After the initial Mark Millar run, Brian Bendis steps in this series writing a team book for the first time. He starts focusing on Wolverine, who is aided by Spider-Man and Daredevil (both very familiar characters to Bendis). The plot revolves around rogue ex-members of Weapon X, who kill themselves rather than be captured.
This is just the introduction to a larger anti-mutant conspiracy inside the government, which is the focus of the second part of this short run. Before that big finale though, Bendis introduces some new mutants, like Angel and Dazzler. One issue is about a very dangerous mutant who involuntarily kills everybody in his town, Wolverine is sent to kill him in a very chilling finale. It’s a very quick read, so much that it felt like a short story (I had to cound the pages after I was done), but the end is very powerful.
Back to the conspiracy, a rogue group of high officials of the government believe that Xavier has mentally controlled the President into a pieceful reconciliation with mutants. Meanwhile Emma Frost is introduced as the leader of another group of mutants, a pacifist educator group that includes Havok, Polaris, and Beast. It’s fun to see another group of mutants who are not part of the Brotherhood or the X-Men. I like this version of Emma, a definite departure from 616. At the end Beast is a victim of the Sentinel attacks, which is a huge blow to both the X-Men and Emma’s group.
The art is handled by David Finch, who does a good job at flashy action. His style is reminiscent of the Image style, particularly Marc Silvestri. This is where Bendis and Finch started their collaboration that later went on to New Avengers.
Bendis managed to re-introduce many mutants into the Ultimate universe, and his successor actually picked up on them and integrated them into his run.