Ultimate Avengers #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIssue #3 is the functional debut of the Ultimate Universe's black-ops Avengers team as an assembled, operational unit — the first time Nick Fury's covert roster appears together on a mission. It delivers the simultaneous first appearances of Nerd Hulk (an intelligent Bruce Banner clone), the Spider, and Monica Chang in her Black Widow identity, making it the single most character-dense debut issue of the entire 'Next Generation' arc. Set in the immediate wreckage of the divisive Ultimatum event, the issue also represents Mark Millar's deliberate pivot back toward the grounded, morally-compromised spy-thriller tone that defined his original Ultimates work, using a rogue Steve Rogers as both antagonist and tragic center. The ensemble Millar and Pacheco introduce here — including the Ultimate-universe-exclusive Red Wasp and a Hulk defined by intellect rather than rage — proved distinctive enough to anchor 24 issues across four miniseries through 2011.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Ultimate Comics: Avengers launched in August 2009 as part of Marvel's wholesale rebranding of the Ultimate line following the Ultimatum crossover, with Mark Millar — creator of the original Ultimates — returning to the universe after Jeph Loeb's run had drawn widespread criticism. Millar stated before the series began that he intended to deploy character concepts left unused from his first two Ultimates series, and issue #3, released October 14, 2009, is where those new creations finally take the field together. Carlos Pacheco pencilled the opening six-issue arc, with Danny Miki, Dexter Vines, and Allen Martinez on inks and Justin Ponsor on colors; editors Sana Amanat, Lauren Sankovitch, and Mark Paniccia shepherded the book under editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. The entire 18-issue Millar run — including this issue — was later collected in a 608-page omnibus hardcover published by Marvel in May 2012.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Released October 14, 2009; cover-dated December 2009. Story title: 'The Next Generation — Part Three of Six.' Written by Mark Millar; pencils by Carlos Pacheco.
- First appearance of the Ultimate Universe Avengers as a formally assembled team (Earth-1610).
- First appearance of Nerd Hulk — an intelligent clone of Bruce Banner — who becomes a recurring Avengers member throughout Millar's full run.
- First appearance of the Spider, a character introduced in a Spider-Man costume in this issue but not named 'Spider' on-panel until Ultimate Avengers #10.
- First appearance of Monica Chang in her Black Widow identity (Black Widow II); Chang is established as Nick Fury's ex-wife within the series.
- First appearance of Petra Laskov specifically in her Red Wasp identity, though the character had prior appearances; she joins the team alongside Hawkeye and War Machine.
- The issue's central conflict pits the newly assembled Avengers against a rogue Captain America (Steve Rogers) under orders to capture him — with War Machine ultimately deploying a full battalion to subdue Cap.
- The complete first arc ('The Next Generation,' issues #1–6) was collected in trade paperback as Ultimate Comics Avengers Vol. 1: The Next Generation, and all 18 issues of Millar's run were later reprinted in the Ultimate Comics Avengers by Mark Millar Omnibus (May 2012).
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Ultimate Avengers #4 (2010)
Reprinted in Ultimate Comics Avengers #2 (2010), Ultimate Comics Avengers: Next Generation #[nn] (2010), Ultimate Comics Avengers: Next Generation #1 (2010), Ultimate Comics Avengers by Mark Millar Omnibus #[nn] (2012)
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