10 Best Modern Age Marvel #1 Comics

When Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar and Joe Quesada devised the Ultimate universe, they had four titles in mind.

The ever-popular Spider-Man and X-Men would be the first two releases. The Fantastic Four would come much later, but it was Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch's take on the Avengers that would become the template for the Ultimate universe going forward and the Marvel Cinematic Universe nearly a decade later.

The first issue of the Ultimates is little more than an extended action sequence, but what an action sequence it is. Captain America leads an allied assault against a Nazi installation in the dark days of World War 2.

The widescreen action set pieces, diamond-hard dialogue, and more realistic science was the blueprint the creators would use to redefine Marvel's premiere super team for the 21st century.

By taking the story back to World War 2, it was the first-time readers were looking at the history of the Ultimate universe. The story would also introduce a new villain into the fray, The Chitauri. The aliens would become the primary antagonists of the Ultimates and go on to appear in the first Avengers movie.