Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-5221278-20140102183646/@comment-4651179-20150503183559

Thor2000 wrote: Just to clarify my earlier reference, I meant to say I was led to believe the "events" of Age of Ultron were leading into the Secret Wars and what I read here kind of confirms that: Wolverine's time-traveling to stop Pym from creating Ultron is one of the effects that causes the ripping between alternate earths leading to the Secret Wars. That's the "in-universe" link, but the "our-universe" question I have is why did the writers at Marvel now decide to stop writing stories for the Ultimate Universe. Are they doing away with those storylines and characters? Will there still be a Earth-616 and an Ultimates Earth afterward?

The rip in the Multiverse caused by Wolverine doesn't lead to Secret Wars, that plot thread already had consequences and nothing more beyond that (Angela in 616, Galactus in Ultimate Universe, and Ultimate FF).

The decay in the Multiverse that led to Secret Wars was created by Doctor Doom, and exists in a paradoxical nature, as Doctor Doom caused this contraction in the Multiverse that led to its decay when he traveled back in time in order to study the decay of the Multiverse. There's more of that here.

Marvel probably decided to stop writing stories for the Ultimate Universe because unfortunately, apart from Miles Morales, the Ultimate Universe is a train with no more steam. A lot of people stopped reading the Ultimate Universe when Ultimatum happened, and even though it got better ever since, people were no longer that willing to spend money on it. The reader's drop of interest in the Ultimate Universe can be seen with Marvel's latest initiative to revamp the ultimate Universe, Ultimate Marvel NOW!. They released three new ongoing series. One of them was cancelled only six issues in, the other one was cancelled with the 12th issue, and only Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man remained. A lot of people think that the only reason the Ultimate Universe wasn't destroyed earlier was because of Miles Morales.