Ultimate Avengers - The Movie
Ages: Not Rated Ages 10+

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released the first Marvel movie on DVD. As a kid, my comics came on paper. Movies make a big difference. Their angst seems more real. Their humanity creeps our from beneath their costumes. Capt America -- the character I am most familiar with is the center force of the Avengers. He has been recovered from beneath the icy North Atlantic when he fell after stopping an atomic rocket fired at Washington. That was 60 years ago but miraculously, none of the heroes have aged. The threats are the same and Capt America must form a team to save the world for democracy. But these "heroes" are not easy guys to work with.

You have Iron Man -- a suave, arrogant billionaire who isn't sure he wants to join the group. Thor - who I never met before - is a wise cracking Norse-type god who commands lightning. Wasp -- as her name implies, small and with a sting is the requisite female. Giant man is her surely adolescent husband who can grow 60 feet tall. And finally there is Hulk -- Dr. Banner's alter ego. The interactions between these characters are more interesting than the battles and that part that was not as strongly apparent in the paper version. These Ultimate Avengers make a good team. I hope the story continues. The problem is, can Lionsgate turn out movies as fast as comic books come out? 'Cause the viewers won't want to wait too long for a sequel.

Reviewed by: Editor - 02/06