Avant-Goût VO : Review Ultimate Origins #3 [Eng.]

[ENGLISH] Tension builds itself up as the mysterious « red signals» – origin and function unknown so far – pop up in every corner of the Ultimateverse. The explanation might be that they simply resurface since they’ve been here since World War II at least (which seems to be the starting point of the whole Ultimate mythology). That’s what an excellent mutant-based flashback seems to indicate anyway…

Last issue of Ultimate Origins left us with quite a bitter after-taste, due to the lack of surprising revelations about Cap’s origins. But Bendis brings back the fun with this third episode. If the main plot, based on this mysterious machines’ awakening, takes no giant leap forward, the flash-back totally does the job ! In direct connection with Ultimate Origins #1, the writer comes back to Wolverine, the « first mutant », and Weapon X. We’ll finally learn about the ties between Magneto and Wolverine, Magneto and Xavier, and Magneto’s all-new, all-different origins !

That’s probably stupid, but « Classic Magneto »’s origins convey such strong feelings and meanings that I simply never thought it could be otherwise in the Ultimateverse, whereas it is in fact its primary function. Therefore, this new issue of Ultimate Origins has the sweet taste of the beginings, and the constant discovery of classic characters redesigned. Bendis proves here that he hasn’t played all his cards yet, since his update of Magneto’s origin for the Ultimate line is totally matching the first issues of Ultimate X-Men. Even better, it allows the character to take new directions, that could really make him more than a clone of the original one. Stan Lee’s Erik Lensherr is a victim that decided never to be trampled on again, whatever price it would cost. Bendis’ come from a much more intimate drama but it lets his psychopath side express itself even earlier. All things said, this new issue of Ultimate Origins manages to fullfill perfectly the goal of the mini-series – filling the blanks while creating new design spaces. Now the real question is to know wether this will be the foretold new dawn of the Ultimateverse or the beginning or its dusk. Since, when the last remaining questions will be answered, it will be hard to consider the whole thing as something else than a deluxe « What if… ? » The answer, once again, is in the writers’ hands !

[Antoine Maurel]