"Some things are written in a medium more indelible than even the stars. Certain dooms cannot be avoided. All things must eventually come to an end."
— Thanos, Marvel: The End #4
Marvel: The End (later retitled Marvel Universe: The End) is a comic book limited series from Marvel Comics. It's written by Jim Starlin, with art by Starlin and inker Al Milgrom. Christie Scheele provides color art.
Seemingly set in the shared Marvel Universe, it tells the story of an ancient, hugely powerful threat from Earth's past returning to conquer the universe. Once, the pharaoh Akhenaten was just a mortal man. Now he is far more than a god. And any who stand against him will fall.
Earth's superheroes seem unable to stop Akhenaten. But the villainous Thanos - and others, such as the magician Doctor Strange, the cosmically powered Silver Surfer, and the infamous Doctor Doom - may still find a less direct way to bring him down.
Can the likes of Thanos and Doom really be trusted not to seize such power for their own ends, though?
The series was later established as an Alternate Universe story.
Marvel: The End contains examples of the following tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: The Shi'ar champion Gladiator is the sole survivor of Akhenaten's attack on the alien empire's fleet, living just long enough to warn the Silver Surfer.
- Alternate Universe: As the deaths are reverted by a Reset Button, there's no obvious reason why the story couldn't be set in the main Marvel Universe... until Thanos discovers that resurrections are weakening the nature of reality and declares All Deaths Final, putting an end to future returns from beyond the grave. Marvel later confirmed that it was set in an alternate world.
- Apocalypse How: Thanos lashes out against the assault of the massive army of Marvel characters by erasing the whole universe, leaving only a black void with himself and Adam Warlock being the only people alive.
- Avengers Assemble: Captain America gathers all the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to figure out a way to deal with Akhenaten. And then Akhenaten shows up in front of them and makes them all disappear before they could even hit him.
- Towards the end of the story, the Living Tribunal creates a massive army of heroes, villains and cosmic entities to attack Thanos.
- Big Bad: Akhenaten, a former pharaoh turned cosmic force, is out to conquer the universe.
- Blank White Void: The last issue takes place in the empty void that used to be the universe where Thanos and Adam Warlock have their final conversation.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Thanos turns Akhenaten into a butterfly after defeating him.
- Canon Discontinuity: Nothing within the comic itself states that it's not part of the main Marvel Universe, and writer Jim Starlin referenced it in later stories. However, Marvel editor Tom Brevoort used social media to state it was an Alternate Universe tale, and Marvel have since labelled the setting with an alternate world number, identifying it as part of their multiverse, but not the same Earth as other stories.
- Character Filibuster: Thanos goes heavy into his monologues in this story.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The first issue devotes one page to Adam Warlock, Gamora and Atleza. Atleza detects a shift in the universe, but the three play no part in the struggle against Akhenaten - or in the subsequent battles against Thanos. It's not until Thanos wins and destroys the universe that Adam reappears, in the final issue, to persuade him to recreate it, at the cost of his own life.
- Continuity Rebooter: At the very end of the story, Thanos recreates the universe almost exactly as it was, but this time with All Deaths Final. It's his final act, as it also destroys him. Adam Warlock is the only being (except, perhaps, for Death herself) who remembers what happened. Subverted when Marvel later decided to declare this as an Alternate Universe story, creating some Canon Discontinuity.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Thanos, having gained the full power of the Heart of the Universe, instantly annihilates all the heroes, villains and cosmic entities attacking him.
- Dead Guy on Display: After the Thing violently rejects Akhenaten's offer, the bodies of the Avengers and Fantastic Four become a warning to others, floating above New York inside translucent crosses.
- Death from Above: The telepaths of the X-Men are the first people on Earth to sense Akhenaten's return, prompting Professor X to gather the various X-Men teams at the Westchester school and plan their next steps. Once they're assembled, Akhenaten, who is aware they've detected him and considers them too chaotic, annihilates the building and kills all of the mutants with an energy bolt from far above. There are no survivors.
- Didn't See That Coming: Doctor Doom didn't see that Akhenaten's powers include the ability to Time Travel and is taken by surprise when he attempts to shoot Akhenaten's past human self.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Turns out Akhenaten is this. The story is six issues long and Akhenaten is killed by Thanos in issue #4. After that Thanos, thanks to the Heart of the Universe, figures out that the real main threat is something that is causing reality to decay, which is the phenomenon of Marvel heroes and villains that keep coming back from the dead.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Akhenaten represents the Celestial Order, and is tasked with conquering the galaxy on their behalf. However, his monologuing makes it clear that he plans to eventually overthrow them and claim ultimate power himself.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: Akhenaten and the Celestial Order believe that the universe is too chaotic and it needs their oppressive rule in order to be safe.
- Even More Omnipotent: The Heart of the Universe grants the user all the powers of the Infinity Gems put together with none of the limitations. It even allowed Thanos to defeat the Living Tribunal and turn the universe into a empty void.
- Foregone Conclusion: The first issue begins with Thanos, alone in darkness, acting as narrator and lamenting that he's destroyed the entire universe. It's not until the final issue that we see how this happened.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: Adam Warlock speculates that the events of the story were manipulated by The One Above All, the Top God of the Marvel multiverse, to allow Thanos to use the Heart of the Universe to fix the problem that has been causing reality to decay.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Not only is Pharaoh Akhenaten still alive over three thousand years after his presumed death, he's now an immensely powerful being who can destroy entire worlds and eliminate whole teams of superheroes without moving a finger.
- Kill the God: Akhenaten kills a whole gathering of Skyfathers with a blast after realizing they were spying on him. Only Thor and Zeus manage to escape.
- Irony: Thanos comments on the irony of him, of all people, becoming the ultimate healer of the universe as he does his Heroic Sacrifice to bring back everything to normal.
"How ironic that, in the end, what Thanos of Titan did best was being a healer."
- MacGuffin: The "Heart Of The Universe" is a large energy sphere that is even more powerful than the Infinity Gems. It's the power source for Akhenaten and the Celestial Order, and Doctor Doom and Thanos both set their sights on claiming it.
- Meet the New Boss: Akhenaten teleports all of Earth's political leaders, including Doctor Doom (who rules Latveria) and Black Panther (the king of Wakanda), in his Egopolis to tell them in person that he is the one in charge from now on.
- Ms. Exposition: After Thanos's initial narration, the first issue moves on to a disembodied mouth retelling the history of Akhenaten. The speaker is then revealed to be Jean Grey, and the exposition is justified by the revelation that Jean and Professor X are, on some level, both psychically aware of Akhenaten's approach. Unfortunately, that works both ways - and Akhenaten reacts by killing all of the assembled X-Men with Death from Above, ending Jean's role in the story once her exposition is complete.
- Narrator: Thanos acts as a narrator, alone in darkness, retelling the tale and directly talking to the reader. Subverted in the final issue, with the reveal that he's actually talking to Adam Warlock.
- Nepharious Pharaoh: Pharaoh Akhenaten, now powered by the Heart of the Universe, returns to Earth as a tyrannical Humanoid Abomination and Reality Warper.
- Redemption Equals Death: Thanos culminates his transition from villain to Anti-Hero under Starlin by Erasing himself from existence to restore the universe and bring back everyone to life at the end of the story.
- Reset Button: The story ends with Thanos restoring the universe as it was before the arrival of Akhenaten, with all the characters brought back to life at the cost of his own.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
- Doctor Doom decides that the best way to defeat Akhenaten is to travel back in time and kill him just before the Celestial Order abducted him from Egypt. He'll still vanish from history, but he won't reappear millennia later with cosmic powers. Even better, Doom can take his place and claim the power himself. Unfortunately, the modern Akhenaten also has Time Travel abilities, and he's waiting there for Doom...
- After Thanos gains vast cosmic powers, he removes Akhenaten and the Celestial Order from history. When the modern Akhenaten steps in to stop a time-travelling Doom from assassinating his younger self, Thanos now counters him - leaving Doom free to destroy the Order's spaceship just after the younger Akhenaten boards. And once Akhenaten's removed, Thanos is free to go further back without interference. The Celestial Order's initial attempt to unlock the "Heart of the Infinite" now goes awry due to Thanos sabotaging their ship, killing all the scientists. He then ensures that the entire race dies from a mysterious plague before they can try again.
- Teeth Clenched Team Work: Thanos teams up with the Defenders (Doctor Strange, Hulk, Namor, Genis-Vell and Silver Surfer) to infiltrate the Celestial Order's mothership, and the Silver Surfer is the first to warn his teammates to not trust Thanos as he might take the power of the Heart of the Universe for himself.
- The Omnipotent: Those bonded with the Heart of the Universe like Akhenaten and Thanos become unstoppable Reality Warpers capable of killing whole teams of superheroes, skyfather gods and cosmic entities with a thought.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Thanos' decision to sacrifice his existence in order to restore the universe in the ending is rewarded with the one thing he has always wanted - a kiss from Mistress Death.
- Touched by Vorlons: Akhenaten was taken by the Celestial Order and turned into a Reality Warper with the Heart of the Universe.
- Worthy Opponent: Thanos admits of respecting Doctor Doom for being a ruthless master strategist, and he constantly observes him through hidden cameras.
