September 2023. That was where this all started. Hickman laid the bricks with Ultimate Invasion and the promise of an entirely new world order where there was only one constant: The Maker was supreme. Flash forward to December 31, 2025; we are at the end of it all. With the Ultimate Marvel universe finally approaching its predestined climax, Ultimate Endgame #1 sets the ball rolling with the highest of expectations.
Both our heroes and readers wait with bated breath as the two years since The City was locked down are now finally up. What awaits them now? Can all the best-laid plans of mice and Iron Men be enough to face the immutable power of the Maker? Issue #1 is here to answer some of those questions, while also reminding us that to expect anything is to set yourself up for even greater surprises or crushing disappointments.
The End Begins
Minor Spoilers Ahead…
Issue #1 begins right on the edge of a knife with Tony Stark gathering heroes for their final assault on The City. With the two-year window set to finally end, it is all down to the wire to finally put an end to the reign of the Maker once and for all. On the one hand, the Ultimates have made exceptional strides in stirring up rebellion against the Council of the Maker across the world. On the other hand, the endeavors of Tony Stark to return power to heroes such as Spider-Man have borne fruit in bringing much-needed order back to the world that was disfigured by the machinations of the Maker.
Everything seems to be going well, perhaps a little too well at first, with the Ultimates winning on multiple fronts while Tony and his elite team of heroes prepare to face the final reckoning. Once The City becomes open for the heroes, they are met with opposition they could never predict. There is no sign of the Maker himself, and The City closes them in. This cuts Stark off from the Ultimates around the globe and allows the Council of the Maker to counterattack to a brutal degree. The heroes find themselves trapped in a seemingly abandoned dark city where they are overwhelmed by the Children of Tomorrow.
Just as everything seems lost once again, who should appear to save the day but Death’s Head? You heard that right. Death’s Head, a whole bunch of Deathloks, and some quick thinking save our heroes and take them to the only person seemingly on their side: Immortus. As Tony comes to grips with the fact that all his plans have been for nothing, and that Immortus is someone he thought long lost, more revelations come to the front about what the Maker has actually been up to all these years. You had better believe that his new form is going to put any Contra boss to shame.
A Story About Hope – And How the Maker Murdered It
The rockstar run of Deniz Camp on The Ultimates over these last two years has honestly felt like it was building up to this moment. While Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion was a notable hiccup that genuinely added nothing to the story of the Ultimate Universe, Camp chooses to move beyond that one blip on his radar to put our heroes right in the thick of things. For nearly two years, Camp has given Iron Lad and the Ultimates an unerring feeling of hope and certainty in their grand arching plans. They have tasted failure, certainly. They have faced defeat and been humbled. However, they have always stood back up, and it is that grit and determination that has led them to this moment of triumph. As the clock strikes midnight and The City seems ready to reopen, Camp takes all of that hope and crushes it in seconds. That is what centers this first issue so well: the death of hope.
The opening prologue with The Maker massacring the Eternals in their very home upon his arrival in the Ultimate Universe sets the tone of what is to come. It is grotesque, it is horrific, and most of all, it is necessary. The goals of the Maker have never been clearer than in these two pages. Even though this is the most we see of him in this entire issue, it really does put the big reveal into context later on at the end of the issue. This is made all the more poignant when you consider how heroes like Spider-Man, who are fighting for their families and their own personal worlds, are righteous in their goals but utterly in over their heads.
On the one hand, Spidey thanks Tony and the AI of his spider-suit for taking the onus of protecting his son Richard from tagging along on a seemingly world-ending mission. On the other hand, you get the sense that Peter is not fully sure about him being part of this either. Deniz writes this quite effectively, showcasing how the sense of responsibility of Peter once again wins out over his misgivings. Whether that is the better or worse choice is left to readers to decide. It is a great little character moment that also marks out the rest of the themes of the book. While Tony and Doom have hope, and their seeming success with the Ultimates is bearing fruit, there is this inevitable underlying dread at the back of the minds of everyone that not everything is going as it seems. You are literally waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when it does, those are big shoes that hit the floor.
From the minute Tony and his team are cut off from the rest of the world by The City, Camp turns the dial hard from "Hope" to "NOPE." The Council of the Maker goes scorched earth on the teams of Tony across the world. They destroy the Triskelion Satellite in space, and the team itself finds themselves overwhelmed and nearly decimated by the Children of Tomorrow. Even all of the weapons of the team prove useless against these foes, proving that while Tony may have thought he had everything planned out, the Maker clearly had his own time to think about things as well. So, it is a little wild when, of all things, the entity that pulls the heroes out of the fire is Death’s Head. This is the Ultimate version of Death’s Head, the cybernetic, time-traveling, and dimensional-traveling fan-favorite bounty hunter.
In a genuinely unexpected turn, Camp brings a heaping dose of wacky, deadpan humor to the fray, but it never feels unnatural, as it is more gallows humor than anything else. Sure, this does almost overstretch into annoying territory when Tony and his companions are taken to Immortus himself, with the humor straying a little too close to the groan-inducing territory of the MCU. Luckily enough, Camp ends the issue before it overstays its welcome, with the biggest revelation of all being that the Maker spent all these years becoming a massive SimCity fan. This is meant in more literal ways than you can imagine, so make of that what you will. It is a genuinely unexpected reveal, one that I personally loved, and it is certain to split the opinions of readers after such a long wait. Love it or hate it, though, it is hard to dismiss the twists and turns of Camp with this first issue. For the most part, they have hit the mark exceptionally well.
The World as You Know it Unfolds Before Your Eyes
There are two very distinct art styles at play in Ultimate Endgame #1, with both serving their purpose. The two-page prologue art, featuring linework by Jonas Scharf and colors by Edgar Delgado, is short but utterly brutal as a context setter. The slaughter of the Eternals and their city by the Maker is drawn to make your gut churn and your mind feel nervous. It is a true twilight of the gods, appearing almost Kirbyesque in its colors and composition, yet it is a vision that has been perverted by the sheer evil of the Maker.
A once idyllic heavenly home has been perverted and poisoned by the Maker. As the two pages show the body of the Maker shifting and twisting with glee, you get a sense of just how horrific it all is from the visual language alone. It is body horror of a different kind, especially when both the Maker and his victims contort at unnatural angles. The colorful retro backgrounds contrast sharply with the brutality unfolding on the panels. It is genuinely gnarly stuff, and I am here for all of it.
The majority of the book does not slouch either, with Terry and Rachel Dodson on art. While some of the facial expressions they present throughout their pages are a little inconsistent, with overly exaggerated features here and there, the bulk of their line work is excellent, especially in larger action scenes. You get a real sense of the collective action of these Ultimates teams across the globe, or the foreboding might of The City. The art reflects every moment and story beat perfectly.
There is definitely a tone of brutality that is captured effectively throughout. The darkened streets of The City suddenly crawl with the Children of Tomorrow, who are on the attack as if they were some kind of twisted white blood cells protecting the greater body. This serves as a clever hint for the big reveal at the end. Even the appearance of Death’s Head and the return of some color to the panels are all done beautifully by colorist Federico Blee. Overall, it is a great art offering that brings so much to the script of Camp, even if there are visual hiccups here and there that do end up marring an otherwise perfect book. This is especially true if you contrast the art from the prologue with that of the primary storyline.
The Ultimate End, Yes?
Ultimate Endgame #1 really is the beginning of the end in so many ways. For fans, it is a swan song that has just started its first verse. There is so much hope, pain, expectation, and revelation. For some, the hype might not match up with what Camp and his companions have delivered in this issue, and that is understandable. Honestly, nothing most readers could have imagined would have ever matched up to what we received, for better or worse. The time-dilated tinkering of the Maker in his literal bubble definitely led to something truly unexpected. With all the seeds planted with regards to the Eternals and Immortus, it will honestly be no surprise if the ambitions of the Maker go even further beyond this.
Ultimately, though, this is only the first issue in the final leg of the race. It has definitely been a promising one and a culmination of everything all the creative teams, but especially Camp, on the Ultimate line of books have strived so hard for these last two years. It is a tense read for sure. You want your heroes to win after everything they have suffered at the hands of a mad genius and his distorted ego trip of a world. It is harsh watching them seemingly lose everything so close to the finish line. However, the best is still yet to come, and readers should definitely feel optimistic about what the future entails with this series. Come what may, it is going to be a significant ride.
Final Verdict: The death of hope is delivered in tense, unexpected fashion as readers slowly witness the true scale of the Maker’s plans as well as the genuine uphill battles our heroes must now face to save the Ultimate Universe.