Noticed that every final battle of 2025 marvel had the heroes unable to beat the villain and having to find a work around
for the 3 marvel films released I noticed none of the final battles had the heroes beat the villain in a traditional sense either talking them down or transporting them away, with brave new world i’m sure falcon could’ve beated the red hulk by wearing him down overtime and playing it smart but it’s better to deescalate and thunderbolts and fantastic four yeah they just couldn’t beat the final boss
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Yes it’s Aldrich Killian that dies but he refers himself as “Mandarin.” Was it stupid? Yes.
OP is correct in noting that these particular protagonist/antagonist sets were relatively unique in their power imbalance, though. They don't really defeat them, they just find an alternative way to settle the disagreement (or just lose).
Dormammu was the only one previously that I would say fit this bill. Dr. Strange could not defeat him, only annoy him into eventually giving up and leaving our dimension alone.
The Eternals might fit the bill. Depends on if you count the Deviants or the Arishem the Celestial to be the true antagonist.
These types of imbalances existed but aren't standard; most of the enemies involved still came down to "just fight better."
The Celestial being born and Arishem are more like plot devices.
Even if they don't do anything with the Eternals going forwards (what took place in the movie or the concepts presented) I hope they still use the Celestials. Planet sized deep voice harbingers of judgment are just too cool.
Call it Eternals: Judgement Day like Arishem mentioned but also as a nod to the comics, even if it doesn’t follow that storyline they like using the names of storylines
And I thought the rest of phase 4 would be setting up Arishem returning on Judgment Day and that tying in with Galactus, the multiverse, and probably Kang and Doctor Doom as well.
In hindsight I think I misremembered the name for Doomsday lmao. I just remembered that.
I would like to see a proper movie that deals with such high/cosmic concepts at some point. That directly addresses the Celestials, or the Living Tribunal, or something equally grand. Like say Al Ewing's Ultimates. F4 First Steps had some of that with how Galactus and Shalla-Bal and her backstory were presented.
In Summer of ‘22 amongst the trademarked names that leaked for future Marvel projects including *Avengers: Secret Wars*, *Captain America: New World Order*, *Avengers: The Kang Dynasty*, *Thunderbolts*, *Multiverse Saga* and a handful of other titles that haven’t been used yet, including a couple that may have been part of a supposed Avengers \ Eternals crossover; namely *Avengers: Eternity Wars & Celestials: End of Time*
Once this saga is over I wonder if we’ll get some art/concept books that explained original plans
Sentry/Void is insanely powerful going up against c-tier Avengers and Sam had to fight Red Hulk by himself as his first real test as Cap
I can understand people finding this predictable, but none of these situations were set up for the heroes to have a realistic shot at winning
To quote Sue Storm, “My mother used to say a mother would move heaven and earth for her child.”
It is an honor seeing your comment
I was born in it
I think that Thunderbolts is the only movie that really breaks with it. By having the main conflict that needs resolving being friendship and belonging. How depression consumes us and that by building trust and having friends we can conquer our inner demons before they hurt everyone around us. So the method that the protagonists use to defeat The Void is hugging.
Most Marvel endings are just "find the villain's weakness and exploit it" but Thunderbolts went full therapy session instead lol
Honestly one of the best examples of it I've ever seen.
i always loved Dr Strange because it had been the only movie up until this year to have an interesting non-fighting resolution.
Dormammu's like "Nooo😰, SET ME FREE!"
and I'm like 🤯😱 lol
Off the top of my head, Iron Man 3 was one of the early exceptions to the formula, where the antagonist is an enhanced guy that breathes fire, and Tony had to figure out how to beat that without just a suit, but rather with all the suits, and his girlfriend who had the same power set as the villain.
I can't think atm of to many others earlier films where the hero and villain had vastly different powers. Guardians because Peter turns out to be half Celestial and Ronin is just a humanoid alien
Though, it did only take Tony and Rhodey to defeat Ivan. Pepper stopped Hammer from his bs, and she happened to be in the car when Happy ran into Ivan to demobilize him and get him arrested during Tony's racetrack face off
Without Justin Hammer, Ivan was a loose cannon, and I guess he did end up blowing himself up in a move thinking Tony wouldn't expect it or understand what the count down was in classic villain fashion lol
And I love it! The "let's talk through it" is better than "let's beat this guy into a pulp to prove our point", especially when there's an army of ants involved.
Everyone was suspicious of Ross due to his past and that set off his Red Hulk transformation. It took someone truly willing to give him a chance at redemption for him to snap out.
It less overtly about depression, but is equally about how having people who truly care about you can help you deal with your internal issues
Capt.America: did not actually defeat any of his (x3)
Thor: overcame a tough villian by becoming better
Hulk: SMASH!
Guardians: beat you by coming together at the end (x3)
Antman: I'mma shrink you, help the villian, I'mma shrink you
Dr Strange: Trick the villian into giving up (x2)
Black Panther: make the villian realize they were being an asshole. (x2)
Spiderman: beat the villian using science!
Avengers: kick the shit out of the villian (x4)
EDIT--
Black Widow: topple criminal empire by pretending to get captured to get close to the boss
Shangchi: inherit ancient weapon for a sick dragon battle
**Eternals: find a work around to beat overpowered villian**
Wandavision and AAA: the real villian was the me we made along the way...
FaWS, Hawkeye, Moonknight: your buddy secretly shoots the main villian in the head after you let them live.
Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel 2: villian blows themselves up trying to use the cosmic bands
Shehulk: divide by zero
She hulk- basically just used the panel of her firing the writers of her comic with an ai bot instead
Captain marvel - punch fest with an ai , then shot the secondary villian
Shang chi- has a fight with his villian dad who gets killed, fights a demon
No way! Just like those kids beat Pennywise?
I really gotta rewatch GOTG.
People think they want just a big punch-up where the good guy wins because he punches the hardest but that's actually very boring. The vast majority of superhero stories are actually about failing multiple times before you find a way to win.
I want to see doom murder my X-men as much as it would hurt me, I’d stand up and clap while everyone cries
Sentry/Void is another beast for that matter.... I don't think there is a Hero alive at the moment who can do something against Sentry, let alone Void. Yes Hulk/Red Hulk do have strenght, but at the rate Sentry was learning from his fight, could he not simply bridge the gap in strenght in another way. Maybe a skilled magician like Dr. Strange?
The only reason the Thunderbolts eventualy took down Void is thanks to their personal connection to Bob, they knew who he really was, so anyone going up against Void without any knowledge of Void would just be "sucked into their most shamefull moment"
It happens in movies such as Ragnarök as well.
Tony has to defeat Iron Monger, but he can’t do it directly because Iron Monger’s armor is more powerful. So he finds a workaround: he overloads the suit and kills him.
**Iron Man 3**
Aldrich Killian can’t be killed directly because the Extremis virus keeps regenerating his body, so Tony uses the Mark 42 suit and blows him up.
**Captain America: The Winter Soldier**
Hydra can’t be completely wiped out, so the team destroys the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ to shut down Hydra’s operations at least partially.
**The Avengers (2012)**
They can’t stop Loki directly because he’s obsessed with his “glorious purpose,” so they use the Mind Stone to intercept the portal and close it.
**Thor: Ragnarok**
Thor can’t defeat Hela in direct combat — he even admits that he used full power and she didn’t get a scratch. So he triggers Ragnarok and destroys Asgard, hopefully its killed her ?? \[ may be\] .
**Avengers: Age of Ultron**
Even though Tony is a little ahead of Ultron at times, Ultron keeps evolving, so they can’t beat him directly. They steal Vision’s body, add JARVIS to it, and cut Ultron off from the internet, forcing him into one body.
**Spider-Man: Far From Home**
Spider-Man can’t beat Mysterio directly because Mysterio uses illusions. The only way is to rely on his Spider-Sense and defeat him while using the EDITH glasses.
**The Marvels**
Dar-Benn ends up taking the second Bangle during the fight caused by Captain Marvel, and when she tries to use the combined power, it overloads and destroys her.
**Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness**
They give Wanda what she wants. Even when America Chavez tries to close the portal, Strange tells her to wait — and once Wanda realizes the truth, the portal closes.
Basically, almost every Marvel movie I’ve watched ends this way. That’s how they’re designed.
Just because YouTubers or rant websites complain about new Marvel films doesn’t mean the heroes “can’t beat the final boss.” It’s always been about finding a workaround or smarter solution, not just punching harder.
**PS:** This is NOT the strategy I’m talking about 😂
[https://c.tenor.com/4NP-QAjEproAAAAd/tenor.gif](https://c.tenor.com/4NP-QAjEproAAAAd/tenor.gif)
The first MCU movie was a guy in a mech suit verses another guy in a mech suit. But as time has gone on, more and more powerful characters from Marvels history have been added, to the point that it’s increasingly difficult to have any jeopardy for the protagonists, or the other way around, any hope of defeating the antagonist.
Loki beat HWR by basically \*becoming\* him, just in a good way, where he is just a guardian who does not intervene and lets the universe grow.
But it is not a trope of the last phases, but some of the earlier movies, too
I honestly loved how Tony, except IM2, did not really got rid of the bad guy himself. In first movie, it was actually Pepper who hit the button and caused the reaction that killed Stane. And in IM3, it was here again who beat Killian :D
all of them stopped the villain. all of them won the day. they just used methods outside of their fists.
Ground breaking.
(It’s always like this in every movies.)