This week Luke is coming down with something and Devin is along for the ride as they deal with a lot of wild things. The X-men ruin a character forever, Spider-Man deals with vampires and ignores a major death, and then The Fantastic Four deal with Jack Kirby’s Thanos.
Issues Covered:
- Ultimate X-men Vol 1 #72-74
- Ultimate X-men Annual #2
- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1 #95-96
- Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2
- Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 1 #33-38
Check out the image gallery and show notes after the jump.
Ultimate X-men 72-74 – Magical
Writer – Robert Kirkman, Pencils – Tom Raney, Inks – Scott Hanna, Colors – Gina Going, June Chung Letters – VC’s Joe Caramagna
Professor Xavier takes a moment to talk to Syndicate, the two headed mutant who helped to get Xavier’s money from the Hellfire Club in exchange for their lives and helping their sister, but Xavier’s call with them is interrupted when Shadowcat’s mom calls because she’s concerned about her daughter dating Spider-Man and Xavier tells him that Spidey’s a good guy.
Meanwhile the X-men are fighting the Friends of Humanity with help from their newest member Magician. As the battle turns against them, the leader mutates and believes that the mutants are the cause. With his new strength he knocks out all of the team except the Magician who realizes he can just depower him with his powers and then weirdly Kitty is in love with him.
Meanwhile at the hospital where Dazzler has been in a coma, Nightcrawler is there as she wakes up.
Elsewhere at the Xavier Institute, Xavier goes to check on Jean still under observation because he was told she is insane and Jean meanwhile has a bunch of goblins that only she can see.
After Xavier checks on Kurt who has been avoidant, Nick Fury comes in to talk about Magician and wanting him on the Ultimates. Xavier is hesitant but Fury checked on his parents who everyone believed was dead and Xavier is confused because he thought Fury brought him to the school when Magician killed his parents which Fury is surprised by. Xavier wonders if Magician was using illusions or perceptions to get past everyone and they go to confront him.
Jean meanwhile learns to harness Phoenix fire.
As the team flies back, Kitty keeps flirting with Magician and when they land, they’re stopped by Xavier and Fury who reveal that Magician’s parents are alive and everything else that’s been going on has been him manipulating the team. Cyclops goes and attacks because he was angry that he got fooled and Magician denies doing anything and starts accidentally wiping the teams minds so they all are told to fight him but in the fight they start to forget and attack each other instead. In the battle, Magician becomes more and more violent, turning off Kitty’s powers, threatening to rip out Wolverine’s adamantium and ultimately binding everyone in metal and preparing to kill them because they couldn’t accept him, before Jean, Phoenix force flaming, comes in the door.
Back at the hospital, the nurse notices that Dazzler is missing.
In the hanger at the mansion, Jean blasts Magician with fire so he summons the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants consisting of Blob, Toad and Multiple Men. Wolverine calls Jean to free him so she burns the bombs hold him and he attacks slashing through the Brotherhood to let Jean focus on attacking. Wolverine eventually slashes Magician’s throat before stabbing his chest and Magician vanishes in a flash along with the Brotherhood. Everyone accepts that he is gone and needs to be more careful and Fury sends in a SHIELD team to look out.
The day after, Magician appears to apologize to Kitty because he couldn’t control his powers that granted him what he wanted, but he doesn’t want to bother the team anymore so he leaves and Kitty remembers none of it when Cyclops comes for her.
That night Wolverine smells Sabretooth nearby, Colossus confront Nightcrawler who has a backpack and Xavier is on a date with Lilanda who is actively into his dick.
Ultimate X-men Annual #2 – Breaking Point
Writer – Robert Kirkman, Art – Salvador Larroca, Colors – Jason Keith, Letters – Joe Caramagna
We get a flashback to start of Nightcrawler being sent into to kill someone by Weapon X.
In the present Rogue talks to Xavier about how she got Gambit’s powers and Xavier tells her that he thinks that Gambit’s powers are leaving but he isn’t sure how long it will take.
We then see Dazzler waking up in the hospital so Nightcrawler tells her that she has to hide and teleports her away into a sealed cave that somehow has oxygen. He lies and says that everyone else was killed or hiding and so she will have to wait.
Xavier also talks to Wolverine who mentions how he thinks the school has been good for cooling his impulses, before Xavier is interrupted with a call from the hospital that Dazzler disappeared.
Dazzler meanwhile thanks Nightcrawler for saving her and getting supplies but says she still considers herself with Angel so he leaves.
Xavier organizes the team together and plans to send them to Dazzler’s old clubs when Nightcrawler stops in and he offers to help. Wolverine asks to go with him but Nightcrawler says no, so Wolverine lets him leave and then tells Xavier that Nightcrawler smelled like Dazzler. Xavier assembles the team and tells Wolverine to not kill and to go easy on him because Nightcrawler was also on Weapon X.
As Nightcrawler returns with supplies, Kitty gets her out of the hole and Nightcrawler follows, confronting the team and turns into an INCEL rant. It gets worse, he gets called a freak by Dazzler, punches Wolverine for trying to help him, is homophobic to Colossus before teleporting him to the hole, and then separates the team. Rogue tries to attack and her Gambit powers stop working. Colossus then surprises Nightcrawler as he emerges from the ground and then Dazzler attacks and tries to apologize and when he refuses, Rogue takes his powers, knocking him out.
Later, Xavier refuses to turn Nightcrawler to SHIELD and keeps him in a psychic coma to help him and Dazzler is rightfully pissed and quits the team. And then Rogue goes to the coma Nightcrawler and says he is a monster on the inside too.
Why Xavier’s Cat Is Named Mystique
Writer – Robert Kirkman, Art – Leinil Francis Yu, Colors – Dean White, Letters – Joe Caramagna
In the past, Mystique got angry at Xavier for hooking up with Emma Frost so Emma when attacked Mystique, she left. Months later Emma gets a cat for them to share and it tears apart Xavier’s office so Emma names it Mystique.
Ultimate Spider-Man #95-96 – Morbius
Writer – Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils – Mark Bagley,, Inks – John Dell and Jimmy Palmiotti, Color – Richard Isanove, Letters – VC’s Cory Petit
We get a flashback to the story where Spider-Man ran into Blade attacking a vampire and Spider-Man let them get away until the vampire turned to attack him so Blade killed the vampire and ran off, threatening Spider-Man.
Now the news of Spider-Man dating Kitty Pryde thanks to the events on Krakoa are very public and Kitty is afraid that they can’t date but their call is interrupted by Jameson complaining about Urich reporting on vampires. Jameson refuses to print it and Urich hands the story to Peter to check out.
It’s a piece on Jennifer Grunwald, a librarian who met with a vampire who enchanted her and fed on her and then reported it to Urich because she was afraid of what would happen.
At school, Mary Jane confronts Peter with the image of him kissing Kitty and she’s upset. When Peter brings up how Kitty can phase through things, Mary Jane asks if he loves Kitty and he says not yet but he wants to and then she asks if he knew Kitty before they broke up and when he admits he did, she leaves.
That night, Ben Urich goes to visit Jennifer who turned into a sexy vampire lady and feeds on him, so when Ben doesn’t show up the next day, Peter remembers the story and swings over to Jennifer’s apartment and sees a swarm of bats attacking a giant wolf, majorly breaking the masquerade. Inside, Jennifer is trying to feed on Ben and that’s when Morbius shows up.
Spider-Man tries to web them all and they get in a big fight with Morbius chasing out the one vampire and staking Jennifer so Spider-Man flees with Ben and brings him to a hospital. When he tries to explain about the vampires, the doctor’s don’t believe him but Ben is still admitted.
Ben wakes up and Morbius visits offering to help, but Spider-Man who was hiding in the ceiling attacks and Morbius explains he wants to help Ben not go full vampire. He explains he fights his curse to oppose his father, Dracul but when Morbius goes to bite, Spider-Man freaks out and is tossed out of the room when the light go out and more vampires appear. They try to feed on Spider-Man but his blood is radioactive so they can’t feed on him, and Morbius comes and kills the other vampires. Morbius explains they can’t use his blood and then shows him that Ben is cured and leaves, followed by Spider-Man.
At school the next day, Peter is in a daze and when Mary Jane asks what’s up, he shows her the bite marks and says he is overwhelmed and the two hug.
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2
Writer – Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils – Mark Brooks, Inks – Jaime Mendoza, Mark Morales, Victor Olazaba, Mark Brooks, Colors – Laura Martin, Laura Milliner, Letters – VC’s Cory Petit
Jeanne DeWolfe is called to the hospital when she finds out Moon Knight woke from his coma but then finds he already escaped the hospital when she gets there.
Spider-Man meanwhile takes down the Shocker again and plans to leave him webbed and wonders how he keeps escaping. Luckily, Foggy Nelson is there to explain that Spider-Man hasn’t properly had charges pressed, so he keeps going free. So Spider-man brings the Shocker into DeWolfe’s precinct where she accepts Shocker and asks to talk to him on the roof.
DeWolfe mentions how she needs help dealing with someone else to go places she can’t and while he’s initially hesitant, Spider-Man agrees to go after the target, Frank Oliver the Kangaroo, who has been moving into the city. She asks Spider-Man to beat him up but her offers to do what he needs to instead and then swings off with the address that she gave him.
She follows it up with a call to the Kingpin saying that she sent Spidey after Kangaroo and they plan to meet later that night.
Spider-Man heads to the address where he finds Daredevil fighting the Kangaroo and his men in a bar before Daredevil tosses out Spider-Man and then we get a flashback. Earlier Matt Murdock, Daredevil’s secret identity, and Foggy met with Mister Arkadian about Frank Oliver the Kangaroo, as a client and Daredevil decides to go after him using the address that Arkadian gave him.
As Daredevil has the tables turned and Spider-Man heads back in, the Punisher fires a missile and we get a flashback to the prison where he was the day before. Another inmate brags about being released, and then picked up by his cousin the Kangaroo who said “thanks for making the city easy pickings” so Punisher kills him with a lunch tray, the security guards sedate the Punisher and bring him to a hospital room but he escapes when he’s left unattended.
Punisher starts shooting at Spider-Man and Daredevil but luckily Moon Knight distracts him.
We see into Moon Knights mind where the personalities met up and decided to wake him back up in the hospital where he saw Jeanne DeWolfe and escaped and headed home to get supplies.
Back in the present, Spider-Man tries to stop Moon Knight and Punisher from fighting as Daredevil tags Kangaroo.
The previous day the Kangaroo was approached by the Kingpin who warns him to leave and when he refuses, the Kingpin promises revenge in forms he’d never expect.
The police arrive, Daredevil vanishes, Spider-Man webs Punisher, Moon Knight escapes, and Jeanne tells Frank Oliver the Kangaroo revenge would come in shapes he’d never imagined. Spider-Man tries to tell Jeanne he webbed up the Punisher but the Punisher shoots Jeanne and Spider-Man chases after him and asks why. Punisher explains that she was a dirty cop working for the Kingpin and Daredevil who was there, explains that taking down Kangaroo was what the Kingpin wanted. They leave Punisher for the police as Moon Knight watches across the rooftops.
When Moon Knight returns home, he finds Daredevil waiting and they reveal that they know each other and Daredevil reveals he’s building a team to stop Kingpin, who at that moment across town is not having sex with Jeanne DeWolfe because she’s dead.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #33-38 – God War
Writer – Mike Carey, Art – Pasqual Ferry, Colors – Dave McCaig, Justin Ponsor, John Rauch, Letters – Randy Gentile
Reed and Sue are trying to have a normal day out in public at the mall when a mysterious group of aliens crash lands in their flying bike. As the police along with Reed and Sue try to confront them, we see the members and powers of the group known as Seed Nineteen emerges. They consist of Threshold, the team leader who exists in energy forms and absorbs energy, Dreamcatcher who can make illusions and read minds, Grail Fountain who can manipulate bio-matter, Magnificent Brute who is incredibly strong and can access any natural weapon, Tesseract who can combine the strength of alternate universe selves, and Vykni who can make living constructs. Their vehicle, the Sky Eater is damaged along with Tesseract so they run to go and hide in Central Park until they can figure out how to escape, leaving Sky Eater back at the mall.
Lieutenant Lumpkin comes to check in on Reed and Sue and when they get home they start looking into the Sky Eater which they realize is dying.
Seed Nineteen enters the Baxter Building and the defense team just sees Dreamcatcher, Grail Fountain and Magnificent Brute as children and Grail uses his power to make Johnny go nova so he has to leave to avoid burning everyone. Brute then cuts through the Things armor, knocking him out. They head into the lab and Dreamcatcher possesses Sue and realizes they shouldn’t be enemies.
Reed Richards meanwhile falls unconscious and meets with Seed Nineteen, the spirit of the Sky Eater from the world of Halcyon or something. She explains that the team fought to save Tesseract who was hurt. She realizes they’re on the world because Reed has the potential to make a dangerous weapon but then she senses the appearance of Gallowglass, a member of the evil Acheron, who along with a squadron of Raven soldiers appear to hunt for the team. As the police surround him, he effortlessly explodes an entire block.
Meanwhile the rest of Seed Nineteen realizes they made a mistake as everyone meets up and Reed asks them to take Seed Nineteen and go. Threshold shows him the danger that has already been shown and back in Central Park, alone with Vykni, Tesseract calls out to Gallowglass who appears. Vykni tries to give Tesseract a chance to escape but is knocked out by his turned ally.
The Fantastic Four in the Fantasticar and Seed Ninteen’s other members in the Sky Eater run towards the base as Gallowglass teleports away and the heroes follow after.
On Acheron, Ronan waits for his father’s resurrection that will happen in a few days. Gallowglass meanwhile is working on trying to stabilize Tesseract whose system is fighting the controls they put in him and tells the ship’s commander he is free to do what he wants with the members of the Fantastic Four.
The Fantasticar lands in front of Gallowglass who rips it apart without an issue, hurting Sue as the other members fight and along with Seed Nineteen fail to hurt him or do major damage. Luckily Dreamcatcher converts energy to assume a form and saves Sue.
Elsewhere, lives of enemies of Acheron are fed to help and resurrect Thanos who is interested in finding Reed Richards.
Sue meanwhile returns to face Gallowglass and rips a hole in his shield causing him to explode because he’s made of anti-matter that then touches matter. Sue, Johnny, Ben and Reed escape onto the planet Pyx with an unconscious Tesseract, altogether worse for ware with Johnny mysteriously unable to heat up – until Sue realizes Dreamcatcher was hiding inside him. Dreamcatcher explains the rest of Seed Nineteen escaped.
Meanwhile Thanos manifests on the planet and orders the local soldiers to hunt for Reed Richards with help from Thanos’ son Ronan.
The Fantastic Four meanwhile split up with Thing and Dreamcatcher leaving Reed, Sue and Johnny to try and find a way to fix Tesseract.
Elsewhere Seed Ninteen’s spirit talks to Darien of Halcyon, the leader of the Seed teams on the World Tree, and warns the dangers if Reed talks to Thanos.
Ben, disguised as a soldier sneaks around until he sees an execution and interrupts it
Reed and Sue end up finding the memory implants in Tesseract and work together to remove them from Tesseract, but then Ben rushes in with soldiers chasing from a distance and Ben is suddenly possessed by Thanos. He explains he’s been looking for Reed and threatens Ben’s life if he does anything. He believes in subjugating wills and he wants Reed to make a mysterious cube for him so he can overwrite the wills of more people and Reed resists.
Meanwhile Seed Nineteen’s remaining four members believe the Fantastic Four along with Dreamcatcher and Tesseract are dead as they see Ronan appear on the planet, who is more concerned with dealing with the locals than the Fantastic Four.
Thanos meanwhile moves to threaten to kill Johnny but Reed reaches out to Ben who with help from Dreamcatcher breaks the control because of Ben’s will and then the soldiers outside attack.
Meanwhile Ronan begins setting something up at the former senate house of Pyx.
Dreamcatcher and Reed meanwhile merge the team together and cause a massive explosion taking out the enemies with a flaming shield before opening a portal back to Earth – unfortunately though, Ronan’s bonds with the Universal Weapon cause Pyx and Earth to splice together and he prepares to judge them in the judgement zone that he created.
Ronan starts fighting and the Universal Weapon is able to depower most of the team without an issue. Luckily Seed Nineteen sees them and convinces Dreamweaver to try and help Tesseract and as the rest of the team moves to fight. Dreamweaver works to undo Tesseract’s mind wiping and he enters the battle but is still challenged by the Universal Weapon. He ends up knocking him out so Reed suggests that Dreamweaver booster and they all pour their energy into Threshold who with the power of everyone takes the blast and then Ben is able to steal the Universal Weapon and knocks out Ronan with it. Threshold then steals some of Reed’s sperm with a kiss and as the worlds start to break apart and the teams prepare to leave, Reed asks them to look after Pyx and they’re joined by other soldiers from Halcyon who will help.
Later Reed is going through the files Dreamcatcher put in his mind and thinking about Thanos wanting Reed to build the cube and focuses on it, unaware that Thanos is guiding him.