Ultimate Adventures was a six-issue Marvel Comics miniseries created by Ron Zimmerman and Duncan Fegredo. Part of Marvel's 2002 "U-Decide" campaign, it told the story of Hank Kipple, an orphan who is taken in by eccentric billionaire Jack Danner — who moonlights as the costumed vigilante Hawk-Owl - and his transformation into teenaged sidekick Woody, set in the Ultimate Marvel universe.
Plagued by chronic lateness, the final issue came out sixteen months after the series began, and it's since faded into obscurity, overshadowed by its fellow "U-Decide" competitors, the Captain Marvel reboot and Marville.
Jack and Hank would largely remain forgotten outside of their series, although they made a small cameo in the first issue of the second volume of Ziggy Pig-Silly Seal Comics.
This series includes examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: This series has a lot of fun at Batman's expense.
- Bird-Poop Gag: When Hank stumbled into Hawk-Owl's secret hideout and started making fun of Toliver, an owl flew by and shat on his head.
- Bratty Halfpint: Unlike the character he's parodying, Hank Kipple is an obnoxious little shit, though he does get better about this over the course of the series, or at least with regards to whom he directs his brattiness towards.
- Canon Discontinuity: Possibly, given outside of the aforementioned Ziggy Pig-Silly Seal cameo, the only other book to reference them is the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol 4 #16...which is basically an encyclopedia. Even Ultimatum, which featured pretty much every Ultimate Marvel book at the time, didn't reference the series at allnote . Presumably, this was due to a combination of its creation (as part of the aforementioned "U-Decide" campaign), its nature as a rather obvious Batman parody, and the fact that, tone-wise, it clashed with Ultimate Marvel as a whole (see Lighter and Softer below).
- Dark and Troubled Past: Unlike the character he's parodying, Jack doesn't really have any horribly traumatic past driving his efforts to fight crime. It's hinted that his parents and uncle might have been murdered, but he seems to think that they just died in an accident.
- Eccentric Millionaire: Jack spends his free time running around in a costume and fighting crime to compensate for his social ineptitude.
- Expy: Most of the main cast are expies of characters from the Batman mythos:
- Hawk-Owl is, of course, Batman.
- Woody is Robin.
- Daniel Toliver is Alfred Pennyworth.
- The Principal is The Joker (with a dash of Two-Face thrown in for good measure).
- Ms. Willow is Harley Quinn.
- Freak Out: The Principal goes through this over the course of the series until he finally snaps. Conversely, Ms. Willow was always shown to not quite right in the head and gleefully encourages and enables the man's insane behavior.
- Insistent Terminology: Daniel insists on being called Jack's butler, and is annoyed when Jack tries to call him a "personal assistant".
- Lighter and Softer: Despite being set in the grim and gritty Ultimate Marvel universe, the story is quite light-hearted and irreverent.
- Secret Test of Character: In the first issue, when Jack is deciding which orphan he's going to adopt, he allows the kids to ask him questions. Most of the kids try too hard to be cute and charming, whereas Hank gives Jack a hard time. Naturally, Jack ends up picking Hank. Over the next couple of issues, they throw a few more tests Hank's way, some more secret than others.
