“Avi Arad challenged us to come up with stories that would be impossible for us to produce in live action for any reasonable budget.” – Eric S. Rollman, Executive Producer

Really, if you are a fan of Marvel Comics, that’s the only thing you need to know about Ultimate Avengers 2 before you rush out and buy it.  It’s that simple. 

If you need more prodding, here’s one more reason:  Ultimate Avengers 2 completely and totally fucking ROCKS!

What?  You think I’m some fanboy who would cream my jeans over any Marvel related product?  Wrong again.

I’d seen the DVD for the first Ultimate Avengers movie on the shelf for months, but I didn’t bother picking it up.  I just figured it would be another X-Men style cartoon straight from Saturday morning, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but also not something I’m in the mood for very often.  I’m more of a live action guy when it comes to my superhero movies.  To me, the animation and stories never fully live up to the way I imagine these things should play out.  There’s always a voice that doesn’t fit or some cheese ball dialogue that may read well on the comic page but doesn’t translate well to the animated version.

With Ultimate Avengers 2, though, they got it right.  They got it so right that I went out and bought the first one… and it’s awesome too. 

That’s why I’m excited as hell about the other titles that are on the Marvel Comics animation plate, but we’ll get to those in a second.  First, let me tell you about this.  For those that don’t know, The Avengers title was one of Marvel’s originals.  Way back in the day, it was conceived to put together some of the company’s emerging stars.  Thus an unlikely group consisting of Thor, Iron Man, Ant Man, Wasp and The Hulk were thrust together back in September of 1963.  Within three issues, they had picked up Captain America as their newest member and leader.  Thus began a long run with many a cameo by other (mostly forgettable) heroes joining the team for an issue or two before quietly dropping out (anyone here remember Wonder Man?). 

I read the original titles secondhand as a kid.  I wasn’t born when they came out, but I used to find them at flea markets in less than pristine condition, and I devoured them.  Sure, the idea to create The Avengers was a response in some ways to DC Comics' Justice League of America; however, these guys (and girls) were more human than the DC superstars in the JLA.  Also, the revolving door of membership meant that they weren’t all big time characters.  Each one had their own distinct personalities and problems.  Captain America spent ages pining over his lost compatriot Bucky (which is a bit weird now that I think about it).  Wasp was flirting with Thor by issue number three and then, of course, there was The Hulk.  He was completely unstable.  Sometimes he was part of the team and other times he was working directly against them (like when he teamed up with the Sub-Mariner to help destroy mankind).

Ultimate Avengers 2 is based on the latest comic appearance by the team and assembles all of the heroes from the original issues of the comic plus some of the best from later incarnations.  The team consists of Thor, The Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Giant Man/Ant Man (he’s got issues).  In this movie, though, the team is responding to an alien invasion that is happening in Wakanda… the isolated home country of T’Challa, otherwise known as the Black Panther.  Their help is neither wanted nor welcomed, but without it, all of mankind will perish.

It’s not absolutely necessary that you watch the first movie to enjoy this one, however I would recommend it.  You will get much more out of Ultimate Avengers 2 if you’ve seen the original.  The first time you see Captain America he’s acting as a rogue agent and, while it doesn’t take long to figure out what’s happening, watching the first one would have helped establish that some.  The Hulk… well he did some bad stuff in the first movie and is mostly under sedation in this flick.  You get an explanation eventually, but again the first movie explains all.

The other thing you get from the first movie is an introduction to characters that have interesting personality traits.  For instance, Iron Man is an overconfident womanizer.  Giant Man/Ant Man is an asshole.  Captain America has a bigger death wish than you can possibly imagine, and the aliens from this movie were first encountered in the original film.  Do yourself a favor and rent that one first.

As for the story in this one, though, it’s huge.  It’s definitely bigger than could ever be filmed “for any reasonable budget” as Rollman says.  There are amazing action sequences, and the sets… Good God! Just look at the humongous sets!  A live action version of this thing would put Lucas’ ILM employees’ children’s children through college. 

The animation is damn good.  The only things that I can really complain about are the occasional weird digitizing lines that crop up and the fact that, since this isn’t a live action film, the “acting” (ie. facial expressions, etc.) lacks.  This is an area where you’re never going to see improvement, though.  It comes with the territory.  Still, this is on par with anything I’ve seen recently.

I didn’t expect to be blown away by Ultimate Avengers 2, but I was.

Presentation and Audio
Let’s see here, we have widescreen presentation.  Mmm hmm. 
5.1 Dolby Digital Audio.   Mmm hmm. 
Lots of big “sets” and major explosions… Mmm hmm. 

Yep.  This DVD kicks major ass.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.

Extras
Here’s where the DVD really gives you more than you could ask for.  First up is the The Ultimates Featurette, a twenty plus minute documentary featuring interviews with the artists and writers who brought The Ultimates back to life on the Marvel Comics pages.  This is fantastic, with the main players discussing their decisions to overturn conventional thinking about these characters.  This is great stuff.

Next up was something I was dreading, but it ended up being hilarious: The Ultimate Gag Reel features a spoof on scenes from the first movie.  My favorite is Thor’s five minute burp sequence.  I realize that by typing that last sentence I may have inadvertently doomed myself to a life of celibacy from this point forward.

There’s a DVD-ROM game called What Avenger Are You? which allows you to answer some questions and then tells you which character you would most likely be.  This draws from every character in the Avenger canon.  My character was Starfox, whose overall personality trait was listed as “womanizer, adventurer”.  As you can see, it’s pretty accurate.

Now, back in the first part of this review, I made mention of how excited I was about future titles from Marvel’s animation arm.  There are two “first looks” on this disc that really got my heart pumping.  First Look at Iron Man and First Look at Doctor Strange are short 2 – 3 minute peeks at where forty dollars of my hard earned money will be going the day these two movies are released.  Both of these characters have muddied backgrounds and are perfect subjects for a vehicle like this.  The test animations look amazing; even better than the feature on this disc.

The Bottom Line
This is EXACTLY what fans of Marvel’s second rank characters have been wanting.  Let’s not kid ourselves.  No one will ever make a live action movie about The Avengers.  Hell, we’re lucky we got a mediocre Fantastic Four movie.  However, putting these stories on the small screen with a decent budget and great writing is a win/win for everyone.