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Satisfying Ultraman and Avengers fans
ComicBook: Ultraman and the Avengers have a legion of loyal fans, so they all understandably have an opinion on how their first meeting should go. How do you balance telling a story that satisfies both fan bases while also spreading your creative wings?
Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom: Well, we hope those two things aren’t mutually exclusive! We hope that what fans want IS creativity – and we think that’s the real joy of such crossovers, the surprising results of two worlds colliding.
So we just went in trying to engineer as many of those moments as possible – while ensuring that we’re staying true to the importance and the meaning of the characters on both sides.
Surprises while writing script
Were there any unexpected story beats that caught you both by surprise when crafting the team-up story?
Absolutely! It’s fascinating to see what happens when you get different combinations of characters in a room with each other and “let” them talk to each other – or fight together! We think the Ultra Guard and the Avengers are more different than you might find in your traditional super hero team-up… but that just means there’s more interesting contrast, and they have more to learn from each other!
Although we’ve gone to great lengths to make the crossover new reader-friendly, this is also a part of
our ongoing Ultraman saga… so the impact the Avengers have on our cast will make for permanent
changes moving forward, and we think there are a few that readers really won’t see coming!
Ultraman vs. Galactus
By the time this interview goes up, fans will see the cover of Issue #3 featuring Galactus vs. Ultraman. That’s a showdown of epic proportions, but were there any other considerations of Marvel villains for Ultraman to square off with?
We probably briefly considered other options, but… we settled on Galactus VERY quickly! Obviously he’s a BIG guy, which helps on a really practical level to ensure that Ultraman isn’t literally punching down… but much more importantly, Galactus is the sort of sweeping, cosmic-level threat that justifies a crossover like this.
Importantly, Galactus almost feels like an Ultraman villain already – his nature and his purpose invites you to dig a little deeper than “good guy punch bad guy.” How the Ultra philosophy reckons with the presence of Galactus is a big part of the story.
What fans should look forward to
To wrap up, what are you most looking forward to readers seeing and experiencing in Ultraman X Avengers?
For sure those unexpected combinations we alluded to earlier. What is the Wasp worried about when
she first meets Shin? What does Iron Man think of Ultraseven? What does Spider-Man make of JACK?
And some we can’t even HINT at yet.
Oh and of course the big moments where they fight together, those are pretty dang important too.
“}]] Writers Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom discuss the crossover between Ultraman and the Avengers. Read More