The MCU’s Season Finales are just generally disappointing. We’ve had some good ones in the past, like the first season of Jessica Jones and season six of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but in recent years, we’ve seen some real stinkers. Secret Invasion was a mess, and the impact it had on the future of the MCU was negligible. Plus, Samuel L. Jackson‘s character, Nick Fury, leaves Earth, but we’re not even sure that’ll impact future MCU movies, given the lackluster reception to the post-Infinity War film.
The MCU’s Disney Plus shows have had mixed results in their finales. Eternals suffered from a lack of consequences, with the Celestial’s corpse basically being ignored. She-Hulk had a disappointing finale, and relied too much on pleasing online fans and forgetting important plot points. Meanwhile, Hawkeye had a good side story but killed off a great villain, Vincent D’Onofrio‘s Kingpin.
But the MCU’s lack of consequences and obsession with bringing characters back from the dead is perhaps the most disappointing thing. Many of the Disney Plus finales focus on setting up future projects, detracting from the current show’s conclusion. Ms. Marvel and Moon Knight both had lackluster finales, with the former teasing another film and the latter relying on a last-minute reveal.
WandaVision came close to success, but it lost its uniqueness towards the end, and the final battle felt like something from a different show entirely. Loki, however, was the only show that nailed the finale. It told a contained story that didn’t require additional viewing, and the effects on the characters still felt significant.
In the future, I’d love to see Marvel’s Disney Plus shows focus on quality storytelling, and not be tied to other projects. The future of MCU shows needs to be more standalone, and not require extensive knowledge of the MCU to be enjoyable.
