History DownerEnding / MarvelUniverse

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen97'': The only positive thing to be said to happen in episode "[[Recap/XMen97S1E05RememberIt Remember It]]" is that the Tri-Sentinel was destroyed before it could kill ''everyone'' on Genosha. Apart from that, the island has been devastated, with countless mutants dead including Gambit and possibly Magneto. Both the X-Men and the world at large are left in horror at what's happened, and the episode ends on Rogue weeping as she cradles Gambit's body.

* The stories in ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' usually end badly, or at least [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]], the AlternateTimeline created ForWantOfANail showing that, as much as it a Marvel hero's life can downright ''suck'' sometimes, it ''could'' have been much worse. This is especially common in the 1989 series after the switch to a DarkerAndEdgier style.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ends with Wasp dying horribly and ignobly, Tony Stark, and by extension all of SHIELD, publically humiliated for failing to stop the invasion before mass casualties, Norman Osborn being hailed as a hero for landing the killing blow against the Skrull Queen, causing him to become the new owner of both the Thunderbolts and the Avengers Tower, and Spider Woman's reputation all but destroyed due to the Skrull Queen having impersonated her throughout the event. Pretty much the ''only'' positive is that the invasion itself was stopped, and even ''that's'' a bit of a downer since, as horrible as it was, it was the Skrulls' last chance for survival after the events of ''Annihilation''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' ends with our hero triumphing over evil. All is well, right? Well, Norman Osborn is believed dead by most of the cast and longtime childhood friend-turned-villain Eddie Brock is locked up, most likely in Ravencroft, along with John Jameson. Curt Connors has been blackmailed into leaving ESU by Miles Warren, leaving Warren to help nurture Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker's scientific skills. Mark Allen, the Molten Man, is still not in control of his power-switch, and will likely continue to be blackmailed in to doing other people's bidding. Tombstone is walking free (albeit being monitored now). The Venom symbiote is still loose somewhere in the New York sewer system. Mysterio is still running free after the one sent to prison was revealed to be another 'bot, Chameleon is still out there and Kraven is also still free to continue hunting after Spider-Man. In Peter's personal life, you have a heartbroken Liz Allen, who is too proud to show it as well as her brother, the aforementioned Molten Man, being in prison, which is no doubt affecting Mary Jane too. Possibly the biggest gut-punch though, is Peter and Gwen, who have finally told the other how they feel. It looks like they'll finally get together, until Harry takes after dear ol' dad and manipulates her into staying with him, leaving Pete alone. Damn.

* Episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' focuses on an alternate Dr. Strange that lost his girlfriend Christine Palmer instead of the use of his hands. All the same events of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' still happen, but afterwards he starts delving into time travel in the hopes of saving her. But every attempt ends with her dying, as her death is a "fixed point in time" that can not be changed. When told this by The Ancient One, Strange defies her but she uses her own dark magic to split Strange into two timelines. One where he doesn't pursue time travel, and another where he learns about absorbing other beings to gain power. That Strange spends centuries absorbing others and becoming "Strange Supreme". Meanwhile, the other Strange sees that reality is falling apart and is warned by a psychic manifestation of the Ancient One that only he can stop it. However, Strange Supreme ended up too powerful and he absorbs his better half. Using his power to ensure Christine survives, but she is frightened by his appearance and reality falling apart. Strange Supreme realizes what he's done and pleads with Uatu the Watcher to help, but he can not. Reality ends up destroyed and Strange and Christine end up in a pocket universe only for her to fade away. Leaving Stephen Strange all alone for eternity.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': If you haven't seen the part where it was planned to be a two-part film, then it's inevitable that it has this. Many characters end up with their own personal bad endings.
** Miles is [[spoiler: trapped in an alternate CrapsackWorld, glitching out and possibly about to be disembowled by an alternate Prowler version of ''himself'', Miguel O'Hara and his Spider-Society are still on the hunt, Miles has lost all his trust for Gwen, Peter B, and presumably Peni for betraying him, and the Spot is about to unleash the apocalypse on Miles' world. About the only upside is that [[RayOfHopeEnding Gwen has assembled a team to rescue him, while Miles himself ends the movie charging a Venom Strike, ready to fight back.]]]]
** Miguel [[spoiler: has to exile Gwen, which clearly bothers him, lost many members of his Squad after they defect, others are now questioning his actions, and he is left wondering WasItReallyWorthIt]]
** Peter B. [[spoiler: has a daughter and a wife, but his inaction and unwittingly leading Miguel to Miles has shattered their relationship completely. His only saving grace is Gwen creating the new Spider Group to try and find Miles.]]
** Gwen [[spoiler: learns that canon events CAN be averted, but not before losing her only real friend in Miles. And now said friend is lost and his world threatened because she refused to act.]]

* Thanks to it being unexpectedly cancelled, the ''WesternAnimation/SilverSurfer'' series ends with the Silver Surfer apparently dead and the universe destroyed.

!Franchise/MarvelUniverse
DownerEnding in this series.

* ''{{Film/Logan}}'': Judging by how Logan, Charles, Caliban, and Laura live in a crapsack world, the whole film is already a downer to begin with, especially with Charles suffering from dementia and constant seizures, creating burst of potentially lethal telepathic energy (one of which was heavily implied to have killed nearly all the X-Men), while Logan deals with post-traumatic-stress-disorder, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, depression, and fatal Adamantium poisoning. By the end of the film, Logan, Charles, and Caliban are all dead and while it should be noted that Zander Rice, Donald Pierce, X-24, and the Reavers are also dead, that doesn't necessarily mean that Laura and the the other children are completely safe. In fact, the film heavily implies that Eden doesn't even exist in the first place, and that the children could easily be pursued by other forces in Canada. What's more is that, with Logan and Elizabeth dead, Laura has now lost the closest thing she had to a family and her and the other children are now completely on their own.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' ends with @asp dying horribly and ignobly, Tony Stark, and by extension all of SHIELD, publically humiliated for failing to stop the invasion before mass casualties, Norman Osborn being hailed as a hero for landing the killing blow against the Skrull Queen, causing him to become the new owner of both the Thunderbolts and the Avengers Tower, and Spider Woman's reputation all but destroyed due to the Skrull Queen having impersonated her throughout the event. Pretty much the ''only'' positive is that the invasion itself was stopped, and even ''that's'' a bit of a downer since, as horrible as it was, it was the Skrulls' last chance for survival after the events of ''Annihilation''.

* The stories in ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' usually end badly, or at least [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]], the AlternateTimeline created ForWantOfANail showing that, as much as it a Marvel hero's life can downright ''suck'' sometimes, it ''could'' have been much worse.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Thanos brutally murders Vision by ripping the Mind Stone out of his head. He uses it to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, snapping his fingers and engulfing everything in a bright light, then escapes before Thor can kill him. At first, nothing seems to have happened as Cap slowly gets up... But then Bucky crumbles to dust. Then Groot. Then Mantis, Drax, and Quill. And then the realization sets in: ''[[TheBadGuyWins Thanos actually won]]''. Scarlet Witch clutches Vision's body as she dies. T'Challa tries to help Okoye to her feet as he fades. Falcon vanishes in the long grass, just out of sight of the other heroes, as War Machine continues to call out for him. Peter Parker [[IDontWantToDie goes out terrified and weeping,]] [[DiedInYourArmsTonight clutching at Stark]] as he crumbles. [[PyrrhicVillainy Even Thanos lost almost everything to accomplish his goals]] and is left satisfied it's over, [[WasItReallyWorthIt but also contemplating the cost]]. In TheStinger, we see the same fate befall Nick Fury, the BigGood of the entire franchise, and his right-hand woman Maria Hill. The only implications that hope isn’t totally lost are Fury's distress call to [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]] and Doctor Strange’s cryptic final words to Stark: “There was no other way.” No CreativeClosingCredits, no uplifting ending. The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has truly reached its DarkestHour.

* ''[[ComicBook/TheChildrensCrusade Avengers: Children's Crusade]]'' ends with the Young Avengers breaking up. Stature and Vision are dead, Iron Lad is well on his way to becoming Kang the Conqueror, the surviving kids are consumed with guilt, and Scott Lang comes back to life just in time to see his daughter die.

* ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' probably takes the cake when it comes to downer endings. Not only is young Loki more or less forced to commit suicide by erasing himself from existence, but his body is taken over by his mentally disturbed, evil older self. This is particularly devastating as no one else even knows it even happened, therefore everyone who trusts and cares about him has suddenly been put at risk. Additionally the last few panels of a 13 year old boy ritualistically eating a live magpie are pretty horrifying.

* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' ends with Dr. Strange Jr., Franklin Storm, the Wasp, Yellowjacket, Thor ([[DeathIsCheap until]] ''[[ComicBookDeath New Ultimates]]''), and much of the X-Men dead; Quicksilver revealed to have faked his "death" in ''The Ultimates 3'' and orchestrated the deaths of Magneto and Cyclops; the Fantastic Four and surviving X-Men disbanding (and unknown to the former at the time, Reed's [[AdaptationalVillainy about to undergo a]] FaceHeelTurn and the latter learning that mutants are really a side effect of a SuperSoldier project, not a product of natural evolution); Spider-Man missing and, though not really at the time, presumed dead; and mutants themselves being outlawed.

!!Franchise/MarvelUniverse

* Christopher Cantwell's ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'' series spent a lot of time asking the question of whether Victor von Doom could be a good person as he fought for his life as he was chased for crimes he didn't commit. The series also had him tormented with visions of a life where he is HappilyMarried, has children, is unscarred and has turned the universe into a utopia. He even meets his alternate universe wife and learns that her father is his prisoner due to being an outspoken critic of his reign. In the last issue, Doom finally travels to this alternate universe where his life apparently turned out perfect and meets his alternate self, asking what he did to achieve this, humbling himself before another being for the first time in... forever (this man has talked down to gods before). It turns out that this life for him is only, and will only ever be possible when he and Reed Richards work together. The idea enrages Doom so much that he uses the Ultimate Nullifier to '''destroy the entire universe.''' Keep in mind, the Nullifier will destroy the user unless their thoughts are unclouded and their mind fully focused and intent on what they set to use it for, and Doom survives this. The utopic universe is reduced to nothing, Doom discards any friends he made along the way and even has his alternate universe father-in-law executed. It's safe to say the "redeemed Doom" saga closed out on a bit of a DownerEnding.