“He goes, ‘Why are we shutting it down?” remembered Marvel Comics president Dan Buckley
If the information that Marvel Comics is closing up the Ultimate Universe in April 2026 after simply over two years’ value of tales shocked followers when it was introduced at New York Comedian Con 2025, they will take some small quantity of solace from the proven fact that Ultimate Universe architect Jonathan Hickman wasn’t anticipating the resolution both — although he’s the one who got here up with the two-year timeline of the imprint in the first place.
Marvel introduced the shuttering of the Ultimate line initially at NYCC 2025’s retailer day, after which confirmed it three days later throughout its fan-facing Marvel Comics – Subsequent Huge Factor panel, the place Marvel Comics writer Dan Buckley shared Hickman’s preliminary response to discovering out that the line would finish with the ultimate problem of Ultimate Endgame in April 2026.
“We have been at a type of inventive retreats and I used to be sitting subsequent to him, we’re simply speaking, and he’s like, ‘Effectively, we’re ending our tales, then you may do this.’ I stated, ‘No, you’re performed,’” Buckley remembered. “I used to be on my own with Jon, Jonathan’s me, he goes, ‘What do you imply we’re performed?’ I stated, ‘We’re shutting it down.’ He goes, ‘Why are we shutting it down?’ I stated, ‘It’s the finish, proper?’”
For individuals who haven’t been following the Ultimate comics at Marvel, 2023’s Ultimate Invasion sequence by Hickman and Bryan Hitch arrange the particular timeline of the imprint by imprisoning the Maker — an alternate actuality Reed Richards who has manipulated the timeline of the Ultimate Universe — in a jail that may open in 24 months… which, as a result of the comics happen in actual time, coincides with the first problem of Ultimate Endgame, launching in December 2025.
Seems that, although Hickman had written a two-year-and-done storyline, he nonetheless didn’t suppose Marvel would cancel the line after it was performed. Buckley, nonetheless, felt that it was vital to achieve this.
“There’s lots of story being advised right here. You’ll have the opportunity to take this journey — take the starting, the center, and the finish — and digest it for years to come and have the opportunity to cross it on to individuals and say, ‘That is the experiment, this sort of storytelling, we’re allowed to do that,’” Buckley defined, arguing that permitting this incarnation of the Ultimate Universe to stand other than something earlier than or after was vital as a press release of inventive intent.
“We’re not going to do that with the Marvel Universe,” he clarified. “That is extra a few group of creators getting collectively and saying, ‘That is what I see as a narrative, we would like to have a starting, a center, and an finish.’”
Ultimate Endgame launches December 31, 2025. The Ultimate line closes with April 2026’s Ultimate Endgame #5.
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