At New York Comic Con, Marvel Comics confirmed that the Ultimate Universe will end next year with the Ultimate Endgame event. While fans initially rolled their eyes and braced themselves for another relaunch, it has since been confirmed that this is it for the popular line.
Marvel Comics President Dan Buckley recently reflected on breaking the news to Ultimate Spider-Man scribe Jonathan Hickman, suggesting it came as a surprise to the architect behind this universe (and the writer responsible for introducing a Peter Parker who has finally grown up).
The publisher reportedly decided to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, though many fans are convinced that Hickman somehow had the rug pulled out from under him. Now, Ultimates writer Deniz Camp has taken to social media (via Bleeding Cool) to clear things up.
"It's not fake news, but it's a sensationalistic headline that misses a lot of the nuance," he shared. "It implies people are getting pushed out, which I don't think is the case (from everything I've heard/everyone I've talked to). [Hickman] just didn't think Marvel would be bold enough to do this. [He's] very supportive of, and excited for, this, I know that for sure."
Camp added, "It's true that the original plan was not to 'end' the universe. A lot of my run is setting up characters I hoped would go on past me. I think I've made that clear and obvious. BUT. John was ending his run at 24; that was always the case. He was done. Peach [Momoko] and Bryan [Edward Hill] were both ending their stories when the Maker got out as well. That was their decision."
Explaining that the idea was for each title to only run for 24 issues, he said Ultimate Wolverine was planned as a 12-parter but got extended to 16. Even with that, Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Ultimate X-Men wrapping up, Camp confirmed that he hoped to continue writing Ultimates.
"Ultimates would have continued and new books launched (I was pushing for Hawkeye, Guardians was discussed, etc). This was all very vague. But then, Wil Moss came to me and said, 'Hey, I think we're going to end it. End it end it,'" the writer explained. "This was a long time ago, at least a year before now, I think, but I'd have to check."
"Not because the books are 'too woke' (if it were that, they'd interfere with the writing of it, which they haven't) or because the main line is jealous (this is silly, money is money to them), but because everything seemed to be coming to a natural conclusion."
It's not the worst idea in the world to end the Ultimate Universe while the going is good. The original line suffered from dragging on for far too long and ended up relying on shocking, largely unpopular events to keep readers interested. By the time Earth 1610 ended, it came as more of a relief than anything else.
Marvel Comics will likely revisit the Ultimate Universe somewhere down the line, albeit in a different form (especially as DC Comics' Absolute Universe line is doing big sales numbers).
Stay tuned for updates on the Ultimate Universe and Ultimate Endgame as we have them.