These 5 Marvel Comics Have the Best Endings And I Can Prove It

Marvel Comics took the idea of the superhero to new places and has become one of the most popular franchises in pop culture. Over the years, Marvel’s comics have introduced readers to the greatest heroes and the worst villains, telling stories that show everything there is to love about the comic artform. Some of the best comics of all-time have been published by Marvel, stories that were able to grab onto readers and never let them go. There are lots of factors that go into an unforgettable story, but one of the most important is the final world, the ending. The perfect ending is a thing of beauty, tying up all of the loose ends and sending the reader back to the real world happy.

The right ending can take a story that is great and push it to the next level. While there are amazing stories out there without perfect endings, there are no amazing stories with bad endings. The right ending can make the difference between forgettable stories and the ones that really stick with you. These five Marvel stories have the best endings, each of them capping off their stories flawlessly.

5) The Amazing Spider-Man #248

Spider-Man is Marvel’s most relatable hero and Marvel has used that to tell some tearjerkers over the years, including The Amazing Spider-Man #248. Titled “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man”, this classic by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. has gone down as one of the greatest comics ever. The book was about a boy named Tim Harrison. He loved Spider-Man, creating a scrapbook of his newspaper clippings. One day, his dreams come true when he finally gets to meet his idol, showing the hero the scrapbook and asking him questions. It’s one of those stories that seems like a fun little yarn about a boy meeting the object of his obsession, but the ending of the book reveals why all of this happened – Tim was a boy with leukemia. The Daily Bugle wrote an article about him and Spider-Man decided to give this boy who would never be an adult a chance to have one of his dreams come true. The ending takes a good story and makes it unforgettable. If you can read this without crying, then you need to look into why you aren’t human.

4) The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122

The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122, by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane, gave readers what is still the most important Spider-Man story ever. The war between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man came to a head as the villain kidnapped Gwen Stacy, leading to a battle that would end with two deaths. First, Gobbie threw Gwen off the George Washington Bridge, forcing Spidey to catch her with a webline, accidentally breaking her neck. This led to the two having one final battle, one that ends with the death of Green Goblin, impaled on his own goblin glider in an attempt to kill Peter. The deaths of Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin changed the Spider-Man comics forever; not only did the book lose its love interest and main villain, it was yet another tragedy in the life of Peter Parker, one that would define his adventures in the year to come. The ending of this story was a turning point for not just Spidey, but the entire Marvel Universe, showing just how far the House of Ideas would take their characters.

3) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75

Wolverine’s bone claws years were a welcome change, taking his adventures to new places in the mid ’90s. X-Men (Vol. 2) #25 ended with Magneto pulling the adamantium off his skeleton and Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75, by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert, would tell the rest of the story, as the X-Men struggled to keep him alive on the trip back to the X-Mansion from space. However, it’s not until afterwards that things get really interesting, as Logan learns the truth about his claws – they’re bone. This leads him to make a fateful decision, leaving Jubilee and the X-Men behind because he’s afraid that his new weaknesses would endanger them in battle. The issue ends with Jubilee, reading the letter he wrote her about leaving sobbing as he drove off on his motorcycle. It’s a perfect little heartbreaker of an ending; it closes the door on one part of the hero’s life and sends him on another. It’s simple, low key, and devastating, everything you could want from the ending of a comic.

2) Earth X

Marvel and dystopian futures go together like chocolate and peanut butter, with one of the best being the one introduced in Earth X, the 14-issue series from Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and John Paul Leon. The story took place on an Earth where everyone mysteriously gained superpowers, leading to the end of the superhero community and a whole new world. The story takes readers on a ride through the history of the Marvel Universe, revealing that the Celestials created humanity and gave them the ability to gain superpowers in order to protect their offspring incubating in the planet. The last few issue takes place in the aftermath of the battle between the Celestials and Galactus (who is Franklin Richards in this future), as the surviving heroes decide to band together to figure out how to fix the world in the days to come. The book ends with Captain America realizing that Mar-Vell was about to return to life, setting the book up for its sequel. As far as endings go, this one is the perfect cliffhanger. It set up what the future could look like and then dropped tease after tease of where the story was going next. Endings in comics are an interesting thing, because comics never end. Earth X‘s ending is able to not only put the perfect capstone on its story, but also get readers excited about what was coming down the pipe. It’s the perfect comic book ending.

1) Infinity Gauntlet

Infinity Gauntlet is Marvel’s greatest event, for numerous reasons. The story brought back Thanos, making him a major villain immediately, all while reinvigorating the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe. It was a legend even before it was made into the basis for the first three Phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a six-issue classic from Jim Starlin, George Perez, and Ron Lim. The book’s ending has long been one of the coolest ever. Adam Warlock had gotten his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet and Thanos seemingly killed himself to escape judgment at the hands of the heroes. However, the final issue ends up taking readers to a farm where the formerly Mad Titan has taken refuge. Warlock and Thanos have a conversation about what the villain learned about himself and the universe, leading to the two of them making peace, with a smiling Thanos sitting on his steps being the last image in the book. It’s not an ending anyone would have foresaw coming when they picked up the first issue, closing out this story with the kind of style and panache that made it so amazing.

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