WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom #26 by Donny Cates, Iban Coello, Juan Gedeon and VC's Clayton Cowles, available now.
Over the past several months, Venom has been mostly focused on the looming threat of the symbiote god Knull, but one subplot throughout the series has followed the appearances of Earth-1610's Ultimate Reed Richards, the villain known as the Maker. While the Ultimate Marvel Universe was destroyed in the lead up to Johnathan Hickman and Esad Ribic's universe-shattering Secret Wars, the villainous Maker survived and eventually made his way to the main Marvel Universe.
Eventually, several of the Ultimates were resurrected in the Marvel Universe as part of the Maker's schemes, which also included his long-held plans to recreate and return to Earth-1610. And in Venom #26, the Maker finally returns to the Ultimate Universe, only to find his homeworld in bad shape and seemingly without its mightiest heroes, as evidenced by a giant sign that asks, "Where are the Ultimates?"
After the Ultimates perished in the final Incursion that destroyed the Ultimate universe and led to Secret Wars, we next saw the Ultimates in Al Ewing, Travel Foreman, Filipe Andrade, and Marco Lorenzana's Ultimates 2 #100. In this issue, the Maker resurrects them and instructs them to attack the Marvel Universe Ultimates, which they do before Ultimate Captain America realizes the Maker is up to no good and orders his team to stop. This defiance leads the Maker to kill Captain America before the High Evolutionary helps the heroes defeat him.
The remaining Ultimates are seen heading off on a space ship where Ultimate Tony Stark states they are "Hunting Makers." However, Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, and Mark Bagley's Spider-Men II #5 show the entire Ultimates team, including Captain America and. notably, Riri Williams as Ironheart, alive and well on a restored Earth-1610.
It's unclear what happened between Spider-Men II #5 and Venom #26 that resulted in the disappearance of the Ultimates and the seeming destruction of Earth-1610, but the Maker doesn't seem to mind.
The disappearance of the Ultimates, the destruction of Earth-1610, and the Maker's dealing with a synthetic symbiote could even all be related. Considering the dark, symbiote-controlled future that Venom and Dylan Brock landed in, there's a strong chance that Knull or another symbiote threat could have wiped out this world's heroes.
In one way or another, Marvel has been hinting at the return of the Ultimate Universe ever since its initial destruction. While it has essentially returned, we have yet to see stories once again take place in the world. But with the arrival of the Maker, the Ultimate Marvel Universe is set to come back into focus in a way it hasn't in years, and it seems like the Maker wouldn't have things any other way.