The Marvel Universe is coming to an end

In an eyebrow-raising turn of events, it looks like the Marvel Universe as we know it is coming to an end. During a live press event for ‘Secret Wars’ in New York City, both Axel Alonso and Tom Brevoort – Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, respectively – announced that the upcoming ‘Secret Wars’ series, a limited run that will last for eight issues, will see the end of the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe (the original universe’s retooled and rebooted run of comics). ‘Once we hit Secrets Wars #1, there is no Marvel Universe, Ultimate Universe, or any other. It’s all Battleworld,’ confirmed Breevort. Now that the universe within the comics themselves is being shaken up, what does that mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)? The films, which kicked off in 2008 with Iron Man, haven’t exactly been slaves to the comic book series. In fact, the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron sees the origin of the movie’s main villain, Ultron, completely changed from being the creation of Hank Pym (Ant-Man) to Tony Stark. And rumours are rife surrounding the planned Captain America: Civil War, due out in 2016, especially concerning if the film will end the same way the comics did (SPOILER ALERT) with the assassination of Steve Rogers. The obvious answer is: No. The studio isn’t going to kill off the main character in a cash cow franchise, and the question of ending the MCU the same way as the comics are now doing it is similarly doubtful. But it does raise the question of when Marvel Studios will end their own run of movies – but with the audience’s hunger for superhero movies, it won’t be for a long while yet.