9. A Main Hero Appears To Retire After A Trilogy
Although we all know he's coming back, Iron Man 3 ended with the suggestion that Tony Stark was giving up his superhero role. He activated "Operation Clean Slate" after his final battle with Aldrich Killian - destroying every single one of his Iron Man armours - and had his arc reactor removed from his chest at the movie's climax (which he subsequently threw in to the sea by the wreckage of his destroyed mansion). Likewise, at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, Batman and Bruce Wayne are both presumed dead after Batman had diverted a bomb that was to destroy Gotham City with his flying Bat and it detonated with him supposedly in close proximity. However, Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed The Bat's autopilot and Gordon finds the previously wrecked Bat-Signal refurbished and, while visiting Florence, Alfred Pennyworth witnesses Bruce and Selina Kyle together - indicating Batman simply retired. Although the Batman franchise is now set to be rebooted, another thing that story had in common with the MCU's Iron Man is that it was still anticipated that Christian Bale's Batman might return. Of course, that now looks highly unlikely.