Issues Covered:

• Ultimate X-men Vol 1 #40-45
• Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1-6

Luke and Devin are bringing together some New Mutants to face problems that were also faced by the old mutants. And then, Doctor Van Damme is here and we can’t really call him Doctor Doom.

Check out the image gallery and notes after the jump.

Ultimate X-men 40-45

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils: David Finch, Inks: Art Thibert, Danny Miki, John Dell, Jon Sibal, Colors: Frank D’armata, Morrow Hollowell and Justin Ponsor, Chris Eliopoulos – Letters

Charles Xavier has brought back Warren Worthington the Third, a mutant with wings like an angel whose parents effectively disowned him. There’s a lot of mixed feelings because he’s hot but also he has wings like a mainstream Judeo-Christian angels which particularly bothers Rogue especially since Nightcrawler is there looking like a demon and she thinks it might be a sign of the end coming. She’s not alone in thinking at it when an angry mob shows up after Beast shared information about Angel online which the X-men are upset at. Warren ends up leaving so Xavier sends Storm after because Xavier knows he finds Storm attractive. 

Storm finds him, we get more evidence that Colossus is queer when Storm mentions he finds Warren hot. The two get to talking about being seen only for their mutation, flight and ultimately Storm makes the point that they get to be different and try to reach out. Warren flies back to the crowd, explains he’s not an angel and the crowd leaves, calling it a hoax. 

Meanwhile someone approaches Beast with a mysterious offer. 

And then Professor Xavier sends Wolverine to Bromlet, South Carolina to kill a teen mutant with a deadly power after he accidentally kills most of his town because the story getting out would be really bad for mutants. 

Meanwhile X’ian Coy Manh is introduced to the President as a new black ops mutant with mysterious powers.

Back at the Xavier School, Scott confronts Jean about the two people she killed in the helicopter and her losing control of her powers and he’s there to support her. 

Xavier then sends Scott, Colossus, and Kitty to go see Dazzler who here is a punk rock mutant with light control powers. They try to recruit her but she says only if she gets a record deal – which she also told to the other group, before making them leave.

Storm meanwhile has developed more focused uses of her powers but when she goes to share it with Hank, he’s left the school.

Meanwhile in the Situation Room in the White House, which is psi-proof, the President, the Director of Intelligence and some other men are meeting, without Nick Fury, to talk about the possibility of the anti-mutant sentiment in his administration because people believe he’s being controlled by Xavier. We find out that X’ian actually checked to make sure his brain was good but the other people still won’t believe it. They think the relationship with Xavier will be a problem because Xavier has a lot of skeletons in his closet and also bring up the Bromlet incident. They suggest getting some new mutants, and introduce him to Emma Frost. 

Storm and the rest of the X-men to meet up with Xavier to discuss Beast leaving and how he’s off the grid.

Meanwhile in the situation room, when Emma reveals she’s a mutant she’s attacked for being a security threat. The president stops it though and she continues to explain that she has been working with mutant students and that she can turn into a crystal like substance which the president is more interested in. 

Anyway, Emma wants to approach the mutant issue from a social angle by educating them. She has been in a relationship with Xavier but believes that mutants need role models more that people fighting.

Xavier meanwhile reaches out to Beast who doesn’t want to talk to Xavier because he’s tired of being put in danger and he doesn’t want to stay there anymore. 

Emma meanwhile goes over her team of mutants – Dazzler (who they bought with a record deal), Beast, and Alex Summers the older brother of Cyclops who hasn’t talked to Cyclops since Xavier. The president rejects Lorna Dane, Alex’s girlfriend with green hair and magnetic powers, along with a wolf girl and Bishop but he does want Xian, and this will be their education plan.

As the President and Emma leave the other people in the room plan to stop the president and show what they think about mutants.

Scott and the X-men approach Xavier about Dazzler mentioning another team and that’s when Fury shows up. Wolverine meanwhile who was being a bad trainer in the Danger Room, smells Fury in the building. Fury explains the problems the president has been dealing with and he needs proof now so he can act. He tells Xavier about Emma Frost’s plan, Hank being recruited along with Alex, and that he believes the announcement will be a security risk for untrained mutants. 

The X-men go to the Capitol for the meeting but as the speech is going on a sentinel appears. The New Mutants are ill prepared and Beast is crushed in the rubble. Storm, enraged, starts trashing the Sentinel even more threatening the civilians so Xavier knocks her out and Kitty enters the Sentinel to deactivate it. Xavier then says “nice try just trying to teach”, Emma is enraged, and Fury meets with Karma as the X-men leave. Fury gets permission to pursue this. 

Meanwhile in the situation room, the Director and the Secretary behind the attack are frustrated by the attack failing and plan to kill the president but it turns out this was a trap by Karma controlling the Secretary of Defense to trap the rest of the group in a sting which works.

Meanwhile Beast is given a funeral, Xavier talks to Emma and the New Mutants, and apologizes for shutting Emma out earlier and Xavier is left wondering what the next step will be.

 

Ultimate Fantastic Four 7-12

Warren Ellis – writer, Stuart Immonen – pencils, Inks – Wade von Grawbadger, Dave Stewart – colors, Chris Eliopoulos – letters

Dr. Storm finds Reed Richards on the top of the Baxter Building, puzzling over what went wrong and why Victor Van Damme changed the system and where he is now. 

We find out that Victor at 10 years old found he descended from the line of Dracula and that he was expected to shape the world and allowed no limits on himself, but ultimately was forced to flee so now a line of the family is Van Damme.

Reed meanwhile hasn’t received his physical yet but Sue forces him to go when he tries to seem like he’s more important and then they decide to make out after. There’s lots of physiological questions about all of them and Sue mentions how she noticed Reed no longer eats. Sue finds out that Reed is essentially a giant amoeba which is why he can stretch – and Sue still wants him.

Victor meanwhile was forced to memorize his family line but since the experiment his body has transformed. His is no longer the human perfection he considered himself to be but now has a metal body, goat man legs and plans to get his revenge. We find out that in Denmark, Van Damme has established a Permanent Autonomous Zone where it’s free to live, eat, and stay. Van Damme releases a swarm of robot wasps.

Meanwhile Reed explains that when they went through the portal they got stuck as different possibilities and Reed believes if they can find how Victor changed the formulas he might be able to turn them back. As they deal with Ben’s frustration with staying inside they find he is incredibly strong, able to lift tons.

Meanwhile the swarm of robots attack with Johnny being the first to notice so he flames on and ends up bursting through the wall ironically letting the bugs in. The bugs start killing soldiers as the team turns on security, and works to kill as many bugs as they can while trying to protect Dr. Storm.

Reed feels useless since his powers aren’t helpful so he finds where everyone is and discovers the robots are on Bluetooth which was something new at the time. Reed realizes they are made from garbage. Reed has the team corral them into a room and Johnny explodes in flames destroying them as Sue struggles to keep the room contained. They find Johnny destroyed them but he fell unconscious. Reed gets to look a bit more and confirms Victor send them to kill the team.

Reed figures out Victor was sent to Denmark and he wants to go. Dr. Storm advises staying safe and letting the military do it when Reed is unhappy with. 

Meanwhile after Van Damme brands another person looking to stay with his group, he finds out Reed and the team survived and transformed as well and then attacks the new member who told him to chill. 

Reed meanwhile brings the team to his flying Fantasti-car he made when he was 13. The plan is to get Victor so they can get the code they need before he is thrown into military prison.

Victor meanwhile has prepared for the visit, unaware that Reed has transformed. Victor tells his people that he is going to be taken away for giving them things for free and rallies them to fight for them. As the ship nears Victor shoots it with a rocket launcher twice causing them to crash. He takes Johnny out with pins he makes, shoots the Thing with a rocket, poisons Sue with gas and that leaves Reed. 

Reed taunts Victor by saying his father didn’t like him, and even Reed didn’t causing Victor to attack him. He surprises him with his powers and demands the codes. Victor refuses so he has Johnny attack with Sue and Ben so Doom activates the tattoos on everyone in the community taking over them to fight and kill them.

The team has to pull back to resist killing people as Reed works on an override but they take too long and the army flies in and starts shooting. Reed and Victor stop what they are doing and the military says they plan to arrest Victor. That’s when the Danish army comes and forces the army to leave and while the armed forces get in a pissing match Reed breaks Victor’s control and they all leave him. Victor swears revenge and Reed slashes Victor’s face with one of Victor’s spines which doesn’t heal, scarring him and the team leaves him, alone.

 

Ultimate X-men Vol 1 #40-45: New Mutants

Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #7-12: Doom