At last weekend's New York Comic Con, Marvel Comics confirmed that the Ultimate Universe will end next year. The publisher has since described it as a two-year story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, but it appears the decision still came as a surprise to writer Jonathan Hickman.
He's been the made architect of the Ultimate Universe, writing Ultimate Invasion, Ultimate Spider-Man, and more. In the wall-crawler's title, we've met a Peter Parker who is a husband and father; however, the end of this reality means that the clock is ticking on a version of the character who has been embraced by fans eager to see Spidey grow up.
Head of Marvel Comics and Franchise Dan Buckley has now shared Hickman's reaction to learning of Marvel Comics' plans. "We were at one of those creative retreats, and I was sitting next to him, we’re just talking, and he’s like, 'Well, we’re finishing our stories, then you could do that,'" he explained (via Popverse). "I said, 'No, you’re done.'"
"I was by myself with Jon, Jonathan’s looking at me, he goes, 'What do you mean we’re done?' I said, 'We’re shutting it down.' He goes, 'Why are we shutting it down?' I said, 'It’s the end, right?'"
Marvel Comics may be trolling us, but there's something to be said for ending the Ultimate Universe when the going is good rather than allowing it to become a convoluted mess like the original iteration (the line's final years were plagued by terrible events and gratuitous deaths).
Buckley added, "There’s a lot of story being told here. You’ll be able to take this journey — take the beginning, the middle, and the end — and digest it for years to come and be able to pass it on to people and say, 'This is the experiment, this type of storytelling, we’re allowed to do this.'"
"We’re not going to do this with the Marvel Universe," he clarified. "This is more about a group of creators getting together and saying, 'This is what I see as a story, we want to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.'"
Marvel's new Ultimate Universe began in June 2023 with Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Invasion. The Maker, a dark version of Reed Richards from the original Ultimate Universe, created a world without heroes. Despite his meticulous planning, heroes like Spider-Man and the Ultimates still rose to embrace their destinies—but the trajectory of their journeys was radically altered.
It's been said that, from the beginning, the Ultimate Universe was built with a predetermined endpoint: the Maker's return from captivity. The Maker's release kicks off Ultimate Endgame, a five-issue event series launching in December that brings this interconnected universe together for a climactic showdown.