Published Feb 12, 2026, 11:51 PM EST
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
After debuting in January 2024, Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto's acclaimed run on Ultimate Spider-Man has become the most popular book in the Ultimate line of comics (and the whole line has been very successful). So everyone was shocked when Marvel announced that the line would be ending in 2026, and Hickman's run on Ultimate Spider-Man is ending with its 24th issue.
I talked with Hickman about the ending, about whether it would stand up a "complete ending" for a reader coming to the series in the future, and he explained
Very much so. Very much so. I mean, it doesn't end in the way that everything ends and there are a bunch of funerals and stuff like that. But thematically, it is a complete thought.
Well, now, after a bit of a delay (the isssue is set before Ultimate Endgame #1, but it is coming out after Ultimate Endgame #2), the isssue is finally out next week, and CBR has an exclusive preview of Ultimate Spider-Man #24, by writer Jonathan Hickman, BOTH artists on the series, Marco Checchetto and David Messina, regular colorist Matthew Wilson, and regular letterer Cory Petit. See the first glimpse of the final issue of the series!
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #24
Writer(s): Jonathan Hickman
Artist(s): Marco Checchetto
Cover Artist(s): Marco Checchetto
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY TBA
HEROES VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VILLAINS VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ULTIMATE FINALE VARIANT COVER BY TBA
40 PGS./Rated T …$5.99
THE END OF THE LINE!
This is it, folks — the last you’ll see of Spidey and his Ultimate friends by Jonathan Hickman & Marco Checchetto!
That’s all we can tell you!
In the preview pages, we open with a look at Felicia Hardy and Richard Parker dealing with some dangerous stuff (while Green Goblin also deals with his own issues), and we see Spider-Man seemingly ready to take on Mister Negative and Kingpin.
However, Mister Negative is seemingly in control of Spider-Man, and he actually asks if Kingpin wants Negative to remove his control of Spider-Man before Kingpin attacks him to give Spider-Man a fighting chance, but Kingpin turns it down, as he doesn't care what state Spider-Man is in, he just wants to end his threat now.
Spider-Man, though, then shocks the two by revealing that he is no longer under Mister Negative's control. He is ordered not to fight, and he jokingly says he WON'T fight, as he instead webs Mister Negative, and pulls him right into Kingpin's punch at Spider-Man (as it isn't him "fighting," after all).
So Negative is now out of commission, but Kingpin is ready (and remember, Kingpin had previously destroyed Spider-Man AND Green Goblin in a fight earlier in the series), and that is where the preview pages end, with the two about to brawl.
To see what happens next, you'll have to pick up a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man #24 next week!
Source: Marvel
English (US) · 