First Look: "Ultimates 3" #2

Holy moley! Everyone knows (well, that is everyone who READS this blog, yes all ONE of you, if at that) how excited I am that the next installment of The Ultimates is going to be released come December, with Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira at the helm. And here's hoping that The Ultimates Season 2 will be released in HC format before the first issue of Season 3 is shipped.

Looks like it's going to be a fabulous series though, with Magneto being the main villain and Spider-man joining the team! w00t w00t!


FIRST LOOK: ‘ULTIMATES 3’ #2
Is Spidey joining? Jeph Loeb dishes on what’s new with the Ultimate Avengers

By Matt Powell

Posted November 9, 2007 5:00 PM

Alien invaders, superpowered political extremists and vengeful Norse gods—remember when things were simple for the Ultimates?

“Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” promises writer Jeph Loeb of his and artist Joe Madureira’s Ultimates 3. Picking up roughly a year after the end of the stellar run by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch on Ultimates 2, Loeb’s not pulling any punches, beginning with the return of Magneto and a team tragedy right off the bat! “At the end of the first issue, something terrible happens, and the reason for it and the goals of the villains—who may or may not be the Brotherhood—is part of the mystery,” hints Loeb.

Saddling up alongside the Ultimates for the adventure is Ultimate Spider-Man (shown here in a first look of January’s issue #2), who Loeb says “is not welcome” by the team. But after seeing Joe Mad’s pencils, we couldn’t be happier!

WHAT’S NEW

BLACK PANTHER
“He’s sort of a grim and dark character who is going to prove his value to the team almost immediately,” Loeb says. “I think he’s always been at Cap’s level. His own particular history leads him to believe that he’s certainly at the strength and speed of somebody who is a super-soldier.”

VALKYRIE
Seemingly powerless in the past, the ex-Defender now “can stand toe-to-toe with Thor,” Loeb says. “How that happened is one of the many mysteries of the story.” And she does more than stand with Thor, Loeb hints: “She’s 19 and he’s immortal; they’re a very interesting pair.”

HAWKEYE
After his ordeal in Ultimates 2, the bull’s-eye on Hawkeye’s mask “may speak more to the idea that this is a man who doesn’t really care whether he lives or dies,” explains Loeb. “The Clint Barton part of him is gone, and the only person who remains is Hawkeye.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA
The Living Legend is the face of the Ultimates, but he’s still trying to find his place in our time. “I’m not even sure he feels comfortable [on the team],” reveals the writer. “He’s just trying to come to terms with who he is and what he’s doing with this team.”

IRON MAN
“Tony’s in pretty bad shape,” Loeb says of Iron Man, who’ll sport new armor. “There may be a sort of complication to what’s going on with the tumor in his head.” But Loeb offers a few encouraging words. “In many ways this is a tale of redemption for Tony,” he explains.

THOR
“He’s pretty much the badass of the team,” says Loeb. Unfazed by his teammates’ skepticism over his claims of godhood, Thor’s living large. “He’s a Viking; he likes to drink and enjoy women,” laughs Loeb. Look for things to develop between Thor and his Norse-warrior girlfriend, Valkyrie.

WASP
Janet Van Dyne’s the new team leader, and “that doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody has to be happy about that,” says Loeb, adding, “Because she’s been in a situation her whole life where men have told her what to do, this is an opportunity to overcompensate.”