Published Jan 27, 2026, 1:59 PM EST
John Dodge is an MTV Writer for CBR who specializes in movies, television, comics, and pop culture. He has a deep knowledge of franchises like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel, and DC Comics, along with a passion for indie and horror titles. An expert on obscure productions from the ’80s and ’90s, John is known for his encyclopedic recall of cult classics like Beetleborgs.
One fan's winning bet on an Ultimate Endgame #1 auction just turned out to be a major loss.
Per Bleeding Cool, one unlucky Marvel Comics fans recently won an eBay auction for what appeared to be one of the two Ultimate Endgame #1 sketch cover variants bearing a sketch of Doctor Doom by none other than returning Marvel Cinematic Universe star Robert Downey Jr. himself.
Unfortunately, the nearly $3,500 spent on the winning bid only landed the buyer a fairly poor fan recreation of the actual blind bag sketch art by Downey.
Ultimate Endgame #1 was released in stores with a whole host of blind bag variant covers, two of which were versions of the blank sketch cover for the issue emblazoned with blue-and-green Doctor Doom sketches by the MCU star. The Doom covers looked like this:
Naturally, these covers quickly became some of the most highly sought after of them all. Not long after, a recreation of one of these was sold by the same eBay seller, cheeseheadcomics, alongside more than a dozen other comics bearing Doctor Doom on their cover for just over $3,500.
Only, they were a fake, and the unlucky Marvel fan who paid thousands of dollars for the covers was left out in the cold.
Ultimate Endgame #1 (by Deniz Camp, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Jonas Scharf, Federico Blee, Edgar Delgado, and VC's Cory Petit) arrived in comic book stores everywhere on December 31, and marked a major turning point for the current iteration of the Ultimate Universe. The issue saw Iron Lad and his fellow heroes take on some of the biggest threats yet as the Maker finally escaped his years-long confinement.
The official solicit synopsis for Ultimate Endgame #1 from Marvel Comics reads, "Two (thousand) years have passed in the Ultimate Universe, but inside the City, the Maker has had thousands of years to prepare for his return! With the barrier around the City finally gone, heroes all across the Ultimate Universe must mobilize to defeat the Maker before it's game over. For everyone. Meanwhile, the rest of the world wages World War III..."
What Does the End of the Ultimate Universe Look Like — And When Does It Arrive?
Currently, the Ultimate Universe as a whole is set to come to a close on April 22 with the release of Ultimate Endgame #5 by writer Deniz Camp and artists Terry Dodson and Jonas Scharf. The issue will mark the culmination of more than two years of storytelling that began back in the pages of Ultimate Invasion #1 when the Maker first set his sights on the reality of Earth-6160 as the one he would remake in his own image.
Writer Deniz Camp said of the news when the end of the Ultimate Universe was announced during New York Comic-Con 2025, "It's hard to talk about it without getting emotional. It really is the culmination of everything [writer] Jonathan [Hickman] began. Everything from my book and everyone else's book are all converging. It's gonna be definitive, it's going to be big. It's going to be emotional, there's going to be death... It's just wild."
Head of Marvel Comics and Franchise Dan Buckley noted at the time, "You'll be able to take this journey—the beginning, middle, and end—and digest it for years to come and pass it on to others."
Ultimate Endgame #1 from Marvel Comics is on sale now.
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