From Spider-Man being forgotten by everyone on Earth at the end of No Way Home to Doctor Strange gaining a third eye at the end of Multiverse of Madness to Thor adopting a daughter at the end of Love and Thunder, Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ended its movies with some unforgettable final scenes.
But, from Black Widow setting up a movie that already exists to Eternals threatening humanity in the dullest way possible, not every Phase Four ending has been great.
6 Black Widow
The long-awaited Black Widow movie is hurt by its awkward placement on the MCU timeline. Marvel waited over a decade to give Natasha Romanoff her own movie. When it finally arrived, Nat had already been killed off, so her standalone adventure had to be sandwiched into the timeline as a prequel. Since it’s set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, fans knew the ending of Black Widow going in. This is the obvious downside of waiting until the character was killed off to give her a solo movie.
The film ends with Nat saying her goodbyes to her surrogate family and getting a hold of a Quinjet so she can spring the imprisoned Avengers from the Raft. This might have been an exciting ending if the movie came out right after Civil War, but audiences had already seen the resolution of this plot point years earlier in Infinity War.
5 Eternals
At the end of Eternals, following the final battle (one of the only action scenes in the divisively slow-paced film), everything seems to go back to normal. Sersi returns to her boyfriend Dane in London and they go for a walk in the park. Then, all of a sudden, Arishem appears in the sky and lifts Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo up into space. Disappointed by their treasonous behavior, he tells them he will destroy humanity unless they can convince him otherwise.
This is a great cliffhanger setting up a future storyline for these ancient alien characters. The human race will be wiped out if Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo’s memories can’t convince Arishem that human beings deserve to live – and Phastos already deemed humanity to be unworthy of saving in the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing.
4 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Despite its PG-13 rating, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended up being every bit the Sam Raimi horror movie that the director’s fans had hoped for. Multiverse of Madness has the same predictable wrap-up as Strange’s first solo movie. As Kamar-Taj is reconstructed, America Chavez begins training as a sorcerer. She thanks Strange for his mentorship and they say their farewells before Strange returns to the New York Sanctum.
However, there’s a jaw-dropping cliffhanger around the corner that was missing from the first movie. As Strange goes about his day in the Big Apple, he collapses to his knees, an electric guitar twang blares onto the soundtrack, and a third eye opens on his forehead. This is exactly the kind of gonzo, surrealistic visual that Raimi’s fans have come to expect.
3 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
At the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, following the climactic action in Ta Lo, Shang-Chi and his best bud Katy reconvene with their friends at a bar. After criticizing their aimless valet career, these friends think Shang-Chi and Katy are making up their wild tale of magical rings and ancient lake dragons. But then, Sorcerer Supreme Wong steps through a portal and summons them to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
There’s a whimsical Wizard of Oz quality to this ending as Shang-Chi and Katy approach the portal with linked arms and take both a literal and metaphorical step into their future Avengers-adjacent superhero career.
2 Thor: Love And Thunder
The beautiful ending of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder makes up for some of the movie’s missteps. Love and Thunder was criticized for its tonal inconsistency, struggling to balance dark subject matter like god-butchering and cancer treatments with silly comedic moments like screaming goats and clumsy superhero catchphrases. The God of Thunder’s fourth solo adventure ends on a bittersweet note as Thor loses Jane but finds a new life purpose in raising Gorr’s resurrected daughter as his superhero sidekick.
Seeing Thor share Jane’s final moments inspired Gorr to change his wish at the gates of Eternity. He asked for his daughter back, and Thor agreed to take care of her. Thor’s team-up with his new adopted child gives an unexpected extra meaning to the title Love and Thunder. It’s the name of a new superhero duo who will surely go on a bunch of adorable intergalactic adventures together in the MCU’s future.
1 Spider-Man: No Way Home
Much like Love and Thunder, Spider-Man: No Way Home ends on a beautifully bittersweet note as the hero loses everything, then pulls it together and charges on with a hard-earned sense of optimism. In the multiversal final battle of No Way Home, Peter Parker manages to save the day, as always, but he has to sacrifice everything to do it. Peter tells Doctor Strange to go ahead with the original memory-wipe spell, which will make everyone in the world forget who he is.
Having lost his aunt, Peter must also lose his girlfriend, his mentor, and all his friends to fix his biggest mistake. Rather than explain who he is to Ned and MJ, Peter decides to stay forgotten to keep them out of danger. He gets his own apartment, starts studying for his GED, and continues fighting crime as Spider-Man. This ending gave Spidey a second MCU origin story, restoring his street-level superhero status from the comics.
