Marvel has announced Ultimate Universe: The End, a new event that will hit store shelves in summer 2015.
Marvel’s Ultimate universe has never been quite the success the famous publisher hoped it would be. While it produced several series that would win fans over, many were left less than enthused by its interpretation of the company’s classic characters and events. In turn, the years since its inception have played host to numerous story arcs, deaths and universe shake-ups aimed at revitalizing it and keeping audiences interested. Some of these worked better than others.
That being the case, a new teaser image released by Marvel may indicate that another event (as if there weren’t enough that year already) is on the way for summer 2015 and, if its title is any indicator, this could be the last one. The image apparently comes from a new book entitled Ultimate Universe: The End. The cover itself doesn’t reveal very much; containing little more than a group shot of the universe’s current cast looking shock and scared at something we’re assuming to be horrible.
We can, of course, only speculate as to what said horror might be, but the event’s title would seem to indicate that it’s something big and potentially world killing. Couple this with the fact that there are only a small handful (if you can even call it that) of Ultimate universe books still left running and there’s a good case to be for this event being the straw that finally breaks the franchise’s back.
Just speaking personally, if this winds up being the case I’ll be more than a little sad. Despite the numerous ups and downs the Ultimate line has experience, it still served as an easy jumping off point for many readers (myself included) to get into comic books. For all its problems there are still a lot of characters I enjoy and will miss. Then again, if they can bring it to a decent, positive close, I could see myself being happy with that as well.
