Ultimates

The Ultimates is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and created by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch, which first started publication from The Ultimates #1 (cover date March 2002), as part of the company's Ultimate Marvel imprint. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Avengers comic-book franchise, centering around a task-force of super-humans and special agents organized by the U.S. government to combat growing threats to the world. The tale chronicles their progress as they bond and slowly learn to work together, despite their differing natures and personalities.

==Publication history== thumb|left|Writer Mark Millar signing a copy of the collected edition of the first miniseries during an appearance at [[Midtown Comics in Manhattan.]] The first volume of the Ultimates, written by Millar and illustrated by Hitch, was published in limited series format and ran for thirteen issues with production delays from January 30, 2002 until March 31, 2004. Hitch described the alternative-reality reimagining as one where, "You have to approach it as though nothing has happened before and tell the story fresh from the start.... We had to get to the core of who these people were and build outwards, so Cap [Captain America] was a soldier, Thor is either a nut case or a messiah ... Banner [the Hulk] an insecure genius, and [superspy Nick] Fury the king of cool".