10 Best Sci-Fi Movie Endings Of All Time

10. The Empire Strikes Back

The three-act structure has been a staple of a wide variety of fiction since the days of Aristotle, and there's a good reason for it. The setup, confrontation and resolution model of a narrative hits all the beats it needs to in order to entertain. So when it comes to the original Star Wars trilogy, the entirety of The Empire Strikes Back is the confrontation act of this three-act structure, and its ending is appropriately dark.

In a twist that's become so popular and parodied endlessly, it can be easy to forget just how impactful the Daddy Vader reveal was at the time. Not only has he had a world of truth in regards to his lineage dropped on him, but he's also now minus a hand and clinging on for dear life.

And that's not even all the bad stuff that's happened so far; Han's been frozen in carbonite after being betrayed by Lando, ready to be shipped off to the slug crime-lord of the Outer Rim, Jabba the Hutt.

It's even more insane to think that audiences at the time had to wait three years to find out what happened next. Imagine waiting three years for Endgame after Infinity War. It doesn't bear thinking about.