the plot: Giving a presentation to his fellow classmates at Midtown High, Peter Parker recaps the origins of Tony Stark, better known as the armored hero Iron Man, from his humble beginnings to launch into stardom as a child prodegy, to founder of his own company Stark Industries to his eight month kidnapping in Guatemala and finally his emergence as Iron Man. For his interest in Tony Stark, Peter has been selected to represent his school at an United Nations science expo. Meanwhile, Tony Stark himself is turning down an offer by a Latverian dipolomat, Mr. Golog, to sell his IronTech Technology, which Stark turns down. After an exchange of words, Golog leaves, but not empty handed, since Stark tosses him one of his Iron Man action figures. Golog leaves, annoyed.

After Golog leaves, Stark has a few words wtih his second in command Jim Rhodes, until Tony begins to experience pain in his hand. Jim offers to call a doctor but Stark says no. Jim leaves, but tells Tony he's getting a doctor. Meanwhile, Spidey webslings to the science expo, and puts on his civilian clothes to go in. Peter's surprised when he goes in though to see all of the technology around him, and a live Iron Man show. The show is cut short though when Mandroids attack the expo, and it's only through the timely intervention of Iron Man himself that he saves the day. Iron Man is quickly subdued though, and his suit rendered inoperational. Will Peter be able to save the day and Iron Man in time?

the review: Unlike the earlier issues of this title, this is one for both old and new fans alike. Issues one through three were apparently aimed for newer fans with more action and less exposition, but here we're given the whole origin of the ultimate Iron Man and as different as it is, it works. I'm sure there's some long time fans out there who'll really hate this new take on Iron Man, but I really like it. It makes sense in this new age we live in, that Iron Man may be treated as a celebrity, and that Tony Stark may not keep a secret identity. The bit about I.M. 1, starring Tom Cruise was nice too.

It was also great to get a full origin for the new Iron Man too. As different as it was, I think it worked in this new universe. The cogs were all there and aside from Spider-Man it was probably the best intro/origin we've seen so far in the ultimate world in my opinion. And how great was the Mike Allred artwork? Being a big fan of his work, I thought it was great. The many different Iron Man armors were fun too. This was a great book and the best Ultimate Marvel Team-Up yet. I strongly recommend this issue.

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4 gets ****1/2 out of *****

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