Published Jun 19, 2026, 8:20 AM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for twenty 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!
It has been a bit of a long time coming, but the end of the Ultimate Universe is finally upon us, and the fact of the matter remains that, with an alternate universe storyline like this, there is truly no set ending in place for this universe, so Marvel can really go any direction it wants with this finale, making the final issue of Ultimate Endgame a major mystery.
CBR has an exclusive preview of the final issue of the series from writer Deniz Camp and artists Jonas Scharf and Terry Dodson, as the Maker has finally broken free from his prison of the last two years (well, two years in the Ultimate Universe. It was thousands of years inside the City where the Maker was trapped), and things look bleak for our heroes, but in a world where time itself is being ripped apart, is there a chance for a surprising victory?
ULTIMATE ENDGAME #5 (of 5)
Writer(s): DENIZ CAMP
Artist(s): TERRY DODSON & JONAS SCHARF
Cover Artist(s): MARK BROOKS, MARK BROOKS
HOMAGE VARIANT COVER BY STONEHOUSE
FORESHADOW VARIANT COVER BY TBA
ULTIMATE FINALE VARIANT COVER BY MARCOS MARTIN
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VARIANT COVER BY TERRY DODSON
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
THE END OF THE LINE!
The universe hangs by a thread as our weary heroes face their final, crushing challenge: the ultimate, cataclysmic showdown with The Maker!
Everything they have fought for, everything they believe in, will be tested in this pulse-pounding, oversized final issue.
There are no more retreats, no more second chances.
In the miniseries that started this Ultimate Universe, there was a mysterious figure known as Kang who was trying to attack the Maker from the future to no avail. In Ultimate Endgame #3, it was finally revealed that Kang was Tony Stark from the future. He arrived in his past/our present to make some vague statements about the battle with the Maker.
Now that the Maker has finally breached the City, bringing him into the greater universe, the Maker appears ready to tear apart this new world that he has built, but Tony Stark apparently has a plan from the future.
The trick, of course, is that we really don't know what that plan entails, and since Tony is so far detached from his past self, it appears that it is even hard for HIM to remember what the plan entails. However, at the end of the preview, when the Maker attacks the heroes, and is about to stab Iron Lad, SOMETHING cuts the Maker's tendrils off, and I guess we will just have to wait until Wednesday to see who has stepped up to take on the Maker.
All will be revealed in Ultimate Endgame #5, which is going to come out on the same day as Ultimate Finale #1, a wrap-up epilogue to the events of this epic miniseries.
English (US) · 