When Marvel announced the end of Ultimate Spider-Man at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, fans were surprised but not overly concerned. After all, there are other titles in the Ultimate Universe. But at New York Comic Con, Marvel dropped another bombshell: The Ultimate Universe is completely coming to an end. Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski even doubled down, asserting that they’re not lying about it really being the end. Writer Deniz Camp, whose Ultimate Endgame event kicks off in December, even told ComicBook that this is really, really, the end.
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But while some fans have questioned the end of the Ultimate Universe, both wondering if it’s the right move for what are arguably some of Marvel’s best books right now, and wondering if this is really some fake-out from the publisher, the reality is that this may well be the end of the line for the Ultimate Universe after two years. And if that is the case, it’s not a bad thing at all. It’s actually the right decision, and the reason why might surprise you.
Good Stories Should Have Endings — Including the Ultimate Universe
One of the major pitfalls that occurs when a story or concept is popular is that there is an inclination to keep pushing it forward. There are financial reasons for that: If something sells, why wouldn’t you want to keep that going? But the problem is that the longer something goes on, the more likely the quality will slip. Maybe it’s a matter of the story just getting thin, or maybe it’s a matter of things just no longer really clicking the way they did at the beginning. Whatever the case, stories that keep going on without a firm end tend to come apart – a sort of narrative overstaying of the welcome. In the process, the overall product is brought down.
By ending a story in a place that makes sense and that is definitive, it not only elevates the overall experience but also enhances the story. By ending the Ultimate Universe, Marvel is ensuring that it remains a good story that readers can come back to, but also preserves it. This means that the Ultimate Universe will get to live on as a must-read comic for fans, as it will never suffer a dip in quality or storytelling. It exists as a finite thing with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It also means that because there is a firm ending, new stories and ideas can be built off of that later without having to figure out ways to incorporate them into a never-ending living continuity.
And there’s precedence for wanting to end something in a way that preserves it. The current Ultimate Universe is not the first one. Back in 2000, Marvel had another Ultimate Universe that started out strong, but after continuing for several years, things just fell apart. The quality of the line dipped, the story got thin, and the old Ultimate Universe isn’t necessarily looked upon positively today. Giving the current Ultimate Universe a true ending now prevents that from happening again.
Comics Rarely Definitively End Anything & That Makes the Ultimate Universe Special
There’s also something to be said for how unusual it is for anything in comics to truly end. Back to the idea of pushing something to keep going once it ends up being successful and popular, when something takes off in comics, it tends to stick around forever. Runs get extended, stories keep getting reinvented, and even things that arguably “ended” years before finding themselves getting follow-ups and sequels that keep pushing things along. By truly ending the existing Ultimate Universe, Marvel is somewhat breaking new ground. The universe is going out on top, on its own terms, and will be a fully realized story.
That isn’t to say that there won’t be impacts felt across Marvel. Cebulski even previously said that the Ultimate Universe and the main Marvel Universe will start to align, and Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion saw Miles Morales take something from the Ultimate Universe back into the main universe, which was later teased to show up again in 2026. It’s pretty clear the impact of the Ultimate Universe is not going away anytime soon, but it will just be influence, much in the same way any big event has long reach and influence on comics.
It’s also worth noting that Camp himself has shared some of these sentiments. On social media, he explained that the Ultimate Universe really is ending because it’s coming to a natural conclusion, something that makes it a little unique and very accessible.
“They felt that they had something special with the universe as it was, consistent creative visions that told their stories and had a clear beginning, middle, and end,” he wrote. “An accessible, creator-forward reimagination of the Marvel Universe. A version of the neverendingstory that ended.”
He added, “And this — really, truly ending the universe on a high note, having it be this contained thing, giving a story an END — that’s radical for big 2 comics! It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, has never been done on this scale by Marvel or DC. That is exciting to me.”
It should be exciting for readers, too.
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