Spoiling all your cherished comic endings.
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00:00 You know what, happy endings are a rare delight in comics, serving as a sort of treat for
00:04 wading through the sea of dark or ambiguous endings that are generally found in the industry.
00:10 And arguably, they're so unusual that even endings with dark undertones can appear happy
00:15 solely because they aren't as depressing as so many others. But even these golden moments
00:20 can sometimes still carry a tinge of darkness. As remember, these are ongoing series, so
00:25 there's always got to be conflict and trauma just over the horizon.
00:28 So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10
00:32 Comic Happy Endings That Were Secretly Terrible.
00:35 10. Superman Red Son
00:38 Superman Red Son's ending is one that is sure to have delighted many fans. Not only
00:43 did we get to see how fast technological advancement would be in a world where Lex Luthor became
00:47 a legitimate leader, but we also got the delightful plot twist reveal that, in this universe,
00:53 Superman comes from the future and is sent to the past just before the Earth explodes.
00:58 It's such an exciting ending that it totally distracts from how utterly sad it is, as the
01:04 implication is that Earth is permanently destroyed, and that Superman cannot fix it as he's
01:09 merely part of a time loop that he is unaware even exists. This means that the ending of
01:14 Red Son is less exciting and happy for seeing how Superman came to Earth, and rather a tragic
01:19 superhero sequel to Bloody Groundhog Day, which still admittedly sounds pretty cool.
01:24 9. Kick-Ass 3
01:26 Kick-Ass 3 had somehow the most perfect ending, and the most inadvertently heartbreaking one
01:32 at the same time. This is all because it closes with Mindy McCreed escaping both family and
01:36 police pursuit in order to travel the globe and kill crooks and criminals across the world,
01:41 presumably for the rest of her life. While this is all suitably delightful, it totally
01:46 ignores the biggest tragedy of the entire series, which is the way in which Mindy is
01:50 totally unable to live a normal life.
01:53 Now, true, it is utterly badass to see her beat endless bad guys down, but this doesn't
01:57 take away from the fact that she is still a child with literally zero people taking
02:01 care of her, and she's facing down all of the world's grossest baddies alone. Sure,
02:06 she's a hyper-capable kid, but that doesn't mean that she should have to live a life of
02:10 solitude and suffering just because she's good at murder.
02:14 8. Secret Empire
02:15 The end of Secret Empire is largely a happy one, or at least it seems that way at first,
02:21 because all of the heroes who had died tragically in the issues running up until it are now
02:24 brought back safe and sound. While everyone should be grateful that the creepy HYDRA version
02:29 of Captain America was finally stopped, this isn't to suggest that this ending is as
02:33 happy as it would initially appear. It's seemingly waved over that, although the cosmic
02:38 cube changed many things back to normal, it didn't change the desolation that had taken
02:43 place over the course of the comic, meaning that while the heroes are fine, a good portion
02:48 of civilization is essentially in tatters.
02:51 The gravity of this is best seen on a panel on the second-to-last page of the comic, which
02:55 shows that Las Vegas appears to have been utterly destroyed, so even in a best-case
03:00 scenario, the entire 600,000-odd people who lived and worked there have now had their
03:05 entire lives ruined.
03:07 7. The Boys
03:09 Reading through The Boys' ending and seeing Huey get his well-deserved happy moment is
03:14 equal parts delightful and tragic, as it's clear that, although the ending is happy for
03:19 him, it's still taking place in what is set to be a jolly old dystopia. Because as
03:23 the series rightly suggests, killing off the Seven and the various superhero groups around
03:28 them isn't the same as fixing the entire broken system that created the Seven in the
03:32 first place. While we end on the note of Voight failing to create another superhero brand,
03:37 this isn't to say that they never will, as it's quite clear that the company's
03:41 intentions are to continually throw ideas at the wall until one of them sticks. It's
03:46 a huge relief that our protagonist gets a happy ending, but knowing the problems that
03:50 The Boys fought so hard to try and fix are going to come back exactly as strong, and
03:55 without our team of vigilantes to stop them, is a sobering thought for an otherwise pretty
04:00 cheerful ending.
04:01 6. Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
04:04 The ending of Batman - The Dark Knight Returns is pretty much the perfect way to end the
04:09 comic, containing the ultimate surprise - that Batman is significantly less dead than it
04:14 appeared and is training the next generation to take over after he's actually gone. But
04:18 when you look at it from the perspective of Batman, it's really quite sad. Although
04:22 Bruce Wayne was never going to quit being a superhero entirely, futures where he does
04:27 still enjoy the comforts of his non-Dark Knight life seem like way happier endings for him,
04:32 as living in a dank cave for the rest of his life doesn't exactly sound like a comfortable
04:36 retirement. It's clear that Bruce actively wants this hermit lifestyle, though, but it's
04:41 been shown time and time again that the Caped Crusader can be a bit of a masochist when
04:45 it comes to his own wellbeing. And after so many years of giving his heart and soul for
04:50 Gotham, it seems only fair that he gets at least some creature comforts in his final
04:54 years, which he could have still had while commanding his sidekick army.
04:58 5. Avengers and X-Men - AXIS
05:01 Avengers and X-Men - AXIS is a particularly dramatic story, featuring an event that results
05:07 in the Marvel cast having their morality completely flipped, so villains turn to heroes and vice
05:12 versa. All of this drama in mind, you'd think that the comics ending, where this change
05:16 is swapped back, would account for a pretty happy ending, right? Well, you'd almost
05:20 be right. But you see, there's one key problem, in that not every character was actually reverted
05:25 back. Iron Man, Havok, Sabretooth all avoided the re-inversion spell, which would result
05:30 in an evil Avenger, Havok joining the X-Men as a hidden time bomb, and Sabretooth optionally
05:35 placing himself in jail, despite now having genuinely heroic intentions. Even those who
05:40 were re-inverted weren't all cheery stories, as Red Skulls would see the Nazi take control
05:45 of his own body again, instead of Professor X, who was once more forced to be a passenger
05:49 in the mind of a madman. Everyone else was fine, though, so kind of hooray? But also
05:54 not.
05:55 4. Batman - Master of the Future
05:58 As the lone sequel of Gotham by Gaslight, it's hard to say that Batman - Master of
06:02 the Future is anything but a lovable and cheerful romp through Victorian England, complete with
06:07 badass fencing scenes and a giant steam-powered robot. However, despite its charming ending,
06:13 where love interest Julie Madison tells Bruce that she knows his secret identity and loves
06:17 him all the more for it, it's not entirely the superhero equivalent of Pride and Prejudice.
06:23 Because, importantly, this version of Batman is pretty much fated to die horribly, the
06:27 time of shark-repellent and elaborate but useful gadgets are far, far, far in the future,
06:32 and although the steampunk-esque gizmos that he uses are inventive, they won't allow
06:37 him the same upper hand against villains who are clearly using the cutting edge of technology.
06:41 Perhaps, more importantly, when you remember that some pretty awful diseases were still
06:46 around in Victorian England, and indeed the slums that Batman patrols, there's a pretty
06:50 good chance that the Dark Knight will die tragically of scarlet fever or whooping cough
06:54 not long after this supposedly happy ending.
06:57 3. The Superior Spider-Man
07:00 When you read a comic that features Otto Octavius taking over Peter Parker's body to be Spider-Man,
07:05 you don't expect to actually feel proud of the villain by the end of things. However,
07:09 there was still the issue of Otto's one irredeemable action - that of taking over
07:14 Parker's body and leaving him a backseat driver in his own consciousness. In a move
07:18 perfect for the end of Otto's character arc, the end of the Goblin Nation storyline
07:23 sees him put aside his considerable ego and give Parker back his body in order for him
07:28 to save Otto's love interest, Anne-Marie.
07:30 While you'd presume this isn't a happy ending because Otto dies, this actually isn't
07:34 the case, as it's clear that he went willingly and happily to allow Peter his body back,
07:39 and because, let's be honest, nobody except Uncle Ben dies for good in the Spider-Man
07:44 series.
07:45 What is sad, however, is the fact that this suggests, had the bowl-cut bad boy had the
07:49 right motivation or support, he could have been someone genuinely good, and now that
07:54 opportunity is unlikely to ever happen again.
07:57 2. The Walking Dead
07:59 After countless trials and ordeals, endless life-threatening scenarios, and moments where
08:03 it genuinely appeared humanity would be wiped out by zombie hordes, seeing Carl Grimes get
08:08 his happy ending at the closing of the series is nothing short of heartwarming. What is
08:12 significantly less heartwarming, though, is the implication throughout the end of the
08:16 series that the world may be overcome by the zombie threat once more. While Rick and his
08:21 various allies manage to wrench back civilisation from the zombie hordes and restrain them,
08:25 the end of the series is set far enough in the future that people are beginning to underestimate
08:29 the danger that they pose, and it would only take one rogue zombie for things to go terribly
08:34 wrong.
08:35 Although we get what we want from the ending of The Walking Dead, namely a happy ending
08:38 for Carl, who we've watched almost continually suffer over 193 issues of the comic, it's
08:44 made clear that this peaceful life could revert back to being overrun by zombies pretty dang
08:49 fast.
08:50 1. Batman - Heart of Hush
08:53 Heart of Hush brings us what looks like a classic good ending, with the bad guy beat,
08:57 the heroes happy, and karma served out like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Seeing Catwoman
09:02 and Batman escape Hush and declare their love for each other seems like one of those feel-good
09:07 endings that you really just can't beat. Only, it definitely can, as there's a fair
09:12 amount that's worrying about the end of Heart of Hush. Firstly, the comic is a tie-in
09:16 with the Batman RIP event, with the two happening at the same time, meaning that this chicanery
09:21 ending totally ignores the fact that the Black Glove Society are still gunning for the Dark
09:25 Knight. Similarly, while it is karmic justice to see all of Hush's money be stolen by
09:30 Selina, it's hardly going to prevent him from still doing crime. The fact that there's
09:34 still a highly unstable surgeon roaming around Gotham's streets means it's quite difficult
09:38 to consider this a happy ending, as while the heroes escaped unscathed, you know that
09:43 somebody is getting their face sliced off by Hush that very same night. Similarly, Catwoman
09:48 and Batman's heartfelt declarations of love are kind of ruined by the fact that their
09:52 relationship would be retconned soon after, and only properly reinstated a whopping decade
09:58 after Heart of Hush. So yeah, that kind of stings a little bit.
10:02 And there we go, my friends, those were 10 comic happy endings that were secretly utterly
10:05 terrible. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about
10:08 it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow
10:12 me over on Twitter @RetroJWithA0, or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice where I do all
10:16 of my streaming outside of work as well as my Warhammer Battle Reports, so if you're
10:19 into that sort of thing, it'd be great to see you over there. As always, I've been
10:22 Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.