
Back at the base Johnny learns to start to activate his powers while Reed tries to talk to Ben who is reasonably unhappy. Sue meanwhile learns she can turn invisible by warping light rays by projecting electromagnetic fields. Molekvic also explains that he thinks the teleporter realigned their consciousness and this is part of the new age along with his moloids and the discovery of the Hollow Earth and the remains of Atlantean technology that he found which allowed him to access the Baxter Building mainframe which they are 1.4 miles underneath. Also he’s in love with Sue and kidnapped her when she appeared outside Las Vegas. He goes on to show that everyone else is alive and that he plans to go and rescue her brother which he sends a giant monster to do.
Johnny ends up getting distracted and melts and then falls out the window before discovering he can fly and tries to fight the monster. Ben decides to step in to try and make the best of the situation and joins in followed by Reed who wraps up the monster and tries to see is Johnny can throw fire – which he can’t, so Ben comes in and pummels the monster which none of them are sure, isn’t Sue. Ben’s blows knock it out and it falls back down but the SWAT teams shoot at Ben thinking he’s a mutant but it doesn’t hurt him and General Talbot gets them to stop and then the three decide to go down into the hole where they find themselves surrounded by Moloids.
They find Sue and Molekvic and Sue turns invisible to run back to greet them and when she tells him what Molekvic was doing, he decides he can’t trust her and tells them all to leave before wandering off and Reed is unsure if Molekvic also had a hand in them getting powers. The Moloids then start to attack and as Ben responds the massive surveillance system and the caves begin to fall down and Moleman ends up falling into a pit. Sue learns she can project force fields and moves them out of the hole.
They debrief with Doctor Storm who explains they will be taking over the Baxter Building to study what they’ve learned from the accident, Sue says she’s excited about her new life, and Reed and Sue decide they need to find Victor next.
Ultimate Spider-Man 54-59
Writer – Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils – Mark Bagley, Inks – Art Thibert, Scott Hanna, Colors – JD Smith, Letters – Chris Eliopoulos
Aunt May goes to leave and visit her mom in Florida leaving Gwen and Peter home for a week with $300 between the two. Gwen immediately takes her half, and while they give each other some space, news about the filming of a Spider-Man movie by director Sam Raimi with producer Avi Arad comes on and Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and Peter pulls a door off the wall and Gwen still has issues because Spider-Man killed her dad.
At school Kenny Kong decides he wants to try and get into the movie as an extra and Mary Jane is still grounded for running away.
On the set, as Tobey is having issues, Peter as Spider-man shows up to criticize them all for making a movie without his permission but they explain he’s a public figure. They start asking him questions and he tells them to pay him and they say they will if he’ll take off his mask which he refuses and he swings off having been filmed the entire time.
At the Raft, Doc Ock is told about the Spider-Man movie and learns his ex-wife is a consultant talking about him. Doc Ock realizes he is able to even more remotely control his arms and uses them to start moving towards him, eventually reaching him in prison where he causes a breakout and then Octopus kills a man to take over his home as a new base.
Kenny Kong gets cast in the movie for one line and Gwen is still upset about Spider-man. Mary Jane and Peter go to talk to her and she’s still upset about the fake Spider-Man still being a Spider-Man and goes off on how it’s been weighing on her since her father was killed.
Octavius who is talking to his tentacles is ready to keep things low key for the time being, avoiding Peter and his ex-wife who would be under watch, until Roselita shows up on TV to talk about him.
And Gwen, coming home notices she is already under surveillance.
Spider-Man returns to the set to watch Bruce Campbell as Mysterio and that’s when a PA with connections to the government finds out that Doc Ock escaped and that the government is keeping it quiet which is when Ock shows up on set and runs into Spider-Man, which causes all of the security around Gwen to leave. Spider-Man and Ock get into a big brawl and Ock has Peter on the ropes until Leroy, a stunt double attacks him allowing Peter to get the upper hand.
MJ meanwhile goes to visit Gwen to tell her she’s no longer grounded because her mom kicked out her dad but when she hears Peter isn’t around and they turn on the TV and she sees Spider-Man is now fighting Ock in the Lincoln tunnel she runs off and Gwen becomes suspicious.
During the tunnel fight, Peter gets distracted by someone else filming him without permission and Doc Ock knocks him out and when he wakes up, he’s on a plane. Ock punches him around a bit more, reveals he has the web spinners, and plans to ransom Peter if needed, but ultimately he plans to kill him that night.
Octavius explains that as SHIELD started to come near in the tunnel, he sent the camera man who was dressed like him with the tentacles out which causes a distraction as the man got shot, the arms destroyed police cars and Octavius meanwhile got a car and drove to the air field where he hijacked the private jet.
As they start to near their destination the pilot shifts the plane, taking Ock by surprise and allowing Peter to escape.
Back at New York, Gwen, suspicious of where Peter is, breaks into his chest and finds the Spider-man costume.
As they land Ock plans to potentially kill the pilot but Peter was actually just hiding in the plane. he starts wailing on Ock with the tentacles before trying to establish where he is realizing he’s someone in Latin America – but he finishes knocking Ock out. The police show up informing him he is in Brazil and he tries to explain his situation but Peter wants to get home so he sneaks onto another plane headed to Atlanta so he finds a box headed to Newark and hides in that, escaping in New Jersey as Aunt May is flying in from Florida and he has to Ferris Buller his way back home arriving just before Aunt May only to wind up with Gwen pointing a gun at him.
Aunt May arrives home seconds later so Peter disarms Gwen, and tries to hushedly explain what happened apologizing to her and explaining he needs her to keep the secret. She runs out and Peter goes to visit her , she notices Peter’s jaw that got messed up when Ock pulled out a tooth on the plane since it’s now infected and then he goes to crash. MJ comes to visit and they catch up with the video of the fight leaking and Ock falling into SHIELD custody again along with news about Spider-Man sneaking home. Peter explains to MJ that Gwen found out and Gwen returns and apologizes and explains she finally got to process it and how she understands how Peter is a flake.
Ock meanwhile is forced to watch as Fury melts his tentacles down into slag in front of him and four months later the Spider-Man movie comes out with a major box office opening and Peter is jealous because now Kong is a big star.
Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1-6: The Fantastic
Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1: #54-59: Hollywood