The Ultimates did more world building as we learned more about how Bruce Banner started his kingdom and became the Hulk in the previous issue. That transformation led to massive changes as Hulk’s origin impacted a lot of people. This led to the Ultimate She-Hulk introduction being much different to what we know. Those difference showcase how much of an impact The Maker’s influence over the new Ultimate Universe changed so much. Now The Ultimates #4 promises to explore what happened to the original Fantastic Four. Let’s find out.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Deniz Camp
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: Travis Lanham
THE ULTIMATES #4 SOLICITATIONS
“THE FATE OF THE ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR! Doom’s years of torture at the hands of the Maker finally catch up to him in this secret history of the real Reed Richards! And tensions rise among the Ultimates when Doom might be more fixated on re-creating the life he should have had than the life he’s got…” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
The Ultimates #4 certainly delivers on the promise of revealing the fate of the Ultimate Fantastic Four. So when it comes to getting what you were promised The Ultimates #4 succeeds. Though it keeps that promise through telling a solo story in the early life of a team series.
On the good side of things Deniz Camp showcases his ability to tell a deeply personal story for one of the lead characters of The Ultimates #4. Along with Phil Noto’s great artwork, Camp really gets you to feel for Ultimate Reed Richard’s origin as Ultimate Doom. Exploring that origin from beginning to end really gets you to understand why Doom would be a member of the Ultimates while feeling disconnected to the world.
The best choice made in this origin story was making sure before tragedy struck them that Ultimate Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm had classic designs. This was a reminder that while there were certain differences Earth-6160 original fate was mirror that of Earth-616. It makes how The Maker changed Earth-6160 to become his own twisted Ultimate Universe a tragic story.
There may be no bigger tragedy than the fate of he Ultimate Fantastic Four. Even though we don’t see The Maker until halfway into the flashbacks his impact is felt. Camp and Noto make sure The Maker’s presence is felt even when he is not on screen. With each revelation made about what happened to Johnny, Sue, and Ben the events of Ultimate Invasion are brought to mind.
This in turn makes how The Maker took great effort to turn Ultimate Reed Richards into Doctor Doom the ultimate tragedy. Like so many, Ultimate Reed had the agency over his life taken by The Maker. Even more unfortunate for him was that The Maker made things even more tragic by personally transforming Reed into Doom in the most torturous way possible.
Ultimate Doom’s origin made you understand why he would turn down Tony Stark every time that Iron Lad tried to help him with his mission. Camp does a great job at turning the Negative Zone concept into Ultimate Doom’s personal prison. As soon as you hear him bring up the Negative Zone you have a greater understanding of his mental state. It leaves you wondering what Ultimate Doom’s endgame about bringing back the Fantastic Four will lead to.
While Ultimate Doom’s origin story is certainly fascinating it is at the cost of the rest of the Ultimates being non-existent. We’ve reached a point with The Ultimates that we’ve had enough development on the Iron Lad and Doom side of things. It is time for Captain America, Thor, Sif, She-Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man, and America Chavez to get some spotlight.
Not having them around makes it feel like Camp is simply relying on the reader’s familiarity with the Earth-616 versions. The beauty of this new Ultimate Universe is that all the classic Marvel characters origins are so different, as we see with Doom. But we aren’t seeing Camp fully tap into that opportunity as the chemistry of The Ultimates is taking a backseat to the solo hero storytelling approach that’s being taken.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Ultimates #4 is an excellent origin story for Ultimate Reed Richards. The tragic fate of the Ultimate Fantastic Four makes Reed Richards’ Doom one of the most fascinating characters in this Ultimate Universe. Unfortunately that investment in Ultimate Doom is at the cost of the rest of the characters in this series take a backseat in a title that’s supposed to be about a team. Hopefully we see Deniz Camp find balance between telling personal stories that also develop the greater team as a whole.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
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