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Marvel’s Ultimate Universe nearly had another name - or one of 40 other names, per the company’s president
Marvel Comics’ breakout hit revival of the Ultimate Universe was nearly not the Ultimate Universe because the name made Dan Buckley “really nervous.”
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There has been plenty of excitement around Marvel Comics' Ultimates line, and recently, that excitement turned into anguish when it was announced that the line will be ending in 2026. Marvel's Ultimates line has been a success both critically and commercially, with fans on board for creator-driven interpretations of Marvel characters in their own continuity. It also doesn't hurt that the book at the center of it all, The Ultimates, is written by one of the brightest stars in comics right now, Deniz Camp. The announcement of the line's end has had fans reeling and making some pretty stellar memes.
During New York Comic Con 2025's Marvel Comics - Next Big Thing panel, Marvel Entertainment President Dan Buckley spoke of happier times for the Ultimates line, particularly Jonathan Hickman's pitch for it.
“I was wowed by the pitch — I’ll be quite frank, I was really nervous about calling this the Ultimates" Buckley said. "We spent a lot of time playing with a bunch of different names, and then I drove everyone crazy and said, ‘Oh, let’s just go with the Ultimates’ after I had people do about 40 different names because I wanted to make sure people understood. I felt the contemporization in this unique tale of Marvel in a way that you can jump in and jump out, I felt it deserved the name."
As we already know, Donny Cates was originally slated to write Ultimate Spider-Man. But Jonathan Hickman was brought in after Cates stepped away from Marvel (and comics as a whole) for personal reasons, and then re-pitched Ultimate Spider-Man and a larger Ultimate line, the latter of which is what Buckley is referring to here.
The question here is, would Marvel's newest Ultimates line have had the same success if it had chosen a different name? After all, Marvel is a company notorious for recycling names for events. Just look at the two different Secret Wars, two different Secret Invasions (why are there so many secrets?), two different Infinity Watch series, you get where I'm going with this. We can only hope that, as the Ultimate line approaches its conclusion in April 2026, Marvel thinks about sharing some of the un-used names publicly.
Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.
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