Marvel Officially Ends Its Ultimate Universe in 2026

Ultimate Spider-Man ends officially with its 24th issue, with Ultimate Black Panther ending in January 2026, Ultimate X-Men wrapping up in February 2026, and The Ultimates ending in April 2026. Ultimate Wolverine will also end with April’s issue 16, and the whole thing will conclude with April’s Ultimate Endgame #5. After the release of the April titles, Marvel’s EIC C.B. Cebulski confirms that’s it for the line, strong sales or not. He even said, “You think we’re lying, but we’re not.” However, he confirmed that elements from the Ultimate Universe, which actually progressed in real time, will bleed over into the 616 Marvel Universe. What those elements are remains a mystery.

Apparently, the reason for the line’s end is that architect Jonathan Hickman put it in his contract that the line would end when he wrapped the story up. This is in stark contrast to his previous big Marvel work, the Krakoan era of X-Men comics. That was also supposed to end when he left the X-Men franchise. However, Marvel decided to continue for several more years, some believe to diminishing returns. The original Ultimate Comics line was a huge seller for Marvel, but it went on way past its natural endpoint. So maybe Marvel is hoping to avoid that this time.

In Hickman’s Ultimate reimagining, this new reality was created by the Reed Richards of the 2000s Ultimate universe, aka the villainous Maker. After removing many of the superheroes’ origins from the timeline, he took control as the Imperator. While Marvel’s modern revamp of its characters may be ending, DC’s Absolute line is still going strong. And it shows no signs of slowing down. DC President Jim Lee has committed to keeping that alternate universe of Batman, Superman, and the rest going. So while Marvel’s alternate universe line may be ending, comic book fans still have DC at least.