It’s sad, but it’s true–the final wave of the Hasbro Marvel Universe 3 3/4″ action figures line is now upon us. Hasbro has been releasing new series fast and furious this fall, and we’ve quickly gone from none of the Marvel Universe 2013 figure waves being released to all of them being released. Say “goodbye” to Marvel Universe and hello to Omega Red, Alpha Flight (Aurora), Black Knight and AoA Nightcrawler–Marvel Universe Wave 24 (2013 Series 5) has now been released and is available for order!

The rumors (otherwise known as facts) are true–the Hasbro Marvel Universe line is at an end. Next year Hasbro is going to be renaming their 3 3/4″ Marvel line to something including “Avengers”, most likely with a greater emphasis on including Avengers heroes and villains in the line (although who hasn’t really been an Avenger or fought the Avengers at this point?).

But before the end happens, Hasbro has one final eclectic wave of Marvel Universe figures for us, with figures representing the Avengers (Black Knight), X-Force (Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler), the X-Men (Omega Red) and Alpha Flight (Aurora)!

The case containing the four tail-end figures (Marvel Universe 2013 Series 5) is unfortunately not the greatest, but it’s not the worst assortment ever by a longshot. Seven of the twelve figures are fairly new: you get one of each of the four new figures, along with the previous wave’s Iron Man, Grey Hulk and Omega Red. Rounding out the case are the always-in-demand Nova, along with the perpetually-pegwarming Iron Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Black Costume Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man.

I’m not usually a order-a-whole-case kind of guy (particularly when the case contains three old figures of Spider-Man), but I decided to bite the bullet this time and pick up a Marvel Universe Wave 24 case. Sets of just the four new figures are selling for almost the cost of the entire case (currently about $100 on ebay), so it just didn’t make sense to just buy the new figures. In the long run, I care more about owning Marvel Universe Black Knight and Omega Red figures than I do having to donate another Ultimate Spider-Man to Toys for Tots next month.

Of course, we still have at least one more chase variant figure to hunt for, that being the second half of Alpha Flight–Northstar! Now, ordinarily I would say to just wait for the revision case to get your Marvel Universe Northstar figure, but in this instance there’s a little problem–there apparently is no revision case. So far as I can tell, this is the final case assortment of Marvel Universe figures ever.

Logic dictates that there must be at least one more case assortment coming up or else getting the Alpha Flight Northstar running change will be impossible, but that hasn’t happened yet. I’ll keep my eyes peeled and report back if I hear anything about the Northstar variant figure.

If you’re looking to get a case of this final Marvel Universe wave, Entertainment Earth has the Marvel Universe Wave 24 case in-stock right now with free shipping. Other online retailers should have the assortment soon as well, but as of writing EE is the first to have the cases in-stock that I’ve seen.

What do you think of this final wave of Marvel Universe, Marvel collectors? Is this a suitable last Marvel Universe series ever, or would you have preferred something different (like a case full of in-demand figures like Blonde Black Widow and Flame-On Human Torch)?