Do you think the Ultimate Universe will still be around 40-50 years from now?

[TheSumOfGod]

Do you think it has any staying power, that it will last as long as 616 already has, that one day our grandchildren will be picking up Ultimates 37 issue 1?

Personally, I think that a few years from now, when the Ultimate Universe will have become boring, when every 616 story will have been re-done and re-re-done, and sales will be dropping, they'll simply MERGE 616 and Ultimate continuities together in a "Crisis"-type event, and re-start Marvel all over again.

What do you think?

 

[Red]

Give it 5 years.

 

[Harlekin]

I give it another two/three years at best.

 

[jaydawg]

No way. It'll last at least five more years. After all the point was to tell stripped down stories of classic characters without years of continuity bogging them down. The fact that USM is about to reach 100 pretty much makes an assload of continuity.

 

[Red]

Well USM has gone through about 20 years of Spidey storys in 100 issues. Bendis will soon have to make his own stories.

 

[Harlekin]

Wow, I totally misread it. I thought it said Ultimates. Nah, the Ultimate Universe will be around for a good more 5 years at least.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I wit last as long as it continues to sell.

But I will say...I am seeing signs that may anger fans.

the first is the delays of the "flagship book" Ultimates...delay a book like this , where continuity depends on the outcomes , and fans may get mad.

and with the crews to the next couple ultimates annouced, it may well continue with delays.

Ultimates has in some ways sabatoged other books, like the Gah lak tus arc .

Ultimates was created as a means for uber creative teams to have a shot at re-launching the Marvel universe...when enough time passess and the Ultimate books are equally daunting in terms of past history and their own estblished continuity, one may wonder what the point of it all will be.

But in terms of reality...as long as it sells it will be around.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I wit last as long as it continues to sell.

But I will say...I am seeing signs that may anger fans.

the first is the delays of the "flagship book" Ultimates...delay a book like this , where continuity depends on the outcomes , and fans may get mad.

and with the crews to the next couple ultimates annouced, it may well continue with delays.

Ultimates has in some ways sabatoged other books, like the Gah lak tus arc .

Ultimates was created as a means for uber creative teams to have a shot at re-launching the Marvel universe...when enough time passess and the Ultimate books are equally daunting in terms of past history and their own estblished continuity, one may wonder what the point of it all will be.

But in terms of reality...as long as it sells it will be around.

 

[Kevin]

i give it 10 to 20 years tops

 

[Genesis 1.0]

I can definitely see the Ultimate line around at the very least, 10 years from now. They've still got 616 arcs to run and then they'll be writing their own new stories, unhindered by decades of continuity and eventually making their own tangle that is the 616.

 

[The Ether]

I think marvel's gonna merge it with 616 universe. It's bound to happen I guess.

 

[Varient]

Do you think it has any staying power, that it will last as long as 616 already has, that one day our grandchildren will be picking up Ultimates 37 issue 1?

Personally, I think that a few years from now, when the Ultimate Universe will have become boring, when every 616 story will have been re-done and re-re-done, and sales will be dropping, they'll simply MERGE 616 and Ultimate continuities together in a "Crisis"-type event, and re-start Marvel all over again.

What do you think?

yes it will last for a good long while,.. and when it gains too much "continuity" it will split off an alt called the Ultimates Power Universe,.. then in twenty years that will split off to be the Ultimates Power Real-deal universe.
Marvel will have a few "universes running off at the same time,.. taking a critical twist from the one before it
So that by the time you reach UPRD Universe,.. Spiderman will be a Jewish muslim child of the superspy dad who survived and gained the same powers mechanically while working for the Canadian weapon "Y" program which the original intent was to grant animal like abilities to special agents,... As the son of Mecana-spiderman and Wasp-Woman,... Peter-mohamad-jones-parker gained actual spiderpowers that emerged at puberty.

 

[Darthphere]

No because if it goes on that long it makes its purpose irrelevant.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

batman took harley quinn from the cartoon.
superman took origin ideas from smallville (i think. i know theyre always robooting the exact origin of lex and clark etc)
spider-man took the organic webbing from the movie.

life imitating art imitating life. or in this case art imitating art imitating art imitating art... you get the idea.

good ultimate ideas (as it becomes more and more its own universe, rather than the rehashing its often done), such as new characters, i fully expect to merge into 616. But not all of them. Ultimate will last a while but would be dropped forever with a drop in sales (i.e. with another industry crash) where as 616 will always have the most effort put into it to save the books, no matter what state they are in.

so: merging of some ideas, but basically 616 will outlive ultimate as ultimate will disappear within the next 20 years (im forcasting good times over the next 10...)

 

[Badfish40oz]

I can't believe nobody is voting for the "merging." That is clearly what will happen. It will still mostly be the mainstream Marvel universe (616), but any great ideas that catch on in the Ultimate Verse will be put into main continuity.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

merging makes it sound like a reboot. i cant see them trying to wipe out stan lee's amazing fantasy 15 AGAIN. surely you can see why thats an unattractive idea. name ideas in ultimate that would change 616. i cant see anything they could do at the moment.
a monster hobgoblin? done that, demogoblin.
black ben reilly research assistant being evil genius? no, thatd be another reboot and retcon.
most changes would be retcons/ make no difference as it stands. i think the series has a while to go before this discussion becomes truly relevant. both amazing SM and ultimate are doing well. as it stands it wont happen in the forseeable future anyway

 

[SLVRSR4]

i can see "Ultimates" itself lasting forever with only 3 isues coming out a year!

 

[rjb182]

I think the Ultimate line is a really cool idea. I love the idea of new takes on characters, updating, etc. So in terms of fun/coolness value, it deserves to last.

But in terms of its main purpose-- simplifying Marvel's backlog of continuity-- it's a short-term solution to a long-term problem. As others have point out above, the Ultimate 'verse gets more of that bothersome continuity with every issue.

So what's really going to have to happen is, Marvel has to decide where it stands on long-term continuity.

If they just don't want the stuff, then they need the Ultimate line to employ frequent reset buttons, little to no time passing, and more standalone/short-term stories so that it remains something distinct from the 616, without a significant continuity of its own. (It may already be too late for this in some cases-- would they need to launch an Ultimate Ultimates? Maybe...) It would have to have a whole different philosophy from 616 books, not just a new starting point. Comics the way they were 30 years ago, essentially.

If they decide to stop sweating it so much and just write good stories, they can either cancel the Ultimate line and just do 616 OR if it keeps doing well, they can keep both and maintain two separate continuities-- or more. Really, you can do whatever the heck you want if you go the route of actually trusting your readers. The concern would be whether you can make that sell, but I think you could.

Or they can start doing what DC has done-- kick-starting the whole 'verse with a Crisis reboot every few years and either merge Universes eventually or change their whole product line every time it starts to get stale.

Any of those things is workable, really. But it's got nothing to do with the fate of the Ultimate line specifically. It just depends on what Marvel's next business philosophy turns out to be.

 

[hippy fascist]

The point of ultimates is to bring in new kid readers, if it does it'll stay for 5-6 if it doesn't...gone in 2

 

[hippy fascist]

mc2 didn't exactly do very well did it

 

[choskins]

I said no

 

[TheCorpulent1]

mc2 didn't exactly do very well did it

Spider-Girl's still going.

 

[hippy fascist]

one title, (albeit a great title) considering mc2 was supposed to be big deal

 

[FlameHead]

I don't think OUR universe (world) will still be around in 40 or 50 years, let alone the comic-verse.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

one title, (albeit a great title) considering mc2 was supposed to be big deal

But that one title is still doing well and bringing in new readers. The whole reason it was renewed for Amazing Spider-Girl is because it's been selling well outside of the typical comic geek venues.

I can't believe nobody is voting for the "merging." That is clearly what will happen. It will still mostly be the mainstream Marvel universe (616), but any great ideas that catch on in the Ultimate Verse will be put into main continuity.

Merging would be the end of my already tenuous readership of Marvel's comics.