Even though fans can always expect the heroes to save the day, Marvel still finds a way to either leave fans wanting more or set up a future story for them to look forward to. The Avengers have not come out of every film victorious, and the emotions that comic book movie fans feel in the movie's third acts are arguably second to none.
Throughout the 23 MCU movies, some endings have stood out more than others for being particularly heartbreaking or particularly exciting. Let's take a look at 10 of the best MCU movie endings!
Captain America: The First Avenger
In the third act of Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers manages to defeat The Red Skull but when he realizes the only way to save New York is to crash the plane carrying the Tessaract, he does so with very little hesitation, leading him to crash into the ice and wake up 70 years later, missing his date with Peggy.
Not only does this ending yank at the audience's heartstrings when Steve calls Peggy before the crash, but it also exemplifies why Steve Rogers was the perfect choice to become Captain America.
Thor: Ragnarok
After realizing his full potential and becoming the God of Thunder, Thor defeats both Hela and Surtur, causing the destruction of his home. Thor has also lost his father and in turn, takes his rightful place as King of Asgard in the MCU's most popular Thor movie.
Thor also seemingly manages to reconcile his kinship with Loki, who may not be so bad after all, perfectly setting fans up for the heartbreak they will experience in the opening scene of Avengers: Infinity War.
Captain Marvel
Surprisingly, Captain Marvel ends with a younger Nick Fury in his S.H.I.E.L.D office devising the plan for a response team that can protect the earth from future intergalactic threats. Initially, the team is called 'The Protector Initiative' until he sees a photo of Carol Danvers' plane with the words "Capt. Carol 'Avenger' Danvers," written on the side.
As the Avengers theme plays, Nick renames the idea 'The Avengers Initiative' revealing to fans that Carol was the inspiration for the name of the team everyone knows as the Avengers today.
Captain America: Civil War
With Falcon, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Wanda Maximoff all captive in the Raft prison, it seems all hope is lost for the heroes. That is until Steve Rogers manages to single-handedly incapacitate all of the security onboard, rescuing the team, and telling Tony that no matter what, if he needs him, he will be there.
What really makes this ending powerful is that the Avengers are about to face the biggest threat they have ever come across in Thanos, but have been torn apart. The divide leaves fans pondering how they are going to come together to defeat The Mad Titan.
The Avengers
After a cascade of conflict throughout the movie, The Avengers manage to come together to defeat Loki and the Chitauri, saving Earth and proving that they can be the heroes the world needs them to be when the time comes.
Joss Whedon set the mold for what a comic book movie should look like and even though the team goes their separate ways in the final moments, fans are left with a glimpse of Avengers Tower, showing them that there is much more to be told in the ever-expanding story of earth's mightiest heroes.
Ant-Man
One of the stand-out characters in Ant-Man is Luis (Michael Peña). His re-telling of events has become legendary in the MCU with fans clamoring for more Luis recaps in future sequels.
At the end of the movie, Luis retells the story of his cousin Igancio, who was on a date with a journalist who spoke to Falcon who was looking for Scott Lang, giving fans one more dose of one of the best monologues in the MCU.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
At the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, J.K. Simmons returned as J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's trilogy and Spider-Man's secret identity was revealed to the world. Not only does everyone know Peter Parker is Spider-Man but, thanks to Quentin Beck, he is now known as a murderer.
Having a younger version of Peter Parker in the MCU allows for a different character experience than ever seen on the big screen before. Seeing how a teenager deals with being the focus of a worldwide manhunt in the third movie, will be something fans haven't experienced with Spider-Man before.
Iron Man
The final three words in the movie quickly became the infamous line that Tony Stark would utter in his final MCU moments. It also is repeated at the end of Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3 to remind viewers that RDJ and Tony Stark are both Iron Man.
This line was also the first sign that, aside from Spider-Man, there are no secret identities in the MCU, changing the narrative from what a lot of comic book fans are used to in the source material.
Avengers: Endgame
The box-office record breaker Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of ten years worth of story-telling with many characters stories, including Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, coming to a close. As much as fans would love to see Captain America 4 or an Iron Man 4, all good things must come to an end and the actors and their characters have to move on.
Keep in mind that the movie also ended with Thor getting a lift from the Guardians, keeping fans wondering whether or not they will appear in Thor: Love & Thunder.
Avengers: Infinity War
As magnificent as Avengers: Endgame was, a lot of the moments had the weight they did because of Avengers: Infinity War. The anger behind Thor killing Thanos was due to his failure to kill him at the end of Infinity War. Similarly, the characters returning through the portals at the end of Endgame, was an even more powerful moment thanks to the ending of Infinity War when they were turned to dust.
The sadness and fulfillment were at a higher level in the final moments of Endgame were probably higher. However, half the universe being dusted and people not knowing how they were going to come back left fans with more anticipation and excitement in the final moments of Avengers: Infinity War.