Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman Vol. 4: The End of the Beginning
Jonathan Hickman · Marco Checchetto · David Messina
Story era 13 · Krakoa to the New Ultimate Age
Hickman reimagines Peter Parker as a married father who consciously chooses the heroic life that was taken from him.
Book 4 of 4 in Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman & Checchetto · 0 of 4 owned · 672 pages in all
Setup & reading order
Required setup for this book
These earlier stories explain events this book builds on. Reading checkpoints show where to switch books during a crossover.
- Ultimate InvasionUnowned
- Ultimates by Camp Vol. 1: Fix the WorldUnowned
3 earlier books in this run come first
- After Ultimate Invasion #4 and Ultimate Universe #1 in The Ultimates Vol. 1
Start Ultimate Spider-Man. Its twenty-four issues can be read in volume blocks as a parallel branch; finishing the entire Ultimates project first is unnecessary.
- Before Ultimate Universe: Finale — Spider-Man story in Vol. 4
Finish Ultimate Spider-Man #24, then read Ultimate Endgame #1–5 in the Ultimates project before returning to the Finale epilogue.
Optional context & path
Path: Earth-6160, the new Ultimate Universe. Related projects that read well in this order; the order is a suggestion, not a requirement.
Useful background and earlier stops: Ultimate Invasion — the Earth-6160 foundation · Ultimates by Deniz Camp — through Ultimate Endgame.
Only required setup and earlier volumes in the same project affect the queue. Everything here is optional.
About these books · 8 sources
Publisher and reference pages describe the editions. Reviews and reader discussions offer different views of the stories.
- Goodreads — Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 reader reviews (opens in a new tab)Readers
- r/comicbooks — Ultimate Spider-Man after its first year (opens in a new tab)Readers
- AIPT — Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 review (opens in a new tab)Critics and editors
- KPB Comics — Ultimate Spider-Man #24: the emotional legacy of Hickman’s run (opens in a new tab)Critics and editors
- Penguin Random House Comics — Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 (opens in a new tab)Publisher
- Penguin Random House — Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman and Checchetto (opens in a new tab)Publisher
- Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) publication history (opens in a new tab)Reference
- Reference identity and legacy — Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman and Checchetto (opens in a new tab)Reference
The books
Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman Vol. 4: The End of the Beginning
Book 4 of 4 · Krakoa to the New Ultimate Age
The first Earth-6160 Spider-Man cycle reaches the Maker’s return and its line-wide finale.
Ultimate InvasionUnowned
9781302958305Planned edition#19–24#1Ultimate Universe: Finale supplies Peter Parker’s family epilogue, while the larger Ultimate Endgame conflict has its own collection. Keep those two endings distinct: this Spider-Man volume closes the family story, not every thread of the shared world.
Edition sources
Each ISBN identifies a specific printing and cover. “Owned copy” identifies the edition on my shelf; “Planned edition” identifies the edition listed for collecting.
Duplication · Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman Vol. 4: The End of the Beginning
These books share full issues or parts of issues with other books in the plan. Open the lists below to see which stories repeat.
No shared contents are recorded with other books in the plan.
Things to know
Collecting rule: The four trades form the completed twenty-four-issue cycle.
- Vol. 4 includes the Spider-Man contribution to Ultimate Universe: Finale as partial material. Acquire the series in order, but save that epilogue until after the separate Ultimate Endgame core.