Making the Maker: About the Ultimate Fantastic Four Comics (2025)

CHAOS ENSUES MEDIA:
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Dig the essay transcript on my website: https://witsendpod.com/podcast-episod...

NOTE: This video is about the original Ultimate Fantastic Four run from the early 2000s.

A comic line that started as a way to bring in new readers without the decades of continuity.

Launched in 2004, Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 by Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis and Adam Kubert reinvented Marvel’s First Family for a new generation. The book wasn’t rooted in the 60s Space Race, so the team gets their powers from a Negative Zone test gone wrong.

This run is heavily focused on Reed Richards and explores Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm coming together as inexperienced superheroes. Featuring remixed versions of Doctor Doom, Mad Thinker, Annihilus, Red Ghost, Silver Surfer and a bunch of other FF heels. No Galactus in this series, unfortunately.

The early parts of this run features colors by Dave Stewart. Artists throughout this run include Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, Greg Land, Pasqual Ferry and Mark Brooks.

Diving into the origins of The Maker, who Jonathan Hickman adopted as his own character.

This video is a 2025 companion for my 2000s FF video I put out. Chaos ensues.

Check out my other Fantastic Four comics history documentary style video essays:    • Fantastic Four Comics History (2024) (2025)  

TIME CODES:
-0:00—Intro
-0:18—Ultimate Universe Origins
-0:54—Reed’s Story (New Generation)
-2:47—Ultimate Doctor Doom
-4:12—Greg Land (Tracing)
-4:57—Creative Teams
-7:45—Ultimatum, Requiem, Ending
-8:20—The Maker Origin
-9:18—Important Information

Atlantis by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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Other sources:
-Mark Millar 2008 Interview Footage:    • Mark Millar talks to Forbidden Planet Inte...  

-Greg Land tracing thread: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums...

-Jonathan Hickman 2019 SDCC footage:    • Jonathan Hickman on the future of the X-Me...  

Full playlist of my comic book documentary style video essays:    • Comic Book Video Essays 2024, 2025  

Playlist of my Fantastic Four comics history video essays:    • Fantastic Four Comics History (2024) (2025)