Ultimate Power #4

Story Details

Spider-Man helps Nick Fury come to the decision that they could use Thor's hammer to help them get create a portal to wherever the Squadron have taken Reed. His plan works and the heroes pile on to the Triskelion as Thor drags them through the portal he has created.

Back in the Superemeverse, the authorities are wary that people from the other dimension could come back after Reed. Hyperion is watching out, while Reed deduces that some spores, previously inert, latched on to the probe as it travelled through the dimensions. Doctor Burbank asks Reed what it's like to kill millions of people in one go and compares him to Stalin and Hitler. Reed is angry but Burbank hits a button that knocks him back with a bolt of electricity.

Back on the Triskelion, Kitty is looking for Fury and phases through a wall as he is talking to someone unseen, saying they have to grab Reed quickly to make sure he doesn't get his hands on any of the probes, else “he'd figure it out”. Fury doesn't realise Kitty overheard things.

As the Triskelion breaks through into the Supremeverse, Hyperion hovers in the way, waiting for Thor.

Spidey watch: Lots more of Spider-Man here in the opening pages here. It is his idea to use Thor to get back to Reed and he seems well respected by the other heroes.

General Comments

JMS certainly has a different voice to Bendis in this issue. His Spider-Man seems very intelligent - especially as Tony Stark is pretty silent when they're deciding how to get Reed back. On the other hand, his Thor doesn't seem to be the same Thor that Mark Millar has created in The Ultimates. Gone is the laid- back Norwegian hippie who speaks 'regular' English, in comes the olde-English- speaking Thor from the regular Marvel universe.

Despite the change of author, again not an awful lot happens here. Essentially, in four issues, Reed has sent out a probe that has destroyed another dimension, whose inhabitants have come through the portal and arrested him, while his friends have gone back through to recover him.

It's not an awful lot of plot for nearly 90 pages worth.

The revelation Kitty observes that there is more going on under the surface than we realise is intriguing – and just about saves another pretty-looking issue with not much story.

Overall Rating

New author, different voice, same outcome. Slow, slow progress that looks good but drags.

Footnote

This issue shipped two months late and sold approx 63,818 copies.