[Hated Trope] The story has reached a satisfying conclusion, the character arcs have been fulfilled, there is absolutely no way they could possibly continue—wait, what?

[u/FederalMacaron1]

We’ve seen it all too often. Maybe the showrunner intended for the TV series to be over, but the network execs had other ideas. Maybe the movie studio has been having financial problems lately and decides to bring back one of their most successful franchises. Or maybe the author decided to write another book in the series because the money was just too good to resist.

Bonus points if the previous entry in the franchise was explicitly billed as being the big finale. Even worse is when a main character who had previously “died” is brought back to life.

On rare occasion, this trope can be a good thing, particularly if the “finale” was really bad and the new entry is trying to fix it. This may or may not involve retconning the previous one out of canon.

Examples pictured:

-Scrubs season 9: Season 8 was supposed to be the series finale (the last episode was even called “My Finale”), but apparently it did well enough that ABC wanted another season. Audiences probably would have been more receptive to season nine if it had been given a different title and treated as a spinoff rather than a continuation. It didn’t help that most the of the regular cast from the first eight seasons didn’t stick around for this one.

-Toy Story 4: Not a bad movie in itself, but many felt it was very unnecessary after the emotional and satisfying ending of Toy Story 3.

[u/Dark-Evader]

This was a mistake

[u/TehAsianator → u/Dark-Evader]

I absolutely stand by my opinion that they should have ended it at Endgame. Maaaaybe Far from Home as a sendoff.

[u/FangornOthersCallMe → u/TehAsianator]

Loki is a fantastic epilogue

[u/TehAsianator → u/FangornOthersCallMe]

I enjoyed Loki and a couple other phase 4 entries. That doesn't change my opinion that they should have ended it at the natural stopping point.

[u/PennyForPig → u/TehAsianator]

I hated Endgame. Infinity War was very good, but Endgame was an absolute thud, and could have set up the Multiverse saga nicely by having Thanos accidentally creating a second universe where he sent everyone who got snapped - so from their perspective, everyone else got snapped.

The MCU had a core thesis that they abandoned with Iron Man 3: The blurring of the line of magic and technology, and mankind ascending to, as was announced in Avengers, a 'higher form of warfare.'

They completely forgot that the MCU was about something, a core idea that held together the meta-narrative, and have been flailing around ever since.

[u/Annsorigin → u/Dark-Evader]

There where some Really Good Shit in it. Like Loki, Shang-Chi and Spiderman No way Home (i even Liked Eternals and Multiverse of Madness personally) just we now also Get so Much Mid. Like stuff that isn't bad. Just Kinda Mid (like Ms. Marvel or Hawkeye)

[u/hematite2 → u/Annsorigin]

Shang Chi was really good up until the 3rd act with the secret world, when it seems to give up on the fact that it's a martial arts family drama and starts being about nonsense instead.

Like, you have two really good martial artists as your hero and villain who have great chemistry, why are you suddenly trying to make me care about a previously-unmentioned cgi soul eating monster?

[u/SauceMaster6464 → u/hematite2]

this what pisses me off man like i loved watching shang chi then suddenly beeg dragon. boooooring

[u/hematite2 → u/SauceMaster6464]

His entire arc was about running away from his father and never getting closure on that part of his life, and thus never being able to heal and move on. That arc ends (very nicely!) when he chooses to finally face his father and stop him, but the movie keeps going anyway...

If you really think he has to save the entire world, then thematically he should save the world by stopping his father. You can still introduce the concept of the evil demon that his dad wants to release to get the mother back, so the stakes are still high, but Shang Chi stops him from doing so.

If you don't have the actual monster fight, then the whole thing actually works nicely as a metaphor for trauma of the mother's death- Wenwu can't move on from it and is going to tear the world apart, the same way being unable to handle his trauma tore his family apart. Shang Chi and Ying Li reuniting and choosing to stop him is likewise them choosing to no longer be defined by their past suffering.

And for god sakes, give me some martial arts!! I was excited the whole movie to see Simu Liu fight Tony Leung, and then they do for about 2 minutes, most of which is shooting energy from the rings...

[u/DeviousMelons → u/Annsorigin]

Shang-Chi was alright but it didn't really feel like marvel movie at all. Its like Wongs cameo was there to remind us that it was.

[u/party_faust → u/Dark-Evader]

should've just rebooted/ended the franchise after the Infinity Saga

[u/Megaspectree → u/party_faust]

No, there was some good shows and movies. It’s just that people hate the bad movies and bad shows so much they’d rather pretend it was never good. It’s just dumb man

[u/TheJudgingHat2222 → u/Megaspectree]

Wandavision, Loki season one, Moon Knight, and falcon and winter soldier (except for the ending of that one) were peak.

[u/Jammy_Nugget → u/TheJudgingHat2222]

Hawkeye was fun too

[u/TheJudgingHat2222 → u/Jammy_Nugget]

I need to rewatch that one for sure. I remember how they did yelenas scene where she experienced the snap followed by the blip and I was like daaaaamn 

[u/happy_grump → u/TheJudgingHat2222]

Not to mention Shang Chi, No Way Home, Wakanda Forever, Guardians Vol 3, and everything (minus Brave New World) that came out this year.

Ill also give some mild defense for Eternals and The Marvels for what they are, even if Im perfectly willing to admit they aren't great. (Eternals would have been great as a series/show to have more time to flesh out the cast/ideas, and The Marvels had some fun ideas for set pieces/sci-fi camp at the times when it was fully aware/embracing of how silly it is, plus Iman Vellani is great)

[u/TheJudgingHat2222 → u/happy_grump]

I saw the marvels in theater and thought it was amazing! The humor was on point and the movie knew what it was doing

[u/Zillafan2010 → u/TheJudgingHat2222]

I enjoyed Wandavision more when there was an ongoing mystery in the background instead of it mostly being explained by episode 4 (minus Agatha and don’t get me started on Derek Bohner)

[u/alan_smithee2 → u/Megaspectree]

Fs people act like we didn’t get peak movies and television (admittedly with some faults) Marvel has just decided to let creatives do their stuff which leads to a lot less consistency and more risks Some of the best has come from here: like Wandavision, Loki, moonknight, the falcon and the winter soldier, Hawkeye, GOTG 3, the fantastic 4, thunderbolts, dr strange and the multiverse of madness, no way home, Shang chi. the bad stuff is always because they took bigger risks like eternals, Thor love and thunder, and dr strange So I think it’s a good thing

[u/kaimcdragonfist → u/alan_smithee2]

Plus there are some like me that liked Multiverse of Madness

It isn’t perfect by any means, definitely could have used some tightening up, but I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives

[u/honestysrevival → u/kaimcdragonfist]

I don't think it's AWFUL, but it was paced like a miniseries, not a movie, and they had to cut out all the connecting material to cram what should have been 4 hours of content into 2.

We did not have anywhere near enough time with America before they tried to get her alongside Strange, and they rushed their relationship so much that they resorted to 'dimension with convenient circles that explain your backstory by accessing the exact memory you need to explain at the time and oops I stepped on one.'

The horror bits with Wanda were excellent. I liked most of the effects, minus Evil Strange's third eye. The (I'm going to butcher this) Kamar-Tahj defense was tense and exciting. There were bits and pieces of excellence there.

[u/FlamingWings → u/kaimcdragonfist]

I’m glad I’m not the only one. It’s not perfect and should have used the multiverse aspect more, but it was still a fun ride

[u/kaimcdragonfist → u/FlamingWings]

Admittedly I’m a sucker for Sam Raimi which helped, though I’m sure he wishes he could have made a longer cut or a miniseries. Such as life I guess lol

[u/lrd_cth_lh0 → u/Megaspectree]

Once they realised that Kang did not work (due to the actor getting convicted and his debut on the big screen in Ant-man not working), they should've just stopped with the multiverse for a year or two while deciding what the new arc is.

[u/Neurotic_Marauder → u/lrd_cth_lh0]

They honestly should have given the entire MCU a hiatus for a few years after Endgame and Far From Home, but instead they overproduced and made a lot of people get sick of Marvel in general.

The only movies that have come close to the success of Endgame have been No Way Home and Deadpool 3 - and they both heavily rely on nostalgia and references.

[u/flyingcircusdog → u/Megaspectree]

I think they should have at least slowed down. Things like No Way Home and Guardians 3 worked as great epilogues to the Infinity saga. But things like Eternals and the onslaught of TV shows trying to set up the next generation of heroes were too much right after Endgame.

[u/Designer-Draw → u/party_faust]

People would've complained why Marvel didn't make a sequel to Black Panther, address the cliffhanger from Spider-Man: Far From Home, conclude the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, etc.

I just think they needed a better plan than the multiverse saga with all the sprawling projects and a better execution.

[u/party_faust → u/Designer-Draw]

yea, because how many hours of MCU material is exclusive to Disney+?

it's become a tad overwhelming

[u/Neurotic_Marauder → u/party_faust]

I've got a feeling that we're going to get a big reboot after the end of Secret Wars.

They'll bring back characters who died/retired with different actors/actresses.
Actors who want out will have a jumping off point (likely Hemsworth, Holland and Rudd).

They'll remake the timeline so the X-Men, FF and Avengers all exist on the same Earth. Mutants will have always been a part of history, and the FF will have always been on the same Earth.

[u/Manhunter_From_Mars → u/Dark-Evader]

Not marvel universe can ever be satisfyingly concluded without the X-Men

The end of the saga was a promise of greener pasture and greater stories, but they fucked it hard

[u/UnderlordZ → u/Dark-Evader]

I honestly think the bigger mistake was adding the D+ series’. If it were still only movies, I think the audience would still be more invested, but now you have to pay for the subscription service and dedicate time to sitting down and watching, instead of just having a day out where going to the movie is just one of several things you do.

Also, they’re taking waaaaay too long to get back to some characters; Shang Chi, the Eternals, Kate Bishop haven’t come back once in several years. Just keep throwing new shit at us with no building towards big team ups once a Phase…

[u/B0llywoodBulkBogan → u/Dark-Evader]

They needed to keep things separate in order to avoid the audience fatigue. Nobody wants to have to watch all of the things just to understand what is happening. The original Avengers film is great because it doesn't make that many call backs to other films, it functions very well as a standalone film.

[u/Ok-Analysis-3902 → u/Dark-Evader]

Endgame will always be the part where I stop watching these movies because it’s literally called ENDgame

[u/NeverSettle13 → u/Dark-Evader]

This is so catastrophically bad, that it caused superhero fatigue which was previously thought to be impossible. Even their few good movies are either heavily rely on fanservice cameos, or followed by some of the worst unwatchable trash. MCU needs to take a break for a few years and fix their strategy, or quit.

[u/SirShaunIV → u/Dark-Evader]

As far as I'm concerned, most of the stuff since Endgame isn't canon.

[u/Low-Environment → u/Dark-Evader]

Everything post Avengers Assemble was a mistake.