We've known for a while that Ultimate Endgame is fast approaching, and as it turns out, that really will be the end of the new Ultimate Universe. Launched in 2023 with Jonathan Hickman at the helm, this alternate reality was created by the original Ultimate Reed Richards, The Maker.
He removed many of the superheroes' origins from the timeline, creating a twisted world that's since started fighting back against him with the emergence of Spider-Man, Captain America, and a version of Iron Man who seems to have more in common with Kang than Tony Stark.
The Maker has spent the past two years trapped inside Latveria, and when he finally emerges—2000 years later for the villain—all hell looks set to break loose.
At New York Comic Con yesterday, Marvel Comics confirmed that the Ultimate Universe will end in April 2026. The line, which features Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Wolverine, and The Ultimates, is a huge seller for Marvel Comics.
That makes this news somewhat surprising, though it has already been confirmed that Hickman and Marco Checchetto's Ultimate Spider-Man, for example, ends with December's issue #24.
Like DC Comics' Absolute line, the Ultimate titles are outselling the mainstream universe titles. With that in mind, we'd bet on an Ultimate Universe relaunch, which, following The Maker's final defeat, will obviously once again look vastly different.
Still, there's always a chance that this was only ever going to be a two-year project telling a self-contained story. If that happens, then perhaps we can expect another new Ultimate Universe to be created somewhere down the line.
Ultimate Spider-Man, in particular, has been a huge seller for Marvel Comics because it's allowed Peter Parker to grow up and have a wife and family. Would the publisher really abandon that? We find it hard to believe...
ENDGAME HAS ARRIVED!
The moment that has been building since the beginning of the new Ultimate Universe! Spinning out of Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s ULTIMATES comes the culmination of ULTIMATE INVASION... Two (thousand) years have passed in the Ultimate Universe, but inside the City, the Maker has had thousands of years to prepare for his return! With the barrier around the City finally gone, heroes all across the Ultimate Universe must mobilize to defeat the Maker before it’s game over. For everyone. Meanwhile, the rest of the world wages World War III...
ULTIMATE ENDGAME #1 (OF 5)
Written by DENIZ CAMP
Art by TERRY DODSON & JONAS SCHARF
Cover by MARK BROOKS
On Sale 12/31