Thundering Typhoons! It's Hammering Time!

Book: The Ultimates 2 – Vol 1: Gods and Monsters
Pen: Mark Millar
Pencil: Bryan Hitch

The Mighty Thor has his day, and more, in Gods and Monsters. All over The Ultimates, Millar has been teasing us how not everyone was buying the whole ‘Thor is a god from Asgard’ line and people still believed he was just a crackpot with his heart in the right place. It is time to settle that.

The American government, as it usually did, decided to interfere in the affairs of a Middle Eastern country. The supposedly global peace-keeping force – the Ultimates – were sent to sort it out. They did. But Thor dissented and pulled out of the team-up. Before you could say “Ultimates Disassemble” the secret about Hulk is leaked out. The public screams for blood and Fury is only too eager to give them a scapegoat. Despite a blind lawyer, one Matt Murdock, defending him, the jury already made up their minds and it is time for one of the most shattering decisions in comics. 

While SHIELD was trying to move into damage control mode they received a call from the European Defense Initiative, the guys who created Captains Britain, France, Spain and Italy! They also meet Gunnar Golmen who was heading the Norwegian group and the secret of Thor comes out.  It is time to take the so-called God of Thunder down.

On another note, after his loss of face, Hank Pym is not allowed anywhere near the Ultimates. He goes and joins another superhero team up called the Defenders, which doesn’t exactly end well. But then he learns the truth that is going to be the pivot of the Ultimates 2 storyline. There is a traitor in the ranks. 

If you are going to have Thor in the limelight, then you should have his main adversary, too.  Loki makes his entrance briefly, but you know he has big plans. Gods and Monsters sets up everything for a grand finale, but that is not to say that it is not capable of standing on its own. With, not one, but two catastrophic events, this is an action-packed edition leaving hardly any time to breathe. At the same time, the constant cut to how the world reacts is how Millar grounds his comic.

The four editions of The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2 can be compared to a relay. Gods and Monsters is the under-appreciated third-leg. As any coach would tell you if your third man is not solid, you would be leaving the impossible for the anchor. Gods and Monsters is solid. The Ultimates are shown at their most vulnerable.  An opponent smart enough can dismantle them brutally. And they have such an opponent. Doubts are slowly being raised about the position the Ultimates hold, who they report to and when they should stop. We know a storm is coming. And we can’t wait.