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Marvel Comics returns with a follow up sequel to their first adaptation of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's comic smash, "The Ultimates". Once again, the earth's mightiest and most powerful heroes (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Giant Man, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, and the Black Panther) will have to band together (forming a rather uneasy relationship) in order to defend the world from evil. Will they do it? Read on to find out!

The majority of the film takes place in a hidden and mysterious land known only as Wakanda -- a territory lying deep in the heart of Africa, and protected by it's fierce leader "The Black Panther". However, when an extraterrestrial invasion threatens the land, the Black Panther must go against the sacred laws of the elders and accept help from outsiders: the Avengers. Only as a team will they be able to push back the alien threat and once again restore peace to the planet.

Thus, you now know the rough plot to the film. To summarize it more succintely, one might simply say that it is, "War of the Worlds meets The Avengers". Of course, I failed to mention the extensive Nazi subplot, in which it is revealed that one of Capain America's old German enemies is actually a shape shifting alien. . . that said, it makes for an interesting (and highly improbable) storyline.

Okay, by this point you're probably getting the impression that I didn't like the film. Not the case at all -- in fact, despite the bizarre plot, I rather enjoyed this reasonably short (with a running time slightly over an hour) animated romp from Marvel. Firstly, I appreciated the fact that it wasn't necessarily geared towards kids. I mean, it wasn't intended strictly for a mature audience in the same way that the animated Spawn features are, however, there was in fact on-screen blood and violence... not to mention a couple unexpected deaths. This, believe it or not, was important to the film, as it added that extra element of realism, and gave weight to the characters and the situations they were presented in. These were heroes that could die -- and that was important to know from a dramatic standpoint.

Secondly, I liked the personality clashes between the heroes. I mean, let's think about this for a second. Here we have men who are self-contained war machines (no pun intended... and if you actually get that pun, you're truly a comic book geek), each with the ability to do some serious damage, all expected to sit in the same room together, co-operate with each other, share the glory of success -- all for the good of mankind. They must sacrifice their egos (some of which... Iron Man, I'm looking at you... have larger egos than others) and learn to work together. Not to mention the fact that when you introduce the Thor element, you're now combining men and gods! The tension created by this worked quite well, and was developed nicely throughout the film.

Writing and plot aside, you're probably wondering how the film faired on a visual level. Simply put, the animation fantastic, and very true to the spirit and feel of the comic. With the current trend of doing absolutely everything in 3D animation, I'm glad to see that they used hand-drawn 2D style... truly, only that style of animation could capture the warmth and depth of these characters and this story. That said, during the couple of times that they did introduce the 3D element (mostly reserved for spacecrafts, etc) it worked well, and provided a nice contrast.

The DVD contains a few extras. . . nothing to write home about. There is a DVD ROM game in which you can take a quiz to find out which Avenger you most resemble (entertaining for a little while) along with first looks at the upcoming "Iron Man" and "Doctor Strange" films -- both of which have me excited as hell about! Also, there is a reasonably long "Ultimate Avengers Featurette" which discusses the first film (so make sure you've seen it otherwise the featurette won't make much sense). Lastly, there is a special feature called the "Ultimate Gag Reel", which seems to feature scenes from the first film, only with different voice overs for comedic purposes. So, if you want to see Thor belch and flatulate for a few minutes while drinking a pint, or want to hear about Iron Man's apparent obsession with the "House o' Ribs"... then this gag reel is for you.

To conclude, I would certainly recommend this film for comic fans and followers of the Ultimates storyline. Aside from an unlikely plot, this really was a well written character drama, which brought weight and life to normally two-dimensional characters (no pun intended, once again). The action is great, the heroes are heroic, and the battle is of epic proportion. Avengers... assemble!