The Age of Ultron is a curious foray into the character of Ultron, a nigh indestructible artificial intelligence. Purportedly created by the wildly unpopular Hank Pym, Ultron is the ultimate threat against mankind. In this ten-issue story arc by Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Hitch (duo genios) Ultron has literally landed all across the world. He has erected cities over the megalopolises of man, and infiltrates the air, ground, and water with his drones.

Its introduction is so sudden it leaves you wondering what you missed. That's exactly the goal. Stunned, complete and utter shock at the devastation wrought upon the Marvel universe. You will to feel like you can't believe what's happened, and the suddenness of it. Look! Over there in Central Park (what's left of it), it's the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Is that the Black Widow? What happened to her face? And the Cap, parked in a corner, the shattered remnants of his shield all around him? Who's dead? . . . Wow.

I can't believe what's happened, but I'm having trouble buying it. There was little to no lead up to what should have been the armageddon of the Marvel Universe. We cannot be surprised that has happened. If the universe suffered such an upheaval, the publisher would have to drop several titles until it was time to bring the characters back from the dead.

Hey. Never kill your assets. Heroes drive revenue. And comics is a business, albeit a business of deep creativity, and art.

However there is a need to explore the what ifs. And what better way to tell them than to give them the old Bendis tweak. The Age of Ultron combines modern Marvel, with classic Marvel themes. Hitch even turns to a classic comics style when he illustrates the scene in the past. Wolverine then provides us with a long anticipated kill – ending the life of one of the most controversial figures in Marvel history. And all in the name of stopping the genocide of Ultron, righting the wrongs, saving the world . . . what have you.

The interesting thing is that Ultron is not in the present. Ultron lives in, as we get to see, a celestial paradise of a robotic city in the future. We can see that Hitch poured his passion into the illustrations. I scanned them with a delicate eye on the digital comic, and he communicated it well.

With the release of the seventh book we now have our alternate future. The Kree/Skrull war has devastated the Savage Land, Skrulls are everywhere, heroes in halves – half-damaged, half-normal – severely different relationships (think the Wasp and a one-eyed Scott Summers), two Wolverines, and Tony Stark rules the world? I have to give a nod to Bendis for trying the old twisted Marvel alternative timelines venture, but I don't have to like it. Part of what took us into the new Marvel era was a more literary story-telling, not the hokey comic stories of the 80's and 90's.

This story definitely belongs in Marvel's What If series. Remember that one? What if Ultron attacked? How soon would he win? Who would die? What would the world be like? As a result of this story, what would we learn about Ultron? How would the heroes stop him?

Let us just assume that book 7 is absolutely imperative to the story, and not a campy restructuring of a previously solid universe. And let us also hope that Marvel either commits to the dramatic, and deadly changes to their universe, or they accept that The Age of Ultron takes place on a separate timeline.