Warning: full spoilers ahead!
The End of Doctor Strange
Written by Joe Kelly | Art by Mike Hawthorne | Cover by Rahzzah
Doctor Strange’s story finds him in a future cyberpunk dystopia where technology rules and magic has all but died out. Wong is dead and so are the rest of Earth’s sorcerers, leaving him to go stir-crazy as he sits alone in the Sanctum Santorum with no one to talk to but an AI program.
The Story
Fed up with the lack of magic in the world, Doctor Strange is goaded by the spirit of Wong into replenishing the world’s magic by seeking out magical artifacts across the globe. Strange stops by the graves of the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Voodoo to grab their remains, then journeys to the far reaches of the world to collect whatever magical relics he can find. Upon returning home, he starts a ritual where he feeds a magical fire everything he collected, even the entire cabinet holding Wong’s memorial. Finally, Doctor Strange strips down and enters the fire himself.How It Ends
Doctor Strange sacrifices his body to complete the ritual, and we watch as magic is slowly returned to the world.We also see that Illyana Rasputin aka Magik was not dead but trapped in suspended animation, and Strange’s ritual had the side effect of releasing her from imprisonment. Magik returns to the earthly plane and assumes the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme to watch over the world with its magic now restored by Doctor Strange.
Was It a Fitting End?
While Doctor Strange sacrificing himself to rekindle Earth’s magic makes for an honorable end, the story up until that point doesn’t exactly paint him in the best light. He literally goes around desecrating the graves of his friends and fellow heroes, carelessly tossing their decayed bones into a cabinet. Granted, the story does make a point that he’s a bit off his rocker in his old age, but he comes off a bit too mean-spirited even for a grumpy senior citizen. By the end of the story, it’s almost a relief that he takes himself off the board so Illyana can replace him, which probably isn’t what the creative team intended.The End of Captain Marvel
Written by Kelly Thompson | Art by Carmen Carnero | Cover by Rahzzah
It’s the year 2051 and Captain Marvel has been out in deep space helping those in need for decades. She’s taken on a new look with a black-and-white costume, and her power level has increased considerably over the years. Her trusty Avengers beeper lights up with an SOS, calling her back to her home planet of Earth after a very long time.
The Story
Carol Danvers arrives back on Earth to find it experiencing an early Ice Age of sorts. The sun has started to die and the Earth is covered in sheets of ice with overcast skies that refuse to clear up. Carol was under the impression that everyone on Earth had died, so she’s shocked to find a group of various heroes that survived by using their powers to endure the harsh climate (extreme cold, radiation exposure, etc.). Her best friend Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman is still alive as an elderly woman and her son Gerry is now fully grown and sporting a red-and-yellow costume resembling his mother’s.After a tearful reunion, Jess explains that they called Carol back to help them defeat a giant creature born of the Earth’s unnatural new environment. It’s a close call, but Captain Marvel teams up with the remaining heavyweights to kill the monster. However, the real problem is much bigger than a single enemy. The Earth is still dying because of the fading sun, leaving Carol with a tough choice.
How It Ends
Carol’s spirit is revitalized after seeing her friends and loved ones again. She realizes that their safety and happiness means more to her than anything, so she decides to fly into the sun and unleash her full power, sacrificing herself so that the survivors on Earth get a second chance. Back on Earth, the planet warms and the skies clear as the survivors rejoice.Was It a Fitting End?
This story does an incredible job at conveying Carol’s emotional journey that ends in her sacrifice. Sacrifice is a common theme in the various The End stories, but rarely do they execute it with the emotional power seen here. There’s a genuine bittersweet happiness to it all as Carol finds renewed hope in her loved ones and then pays the ultimate price to ensure that hope lives on in them.Keep reading for the ends of Captain America, Spider-Man Miles Morales, and more!
The End of Captain America
Written by Erik Larsen | Art by Erik Larsen | Cover by Rahzzah
Captain America’s final adventure takes place when Steve Rogers is old and gray but still fighting in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by the Red Skull. Though the Red Skull himself has long since died, his evil remains in the form of a “Red Skull virus” that spreads through virtually any means -- a touch, a scratch, a smell. In other words, if you get anywhere near someone already infected, you’ll be instantly transformed into a rage-fueled Red Skull look-alike hell-bent on spreading his hate-fueled rhetoric by infecting more people with the virus.
The Story
When Cap discovers a small group of survivors hiding in the basement of a destroyed building, he makes it his mission to protect them, only for the Red Skulls to attack and infect everyone but an old man and two children. One of the children, a little girl, got shot during the attack and Cap saved her life by giving her an emergency blood transfusion.Cap notices the Red Skulls are acting like they’re part of a hive mind, so he tracks down the person controlling the hive to a crashed SHIELD helicarrier -- an infected MODOK. The villain had been using his psionic abilities to control the Red Skulls, so Cap kills MODOK and destroys the helicarrier.
It’s a bittersweet victory, as Cap gets wounded in the helicarrier explosion and returns to the group to see all of them have been infected by an attacking group of Red Skulls, except for the little girl. Grievously hurt with nowhere to go with the little girl, Cap makes his last stand fighting off as many of the Red Skulls as he can.
How It Ends
Just when it seems like all hope is lost, Cap sees that the old man has been restored to normal. Cap had fought him off with a piece of shrapnel that had impaled his leg (gross), and together they realize that the super-soldier serum in Cap’s blood has curative properties that can counteract the virus. That’s why the little girl never got infected after Cap gave her a blood transfusion.As luck would have it, Cap’s blood type makes him a universal donor, so with the help of the old man he gives blood that can be used to restore the infected to their normal selves. It’s a slow process, but the restored eventually outnumber the infected and are able to capture and cure the masses affected by the Red Skull virus.
When all is said and done, the aged Steve Rogers is happy to sit and endure getting pricked by needles all day because it means restoring freedom to the world after it was nearly destroyed by his greatest nemesis.
Was It a Fitting End?
This is by far the most uneven of all The End stories. Captain America’s inner monologue has the patriotism cranked up to 11 and the artwork is a bit too wild for its own good. There’s also the matter of the disappointing reveal that MODOK of all people was behind the Red Skull broadcast. You have to admire the creative team for taking a more subtle route for Cap’s finale -- everyone else seems to be going out in a blaze of sacrificial glory -- but at the same time, it’s hard to say that it feels satisfying for Cap’s final act of heroism to be becoming a blood bag.The End of Spider-Man Miles Morales
Written by Saladin Ahmed | Art by Damion Scott | Cover by Rahzzah
Decades in the future in what’s left of New York City, Spider-Man Miles Morales protects a safe haven full of survivors located in Brooklyn. They live in fear of giant germ monsters that roam freely eating anyone they find. Even though Miles is an older man with a gray beard, his spider-powers seem to have sustained him into his advanced age and he’s able to web-sling and throw punches like he’s still in his prime.
Miles’ secret identity is a thing of the past, as he not only walks around without his mask but he’s known as The Mayor, a nickname he got from protecting the city and broadcasting a message to survivors to come join their sanctuary. There’s a statue built in honor of his old best friend Ganke Lee for being a protector of Brooklyn.
The Story
When Miles answers a call to help another community of survivors in New Jersey, he crosses paths with a colossal man named the Last Captain, who wears Captain America’s old costume and uses his shield. Though Miles is able to defeat the Last Captain and his gang and return to Brooklyn, the villain then teams up with the germs to get a super-powered boost, giving him the strength to destroy the shield protecting Brooklyn and allow his gang to invade.Miles rallies the people of Brooklyn to defend their home, and while they’re able to beat back the gang, the Last Captain is now so strong that Miles can’t defeat him through conventional means.
How It Ends
Miles realizes that to take down the Last Captain, he’s going to need to put every last ounce of his energy into a massive venom-blast. Miles takes one last look around the community that he helped build and flourish and commits everything he’s got into the finishing move, giving up his life to literally make the Last Captain explode into germy bits. The story ends with the community remembering Miles as a hero who protected Brooklyn since he was a teenager and sacrificed his life to ensure it had a bright future.Was It a Fitting End?
This ending definitely has its heart in the right place, even if it doesn’t quite stick the landing. You get the sense that Miles has given everything he has to protect his home city, even when he’s old and out of shape. He has a real sense of pride in the community he built and it means a lot to see his best friend Ganke Lee remembered with a statue overlooking the place. The Last Captain is heavy on the symbolism -- he's the embodiment of the corrupted and lawless land that America has become -- but he's rather one-note and doesn't have much of a personal connection to Miles. Also, he seems like he may be one of many roaming bands of raiders, so while it was hard to watch Miles sacrifice himself, we're left to wonder what's going to happen to the community when the next bad guy rolls through.Keep reading for the ends of Deadpool and Venom!
The End of Deadpool
It won’t surprise you to hear that Deadpool’s “ending” is a satirical, fourth-wall breaking bonanza that pokes fun at the character’s legacy and superheroes in general. There are even multiple endings!
The Story
The “story” starts with Deadpool trying to kill his sometimes-lover Death so that he can live forever. It ends up being a ruse so he could pull a fast one on Mephisto, resulting in Mephisto being imprisoned for eternity and allowing Deadpool to become the King of the Underworld and hook up with Death to his heart’s content.However, Deadpool doesn’t like playing by the rules, so he offers up numerous alternate endings so the reader can choose their favorite.
How It Ends
Let’s break down the multiple endings:- A happy ending where Deadpool creates the Dead-Dome, a protective barrier around Miami so people can party forever while the rest of the world perishes in the apocalypse
- A truly terrifying ending where Deadpool retires from being a mercenary and takes up the quiet life of an office worker with a boss who expects him to work weekends
- A Hollywood ending where Deadpool hooks up with Captain Marvel and does the “superhero team” pose with a roster of MCU Avengers
- A dark and nihilistic ending where Deadpool roasts DC Comics for being too gritty
- An ending showing an out-of-shape Deadpool settling into a life of domestic bliss with Death
- A “hero’s death” ending where Deadpool and Wolverine die after teaming up to take down a genetic monstrosity made from their combined DNA
- A quiet ending where Deadpool is vaporized by a nuclear blast
- Another Hollywood ending riffing on the MCU but this time Deadpool brings in Iceman for some “homo superior representation”
- A non-ending where Deadpool is just trying to cover up a bunch of plot leaks about his secret past
- And lastly, the final ending shows Deadpool at a diner with his loved ones -- like Blind Al and his daughter Ellie -- and as they engage in all sort of craziness like a machine gun shootout and a tentacle-monster attack, an unidentified person builds a brick wall over the comic panels, eventually covering up all of Deadpool’s adventures and leaving them behind with a message spray-painted on the wall: “BREAK IN CASE OF WRITER’S BLOCK”
Was It a Fitting End?
The various endings are ridiculous, immature, and self-aggrandizing. In other words, the perfect sendoff for Deadpool. Joe Kelly is one of the seminal writers who helped create the Deadpool we know and love and detest today, so it’s little surprise that he scored a homerun with this metatextual story that roasts Marvel, DC and Deadpool himself before ending things on a self-aware yet empowering note.The End of Venom
Written by Adam Warren | Art by Chamba | Cover by Rahzzah
You might think Deadpool had the craziest ending of the bunch, but Venom actually manages to outdo him with a mind-bending story that gets into some pretty heady concepts and spans trillions of years.
The Story
This story gets really, really complicated, but the simple version is that Eddie Brock’s symbiote is essentially immortal, so even though Eddie eventually dies, it lives on past the end of the Earth and goes on to become the leader in a battle against machines that want to assimilate (and end) all life in the universe. Their war is dubbed Team Biolife vs. the Godminds.It turns out that the symbiote keeps a codex of all superbeings it has ever come into contact with, and before the Earth ended, it absorbed the minds, powers, and talents of everyone on the planet, and then using those powers it time-traveled to gather the traits of everyone who has ever existed. (We said it was complicated!) This gives the symbiote and all remaining life a fighting chance against the machines.