The Marvel Universe as you know it will be coming to an end.

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Today at a live press event at Midtown Comics in New York City moderated by Marvel PR man Chris D’Lando, Marvel Comics’ Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso announced that the Marvel Universe will smash together with the Ultimate Universe and will be replaced by Battleworld -- a mashup of many different Marvel realities.Take a moment to compose yourself.This huge development has been in the works for some time in Jonathan Hickman’s years-long Avengers saga. The heroes have been trying to stop a series of universe-ending “incursions” where two universes collide with one another. The inciting incident to May’s eight-part Secret Wars event will be when the heroes fail to stop the regular and Ultimate universes from crashing together. The resulting Battleworld will the Marvel Universe going forward.“This is putting an endcap to decades of stories and starting a new era. When you see the scope of the event, [you will] see what we’re willing to do. This is a place where we’re going to be bringing new pieces onto the board and taking old pieces off. You guys will be yelling and screaming, loving and hating in equal measure,” Alonso said.It was clarified that Battleworld will be the Marvel Universe during, through, and after Secret Wars. None of this is an Elseworlds, What If, or any other kind of alternate reality -- it’ll be the setting for in-continuity stories that will all count going forward.Late last year, there were a batch of teaser images harkening back to big Marvel events and such, and during the press conference it was revealed that each of those teasers will be a new comic book series. However, those are just the tip of the iceberg. Many new comics will be announced within the next two weeks, both ongoing series and limited.In addition, D’Lando said that Marvel will be partnering with the likes of Hasbro, Funko, UpperDeck, and more to make new products to get fans excited for Secret Wars. He also mentioned that the Marvel games team will be coming up with some new “interactive content” for fans. Could a Secret Wars video game be on the horizon?For those wanting to read Secret Wars, Marvel will be releasing a free Secret Wars #0 comic on May 3rd’s Free Comic Book Day that will act as a primer to get you ready for the event. Both Secret Wars #1 and #2 will be released in May, written by Hickman with art by Esad Ribic.

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Game of Thrones, Spider-Man, or Super Smash Bros. are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter and IGN