Entertainment
10 MCU Movie Endings That Are Genuine Masterpieces
The ending to a film is extremely important. One can have what some think to be the greatest plot out there, but without a good ending to finish it off, and wrap everything up in a nice bow, the experience will be tainted. This can especially be said for the likes of superhero movies. With how much they’ve taken over the industry over the past few decades—the Marvel Cinematic Universe specifically—the reputation of these flicks has minimally wavered.
In the case of the MCU, this could, in part, be because of some of the amazing endings their films contain. When some of these adventures find their finales, the way said endings are executed has the ability to leave audiences feeling even more excited about the product than they’d been without it. A story can really be hyped up in people’s minds if it leaves them feeling awesome at the end.
‘The Avengers’ (2012)
After Phase One of the MCU had begun to truly thrive between 2008 and 2011, it was up to The Avengers—the first big crossover movie—to solidify this as a true, bona fide cinematic universe. It’s one thing to have some characters appear in other hero’s movies, but The Avengers was going to prove that a big, multi-character crossover could be successful. Boy, oh boy, did it do just that.
After the devastating Battle of New York, The Avengers go their separate ways with a voice-over from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) talking about how, now that they’ve come together, despite going their separate ways, they’ll come back when something like this happens again. “Because we’ll need them to,” is how he specifically puts it. It leaves the door open for their solo franchises to continue, while promising the audience that, yes, they’ll be coming together once more.
‘Black Panther’ (2016)
One of the most impactful superhero movies out there is, without a doubt, Black Panther. It didn’t just find itself penetrating the cultural zeitgeist because it did something truly amazing by having an almost all-Black cast and crew, but the story itself was truly moving and thought-provoking. Director Ryan Coogler knows how to make an effective movie, with more than applies to the ending, as well.
Something that really stands out about T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) character arc in Black Panther is the way that Coogler emphasizes how imperfect not only the protagonist is, but the country of Wakanda—more specifically their previous leaders—too. This movie’s villain, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), is so beloved because the ending decides to highlight how, while he was doing some despicable thiongs, he had a lot of validity to what he believed. It keeps the main characters accountable. T’Challa actually learns from his enemy, setting an ideal for the other leaders of the world and other Marvel superheroes, too.
‘Iron Man’ (2008)
The project that started it all is important and impactful not only because of how great of a movie it is, but additionally because of how it ends. The final moments of Iron Man are what helped put it, and the upcoming MCU, on the map. Up until this point, superhero movies decided to focus on heroes that had secret identities, and it was relatively unheard of for one to not have one. Iron Man, however, changed that completely.
The “I am Iron Man” quote is one of the most popular in modern superhero cinema for this very reason. This moment not only totally shocked viewers, but also got them super intrigued about how on Earth the people over at Marvel Studios were going to move forward in this franchise with such a huge shift in the typical superhero status quo.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ (2022)
After the terrible passing of series star Chadwick Boseman, no one really knew how in the world the series was going to continue post-passing. Expert director Ryan Coogler, thankfully, knew exactly what to do and handled the situation with grace and prowess—turning Black Panther: Wakanda Forever into not just a great movie, but a huge tribute to the deceased lead. This truly comes through in the final scene.
After completing her character arc, Shuri (Letitia Wright)—sister of T’Challa—takes some time to herself to finally burn the funeral robes for her brother, to the amazing musical track of “Lift Me Up” by Rihanna. Alongside the world watching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Shuri gets to finally find comfort in her grieving.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (2023)
Ever since director James Gunn debuted the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise in 2014, he turned some of Marvel Comics’ biggest misfit toys into absolute fan favorites. After two successful entries in the trilogy, Gunn had a huge responsibility to finish it off with a great third project. Thankfully for everyone, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 wound up being a phenomenal project.
The ending of this third Guardians of the Galaxy project does a borderline perfect job wrapping up everyone’s stories and giving them a happy ending. While everyone’s individual endings are brilliantly executed, it’s the group dance sequence with everyone in Knowhere to Florence + The Machine‘s “Dog Days Are Over.” Despite there being a few scares along the way, everyone got their happy ending, and it’s beyond tear-jerking in the best ways.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (2026)
Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ newest smash hit in the Tom Holland Spider-Man franchise is one of the most well-received superhero movies in recent years. Breaking records by quickly becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of all time—in a ridiculously short amount of time, by the way—and being loved critically by both hardcore Spidey fans and general audience members alike. After the first trilogy of the MCU’s Wall-Crawler, people were pretty happy with the films, but many had things they wished they’d seen and hoped to see when moving forward with this character. The biggest thing people have been asking for is a more street-level Spider-Man, and that’s exactly what Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivers.
The end of this rip-roaring, web-slinging ride is extremely cheer-worthy. Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) finds her redemption after saving Peter from a gunshot wound and heads upstate; Punisher (Jon Bernthal) realizes his wrongdoings in his methods; Michelle Jones-Watson (Zendaya) begins to remember—seemingly—her time with Peter; and, finally, the young hero decides to bring his best friend, Ned Leeds’ (Jacob Batalon) back by doing their iconic handshake. Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s ending has people smiling and feeling satisfied all around.
‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is often considered not only one of, if not the best, MCU movies, but one of the best superhero movies of all time, as well. This is for a plethora of reasons, discovered throughout the journey of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) unveiling a government conspiracy and discovering that his best friend, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), is actually alive and has been brainwashed into becoming the terrifying assassin, The Winter Soldier.
The entire runtime of Captain America: The Winter Soldier is amazing, and it is wrapped up greatly as Steve decides he’s going to continue searching for his bestie, after he was saved by him following the final battle—so, there must be good within him, still. At the same time, said friend goes to the iconic Captain America Museum to discover more about himself, showing the audience firsthand that he’s looking for answers to be the man he once was.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
Ask any Spider-Man fan, and they’ll tell you that they love to see the young hero be miserable—a huge part of why Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been so successful. While he’s not too miserable throughout the third film in his franchise, Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s the ending that brings the feeling of melancholy and sets the stage for Spider-Man: Brand New Day to have the exact thing that has made it so appealing.
Spider-Man: No Way Home ends with Peter Parker making the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends and the multiverse by sacrificing his identity. To save the collapse of the universe(s), he erases his identity from the minds of the entire world. While he promises MJ and Ned that he’ll come back to them and remind them of who he is… he chooses not to, in order to protect them. It’s genuinely so heartbreaking and is one of the most Spider-Man-feeling endings of a Spidey flick in a very, very long time.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)
Avengers: Endgame has fought back and forth with Avatar for the highest-grossing movie of all time, and for very good reason. It wasn’t just a gigantic event movie that acted as a culmination of the long, 10+ year-running cinematic universe, but a genuinely well-written story. It acts as the sendoff for the first 11 years of the MCU and most of the original 10 Avengers.
It’s because of this that seeing the wrap-up of so many stories felt so impactful for so many people, especially with the death of the fan-favorite Tony Stark. While the MCU has continued forward post-Avengers: Endgame, this finale ended up as what many people consider one of the greatest eras in superhero cinema. Steve Rogers gets his happy ending, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) goes off to discover himself, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) goes to settle down with his family, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) unfortunately also met her end, and the perfect endings for so many other major MCU characters.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
While Avengers: Endgame was a phenomenal event/finale movie, it’s Avengers: Infinity War that acts as, without a doubt, the best The Avengers flick. This is thanks to the fact that the third film in this series is a borderline perfectly executed project that, on paper, should have failed in every way. Somehow, though, directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo weaved this project together with flying colors.
They also finished the story in one of the most heart-wrenching ways an MCU movie ever has. Everyone knew—given that they knew this 2018 film was going to act as a “Part One,” of sorts—that this was going to end in a cliffhanger, but non-comic fans had no clue that half of the universe was going to get destroyed. What makes this so great, though, is that while it acts as a perfect cliffhanger, it is simultaneously a great full-circle moment that solidifies this as Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) story and can be consumed as a single plot—that ends depressingly, that is.
Avengers: Infinity War
- Release Date
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April 27, 2018
- Runtime
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149 minutes
- Writers
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Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
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Robert Downey Jr.
Tony Stark / Iron Man
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Chris Evans
Steve Rogers / Captain America
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