Home Columns Classic Comic Compendium Classic Comic Compendium: ULTIMATE END was a swan song for the original...

Classic Comic Compendium: ULTIMATE END was a swan song for the original Ultimate Universe

A satisfying wrap on the original Ultimate Universe experiment.

05/19/2025 11:00 am

For those of you keeping score, there had already been three major endings in the Ultimate universe.

Ultimatum, Doomsday, and Cataclysm. Arguably four if you include The Death of Spider-Man. And a number of more smaller mini-endings in the individual series themselves like “Disassembled”, “World War X”, “Divided We Fall”, and pretty much the entirety of Jonathan Hickman’s run on The Ultimates. You can probably find a few more if you wanted. If anything, the Ultimate universe was definitely good at delivering levels of destruction and death that are often unheard of in the mainline 616.

And then picking itself up after, shuffling the status quo, and carrying on with new directions. I mean, they got along without New Jersey, much of Western Europe, and a wasteland made out of the southwestern United States. Then Secret Wars happened and everything was over.

“There is no other way this could end.”

Ultimate End by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Scott Hanna, Andrew Hennessy, Justin Ponsor, and VC’s Cory Petit is a swan song for the Ultimate Universe. In a rather crowded NYC, versions of both the main and Ultimate universe heroes try to coexist while working to solve a problem with a dimensional rift, stop a battle between Hulks, and deal with a Punisher who has decided to just kill everyone. All while Tony Stark argues with himself.

As I said about Cataclysm, I think it’s fitting that the end comes at the hands of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. Though the Ultimate universe technically ended in Secret Wars proper and you can well argue that this Battleworld domain is a simulacrum (of both 616 and 1610 universe people), it’s still a kind of tribute to the old universe. Which is why you apparently get Frank Castle and Steve Rogers back from the dead, but it’s full of old standbys like Parker angst, trademark Bendis back and forth dialogue, and a gigantic Hulk fight. It’s fun, even if it really doesn’t give any continuation or conclusion to anything from the last few Ultimate titles.

That goes for character designs and costumes too, as many seem to have reverted to older forms, though it doesn’t take away from Mark Bagley’s artwork. For as busy as the series is with multiple characters, he keeps things flowing nicely. The action sequences are absolutely top notch and there’s some interesting framing in the Punisher’s sniping scenes and of the various Hulk fights. With solid inks from both Hanna and Hennessy, keeping Bagley’s lines smooth and giving the shading a nice texture. Wonderful colour art from Justin Ponsor. And a nice mix of mixed case and all caps lettering from Cory Petit to differentiate characters from the different universes. Especially useful when telling apart two Punishers.

“I’m sure we can get back to halfheartedly beating the hell out of each other afterwards.”

While it might not tie everything up from the universe in a bow, Ultimate End from Bendis, Bagley, Hanna, Hennessy, Ponsor, and Petit does bring a conclusion to the original Ultimate experiment. I think it satisfyingly replicates a fair amount of the themes and feel from across the line’s history while working within the broader framework of the Secret Wars event. There hand been many ends before, but this time it wasn’t going to pick itself up back up immediately after.

Instead, it serves as the vehicle to bring Mile Morales into the slightly rejiggered main universe. Emphasizing his importance. And how the universe has changed following the series.