Marvel Comics

Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Ultimates reimagined the Avengers for the post-9/11 world — a government-sponsored super-soldier program with real-world weight, moral ambiguity, and geopolitical consequence. Hitch's widescreen cinematic approach changed how superhero comics were drawn and directly influenced every Marvel film that followed. This is the run that Hollywood adapted into the MCU's Avengers. Collects The Ultimates #1–13 and The Ultimates 2 #1–13, the complete Millar/Hitch run.

Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Fantastic Four run applied the same widescreen action cinema approach the pair had pioneered in The Ultimates to Marvel's First Family — massive scale, cinematic set pieces, and a villain (the Old Power-wielding Skulls) designed for maximum visual spectacle. The run also contained one of comics' most emotionally effective death-and-legacy storylines, as Millar used the threat to the team's future as an opportunity to examine what the Fantastic Four's legacy would be if they were gone.