1 In 4 People Agree That This MCU Movie Had The Worst Ending
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has built up so many dimensions, timelines, and alternate realities, it's unlikely the writers will ever run out of ideas. Even after 23 films, Marvel seems to get it right nearly every time. A case in point is Avengers: End Game, which was the highest-grossing film of all time until just recently. Marvel Studios proved superheroes are not exclusive to comic book fans; they have a superhero for everyone. Whether it be Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, the late and great Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, or Fat Thor, Marvel's characters usually keep audiences engaged all the way to the post-credit scene.
But some of Marvel's films suffered from disinterest in the early going. The world wasn't ready for Thor and Ant-Man when they first appeared; both films underperformed at the box office, but their sequels — Thor: The Dark World and Ant-Man and The Wasp — overcame the characters' respective origin films. Unfortunately, there's one Marvel film with an ending so dissatisfying that some fans like to pretend it doesn't even exist. Looper surveyed 528 people in the United States and asked which MCU movie had the worst ending and one in four chose this film as the worst of the worst.
One in four fans think The Incredible Hulk has the worst ending
A whopping 25% of respondents said 2008's The Incredible Hulk had the worst ending. The film had some big names attached but surprisingly underperformed. Edward Norton played Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler was love interest Betty Ross, William Hurt portrayed her father, Army general Thaddeus Ross, and Tim Roth took on the role of villain Emil Blonsky. The film managed to bring in $265 million at the box office (via The Numbers), which is the lowest of the MCU franchise. While some critics liked it, others ripped it apart, and no one could say they wholly loved it, though it managed a 67% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Regardless, everyone agreed that the film felt less kid-friendly than Marvel's other films, taking on a more brooding, tense atmosphere. The dark overtones were reportedly due to Edward Norton's input. In an interview with The New York Times, Norton admitted to being inspired by Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. "What Chris Nolan had done with Batman was going down a path that I aligned with: long, dark and serious" Norton said about his changes to the script. The whole ordeal didn't sit right with Marvel, who replaced Norton with actor Mark Ruffalo for 2012's The Avengers. If you're looking to watch the MCU movies in order, some fans feel you may be able to skip The Incredible Hulk altogether, but it is still technically canon and has a pretty important post-credit scene, per MCU tradition.
The 2nd worst might surprise you
The distaste for Doctor Strange's ending was also strong with the poll's respondents, with 17.4% of people saying it had their least favorite ending. The film marked the debut of actor Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular superhero into the MCU. In contrast to The Incredible Hulk, Doctor Strange accrued $677 million at the box office and was loved by fans and critics alike. Cumberbatch will reprise the role in the upcoming Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel's first foray into horror, with Evil Dead franchise director Sam Raimi at the helm.
In third place sits Captain America: Civil War with 13.4% of respondents saying it had the worst ending. Just behind it, with 12.69% of the vote, is Iron Man: 2. Nearly evenly split with around on tenth of respondents saying they had the worst ending are Guardians of the Galaxy (10.80%) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (10.42%). The remaining 10% of fans chose Other and provided write-in responses.