With the Marvel Universe officially coming to an end today, we decided to re-run this column about how Marvel doesn't need a reboot. The original piece from August 22, 2014 is below.

With the Time Runs Out story approaching in Avengers and New Avengers, the Internet has been abuzz with claims that Marvel Comics will be using it as a means to reboot their entire comics universe. After all, it was only 2011 when DC Comics did just that with their “New 52” reboot. They deleted decades of continuity save for certain iconic stories, modernized nearly everyone’s looks and origins, assigned new artists and writers to nearly every comic, and then restarted every comic series over at #1. Marvel and DC copying each other is a tale as old as time, but this time, Marvel has good reason not to follow suit.Just to get ahead of the obvious knee-jerk comments, let me state that I am not writing about how Marvel is better than DC or vice versa. Both publishers have a lot going for them, and sure a lot of areas they could improve, but what I’m discussing in this space is the merits of Marvel rebooting or not.For those who strongly desire a Marvel reboot, the truth is that they already got one in 2012’s Marvel NOW! initiative. Well, for the most part. Marvel redesigned their characters’ looks, assigned new artists and writers to nearly all of their comics, and restarted almost every comic series at #1. Sound familiar? The one major difference between Marvel NOW! and the New 52 was that Marvel decided to keep all of their continuity. The loss of years of beloved continuity has been cited as the biggest sore spot of the New 52. Marvel clearly saw this fan response and then acted accordingly when they launched Marvel NOW! They received all of the benefits of a reboot without actually doing one; it was more of a “refresh” than a “reboot,” and thus far it has paid off fantastically.“But look at the Avengers stories -- they’re clearly setting up a Marvel reboot!” you might say, and you wouldn’t be entirely off base. The New 52 reboot was done as a time travel story called Flashpoint, and wouldn’t you know it, Marvel’s Time Runs Out is a time travel story that looks like it will have some big consequences. Meanwhile, DC’s 1985 reboot storyline Crisis on Infinite Earths involved parallel universes, just like the current New Avengers story. With time travel and parallel universes being the hallmark of huge reboots, it’s understandable to think that’s what Marvel is up to, but there’s good reason to think that’s not the case this time.