When Marvel Comics first unveiled its "Ultimate" line of superhero comics, which essentially jettisoned the prior 40 years of comic "continuity" and rebooted the storylines for a contemporary audience, many fans considered it little more than a publicity stunt - and probably a lousy one at that. But a funny thing happened: the Ultimate line, with its often edgy, revamped characters, was actually pretty good, and in many instances started outselling Marvel's longstanding titles (those set in the "Original Universe," as it were) . First Spidey got the Ultimate treatment, and then the X-Men; subsequently, Marvel introduced what was in many respects the best reboot of them all: the recreation of the Avengers, "America's Mightiest Superheroes," now called The Ultimates.

This new line of comics offered characters often quite similar in many respects to the old ones (for example, Captain America still got his start during WWII and Thor still carries a hammer and controls the weather, although now he's a militant environmental activist and near-anarchist). But by ditching the accumulated "back stories" of the characters, the writers were free to develop dynamic new relationships between them.

The Ultimates can be legitimately criticized for its overemphasis on pop culture references (having a character go out with Freddie Prinze Jr., for example, just seems far too cute for the rougher, edgy storyline Marvel was otherwise creating), but the title manages a remarkable transformation in characters such as Captain America, the Hulk, and Iron Man. The creators also authored a minor miracle when they made the contentious relationship between "Giant Man" and his wife, the Wasp, more than a dull afterthought of the overall comic.

In any event, The Ultimates is one of Marvel's more popular lines, and as such it is hardly surprising that they would try to capitalize upon its popularity with the release of an animated version. Released at the end of February, Ultimate Avengers intriguingly returns with the old title ("Avengers"), probably in an effort to reach out to fans who might not be aware of the new version. I had hoped that the animated version would do a good job of capturing the gritty edge of the new title, which I have long considered to be one of the best superhero comics currently available. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.