History BittersweetEnding / MarvelUniverse

** X-Men The Animated Series has a Bittersweet Finale "[[Recap/XMenS5E10GraduationDay Graduation Day]]". Professor Xavier was hit by a Psychic wave that weakens him to the point of near death. After Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean were able to convince Magneto to send a message to the Shi'ar Empire, Professor Xavier said his good-byes to his X-Men (Morph included) and to Magneto before he dies. Empress Lilandra made it to resurrect Xavier so that he can be cared for with Shi'ar technology on their planet. The final scene involves Empress Lilandra taking off with Xavier for him to heal while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Morph and Magneto looking onward as the Earth itself face an uncertain future.
** In [=X-Men '97=] first season final "[[Recap/XMen97S1E10ToleranceIsExtinctionPt3 Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3]]" The Earth is saved from Bastion's evil plot, and Magneto manages to come around, but he and the X-Men are scattered through time with the world presuming them all as dead. Bishop returns to the present and recruits Forge to find them and what led to the anomaly. Past and Future, the team meets pre-Apocolypse En Sabah Nur and Pre-Cable Nathan Summers, respectively. In [[TheStinger the post-credits]], Apocalypse visits the ruins of Genosia and laments the pain and death from the Sentinel attack. It's also noted that [[AbsoluteXenophobe Graydon Creed]] has managed to gain more popularity in the presidential elections than Kelly, which may result in bad things ahead for mutantkind.

** In [=X-Men '97=] first season final "[[Recap/XMen97S1E10ToleranceIsExtinctionPt3 Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3]]" The Earth is saved from Bastion's evil plot, and Magneto manages to come around, but he and the X-Men are scattered through time with the world presuming them all as dead. Bishop returns to the present and recruits Forge to find them and what led to the anomaly. Past and Future, the team meets pre-Apocolypse En Sabah Nur and Pre-Cable Nathan Summers, respectively. In [[TheStinger the post-credits]], Apocalypse visits the ruins of Genosia and laments the pain and death from the Sentinel attack.

** In [=X-Men '97=] first season final "[[Recap/XMen97S1E10ToleranceIsExtinctionPt3 Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3]]" The Earth is saved from Bastion's evil plot, and Magneto manages to come around, but he and the X-Men are scattered through time with the world presuming them all as dead.

** In X-Men97 first season final "[[Recap/XMen97S1E10ToleranceIsExtinctionPt3 Tolerance is Extinction, Pt. 3]]" The Earth is saved from Bastion's evil plot, and Magneto manages to come around, but he and the X-Men are scattered through time with the world presuming them all as dead.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' has a Bittersweet Finale "[[Recap/XMenS5E10GraduationDay Graduation Day]]". Professor Xavier was hit by a Psychic wave that weakens him to the point of near death. After Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean were able to convince Magneto to send a message to the Shi'ar Empire, Professor Xavier said his good-byes to his X-Men (Morph included) and to Magneto before he dies. Empress Lilandra made it to resurrect Xavier so that he can be cared for with Shi'ar technology on their planet. The final scene involves Empress Lilandra taking off with Xavier for him to heal while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Morph and Magneto looking onward as the Earth itself face an uncertain future.

* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'': In season 2 episode "[[Recap/IronManArmoredAdventuresS2E13HeavyMettle Heavy Mettle]]", Stane is finally outed as a CorruptCorporateExecutive and ousted from his CEO position by the {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s on the Stark International Board of Directors. However, as a result Stane goes temporarily nuts, figures out Tony is Iron Man, steals the Iron Monger suit and tries to call him out to a final battle by kidnapping Pepper. It gets worse, for just when Stane has had a change of heart thanks to the love of his daughter, Hammer shows up, hacks Iron Monger's systems and causes it to go on a rampage, which Stane is blamed for. In the effort to stop the Monger suit from the inside, Stane causes the suit to plummet off a building, while Tony and Rhodey are unable to save him. End result, Stane is in a coma, Whitney blames Tony for everything and swears revenge, and Hammer, though momentarily disabled, avoids all blame and is poised to become even more powerful than he already is.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' ends with Bruce having defeated the Abomination, but once more on the run as a fugitive, and unable to be with Betty, though it's implied that Bruce has gained a bit more control over the Hulk.
** ''Film/{{Thor}}'' ends with Thor putting a stop to Loki's plans, making amends with his father and regaining his powers. However the Bifrost Bridge has been destroyed and Thor is now separated from Jane and Earth indefinitely until she manages to open a bridge to Asgard. Also, Loki is alive and well on Earth and making a grab for the Cosmic Cube. But the ending credits tells the audience that Thor will be joining the Avengers.
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', the world is saved from the Red Skull and UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 was won by the Allies, but Steve Rogers wakes up seventy years into the future with the people and the life that he knew gone, and he says with disappointment, "[[TearJerker I had a date...]]".
** ''Film/IronMan3'':
*** The film ends with Tony Stark emerging victorious against the true Mandarin, Aldrich Killian, and saves Pepper (who saved Tony from Killian), but Tony destroys all his armored suits, has the arc reactor removed, and is Iron Man... no more. And his Malibu home is destroyed, too.
*** The fake Mandarin, Trevor Slattery, also has one. He goes to prison for actions he thought were not real and just publicity stunts, but at least gets the audience he wanted, and has protection and friends in prison. Then he is kidnapped by the ''real'' Ten Rings and is sent off to be [[TearJerker executed by them for something he never really wanted to do and only took part in because he needed money.]] ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' fortunately spares him, but it doesn't change the fact he spends the next several years as an imprisoned court jester.
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', HYDRA's plan is foiled, but S.H.I.E.L.D. is forced into dismantlement, Cap redeemed his best friend turned villain but Bucky still remains amnesiac, and TheStinger reveals a new villain who took the events that happened as an excuse to unveil his own evil plot in the second Avengers movie.
** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', the Avengers defeated Ultron and saved the city with majority of its people. But Quicksilver was killed, Bruce Banner / Hulk left the team, for fearing to endanger innocent lives, including Natasha, and while Captain America and Tony departed as friends, despite their coming to blows in film, [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar we know it won't last.]]
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' splits the difference between this trope and RayOfHopeEnding. The good news: unlike the comic book event, EveryoneLives! The other five Winter Soldiers weren't unleashed on the world, everyone's back out of TheAlcatraz, and the villain is in custody. The bad news: the Avengers really, truly did split up, and not in a [[Film/TheAvengers2012 simple misunderstanding]] way. The only active members left are Iron Man and Vision after the majority of the heroes in both lineups have had to go into hiding--and after Rhodey was paralyzed by a misaimed shot from Vision. Meanwhile in Wakanda, where Black Panther is hosting the now-former superheroes, Bucky is going back into cryostasis because no one knows how to remove what's left of his brainwashing, and Wakanda is risking a war by hosting them all. It's hard to say whether all of the former outweighs all of the latter. But at the very least, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan a young new hero]] is on the rise, and soon New York will truly have a protector all to its own.
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': Peter has managed to grow a little more since his last outing--Vulture is bested and behind bars, the villain's weapons operation is shut down for good, Tony (who finally ties the knot with Pepper) and Happy are much more supportive of their young charge, and Peter feels he can be the hero New York needs, even if that means turning down a chance to join The Avengers. But it all came at the expense of losing Liz, who moves away to Oregon thinking that Peter just upped and left her, Toomes, though grateful that Peter saved his life to the point he denies knowing his true identity, is told a group is forming to take Spidey down (and, as ''Film/Morbius2022' shows, he's the one who decides to act on making that group) and can never see his family again, and Aunt May finds out her nephew is the one behind the mask.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Wakanda is safe from Killmonger's reign, T'Challa is restored to the throne, the bond with the Border Tribe is even stronger than before, and the nation is prepared to open its borders to the world so they can be a pillar for the black community, with both Shuri and Nakia being key figures towards their community outreach program. But Killmonger bleeds out rather than be imprisoned, it doesn't change the fact that many Wakandans sided with the would-be-king in his coup, many of their numbers are slain, and there are still those who undoubtedly seek the precious resources within. Nevertheless, the Black Panther stands firm, and his people will rise to the challenge.
** Whoo, boy ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' goes above and beyond all of this! Thanos is dead - both the present day and a past iteration - and his army along with him and those snapped by Thanos are restored. However, the cost is quite high as Black Widow dies triggering the Soul Stone in the past similarly to how Gamora was killed in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and Iron Man dies using the Infinity Stones to snap away Thanos and his army. Returning Mljonir and the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in time leads to Captain America deciding to return to the past, marrying Peggy Carter and living the life he missed. When he returns in the present day, he's an old man, but decides to give Sam Wilson the shield, letting him become the new Captain America. Heroes who perished by other means, such as Gamora and Vision, as well as places that were destroyed were unable to return to life or be restored. However, thanks to time travel shenanigans, ''a'' Gamora exists in the present, but she's pre-''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', thus leading the Guardians to try and find her with Thor tagging along to find other Asgardians. Meanwhile, things aren't exactly the same as they were prior to The Snap as everyone who was brought back has to deal with the fact they lost five years with their loved ones who survived and the changes that have taken place.
** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': Peter is finally able to overcome the pressures of being the next Iron Man and rise to be a hero free from his mentor's shadow, master his Spider-Sense, win over Michelle, and best Mysterio before he can use E.D.I.T.H. to make himself [[EngineeredHeroics the hero he's desperate to be]]. But typical Parker luck strikes as Mysterious posthumously frames Peter for killing him ''and'' exposing his secret identity to J. Jonah Jameson, who broadcasts the story throughout the world. And [[Film/SpiderManNoWayHome it only gets worse from there.]]
** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'': Natasha has destroyed the Black Widow program, Taskmaster and the other Widows are finally free of their programming, and she's properly reconciled with her FamilyOfChoice. Unfortunately, she's still a fugitive, and [[DoomedByCanon destined to die]] down the line, there's still more of a mess to clean up that Dreykov left behind, and when events come to pass, Yelena is left in this world without a sister--and [[Series/Hawkeye2021 a new target]].
** ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'': The Dweller in Darkness is stopped before it can consume the souls of everyone on the planet, Shang-Chi is able to reconcile both sides of his family, and the village from where his mother hails from is saved. But many souls were claimed in the battle, including his father--a very conflicted, but still caring man--his sister (to his lack of knowledge) has taken the Ten Rings for herself to rebuild Wenwu's empire under her watchful eye, and The Avengers have come to his aid for a threat from beyond all understanding that seems to have taken notice of Earth.
** ''Film/{{Eternals}}'': The Eternals were able to stop the Emergence, but Ikaris feels guilty for his actions and flies into the sun to kill himself. After a few weeks, Thena, Druig, and Makkari leave the Earth to find other Eternals to tell them the truth of their purpose, but Arishem comes to Earth and takes the remaining Eternals off the planet and tells them he'll spare the Earth for now but will return for judgement for the planet, and he takes them away. Now the other Eternals have a mission to rescue their missing comrades, with the unexpected aid of Starfox, brother of Thanos, and his drunken aid Pip the Troll. And Dane Whitman has his own story to tell, as he seeks to pick up a sword he just discovered to rescue his beloved Sersei...only for [[ComicBook/{{Blade}} the Daywalker himself]] to enter the fray.
** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'': Possibly the most bittersweet across all the ''Spider-Man'' movies, which is saying something. Peter Parker is able to redeem the supervillains with [[AllianceOfAlternates the help of his alternate selves]], who return to their home dimensions with their respective Spider-Men, and his SecretIdentity is once again restored. However, our hero loses '''everything''' in the process -- Aunt May is dead, meaning Peter's emotional rock is gone and he has no means to financially support himself, the entire world forgets that Peter Parker exists, including MJ and Ned, and Peter has to get a GED because he had to drop out of high school, now living alone in an empty apartment. [[RayOfHopeEnding Nonetheless, Peter soldiers on as he continues his journey as a superhero, starting all over again.]] As for everyone else? The villains, though still forced to live with the guilt of their actions, are able to return home to their dimensions and live out their lives in an altered timeline--Norman can be with his son, Otto can finally have clean energy available like he always wanted, Flint can be with his daughter, Connors is free of the Lizard and will not have killed Captain Stacey, and Max knows he's not alone in this world anymore. Even their respective Peters can find peace knowing that Peter-2 has cured Norman like he always wanted, and Peter-3 can move on from Gwen's death at long last for being able to save Michelle Jones. But it still doesn't take away any of the pain they've experienced.
** ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'': In general, both Stephen and Wanda lose their loved ones with little chance of getting them back. Stephen and America are able to convince Wanda to free herself from the Darkhold's influence and accept her children can never be brought back nor should variants of them be stolen from their own mothers, but the despair and remorse she feels is too great and she collapses a mountain on top of herself, seemingly ending a grief-filled character arc. Stephen also has to accept that he can't be with Christine, but admits that he still and will always love her. On a global scale, the Darkhold and the Tomb of the Damned are destroyed by a repentant Wanda, eliminating a huge mystical threat from all universes. However, The Masters of the Mystic Arts and Kamar-Taj suffer heavy losses, and the Avengers (or a comparative superpowered protector group) have yet to reform, leaving Earth's defenses weakened (and down one more powerhouse after Wanda took herself out). Earth-838 also loses its greatest defenders, the Illuminati. But on the "sweet" side, America trains at Kamar-Taj and has obviously bonded with Wong and Stephen, who is moving on from Christine. Stephen has more adventures to go on with Clea.
** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': Shuri succeeds in saving Riri Williams, recreates the Heart-Shaped Herb, allowing the legacy of the Black Panther to continue and maintain Wakanda's greatest protector, and is able to let go of her vengeance over Ramonda's death at the very last second and make peace with Namor, who accepts her truce offer, and the conflict between Wakanda and Talokan is stopped before it escalates into an all-out war, giving Wakanda an ally that would be capable of helping them against the onslaught of the powers of the world after their Vibranium. However, the alliance is ultimately one of convenience and may well have consequences for the wider world: As Namor states, the rest of the world are still focused on Wakanda as it's still barely recovering country that is now at its weakest state due to the loss of all but one of its royal family members. Wakanda has no other allies but Talokan, and with Talokanians tendency for violence and extreme ways, while Wakanda would be protected, it could potentially cause many innocents on the opposing countries to die. That said, M'Baku assumes the throne, meaning Wakanda will have a strong leader along with Shuri as it's greatest protector, so there is still hope that Wakanda can recover. In addition, Shuri is also able to finally accept T'Challa's death and it's revealed that Nakia has a son with T'Challa before his untimely death who is now living a normal life free from the conflicts of the world, giving them both peace.

* ''Series/WandaVision'': Wanda finally drops the Hex covering Westview, finally overcoming the grief that she dealt with. Agatha is forced to be a "noisy neighbor" thanks to Wanda and Hayward is arrested for his actions as Monica takes her first steps into superheroism. However, dropping the Hex meant that Wanda might have lost her family again for good, the citizens of Westview hate Wanda for what she did and both Wanda and Vision have disappeared with Wanda going into hiding and studying up the Darkhold book while Vision's whereabouts are unknown.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' has a Bittersweet Finale "Graduation Day." Professor Xavier was hit by a Psychic wave that weakens him to the point of near death. After Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean were able to convince Magneto to send a message to the Shi'ar Empire, Professor Xavier said his good-byes to his X-Men (Morph included) and to Magneto before he dies. Empress Lilandra made it to resurrect Xavier so that he can be cared for with Shi'ar technology on their planet. The final scene involves Empress Lilandra taking off with Xavier for him to heal while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Morph and Magneto looking onward as the Earth itself face an uncertain future.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': Spider-Man saves the city, and proves once and for all that he's a true hero. However, Manhattan, while recovering from the Demons' and the Sinister Six's aggression, is still plagued with crime. In addition, Peter and Miles lose three important figures in their lives; Miles' father, Jefferson, is killed in a terrorist attack; Peter's idol, Otto Octavius, descends into villainy as his obsession for revenge against Norman Osborn consumes him; and Aunt May succumbs to the bioweapon that Otto unleashed. Harry is hinted to become Venom, while Miles is given spider powers as well, showing that Peter's life as Spider-Man may get a little easier now that he has someone he can share his monumental responsibility with. It also looks as though Peter and MJ may be giving their relationship another chance.
** ''The City That Never Sleeps'' also ends this way: Spider-Man and Silver Sable defeat Hammerhead for good and Sable takes her equipment back to aid Symkaria's people. However, Peter loses yet another ally after Yuri loses all faith in the law and becomes a vigilante serial killer. Black Cat, while still alive following the destruction of her penthouse, cuts ties with Peter and goes back into hiding to protect herself, and Mary Jane is leaving New York to cover the civil war in Symkaria. On the plus side, Peter finally starts properly training Miles and the city gains its second web-swinging hero. The last bit is lessened in ''VideoGame/SpiderManMilesMorales'' as MJ asks Peter to join her.
** ''Spider-Man: Miles Morales'': The Tinkerer is dead, sacrificing herself to allow Miles to safely discharge the bio-electricity he absorbed to save Harlem, his uncle Aaron/the Prowler is going to prison for his actions, though on a lesser sentence due to his cooperation, and Miles has learned some harsh lessons on being a hero. Oh, and Harry Osborn and the Venom symbiote are awake now. ''However'', Miles and Aaron are starting to rebond, Harlem is safe, Simon Krieger is going to prison and Harlem has their own Spider-Man as Miles grows into the role his own way.

*** The fake Mandarin, Trevor Slattery, also has one. He goes to prison for actions he thought were not real and just publicity stunts, but at least gets the audience he wanted, and has protection and friends in prison. Then he is kidnapped by the ''real'' Ten Rings and is sent off to be [[TearJerker executed by them for something he never really wanted to do and only took part in because he needed money.]]

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' splits the difference between this trope and RayOfHopeEnding. The good news: unlike the comic book event, EveryoneLives! The other five Winter Soldiers weren't unleashed on the world, everyone's back out of TheAlcatraz, and the villain is in custody. The bad news: the Avengers really, truly did split up, and not in a [[Film/TheAvengers2012 simple misunderstanding]] way. The only active members left are Iron Man and Vision after the majority of the heroes in both lineups have had to go into hiding--and after Rhodey was paralyzed by a misaimed shot from Vision. Meanwhile in Wakanda, where Black Panther is hosting the now-former superheroes, Bucky is going back into cryostasis because no one knows how to remove what's left of his brainwashing, and Wakanda is risking a war by hosting them all. It's hard to say whether all of the former outweighs all of the latter.
** Whoo, boy ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' goes above and beyond all of this! Thanos is dead - both the present day and a past iteration - and his army along with him and those snapped by Thanos are restored. However, the cost is quite high as Black Widow dies triggering the Soul Stone in the past similarly to how Gamora was killed in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and Iron Man dies using the Infinity Gems to snap away Thanos and his army. Returning Mljonir and the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in time leads to Captain America deciding to return to the past, marrying Peggy Carter and living the life he missed. When he returns in the present day, he's an old man, but decides to give Sam Wilson the shield, letting him become the new Captain America. Heroes who perished by other means, such as Gamora and Vision, as well as places that were destroyed were unable to return to life or be restored. However, thanks to time travel shenanigans, ''a'' Gamora exists in the present, but she's pre-''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'', thus leading the Guardians to try and find her with Thor tagging along to find other Asgardians. Meanwhile, things aren't exactly the same as they were prior to The Snap as everyone who was brought back has to deal with the fact they lost five years with their loved ones who survived and the changes that have taken place.

** ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler: Entire series came to an end with the elderly Peter Parker sacrificing his life when he gave Miles the last escape pod of a space station at it self-destructs after sending out signals that disrupts Dr. Doom's war machines all over the Earth.]]

* All MarvelUniverse cosmic events; ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'' and ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', have had such endings, where the victory comes usually at a great cost or leads to a temporary peace with the threat still out there.
* At the end of Creator/JossWhedon's run on ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'', the X-Men managed to save the world from a large bullet that was sent by the citizens of the Breakworld, but Kitty Pryde ends up being stuck in the bullet after phasing it to make it pass through the Earth and ends up spiraling out towards space. The second-to-last panels had Colossus looking up at the sky in sadness.
* The short-lived ''Comicbook/XMen'' spinoff comic ''ComicBook/DistrictX'' has such an ending. It features the POV character, Officer Ismael Oetega, managing to rebuilt his shattered family life; however, this comes at the cost of his daughter's life and the mutant gifts of almost everyone in Mutant Town. Also, a recurring character [[ItMakesSenseInContext stayed in one place too long and turned into a tree]].
* In the Marvel Graphic Novel ''Emperor Doom'', the Avengers are able defeat Doom and get him to restore humanity's free will, but in doing so, everything is restored to the status quo, which we're shown as the Russians march back to Kabul, Afghanistan, Apartheid being restored in South Africa (with a hotel owner being shocked that he could let "colored" people in), and a cigar-chomping US General demanding their nukes be rearmed once more. This makes Hawkeye wonder if they've done the right thing.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Livewires}}'' mini-series ends with all but two members of the team of RidiculouslyHumanRobots damaged possibly beyond repair. The least damaged and most recently activated, having saved the rest, tries to take them to their original base for supplies, only to discover the team blew it up before the start of the mini series.
* ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}''

* At the chronological end of ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' the zombie virus is never really destroyed, merely contained within two universes. It won't spread elsewhere, but the fact that there are two universes in ruins can't be that good.
* ''ComicBook/SinisterWar'': Kindred is defeated and Harry Osborn's soul is freed from Mephisto's possession by Doctor Strange. But Fred Meyers and the Harry clone both died trying to redeem themselves. Peter is unable to propose to MJ (though the silver lining is they at least remained together for now).
* ''ComicBook/SpiderManBloodline'': Peter is dead but Mary Jane is resurrected and she and Ben are on their way to becoming a mother/son super duo.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler: Entire series came to an end with the elderly Peter Parker sacrificing his life when he gave Miles the last escape pod of a space station at it self-destructs after sending out signals that disrupts Dr. Doom's war machines all over the Earth.]]
* ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir: Eyes Without a Face'' ends with the Crime Master dead and Dr. Octavius being rejected by his idol Heinrich Himmler as a "deviant cripple." But Robbie Robertson has permanent brain damage from Octavius' experiments, Felicia Hardy has become a heavily scarred shut-in who never wants to see Peter again, and the Nazis have risen to power in Germany. Almost {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Peter near the end of the series, when he tells Mary Jane that his life is falling apart - and he thinks it's only going to get worse.
* ''COmicBook/SpiderManReign'': Sure, Peter's wife is still dead, a lot of people have died due to Reign, and crime has returned to pre-Reign levels in short order... but the city is finally free, Venom and the Reign have been wiped out, and it has Spider-Man, and other superheroes, to defend it. Peter regaining happiness after decades of misery is something of a happy ending as well.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderManSpidersShadow'': The symbiote is destroyed thanks to Peter disguising the Human Torch as himself, but not before it kills Reed Richards in an attempt to make sure he can't stop them again. Peter is ultimately found not guilty of his actions under the symbiote's influence thanks to the testimony of other symbiote-infected heroes, and Sue Richards decides to bring Peter into the Fantastic Four so they can heal together as a new family. However, Peter's identity has still gone public, May Parker is dead, and Kingpin is seeking revenge after surviving a brutal attack from the symbiote-infected Spidey, and now has a symbiote of his own.
* In general, a lot of Spider-Man story arc are bittersweet at best. Even when he wins, he loses something important

* In Marvel Swords of the Swashbucklers comics (spin off of Marvel Graphic Novel of the same name) final issue (#12) Domino Drake (an Earth teen who had been traveling with the alien Swashbucklers) used her elemental powers to fight the Swashbucklers pursuers, the Colonizers. Unfortunately, her flame ignites the Cloudwall (an unstable space abnormality between dimensions). She turns her body to stone to shield her and her cat, Cap'n Kidd, and leap off the ship. As she passes through the Cloudwall back to Earth, the Swashbucklers' ship disintegrates behind her. She returns to the beach house where her parents and Dodger (a former thief from the Swashbucklers' dimension) lives. Domino is reunited with her friend and parents but it is unknown if she still have her elemental powers, Cap'n Kidd is no longer sentient, and all of the Swashbucklers are dead.
* ''ComicBook/XCutionersSong'': By the end of the arc, Professor Xavier has been saved and Stryfe's mad scheme has been stopped, but Cable gets (apparently) killed in action, and Stryfe still manages to unleash the Legacy Virus.

* ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'': The second season finale, "The Goblin War" has the Goblin Nation and its leader, the Goblin King/Adrian Toomes defeated, but Otto Octavius performs a HeroicSacrifice to stop the Goblin King and dies in Peter's arms. However, his will essentially allows Peter to return to Horizon High and Gwen and Anya rekindle their friendship with Peter.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' prematurely ends with Spider-Man defeating the BigBad and New York is safe. However, said villain apparently died in front of his son's eyes, who again is Spidey's best friend and now hates Spider-Man. Peter's social life also isn't any better, as he breaks up with his girlfriend to get together with his true love, only she is being manipulated to not break up with Peter's best friend. Oh, and the BigBad actually survived and is boarding a plane to a tropical island.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' has a Bittersweet Finale "Graduation Day." Professor Xavier was hit by a Psychic wave that weakens him to the point of near death. After Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean were able to convince Magneto to send a message to the Shi'ar Empire, Professor Xavier said his good-byes to his X-Men (Morph included) and to Magneto before he dies. Empress Lilandra made it to resurrect Xavier so that he can be cared for with Shi'ar technology on their planet. The final scene involves Empress Lilandra taking off with Xavier for him to heal while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Morph and Magneto looking onward as the Earth itself face an uncertain future.

** Whoo, boy ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' goes above and beyond all of this! Thanos is dead - both the present day and a past iteration - and his army along with him and those snapped by Thanos are restored. However, the cost is quite high as Black Widow dies triggering the Soul Stone in the past similarly to how Gamora was killed in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and Iron Man dies using the Infinity Gems to snap away Thanos and his army. Returning Mljonir and the Infinity Stones to their rightful place in time leads to Captain America deciding to return to the past, marrying Peggy Carter and living the life he missed. When he returns in the present day, he's an old man, but decides to give Sam Wilson the shield, letting him become the new Captain America. Heroes who perished by other means, such as Gamora and Vision, as well as places that were destroyed were unable to return to life or be restored. However, thanks to time travel shenanigans, ''a'' Gamora exists in the present, but she's pre-''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', thus leading the Guardians to try and find her with Thor tagging along to find other Asgardians. Meanwhile, things aren't exactly the same as they were prior to The Snap as everyone who was brought back has to deal with the fact they lost five years with their loved ones who survived and the changes that have taken place.

!!Franchise/MarvelUniverse

* ''ComicBook/XCutionersSong'': By the end of the arc, Professor Xavier has been saved and Stryfe's mad scheme has been stopped, but Cable gets (apparently) killed in action, and Stryfe still manages to unleash the Legacy Virus.

* All of MarvelUniverse cosmic events; ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'' and ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', have had such endings, where the victory comes usually at a great cost or leads to a temporary peace with the threat still out there.

* At the chronological end of ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' the zombie virus is never really destroyed, merely contained within two universes. It won't spread elsewhere, but the fact that there's two universes in ruins can't be that good.

* All of MarvelUniverse cosmic events; ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}, ComicBook/WarOfKings and ComicBook/TheThanosImperative, have had such endings, where the victory comes usually at a great cost or leads to a temporary peace with the threat still out there.