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Ultimate Fantastic Four (2003) (Collected Editions) #5-6
Ultimate Fantastic Four, Vol. 3
This deluxe hardcover collects Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 5: Crossover and Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 6: Frightful, plus extras. In Crossover, it's the rise of the Marvel Zombies! Even in their short careers, the Ultimate FF have seen a lot of amazing things - but nothing will prepare them for the world they're about to enter! Reed Richards has used his scientific genius to contact an Earth in a surprisingly familiar parallel dimension - and he's ready to visit! The shocking secret of the Storm family is finally revealed! Locked away at the bottom of the ocean for 5,000 years, Namor the Sub-Mariner's Atlantean tomb has been breached; now, he's back to rule a planet. This is a Namor you've never seen before with a vastly different agenda. This is Ultimate Namor! Learn about the ties between Atlantis, the Ultimate Inhumans and the super-races that existed before man ruled the Earth. And in Frightful, guilt-ridden Reed Richards attempts to undo his greatest failure by using time travel to fix the snag that caused the teleportation accident that resulted in Ben Grimm becoming the Thing. If it works, Ben will be Ben and the Thing will never have existed. And neither will the FF. Be careful what you wish for! the awesome return of Dr. Doom! The zombiefied FF escape from their Baxter Building prison! The deadly debut of the Frightful Four! Johnny Storm finds out he has only 28 days to live! And that's all just for starters! Collects Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-32.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 2006
About the author
Mark Millar
1,562 books2,617 followersMark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 9, 2024
"Hmph.
Well, this should be a challenge."
Well, this should be a challenge."
September 25, 2013
I loved the artwork in the books in this compilation. Greg Land is a phenomenal artist. I love his work. This run also introduced the world to Marvel Zombies [unfortunately]. It introduces Namor to this universe and has some time-traveling stories as well. We also discover the Mrs. Storm is not quite dead, and that she has been searching for Atlantis and made a deal with Victor von Doom.
I think the most poignant part of the 'book' is when Johnny convinces Ben to make a fool of himself at a party where Johnny is trying to ingratiate himself in with the Ultimates by impressing Thor. When Johnny finally catches up with Ben, Ben is crying and asking Johnny if he thinks Reed can build a gun to allow Ben to commit suicide as Ben is still having trouble coping with the monumental changes his life has undergone.
I thought it was interesting that a group of terrorists stole a time machine in order to hold the world hostage by going back to the dawn of time in which the first creature crawled from the water to dry land. It was a crazy concept. The Fantastic Four communicated across time while searching for the terrorists. As far as a concept, it was wonderfully fresh. Not that similar situations have not been presented before; I liked how they did it in this series.
We find out Reed has been dabbling with 'forbidden projects' on the side and one of them involves Reed making contact after this 'mission' with an older version of himself. He discovers he has two children, Franklin and Valeria, with Sue. He then builds a transporter to visit his older self. Upon arriving to this other reality, he discovers he has been duped. This world has been destroyed by some kind of zombie infestation that has come from some other dimension. We find out that an infected Sentry APPARENTLY was able to punch his way through the dimensional wall [kinda like Superboy Prime did during the last couple of DC's Crises' series] separating 'his' universe from this uninfected universe. In three days, nearly the entire population was decimated by this plague. OR, the Sentry came to the planet AFTER Reed made contact with Reed and the planet was devastated. I don't know. I just know that Reed got duped by Zombie-Reed and the Zombie Fantastic Four returned to 'Earth' while Magneto rescued Reed from the other Zombies. After the Zombie Four end up quarantined in the Baxter Building, Sue, Johnny, and Ben head to the Zombieverse to bring Reed home. They end up bringing the few uninfected survivors back with them.
It is around this point that we learn Johnny and Sue's mother is not dead. She needs their help in studying Atlantis because of their special powers and abilities. Sue's mother recognizes that Reed's intellect continues to grow at an accelerated rate and that he hides this growth from the others. She encourages him to continue to expand his intellect. Reed creates some kind of translator for her to assist in deciphering the Atlantean texts they have discovered. They end up freeing a super-strong youth named Namor who has been held in stasis for thousands of years. They believe he is the last surviving king of Atlantis . Susan and Namor have taken a walk so that Susan can try and get Namor to tell them what they want to know, but the chat goes south as Namor makes a pass at Sue and she retaliates. A brawl ensues, and soon all four are battling with Namor. Namor threatens to destroy the city [in a scene reminiscent from when Namor battled the original Torch] UNLESS Sue gives him a kiss. The deal is, she has to convince Namor that the kiss is real and that she wants to kiss him [implying she has feelings for him]; otherwise, the deal is off and he destroys NYC. She kisses him and he taunts Reed by telling Reed Sue meant it when she kissed Namor. Reed is understandably upset. Of course, when it is revealed that .
Reed had always believed that Ben still got together with his friends almost every night of the week. He is devastated when he discovers what Ben really does every night. This goes back to my comment about the most poignant moment. Reed decides to go back through time after hearing Ben's grief in the park to stop the accident from ever occurring. There is a crazy discussion where he is talking with himself from 'the future' and they can see themselves just prior to the accident in their 'human forms.' Kinda mind-boggling, on the one hand, but good, old-fashioned fun, on the other. After Reed stops the experiment, reality changes. We find out Thor is President of the US of A, that the entire world has been turned into a 'super planet' in which all but one of its six billion inhabitants have been given super powers. Well, technically, those born mutants have their own abilities. But those born 'normal' have the ability to gain super powers thanks to the Skrulls. An allusion is made to the Ultimates first series in which a Chitauri invasion is defeated; these 'new' Skrulls present themselves as being benevolent and wanting to help humanity reach new levels of existence. Ben Grimm is the only non-powered human left on the entire planet.
From here, we come to the climax of this collection. The Frightful Four have been biding their time, waiting to break free. We discover Johnny Storm has been infected with a creature believed to be from the N-Zone. This creature is feeding off Johnny and getting ready to 'birth' free. Reed cannot discover a cure for it, so he reluctantly goes to Latveria to ask Doom for assistance. Doom will help, but it comes with a price. Doom transfers his mind with Reed so that Reed is now trapped inside Doom's body while Doom heads back to NYC. While Reed is gone in Latveria, the Frightful Four fake out their security guards and escape confinement. Security measures keep them trapped on the upper forty floors of the building, but as they have access to the labs they do not care. They plan to transport their zombie-friends to this new universe for a new round of feasting. Meanwhile, Doom has made a mistake with some ancient Atlantean incantations while trying to 'heal' Johnny. Instead of tossing the beastie into another dimension, Doom accidentally frees the creature. It heads for the strongest host it can find. And enters Doom's body. Reed has memorized numerous incantations from Doom's various book and uses them to defeat the Frightful Four. He offers Doom the honorable way out, and Doom transfers their minds back to their rightful bodies. Before Doom leaves to join the Zombieverse, he admits he infected Johnny to get revenge on Reed and asks that Reed rightfully tell the world of Doom's sacrifice, thereby expunging any blots on his honor. Reed agrees, but after Doom disappears he immediately forgets about his promise to Doom.
This was probably the best run of the series, in my opinion. Excellent artwork [overall, although it was hard, at times, to determine when they might be upset, sad, angry, or worried, as they seemed to have eternally happy looks on their faces]. I enjoyed the time-travel stories, even if they were a bit contrived. I never cared much for the Zombieverse stories [even the various limited series], so the 'new' Frightful Four did not do much for me. The best part of that set of stories was when Reed used Doom's spells to render the Zombie bodies full of maggots and other creepy-crawlies that are necrotic in nature. I also loved Namor's taunting of Reed over Sue. It was excellent. And the look on Sue's face when they separated - well done. I enjoyed the writing, the characterization, the artwork. Best parts of the series.
I think the most poignant part of the 'book' is when Johnny convinces Ben to make a fool of himself at a party where Johnny is trying to ingratiate himself in with the Ultimates by impressing Thor. When Johnny finally catches up with Ben, Ben is crying and asking Johnny if he thinks Reed can build a gun to allow Ben to commit suicide as Ben is still having trouble coping with the monumental changes his life has undergone.
I thought it was interesting that a group of terrorists stole a time machine in order to hold the world hostage by going back to the dawn of time in which the first creature crawled from the water to dry land. It was a crazy concept. The Fantastic Four communicated across time while searching for the terrorists. As far as a concept, it was wonderfully fresh. Not that similar situations have not been presented before; I liked how they did it in this series.
We find out Reed has been dabbling with 'forbidden projects' on the side and one of them involves Reed making contact after this 'mission' with an older version of himself. He discovers he has two children, Franklin and Valeria, with Sue. He then builds a transporter to visit his older self. Upon arriving to this other reality, he discovers he has been duped. This world has been destroyed by some kind of zombie infestation that has come from some other dimension. We find out that an infected Sentry APPARENTLY was able to punch his way through the dimensional wall [kinda like Superboy Prime did during the last couple of DC's Crises' series] separating 'his' universe from this uninfected universe. In three days, nearly the entire population was decimated by this plague. OR, the Sentry came to the planet AFTER Reed made contact with Reed and the planet was devastated. I don't know. I just know that Reed got duped by Zombie-Reed and the Zombie Fantastic Four returned to 'Earth' while Magneto rescued Reed from the other Zombies. After the Zombie Four end up quarantined in the Baxter Building, Sue, Johnny, and Ben head to the Zombieverse to bring Reed home. They end up bringing the few uninfected survivors back with them.
It is around this point that we learn Johnny and Sue's mother is not dead. She needs their help in studying Atlantis because of their special powers and abilities. Sue's mother recognizes that Reed's intellect continues to grow at an accelerated rate and that he hides this growth from the others. She encourages him to continue to expand his intellect. Reed creates some kind of translator for her to assist in deciphering the Atlantean texts they have discovered. They end up freeing a super-strong youth named Namor who has been held in stasis for thousands of years. They believe he is the last surviving king of Atlantis . Susan and Namor have taken a walk so that Susan can try and get Namor to tell them what they want to know, but the chat goes south as Namor makes a pass at Sue and she retaliates. A brawl ensues, and soon all four are battling with Namor. Namor threatens to destroy the city [in a scene reminiscent from when Namor battled the original Torch] UNLESS Sue gives him a kiss. The deal is, she has to convince Namor that the kiss is real and that she wants to kiss him [implying she has feelings for him]; otherwise, the deal is off and he destroys NYC. She kisses him and he taunts Reed by telling Reed Sue meant it when she kissed Namor. Reed is understandably upset. Of course, when it is revealed that .
Reed had always believed that Ben still got together with his friends almost every night of the week. He is devastated when he discovers what Ben really does every night. This goes back to my comment about the most poignant moment. Reed decides to go back through time after hearing Ben's grief in the park to stop the accident from ever occurring. There is a crazy discussion where he is talking with himself from 'the future' and they can see themselves just prior to the accident in their 'human forms.' Kinda mind-boggling, on the one hand, but good, old-fashioned fun, on the other. After Reed stops the experiment, reality changes. We find out Thor is President of the US of A, that the entire world has been turned into a 'super planet' in which all but one of its six billion inhabitants have been given super powers. Well, technically, those born mutants have their own abilities. But those born 'normal' have the ability to gain super powers thanks to the Skrulls. An allusion is made to the Ultimates first series in which a Chitauri invasion is defeated; these 'new' Skrulls present themselves as being benevolent and wanting to help humanity reach new levels of existence. Ben Grimm is the only non-powered human left on the entire planet.
From here, we come to the climax of this collection. The Frightful Four have been biding their time, waiting to break free. We discover Johnny Storm has been infected with a creature believed to be from the N-Zone. This creature is feeding off Johnny and getting ready to 'birth' free. Reed cannot discover a cure for it, so he reluctantly goes to Latveria to ask Doom for assistance. Doom will help, but it comes with a price. Doom transfers his mind with Reed so that Reed is now trapped inside Doom's body while Doom heads back to NYC. While Reed is gone in Latveria, the Frightful Four fake out their security guards and escape confinement. Security measures keep them trapped on the upper forty floors of the building, but as they have access to the labs they do not care. They plan to transport their zombie-friends to this new universe for a new round of feasting. Meanwhile, Doom has made a mistake with some ancient Atlantean incantations while trying to 'heal' Johnny. Instead of tossing the beastie into another dimension, Doom accidentally frees the creature. It heads for the strongest host it can find. And enters Doom's body. Reed has memorized numerous incantations from Doom's various book and uses them to defeat the Frightful Four. He offers Doom the honorable way out, and Doom transfers their minds back to their rightful bodies. Before Doom leaves to join the Zombieverse, he admits he infected Johnny to get revenge on Reed and asks that Reed rightfully tell the world of Doom's sacrifice, thereby expunging any blots on his honor. Reed agrees, but after Doom disappears he immediately forgets about his promise to Doom.
This was probably the best run of the series, in my opinion. Excellent artwork [overall, although it was hard, at times, to determine when they might be upset, sad, angry, or worried, as they seemed to have eternally happy looks on their faces]. I enjoyed the time-travel stories, even if they were a bit contrived. I never cared much for the Zombieverse stories [even the various limited series], so the 'new' Frightful Four did not do much for me. The best part of that set of stories was when Reed used Doom's spells to render the Zombie bodies full of maggots and other creepy-crawlies that are necrotic in nature. I also loved Namor's taunting of Reed over Sue. It was excellent. And the look on Sue's face when they separated - well done. I enjoyed the writing, the characterization, the artwork. Best parts of the series.
September 3, 2020
The story wasn't bad at all but man oh man Greg Lands artwork really took me out of it. Anyone who knows much about Land knows he's infamous for tracing and it really rears its ugly head here. Everyone's expression felt exaggerated and not in a good way.
I'm sure this would've been a great stretch of this run had it not been for Greg Land. This makes me not want to read anything drawn by him again.
The people praising his artwork has me scratching my head.
I'm sure this would've been a great stretch of this run had it not been for Greg Land. This makes me not want to read anything drawn by him again.
The people praising his artwork has me scratching my head.
May 30, 2021
The standout arcs from the Ultimate FF run and some if Millar's best stuff.
August 3, 2025
Tough one to review. On one hand, it had the best stories so far of all the three books. Zombies, Namor and Zombies 2 were all so much fun. Not without flaws, definitely not. For one, I don't enjoy how everything is possible just because the characters are super smart. But still, some great dumb fun.
On the other hand, Greg Land. Now, to be fair, there's plenty of cool panels and some nice looking art, but not enough to compensate how awful the characters expressions look, especially women. I'm aware of the whole thing about how he copies/traces based on real world celebrities, specially adult ones, and you can see that clearly here. Really, I rolled my eyes multiple times because of how awful facial expressions looked, it hurts the storytelling.
So, I shouldn't give it a 4, probably. But I really enjoyed the stories, and most importantly, they were different enough from the regular 616 universe to justify the existence of the Ultimate universe, differently from the last two books. Also, loved the ending.
On the other hand, Greg Land. Now, to be fair, there's plenty of cool panels and some nice looking art, but not enough to compensate how awful the characters expressions look, especially women. I'm aware of the whole thing about how he copies/traces based on real world celebrities, specially adult ones, and you can see that clearly here. Really, I rolled my eyes multiple times because of how awful facial expressions looked, it hurts the storytelling.
So, I shouldn't give it a 4, probably. But I really enjoyed the stories, and most importantly, they were different enough from the regular 616 universe to justify the existence of the Ultimate universe, differently from the last two books. Also, loved the ending.
November 25, 2016
I was never much of a Fantastic Four fan, but was impressed enough by the first two (hardcover) installments of the Ultimate Fantastic Four series to take a chance on volume 3, especially once I heard Mark Millar and Greg Land were at the helm. I had no idea that when I was done reading it, I would rank it just below the Ultimates volumes 1 and 2 as the best Ultimate Marvel storyline ever.
In this volume, Reed Richards open a gateway to a parallel universe, this one populated entirely by Marvel heroes turned zombies! The zombified (and highly contagious) version of the Fantastic Four (rightly termed the Frightful Four) follow Reed back home in order to set up the Ultimate Earth as a buffet for the rest of their undead cohorts. Along the way, we're introduced to Sue and Johnny's long lost mother and the Ultimate version of Namor the Sub-Mariner, who instantly claims the title of biggest jerk in the Ultimate Universe. In the second half of the book, the Frightful Four break loose, Reed makes a deal with the devil (in this case, Dr. Doom), and the Ultimate Super-Skrull nearly annihilates the entire planet.
Millar's incredible run on this series is the stuff of legend, combing innovative storylines with clever dialogue in a manner that fans of his Ultimates series will find very familiar. His Frightful Four are absolutely terrifying, and he makes the Ultimate Dr. Doom far more compelling a character than his predecessors did. It doesn't hurt that his storytelling is so ably augmented by Greg Land's gorgeous artwork. If Millar ever comes back to the Ultimates and Bryan Hitch is busy, he definitely needs to bring in Land. The Fantastic Four haven't been this fascinating, or looked this good, in a long long time.
This is easily the best Ultimate Fantastic Four storyline, and one of the very best Ultimate storylines as well (and we already know how much better the Ultimate line is than the plain old Marvel Universe). If you loved the Ultimates, you must buy this book. I just feel sorry for the creative team who has to follow this run. Talk about an uphill battle!
In this volume, Reed Richards open a gateway to a parallel universe, this one populated entirely by Marvel heroes turned zombies! The zombified (and highly contagious) version of the Fantastic Four (rightly termed the Frightful Four) follow Reed back home in order to set up the Ultimate Earth as a buffet for the rest of their undead cohorts. Along the way, we're introduced to Sue and Johnny's long lost mother and the Ultimate version of Namor the Sub-Mariner, who instantly claims the title of biggest jerk in the Ultimate Universe. In the second half of the book, the Frightful Four break loose, Reed makes a deal with the devil (in this case, Dr. Doom), and the Ultimate Super-Skrull nearly annihilates the entire planet.
Millar's incredible run on this series is the stuff of legend, combing innovative storylines with clever dialogue in a manner that fans of his Ultimates series will find very familiar. His Frightful Four are absolutely terrifying, and he makes the Ultimate Dr. Doom far more compelling a character than his predecessors did. It doesn't hurt that his storytelling is so ably augmented by Greg Land's gorgeous artwork. If Millar ever comes back to the Ultimates and Bryan Hitch is busy, he definitely needs to bring in Land. The Fantastic Four haven't been this fascinating, or looked this good, in a long long time.
This is easily the best Ultimate Fantastic Four storyline, and one of the very best Ultimate storylines as well (and we already know how much better the Ultimate line is than the plain old Marvel Universe). If you loved the Ultimates, you must buy this book. I just feel sorry for the creative team who has to follow this run. Talk about an uphill battle!
October 20, 2010
Yeah, zombies are pretty cool, and so are interdimensional aliens, but this whole series felt forced. At times, I felt that the characters were jerking around like cardboard cut-outs being played with by adolescent boys in who disagreed about the plot of their after-school games. I suppose any multi-author series could suffer these problems--then again, I've read much better examples of the writers' work (except Warren Ellis, of whom I'm not yet a fan).
December 27, 2011
De acá leí las dos sagas que lo corresponden (Crossover y Frightful) y escribí sus correspondientes reseñas (que después linkeo) con opiniones y toda la bola. En cuanto a la edición española, es tan linda como cara, pero haciendo un balance está bastante buena. Si me acuerdo de algo más que en su momento se me hubiera ocurrido resaltar, después rerreseño.
December 6, 2007
Great art, good stories. Fantastic addition to the Marvel Zombies storyline.
October 4, 2015
No está del todo mal, incluso me ha gustado (a pesar de los zombies)
October 5, 2016
Millar plays with action figures.
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