Have you ever sat through an entire movie, only to have your experience ruined with a disastrous ending? Yeah, no one wants that. Ending a movie with just enough of a cliffhanger, while simultaneously offering a satisfying closure, is extremely important for major franchises, such as theMCU. Even more so given how the MCU interconnects and one endingsets up the plotfor the franchise’s upcoming projects.
This is why it’s so important to keep audiences at the edge of their seats up until the end: so that they end up wanting more. Indeed, the MCU has plenty of these endings. Let’s take a look at 12 best movie endings in the franchise.
12Captain America: The First Avenger
Even though we’re all painfully aware of Captain America’s heroic story, and even thoughThe First Avengerrolls out retrospectively in a sense, we still hold our breaths by the end of it. After crashing Red Skull’s plane and helping win World War II, Steve Rogers falls into a deep, frozen slumber, lasting 70 years. He then wakes up in a faux 1940s room, with a scripted environment to help him adjust to the time jump. Finding himself in present-day New York, Steve says, defeated, “I had a date” — which can mean both the arranged date with Peggy, and a sense of time. Imagine the utter shock you’d feel realizing that you’ve slept for 70s years and the love of your life has probably gone already.
Related:The Most Underrated MCU Movies, Ranked
11Eternals
WithEternals,we’re left with a major cliffhanger, which can only mean an upcoming sequel. The group of immortal beings have been fighting evil Deviants their whole life, but there’s always been a split of opinions between the members. This conflict climaxes at the end of the movie, when one group, led by Ikaris, believes that a new Celestial needs to be born to restore balance. Meanwhile, Sersi and others do their best to stop the Celestial from being born because they’ve come to love humanity. As Ikaris supposedly dies, the Eternals divide into different teams to movie on with their lives. However, their peaceful lives are immediately disrupted when Sersi, Kingo, and Phastos get abducted by Arishem. It’san open endingwith alot of questions.
10The Avengers
Although very messy, we were able to see the Avengers' teamwork for the first time in the 2012 movie,The Avengers. The power struggles between Tony and Steve are present throughout the whole film, but it ends up being Iron Man who saves the day. He intercepts the missile sent by the Chitauri, and takes it through the wormhole, away from New York. He was willing to sacrifice his own life to save everyone. Hulk saves Tony, Natasha closes the wormhole, and, despite their differences, they all come together at the end. They capture Loki, and everyone goes their separate ways until they’re needed together again.
9Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
The whole ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2is spent with Peter desperately trying to solve his daddy issues. He is finally met with his biological father, Ego, only to find out he’s been the villain all along. When his surrogate-father, Yondu, sacrifices his life for Peter, our main hero realizes that he’s already had a father all his life. What always breaks us is that Petter was willing to die with Ego before Yondu saves him. The Ravager funeral for Yondu at the end pulls your heatrstrings, as it’s one beautiful piece of cinema.
8Captain America: Civil War
The central conflict betweenSteve and Tonysees its climax at the end ofCaptain America: Civil War, when the two parties fight each other at the Berlin airport. No one really wants to hurt the other, they just desperately try to enforce their respective beliefs about the Sokovia Accords. But, as Tony later finds out that it was Bucky who killed his parents, their endgame for the fight changes. Steve wouldn’t let his best friend die, and so the two fight until there’s enough blood to prove they’ve significantly hurt each other. Captain America gives up his shield, and later contacts Tony in a heartfelt letter that hints at a hopeful reconciliation sometime in the future.
7Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3tends to get picked as the fan-favorite. Why, you ask? Well, we deal with Tony’s mental health and internal struggles, and are given a detailed exploration of what would it be like if Tony didn’t have his technology. When Pepper’s life is threatened at the end of the movie, Tony realizes that if he wants to be with her and keep her safe, he has to stop participating in this line of work. After being attached to his suits for so long, he ends up ordering J.A.R.V.I.S. to destroy all of them in the end.
6Spider-Man: No Way Home
All of us know what a masterpieceSpider-Man: No Way Hometruly is. We get all three different versions of Spider-Man on one screen, as well as all the villains from the franchises. The Spider-Men join forces to help cure the villains, and then send them back to their respective timelines. But, the only way to fix everything, is making everyone forget who Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is. Although Peter promises MJ that he’ll find her and restore everything to how it used to be, he quickly realizes that they’re better off without him. Peter is left all alone, staring anew. No wonder the film was treated as theend of a franchise.
Related:MCU: 5 Perfect Things About Tom Holland’s Spider-Man (& 5 Things That Need Improving)
5Avengers: Infinity War
If we’re talking about an ending no one expected, it definitely has to beInfinity War. The trailer made it look like the Avengers would defeat Thanos and stop him from collecting all six Infinity Stones. Well, that didn’t happen. And, with a snap of his finger, the giant wiped out half the universe at random. It was the one of the first MCU movie that ended with the heroes' defeat. Oh, what an ocean of tears that was.
4Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Treat it as you will, the whole plot ofThe Winter Soldiercan be read as both atragic love storyand a dispute between two best friends. No matter how you decide to look at it, once Steve realizes that his best buddy Bucky is the one causing havoc, he refuses to hurt him and instead does everything in his power to save him. The final battle between them has to be one of the best in the MCU. Steve refuses to fight Bucky, and instead decides to trust him — trust that he wouldn’t hurt him. And his instincts were right. The movie ends with Bucky actually saving him.
3Thor: Ragnarok
Instead of saving Thor’s homeland, Asgard, the mighty God and his crew let the Ragnarok happen at the end ofThor: Ragnarok. Thor realizes it’s the only way how to defeat his sister Hela, as well as save his people. Surprisingly, Loki joins in to help, and they evacuate most of Asgard onto a ship, in search of their new home. Thor suggests Earth, unaware that his colleagues are in a dispute. It’s heartbreaking to know what happens next. They don’t get too far until Thanos catches them and kills half of all life on the ship.
