This follow up to the first Ultimate Avengers movie benefits from not having to incorporate origin / set up material. It leaps head first into its story, albeit the story follows on from the end of the first movie.This time the key plot factor is that the Chitauri aliens from the first movie are after the vibranium deposit in Wakanda, which means we are introduced to T'Challa, as well as Captain America's old foe Kleiser, who turns out to be a Chitauri.There is as much soapy stuff about the characters' problems and interactions as there is action relating to the main plot and, to be frank, I could have done without that - I like my superheroes to be heroes. But I appreciate it for what it is.The animation is no better than Saturday morning TV animation.But it's not bad.

Picking up where the first Ultimate Avengers left off, UA2 finds the Avengers not getting along very well as they encounter the Black Panther and continue to deal with the alien invaders of the first feature. Thor is mostly absent from the film as he's off on some personal quest of his own that keeps him separated from the other heroes until the climax, while Bruce Banner/Hulk spends most of the feature incarcerated for the destruction he caused before.IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM, DO NOT READ FURTHER, THERE BE SPOILERS HERE:I'm going to go out on a limb here by going against the grain of the previous reviews, because honestly I don't think 'Ultimate Avengers 2' is particularly good. Heck, the animated direct to DVD features from Marvel & DC have been pretty hit & miss on both sides, and sadly UA2 is a miss for Marvel. The first Ultimate Avengers, while not perfect, was still a solid introduction to the characters, their dynamics and their personal issues. The sequel, however, fails to offer any truly satisfying resolutions to those problems. Captain America's struggle to adjust to the 21st century and the effect it's having on his personality & work ethic is touched upon again but it never really goes anywhere, nor does the brief contrast shown between Iron Man and Captain America ever really develop, and his hook up at the end with Black Widow feels forced despite some previous hints of a mutual infatuation between them. Similarly, the marital problems between Hank 'Giant Man' Pym and his wife Janet 'Wasp' Pym are revisited and shown to have gotten worse, as Hank is made out to be an even bigger asshole with an over-sized ego here than he was in the first film, but as with Captain America's problems, the manner in which it is concluded - with Giant Man dying in the final act in what is apparently meant to be his redemption for being an egocentric jerk for most of the story - is not a satisfying one. If anything, Giant Man's death feels forced in the most laughable manner, partly because he really didn't even take enough abuse during the fight to warrant dying.Iron Man himself was one of the few highlights of the film, and Black Panther came across pretty good, but that doesn't redeem the film's big flaw: it feels like it was rushed out the gate as quickly as possible, and the story & characters suffer for it. It's too bad, because the potential for a better animated film was definitely there, but it just wasn't utilized. Still, the outtakes in the special features section were pretty funny.

The new Black Panther seeks out Captain America to avenge his father's death by an evil alien, so General Fury assembles the Avengers to come along. This was my first sighting of Thor's power of precognition and of teleportation. What happened to the extras of ULTIMATE AVENGERS I? Pop-up trivia is one thing, but no subtitles at all? Also, the Black Panther's village has an uneasy juxtaposition of low-tech and high-tech; ah the wonders of vibranium.Still, the interaction between Captain America and Giant Man is fun, as is that between Cap and Black Widow. It has a nice scene of Tony Stark among his various Iron Man armors, including War Machine. I give it a lower score because it feels more like an advertisement for the Marvel Alliance video game, for Iron Man, and for Doctor Strange than a self-contained movie.

I REALLY liked the first Ultimate Avengers movie. It had a superb animation style, it showed a team-up between some of my favorite Marvel Comics (who if you ask me is a little better than DC comics) characters (Thor was under-appreciated) and it had an interesting story (although it was a bit similar to the way the JL members met).After seeing that movie Ultimate Avengers 2 was the movie I mostly anticipated. I knew that it was going to introduce the Black Panther and that the Shatauri (sorry if I misspelled it) would return. Having seen the Fantastic Four series I knew that Rakanda had lots of vibranium and so I anticipated a bit of the plot.Anyway, after I saw the second movie, DC comics became my favorite comic book publisher. Why, well, in one word, because the movie disappointed me.Don't READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE.The movie was too short, I don't like how they put emphasis on Captain America - Blakc Widow or Wasp-Giant Man relationship (I don't want a soap opera), the Hulk and Thor were SOOO under-used and, by far the worst aspect of the movie, the death of Giant Man made me throw the movie out the window after I had seen it. I don;t like it when heroes die, because I don't watch super hero movies so that evil may triumph over a good, IN ANY WAY. If Giant man does not come back somehow in Ultimate Avengers 3, a big boo for Marvel.Don;t get me wrong, the movie is not bad, but it focuses more on issues from real life like love, courage, etc. than on making a cool and developed plot. Anyway, hopefully the sequel will make it better.If you are a Marvel fan or if you liked the first movie, watch it. Otherwise, no way Jose.