Ultimates 3: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch? (Comics) | Review

Some comic-book series take beloved characters and push them in bold new directions that redefine what superhero storytelling can achieve. This five-issue miniseries takes beloved characters and pushes them off a cliff while setting fire to everything Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch carefully built in the previous volumes.

Writer Jeph Loeb (Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: Hush) and artist Joe Madureira (Avenging Spider-Man: My Friends Can Beat Up Your Friends, Inhuman: Genesis) launched this series in 2008 as the bridge between The Ultimates 2 and the upcoming Ultimatum event.

What should have been a compelling murder mystery wrapped in superhero action instead became one of the most controversial and divisive entries in Ultimate Universe history for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with who actually pulled the trigger.

The premise sounds deceptively promising on paper: Scarlet Witch gets brutally shot in broad daylight and the Ultimates must uncover which enemy killed one of their own while dealing with leaked explicit sex tapes, secret identities publicly exposed and dark family secrets that threaten to tear the team apart from the inside.

The story picks up after Banner's alleged execution following his devastating rampage through Manhattan in The Ultimates. Fury needs Banner dead for real because his continued existence threatens to expose Fury's complicity in covering up the Hulk's survival and end his career.

The series opens with a leaked sex tape of Tony Stark and Black Widow hitting the internet, orchestrated by one of Hank Pym's Ultron robots as a distraction. While the team scrambles to deal with the public relations disaster, Wanda Maximoff takes a walk with her brother Pietro and suddenly gets shot by an unseen assailant.

Magneto immediately arrives with the Brotherhood to retrieve his daughter's body, leading to a chaotic battle at the Triskelion where the Ultimates are caught off guard. The master of magnetism retreats to the Savage Land with Wanda's corpse and Quicksilver follows his father.

Here's where the series takes its most controversial turn. Loeb reveals that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch weren't just unusually close siblings but were in an active romantic relationship complete with physical intimacy. Wolverine discovers them together and confirms the incestuous relationship to the rest of the team.

The murder mystery aspect takes a backseat to relationship drama and character assassination. Captain America assumes the Black Panther identity. Thor acts out of character. Hawkeye becomes a suspect despite no clear motive and the investigation sub-plots that go nowhere.

The investigation suffers from lack of urgency and coherent direction. Characters react to Wanda's sudden death with melodrama rather than genuine grief. The team's dysfunction feels forced rather than organic, artificially manufactured to create conflict instead of emerging naturally from established relationships and personalities.

The Ultimates track Magneto to the Savage Land for a confrontation that should feel climactic but lands with a thud because the emotional stakes never develop. The action sequences happen because that's what superhero comics do, not because the story earned them.

The pacing lurches between rushed exposition and drawn-out action sequences. Plot developments get glossed over in favor of splash pages and shocking reveals. The series prioritizes spectacle over substance, leaving readers confused about motivations and direction.

The revelation that Ultron killed Scarlet Witch arrives without proper foreshadowing. Hank Pym's robot creation drugged him and orchestrated the entire conspiracy, using Wanda's death to destabilize the team before the Ultimatum event. The twist feels manufactured rather than organic, robbing the murder mystery of resolution.

What makes this frustrating is watching Loeb dismantle character development. Tony Stark becomes a punchline. Jan Van Dyne gets reduced to relationship drama. Steve Rogers contradicts his personality and the team dynamics evaporate under shock value plotting.

The series sets up Ultimatum, the massive crossover event that would reshape the Ultimate Universe through catastrophic destruction and character deaths. Unfortunately, Ultimates 3 functions as obligatory setup than standalone story, sacrificing narrative coherence for shocking moments designed to generate controversy and sales.

Joe Madureira brings his distinctive manga-influenced style to the Ultimate Universe with mixed results. His character designs lean heavily stylized with exaggerated proportions and anime-inspired features that clash with the grounded aesthetic previous artists established.

The action sequences showcase Madureira's kinetic energy and dynamic panel layouts. His Magneto looks menacing and the Brotherhood members have visual presence during fight scenes. However, quieter character moments suffer from inconsistent facial expressions that make emotional beats harder to connect with.

Christian Lichtner's coloring work uses vibrant palettes that emphasize comic book spectacle but sometimes undermines the serious tone. The bright saturated colors work during action sequences but feel at odds with the murder mystery atmosphere the premise promises.

Loeb's writing prioritizes shock value over character consistency. Dialogue feels stilted with characters explaining motivations through exposition. The pacing rushes through emotional beats while lingering on gratuitous moments. Plot threads get introduced and abandoned and the mystery gets solved through convenient revelation.

Ultimates 3 delivers spectacle without substance, controversy without purpose and shock value without earned emotional payoff. This is superficial superhero storytelling that mistakes provocation for depth and confuses character assassination with bold creative choices.

The notorious publication delays became part of the series' legend but the final product hardly justifies the wait with a story that works as standalone narrative and essential Ultimate Universe reading. The ending doesn't provide clean resolutions because these characters don't get happy endings, only temporary truces.

Loeb and Madureira crafted something that fundamentally misunderstands what made the Ultimates work. Political intrigue gets replaced with soap opera drama. Moral complexity gets traded for shocking reveals. Character depth gets sacrificed for spectacle that feels hollow.

If you want superhero murder mystery that respects character history and delivers satisfying resolution, this definitely isn't it. If you want to understand how Ultimates 3 connects to Ultimatum and the broader Ultimate Universe continuity, reading plot summaries will definitely serve you better than experiencing the actual issues.

Ultimates 3: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch? is available in both trade paperback and hardcover editions, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local comic-book store. For digital access, it's available on Amazon Kindle, ComiXology and Marvel Unlimited.