In a shocker to probably nobody, after months of promising that the delayed Ultimate Endgame #5 and post-script Ultimate Universe: Finale would be the absolute end of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, the final page of the Finale issue — and spoilers past this point — reveals the text “the Ultimate Universe will return.” Surprise?
The news of the Ultimate Universe ending was first announced last October at New York Comic Con’s retailer day, and later officially confirmed by the publisher. And while the original plan was to wrap up series Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Black Panther and The Ultimates at 24 issues, and Ultimate Wolverine at 16, that spun out into the five-issue Ultimate Endgame crossover, as well as the Finale issue. That latter was ostensibly announced as a way for the main creative teams on the titles to provide a coda for their series, a way of saying a fond goodbye to the universe. And the goal in ending the universe at all was — laudably — for Marvel to have a story with a beginning, middle, and end to sell on bookshelves for years to come.
Except that’s not what happens in today’s issues. At all. Ultimate Endgame #5 (in short) does end the fight against evil Reed Richards, The Maker, with the villain trying to “unmake” the universe and the heroes ultimately (pun intended) becoming triumphant. In fact, Doom — another version of Reed Richards — uses his last dying breath to make one change to the universe, to bring back Spider-Man, who died in Ultimate Endgame #3. Why? Unclear, as the two didn’t really spend a lot of time together… At least it’s unclear until you read Finale, and then only makes sense from a publishing perspective.
In Finale, we do get those short tales, but all of them seem like new starts or open-ended vignettes. The Spider-Man one finds Peter Parker finally embracing being the quippy Spider-Man we know and love, with the complications of a family who shares symbiote suits. The Black Panther story wraps up a dangling plot from the main series while amping up the romance and teasing a new status quo for T’Challa. The X-Men story does… Something, I’m not sure what, but that Peach Momoko art is very nice. The Wolverine story at least provides a post-script, tying up the relationship between Logan and Victor Creed with a cheeky nod to their birthday traditions from the main universe.
Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s Ultimates story does the best job of providing closure, pointing to how the whole world is aligned after stopping The Maker and his council, though fighting fascism is a lifelong pursuit. At least, until it does not provide closure, by setting up other status quos for Japan, the Hellfire Club, and most notably the real Doctor Doom, who has been hiding out in Latveria this whole time and has the goopy remains of The Maker in a vial. That’s when we get hit with the “Ultimate Universe will return” page at the very end.
…Which, not to go too over the top, but: boooooo. Yes, of course it’s going to return. We’re not dumb. It was a best-selling line and the resounding reaction to Marvel’s announcement last year was “yeah, right.” But doubling down on the ending of the line for months at this point only to pull the rug out at the end feels like a great way to erode trust in the publisher. Colloquially, this is what we call “lying.”
I’m also not naive enough to think that comics — superhero comics in particular — isn’t about the forever story, the constant fight against evil, and that’s what Camp drives home in his section of Finale in particular. But what is presented in these “final” two issues isn’t an ending at all, it’s a setup for a new status quo for the universe. It’s not an ending that will be satisfying to read decades from now on a bookshelf, because it’s not an ending. In fact, with the exception of Ultimate Spider-Man, none of the titles wrapped up in their allotted issues, but instead ended hastily to make way for Ultimate Endgame.
Did dozens of writers, artists, editors, and other craftspeople work on these books, providing stand-out reading experiences for two years? Yes. Did this line absolutely trip, stumble, and then thrust its hands in the air incongruously like a winner in the final months? That too, unfortunately, and any return for the Ultimate Universe in the future will likely be greeted by more grousing rather than the rapturous applause it could have brought if they did actually stick the landing.
As is, yes, the Ultimate Universe will return at some point. Will it be a continuation of the full line? A series of specials? Maybe some sort of “Secret Wars 3” at the end of the year to tie into Avengers: Doomsday? It honestly could be anything. But one wonders if the readers will ultimately care when it does.
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