20 Utterly Devastating Movie Endings No One Saw Coming

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated the movie industry since 2008, and though things are far from its peak these days, that can never take away from the spectacle that was Avengers: Infinity War. Just about every hero still breathing introduced over the previous decade had some hand in the fight against Thanos (Josh Brolin).

It was one that Earth's Mightiest Heroes would be on the losing side of, however, as The Mad Titan, arguably the greatest villain in Marvel's big screen history, completed his quest and snapped his fingers with the six infinity stones to decimate one-half of all life in the universe.

In fairness, anyone who had read the comics knew that this outcome was likely, plus the fact that the film was initially titled Infinity War Part One suggested a cliffhanger ending, but anyone who went into the cinema not knowing comic book lore or behind-the-scenes details would have been shocked at the villain's victory.

Even those who did expect Thanos to snap his fingers, could they have anticipated which characters would die? T'Challa, Wanda Maximoff, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord (Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt) and the majority of the Guardians all bit the literal dust, in a shocking turn that left some of the biggest names in the franchise on the bench for much of Avengers: Endgame a year later.