On Wednesday, Marvel’s Senior VP of Sales & Marketing David Gabriel addressed the speculation that had been runing rampant since June’s solicitations had shown an absence of several major ongoing series’, confirming that yes, 33 of Marvel’s ongoing titles would indeed be coming to an end prior to their upcoming Secret Wars event.

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Gabriel said: “It means that there will be a ‘616 finale!’ and that means exactly what many fans have suspected – everything ends. We’ve been saying it over and over again but at the core, Battleworld IS the Marvel Universe when Secret Wars #1 hits in May. But before that, there will be a number of titles reaching, what we’re calling, a ‘616 finale,’ ending those stories and characters as you knew them – for now!”

Gabriel went on to clarify that “In a perfect world, we’d have stopped every book with its April issue, putting out a nice clean May Previews catalog. Everyone would have seen upfront all those titles that had their finale, and all those titles that were starting fresh. But things don’t always go so easily. Instead we gave our creators the option to end their stories the way they wanted to; we let them tell ‘Last Days’ stories if they wanted to; we let them tell Secret Wars stories if they wanted to. So in the end Secret Wars truly has been a creative driven process.”

So what this means, effectively, is that come June, no less than THIRTY THREE ongoing Marvel series will come to an end. However, several of them will continue on – ‘in spirit’, at least – (Dan Slott continuing on Spider-Man with Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, for example) so it’s not quite as bleak as it initially sounds.

Check out the full list of titles that will be below, and let us know how you feel about this incredibly bold move. Does it represent a long-needed shakeup of the brand, or will it serve as a “perfect jumping-off point” for you?

All-New Captain America
All-New Ghost Rider
All-New X-Men
Amazing Spider-Man
Amazing X-Men
Angela: Asgard’s Assassin
Avengers, Avengers World
Captain Marvel
Cyclops
Deadpool
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Guardians 3000
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hulk
Inhuman
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon
Legendary Star-Lord
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man
New Avengers
Nightcrawler
Nova
Rocket Raccoon
Secret Avengers
Spider-Man & the X-Men
Spider-Man 2099
Storm
Superior Iron Man
Thor
Uncanny X-Men
Wolverines
X-Men

The writer of this piece was: Craig Neilson (aka Ceej)
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