If you come into this knowing very little about the Marvel Universe, you'll probly enjoy it as much as I did.
They veer a bit too far from the source material at points, and the animation leaves a lot to be desired, but it's otherwise a pretty solid adaptation of a damn good comic.
Was kinda a disappointment. Why do most Avengers movies always end up fighting the Hulk for some reason.
It's getting really old very fast...
Review by CrimsonWatchVIP 3BlockedParent2023-02-13T14:06:37Z
Speaking from nearly 20 years since its release, this a recommended watch for curious Marvel Comics/MCU fans, if for pure historical value. It was created after the parallel relaunch of the Marvel Comics Universe at the turn of the millennium, known as the Ultimate Marvel Universe, so it brought a lot of the storylines that originated in the 1960s up to date (for that time). It also precedes the MCU by a few years, so it is interesting from that perspective too, and see what carried over into the movie reboots.
You will recognize a strong MCU element in Nick Fury/SHIELD being a major plot point (as well as Fury in his Samuel L Jackson inspired representation from the Ultimate Universe) and a focus on the "man out of time" theme for Steve Rogers/Captain America. Familiar tropes like the Chitauri, the Battle of New York and such hearken back to the the first Avengers film too.
MCU only fans might be interested to see the deviations, such as the inclusion of Giant-Man and the Wasp, where Hank Pym seems to fill the "snarky scientist" role that we typically associate with the MCU's Tony Stark. As a matter of fact, there is very little character development for Iron Man at all - he is sort of just there when he needs to be. The ambiguous nature of Thor is another big change, but thankfully he has a bit more to do in the story.
The most interesting change in my view is that of Hulk/Bruce Banner where he plays a far more devious, and emotionally broken man than the MCU's more stoic and selfless version played by Marc Ruffalo. Black Widow also makes an appearance and reflects her MCU counterpart more so than any of her original Marvel comics origins, but they don't give her much to work with either.
Overall, the animation is decent for its time, on par with a lot of the WB DC faire you will find online, and the story is decently laid out for what it is. Again, I would say to check it out if you are a curious MCU fan looking for references that later surfaced in the much more successful movies, or if you are interested in the Ultimate Marvel universe itself, which is worth exploring, especially in the comics form.