The old pulp stories that influenced the inception of superhero comics were published in installments, so each chapter had to be worth another quarter in a Depression-era economy. Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, and Disney have loosely adopted this strategy with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, drawing audiences to multiplexes for three movies a year (global pandemics permitting) that each promise payoffs to long-running story arcs and fresh faces getting mixed into the ensemble.
The MCU’s serialized storytelling operates in pursuit of a moment. As the outcome of a few movies’ build-up, they can either satisfy fans or leave them feeling disappointed.
Disappointing: Black Widow’s Death
There’s been a lot of discussion over the past year or so about the death of Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame. The idea of her death scene works – that she would sacrifice herself for the good of the universe without hesitation – but it suffers in the execution.
The writers never really had a solid plan for the scene from the beginning. Apparently, one version of the scene featured an appearance by Thanos. The clunky, disjointed cutting of the scene points to endless reshoots. They never quite figured out the scene, and then they completely overshadowed Black Widow’s demise with a much better-executed death scene for one of her fellow Avengers.
Satisfying: Iron Man’s Death
A satisfying moment doesn’t have to be a happy one. Movies can elicit all kinds of emotions with the right dramatic payoff. The MCU’s multi-movie arcs need massive dramatic payoffs, because each one is the result of six or seven movies’ worth of build-up. Marvel fans went into Endgame with the expectation that it would kill off either Cap or Iron Man.
The death of Tony Stark, complete with his “I am Iron Man” signoff and uncharacteristically silent final moments, was everything fans could’ve wanted from that inevitable tragedy.
Disappointing: How Nick Fury Lost His Eye
Nick Fury was introduced to moviegoers in 2008. In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Fury told Steve Rogers that the last time he trusted someone, he lost an eye. Fans finally found out how Fury lost that eye in 2019’s Captain Marvel, set in the ‘90s, but it wasn’t the shocking plot twist they were hoping for.
Instead, Goose the Flerken mildly scratched his eye and he expected that scratch to heal in no time, but eventually lost his whole eye. It was pretty crummy.
Satisfying: Avengers Assemble
Marvel took a huge gamble with The Avengers, an ambitious crossover event, the likes of which had never been attempted before. Joss Whedon pulled it off spectacularly, bringing Earth’s mightiest heroes together for a bright, colorful, action-packed blockbuster.
In the third-act battle, the Battle of New York, the six original members come together as a team, standing in a circle as the camera sweeps around them.
Disappointing: Endgame’s Half-Assed Attempt At LGBT Representation
Marvel promised to feature its franchise’s first openly gay character in Avengers: Endgame. That character appeared in one scene, at a support group led by Cap, and he was played by straight co-director Joe Russo.
The Russos unironically used words like “important” and “integrity” when referring to the cameo. It was a blatant attempt at pandering to the LGBT community. The bare minimum representation was just insulting.
Satisfying: Captain America Wields Mjolnir
Before the other Avengers come to their aid, the trifecta of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor took on Thanos alone. When the Mad Titan had the God of Thunder pinned against some rubble, pushing his own axe into his chest, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir smacked him in the head.
But it wasn’t Thor who summoned it; it was Steve Rogers, proving he was worthy of wielding Thor's hammer after all. Audiences across the world cheered uproariously as a smiling Thor said, “I knew it!”
Disappointing: Thanos Destroyed Xandar Off-Screen
In some cases, the moments fans expected to be satisfying weren’t satisfying at all – in the best way. After Infinity War’s bombshell ending, Marvel fans spent a year eagerly awaiting Thanos’ execution for what he did to 50% of their favorite superheroes, but when Thor beheaded the Mad Titan in Endgame’s opening sequence, it didn’t feel like a victory at all.
But that gave it an immense impact. The MCU can only create this kind of impact if it actually depicts important events on-screen. Thanos’ off-screen destruction of Xandar early in Infinity War negates the entirety of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Satisfying: “I Am Iron Man.”
Robert Downey, Jr. reportedly ad-libbed his final line in Iron Man. He was supposed to go out in front of the press conference and tell the lie that S.H.I.E.L.D. told him to, that Iron Man is his bodyguard.
But Downey gave the movie a much more interesting ending, one that set up the entire MCU and felt more in character for Tony Stark, as he scrapped his cue cards and said, “I am Iron Man.”
Disappointing: Iron Man 3’s Mandarin Twist
Shane Black had something interesting to say about how geopolitics work with the revelation that the Mandarin is just an actor hired to be the face of a terrorist organization and not its actual leader.
But it felt like a slap in the face to fans who’d waited years to see Tony Stark face his fearsome arch nemesis on the big screen.
Satisfying: Portals
After traveling across the spacetime continuum to collect the six Infinity Stones and giving them to the Hulk to bring back the half of all life that turned to dust when Thanos used the Stones himself five years earlier, the Avengers’ sense of victory and relief was short-lived, because the Mad Titan and his armies came from the past and blew up their headquarters.
But just as Cap was about to face Thanos and his forces alone, he heard a familiar voice in his ear: “On your left.” Doctor Strange and Wong started opening portals around Cap as all the dead heroes returned to join him in battle. Alan Silvestri’s score is suitably epic.