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If the news that Marvel Comics is closing up the Ultimate Universe in April 2026 after just over two years’ worth of stories surprised fans when it was announced at New York Comic Con 2025, they can take some small amount of solace from the fact that Ultimate Universe architect Jonathan Hickman wasn’t expecting the decision either — even though he’s the one who came up with the two-year timeline of the imprint in the first place.

Marvel announced the shuttering of the Ultimate line initially at NYCC 2025’s retailer day, and then confirmed it three days later during its fan-facing Marvel Comics - Next Big Thing panel, where Marvel Comics publisher Dan Buckley shared Hickman’s initial reaction to finding out that the line would end with the final issue of Ultimate Endgame in April 2026.

“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.’ I said, ‘No, you’re done,’” Buckley remembered. “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?’”

For those who haven’t been following the Ultimate comics at Marvel, 2023’s Ultimate Invasion series by Hickman and Bryan Hitch set up the specific timeline of the imprint by imprisoning the Maker — an alternate reality Reed Richards who has manipulated the timeline of the Ultimate Universe — in a prison that would open in 24 months… which, because the comics take place in real time, coincides with the first issue of Ultimate Endgame, launching in December 2025.

Turns out that, even though Hickman had written a two-year-and-done storyline, he still didn’t think Marvel would cancel the line after it was done. Buckley, however, felt that it was important to do so.

“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,’” Buckley explained, arguing that allowing this incarnation of the Ultimate Universe to stand apart from anything before or after was important as a statement of creative intent.

“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.’”

Ultimate Endgame launches December 31, 2025. The Ultimate line closes with April 2026’s Ultimate Endgame #5.

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.