Marvel Seems Serious About Ending the Ultimate Universe in 2026 | NYCC 2025

Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe line has proven to be a huge success for the publisher, particularly Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto’s Ultimate Spider-Man, which routinely outsells the flagship The Amazing Spider-Man series. But despite that, Marvel is showing every intention of actually ending the Ultimate line in 2026.

That was one of the big takeaways from Marvel’s “Next Big Thing” panel at NYCC this weekend. With Ultimate Endgame kicking off in December and marking the climax of the ongoing storyline involving The Maker, this popular imprint really is about to wrap up. No relaunches or reboots here.

Marvel already revealed that Hickman and Checchetto would be ending their Ultimate Spider-Man run with issue #24 in December. But now they confirmed that all the ongoing Ultimate comics will wrap up between December and April 2026. That includes Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s The Ultimates, which won IGN’s Best Comic Book Series or Original Graphic Novel of 2024.

“It’s hard to talk about without getting emotional,” said Camp in Marvel’s press release. “It really is the culmination of everything Jonathan began. Everything from my book and everyone else’s book are all converging. It’s gonna be definitive, it’s going to be big, it’s going to be emotional, there’s going to be death…it’s just wild.”

“You’ll be able to take this journey—the beginning, middle, and end—and digest it for years to come and pass it on to others,” Head of Marvel Comics and Franchise Dan Buckley added.

In less depressing news, Marvel also revealed a new monthly Iron Man series at the panel. The book will be written by Joshua Williamson (Superman) and illustrated by Carmen Carnero (Exceptional X-Men).

Here’s Marvel’s logline for the new series:

The unapologetic Iron Man is a once-in-a-lifetime hero – but the beating heart behind the armor is a once-in-a-century genius. Years ago, Tony Stark was knocking on death’s door, so he created the Iron Man armor to survive! What happens the next time death comes calling? What weapon does he create then? What if…someone else creates it first? These questions have haunted Tony for years, a ticking time bomb inside of him waiting to explode. Femme fatale Madame Masque has also asked these questions, and with the power of Advanced Idea Mechanics behind her…she’s ready to create the next great weapon.

Look for Iron Man #1 to hit stores on January 28, 2026.

In other NYCC news, Batman: Knightfall is getting an animated movie adaptation, and DC is reviving an infamous canceled Swamp Thing comic.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.