10 Greatest Comic Book Movie Endings

The very nature of comic book movies makes satisfactory endings difficult to come by. These days, very few exist outside of a long-running series of shared cinematic universe, which leaves little room for ambiguity, indefinite closure or the (permanent) death of a major character in the final act.

A botched conclusion has the potential to undo the two hours of solid gold which came before, leave the punters clamouring for refunds at the ticket desk and even kick a reboot into production to undo the offending events.

X-Men: The Last Stand is a solid example of the latter scenario, a movie which charged to the finish line too quickly, hit fan-favourite characters with meaningless deaths and rendered its big emotional moment pointless with a post-credits scene. Although the rest of the film wasn't much to write home about, the finale was so heinous that X-Men: Days of Future Past had to obliterate it from continuity.

Despite the challenges filmmakers face in the superhero space, there are many examples of comic book movies that brought the curtain down in spectacular fashion, usually when the director wasn't obliged to set up a dozen future sequels and spinoffs, and these are moments the fans will never forget...

Iron Man was the big bang that brought the Marvel Cinematic Universe into being, and its final act is suitably explosive, fuelled by the star power of Robert Downey Jr and Jeff Bridges.

Although the final battle between Tony Stark and the Iron Monger is relatively low key compared to the MCU set pieces that would follow, you can't really go wrong with two guys slugging it out in high-tech robot suits.

It's a seismic scene, but the real reason it works is that it was earned. The movie dedicated a fair portion of its runtime to fleshing out the relationship between Stark and Obadiah Stane, two men who once worked towards a common goal only for it to turn sour, and that's felt in every punch.

Their scrap hits all of the right notes, but what really sends Iron Man out on a high is Stark's speech to the press right at the end. Although it's a relatively short address, he tells the world so much right there.

By just flat-out saying "I am Iron Man" Downey Jr assured the fans that this isn't your typical superhero story of secret identities and white knights. He flew in the face of cliche and announced the arrival of the MCU in style.