The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest and most successful franchises in cinema, but that doesn’t mean that Marvel hasn’t occasionally retconned some of its best endings. Even before the movies of the MCU were dominating the box office, Marvel was making blockbuster adaptations of some of their best comic book characters. Marvel movies have been weaving epic stories of good versus evil for decades, with some of them giving their characters truly exceptional endings. Both in the MCU and in other disconnected franchises, characters have been given satisfying, definitive, and emotional endings in ways that many felt were truly perfect.
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Unfortunately, Marvel movies also have a habit of tampering with their own continuity. The MCU has retconned its own movies and TV shows several times, undoing narrative events that conflict with its planned story. However, this occasionally leads to incredible character endings being undone, rendering even the best moments completely redundant in hindsight.
5) Steve Rogers — Avengers: Endgame (2019)
One of the few MCU heroes to get a truly perfect comic book ending was Steve Rogers, who retired from heroism to return to the past, where he finally managed to be with the woman he loved. Avengers: Endgame ended with Steve retiring permanently, but the latest reports indicate that this might be in jeopardy. Though Steve’s ending was perfect, it might not be his ending after all.
The latest report is that Steve Rogers will return in Avengers: Doomsday, bringing the hero out of retirement to support in the fight against Doctor Doom. Doing so would not only undo Steve’s perfect ending but could potentially replace it with a much worse one. Should Steve Rogers return, he’ll almost certainly be killed by Doctor Doom, snatching away his perfect ending and instead giving him a tragic and emotional final adventure.
4) Iron Man — Iron Man 3 (2013)
Many would consider Tony Stark’s eventual ending to be one of the greatest Iron Man moments, and you’ll find no arguments here. However, the character was also given another ending earlier in the MCU, although it never actually stuck. Iron Man 3 ended with the hero destroying all of his suits and announcing his retirement from active hero duty, delivering a comprehensive and subtly perfect ending to his solo movie arc.
It didn’t take long for Marvel to undo Tony Stark’s ending, though. Just two years later, he was brought back for Avengers: Age of Ultron, with practically no explanation for his new suit of armor or his return to hero duty. Though it eventually led to the character getting a far better send-off, it’s still one of those retcons that stands out as especially frustrating in hindsight.
3) Loki’s Sacrifice — Loki season 2
Loki is an MCU character who has cheated death many times over. However, Loki season 2 gave him a very different type of ending, with the one-time hero instead opting to sacrifice himself to preserve the many timelines, adopting the mantle of the God of Stories. As well as a huge power boost, the shift effectively served as a perfect ending to Loki’s redemption arc.
Now, Loki has been confirmed as one of the most powerful characters appearing in Avengers: Doomsday. His return for the Multiverse Saga finale has led many to believe he will be killed off, but whether or not that proves true is besides the point. Just bringing Loki back for another movie after his perfect MCU ending is itself the wrong choice, as it undermines his most triumphant and heroic moment to date.
2) Wolverine — Logan (2017)
Hugh Jackman’s turn as Wolverine has proven to be one of the best in the history of superhero cinema. Having appeared consistently in the role since 2000, Jackman’s Wolverine story seemed to come to an end in 2017’s Logan, which saw the character die in a hugely emotional adaptation of the Old Man Logan comic book story. It served as the perfect ending to the Wolverine movie trilogy and was considered one of the best superhero movie endings of all time.
That is, until a later Marvel movie undid the character’s death. 2024 saw the irreverent Deadpool & Wolverine bring Jackman back, with Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth playfully desecrating Logan’s corpse in the movie’s opening scene before Wolverine’s Multiversal resurrection. While Deadpool & Wolverine ultimately did a great job with the character, the way it undid Logan’s perfect ending remains incredibly divisive.
1) Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
The MCU’s Infinity Saga was the first big narrative arc of the franchise, and it tied all of the MCU’s early releases together. Avengers: Infinity War was the first half of the Infinity Saga’s epic conclusion, and it gave many MCU characters a perfect, if heartbreaking, ending. Having been able to amass the six Infinity Stones, Thanos snaps half of the population out of existence, immediately wiping out half of the Avengers. It’s a shocking scene that perfectly ended Infinity War‘s story.
Of course, the MCU undid the ending in the follow-up, Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps the only time undoing a great movie ending was actually a good thing, Endgame saw the MCU’s heroes fighting to reverse Thanos’ actions, ultimately proving triumphant at great personal cost. Even though it was only Endgame‘s victory that allowed Infinity War‘s ending to seem perfect, it’s still an example of a time one Marvel reversed the ending of another.
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