Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #4 (of 5) (Review)

“This is a sacrifice play…if I could do it myself I would”.

Writer: Brian Bendis

Artist: Mark Bagley

Inker: Andrew Hennessy

Colorist: Jason Keith

Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

Cover Artist: Mark Bagley with John Dell and Jesus Aburtov

Assistant Editor: Emily Shaw

Editor: Mark Paniccia

Plot: Galactus’ plan for destroying the Ultimate Universe continues, slowly. As he constructs his doomsday weapon, the Ultimates devise a counter-attack. It’s a simple solution, but it just might work…

Thoughts: I can really see why people thought that the Cataclysm event was going to be the end of the Ultimate Universe. This series does feel like a victory lap for the last fifteen years. While last issue focused on Ultimate Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, and how they differ from their counterparts, this issue focused on the Ultimates and the X-Men. Bendis is checking in with every corner of the original line-up of books to show how much has changed, something a writer would do in a high stakes finale. Going back to the roots of the line, Bendis continues to show old ideas with a new twist. Fans are not unfamiliar with X-Men like Beast and Wolverine teaming up with the Avengers, but in a world where the most prominent X-Men are Kitty Pryde and Jimmy Hudson, it is interesting to see them team up with Tony Stark and Captain America.

In this issue Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow head out in a helicopter to recruit Kitty Pryde. This is odd, as Black Widow died back in Mark Millar’s Ultimates. I have to assume the aim here was to resemble the movie universe, or it could be a coincidence that Cap is accompanied by Hawkeye and a red-haired S.H.I.E.LD agent in a skintight suit. I read this issue a few times for the review, and it wasn’t until now I realised it wasn’t Natasha. Brand recognition went before consistency here. Regardless of the strange aesthetic, the scene does move the story forward as we discover that Cap needs Kitty for their plan to work.The idea they’ve come up with to defeat Galactus is really simple. Kitty Pryde can destroy electronics when she moves through them, so inject her with the Pym’s growth formula and throw her at Galactus’ machine. I like that rather than inventing some sci-fi techno nonsense, Bendis opted for a rather straight forward and well established solution. Thus keeping the story focused on the characters.

Once again the cover is a little misleading. Although if not for the cover I probably wouldn’t have realised Captain America had “died”. I don’t feel I need to explain why I used quotation marks there. Galactus discovers the Ultimates’ plan and attempts to stop them. To buy time for Stark’s plan to work Captain America does what he does best. He takes a plane and goes on a suicide mission. Cap files the plane into Galactus and the last thing we see before the explosion is Cap attempting to leave the plane. So if not for the cover I would simply have assumed Cap escaped in time. I don’t really like the idea that the story beat was done on he cover rather in the issue. We don’t see Cap’s body, nor does Spider-Man, who is no where near the scene. I presume this cover was done to fill in the gap, because the script doesn’t address Cap’s sacrifice. There isn’t time, as Cap’s efforts where in vain and Galactus was able to destroy the Ultimates’ base anyway. This beat was mishandle in my opinion, and wasn’t given suitable time to be explored. This is a major character sacrificing themselves to aid the greater good. I appreciate in real battles people do die unnoticed during intense combat, but it seems more like Bendis’ wished to keep his death ambiguous and Marvel wanted a cool front cover, and no one considered how the story should be played out.

From a Spider-Man prospective, not a lot happens this issue. Miles doesn’t have a speaking part, but can be seen in the background firing webs and helping people. Given that this series is the Ultimates’ last stand, I understand that Miles can’t feature heavily in every issue, it’s just unfortunate as Bendis writes him so well. More Miles is always a good thing.

Grade – C: The grade may surprise you. You may have been expecting lower as all I’ve talked about is what didn’t work for me with this issue, but when I first read it through I did enjoy it. It was when I came to review it that some of the problems rose to the surface (I didn’t even get to mentioning Thor’s costume, which gets worse every time I see it). However the story at it’s core is interesting, and has some strong character moments and action sequences. What the issue does well is either subtle, like Kitty and Storm’s mournful hug, or simple, like the Ultimate’s plan. It’s unfortunate that these strengths are dulled by the noise of a few bad decisions in the creative process that distract from another wise strong issue. Overall though it does what it set out to do, at the end of the issue the hero’s world is on fire and crumbling around them and Kitty Pryde is their last hope…

– Adam