History HappyEndingOverride / MarvelCinematicUniverse

** One of the credits scenes in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' showed Bucky going into cryosleep to be deprogrammed from his conditioning; with subsequent appearances implying it was successful until the first episode reveals that he's been stricken with PTSD and nightmares about his past experiences. His talks with his therapist also show that just because he was successfully deprogrammed, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome doesn't mean the experience of what he did went away]].

->''"That was one goofy adventure, [[Characters/MCULoki brother]]! We may have lost Asgard, but you and me are finally best buds, and we're finding a home for our people, and we made all kinds of wacky new friends and AW FUCK WE’RE GETTING MURDERED!"''

* Peter Quill and his friends saved Xandar from total destruction and retrieve the Power Stone in the first ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. [[spoiler:But their efforts are undone by Thanos who is able to get the Power Stone offscreen, implying that he also destroyed Xandar who tried to protect it, or at least wiped out half their population]].

* While bittersweet at best, ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' still ended with Peter seemingly coming to terms with Gwen's death and resuming his role as New York's defender. ''No Way Home'' catches up with the character several years later and reveals that he never actually got over losing Gwen, and that the emotional pain had caused him to become a bitter and more brutal vigilante.

[[caption-width-right:350:As described in the page quote]]

!! ''Film/AvengersEndgame''
* Scott, who was last seen in a happy scene watching a movie with Hope and Cassie before [[spoiler:getting trapped in the quantum realm, finally escapes [[YearOutsideHourInside after a few hours, but finds that five years have passed in the real world]]. Not only that, but he discovers Hope is dead from the Snap and he has missed five years of his now-teenaged daughter’s childhood, during which time she and the rest of the surviving world thought he was dead.]]
* Within the film itself, Tony has spent the [[spoiler:five years since the snap]] relatively happy: he and Pepper live in a calm country home [[spoiler:with their four-year-old daughter]]. When Natasha, Steve, and Scott show up with [[spoiler:a plan to undo the snap via time travel]] - a ''very'' risky plan with low chance of survival, he has to decide whether it's worth it to risk giving up everything he has. [[spoiler: He ultimately dies at the end of the film after saving the universe, leaving behind his wife and daughter.]]

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' ends with a RayOfHopeEnding where the Avengers might be broken up and many are on the run but Steve sends a letter to Tony outlining how he hopes that they might reconcile. The movie opens with Steve and Tony still estranged and despite the Civil War's ending, Tony in particular still hasn't forgiven Steve for what happened in Siberia. [[spoiler: They never meet up during the movie and it would take [[Film/AvengersEndgame 5 more years]] before the team is fully back together]]. The writers and directors have even gone on to say that Captain America and Iron Man not working together [[spoiler: contributes heavily to why the Avengers lose and the movie's DownerEnding]]

* Even the LighterAndSofter ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' is not spared from this considering that this is set between ''Civil War'' and ''Infinity War''. While the film's ending gives a happy ending for the main characters, [[spoiler:the post-credit scene undoes all the happiness away as it's set during ''Infinity War'' where the Pym family become victims of Thanos' BadassFingersnap and Scott is trapped in the Quantum Realm]].
* Also Inverted in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', for Scott, at least. ''Civil War'' ended with Scott being part of the anti-accords side, Scott was arrested along with most of Captain America's team. It seemed like the [[EarnYourHappyEnding hard earned respect, freedom and happy ending]] Scott got at the end of ''Film/AntMan1'' will be a ShaggyDogStory, however, Scott managed to pull a deal with the FBI to go under a house arrest. He is still respected by his daughter, his ex-wife and her boyfriend, who still is his FriendOnTheForce. Only his relationship with Hank and [[LoveInterest Hope]] has soured.
!! ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''
''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' might as well be called "Happy Ending Override: The Movie'':
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' ended with Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} leaving the Avengers to spend more time with his wife and kids. Here, he comes out of retirement to help Cap, [[spoiler: and ends up getting arrested and imprisoned. At the end of the movie, he goes on the run and becomes a wanted fugitive. ''Avengers: Infinity War'' revealed that he was recaptured and put on house arrest as a deal from the government, meaning he's unable to help his allies on their battle against Thanos.]]
* Likewise, ''Film/AntMan1'' ended with Scott Lang having his name fully cleared, regaining respect from his ex-wife and her new husband—who also becomes his FriendOnTheForce—and finally living up to be the hero his daughter worships him as. [[spoiler: Here, he becomes a fugitive again and is put under house arrest as a deal from the government. His involvement with Captain America also affected Hank and Hope who are forced to flee from the government]].
* At the end of ''Age of Ultron'', Comicbook/ScarletWitch lost [[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} her brother]], but found a new family in the Avengers. At the beginning of ''Civil War'' [[spoiler: she becomes hated across the globe after a mistake during a mission causes civilian casualties, and the Avengers subsequently end up splitting up.]]
* ''Film/IronMan2'' had Tony and Pepper becoming an OfficialCouple, and ''Film/IronMan3'' ended with Tony destroying his suits and promising to spend more time with her. [[spoiler: In ''Civil War'', the two are on a break, and it turns out that Tony's inability to stay retired after ''Iron Man 3'' was one of the major reasons why they split up. This has been reversed as of ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' where Tony and Pepper have reconciled and hinting that Tony will propose.]]
* ''Age of Ultron'' had a final battle that was dependent on trying to rescue as many civilians as they could before Ultron could [[ApocalypseHow cause an extinction-level event and rebuild the world in his image,]] which was prevented until this film not only showed that the final battle resulted in many casualties and millions in property damage anyway, [[spoiler: but the main villain's motivation is that he lost his family in the battle of Sokovia and holds the Avengers responsible and wants to tear apart their team from the inside]].

%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

-->-- '''Thor''', ''Website/TheEditingRoom''’s abridged script for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' (overriding ''Film/ThorRagnarok'''s ending)

* For ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': [[spoiler:there's now a timeline where Loki got his hands on the space stone and escaped following the Battle of New York. Granted, Captain America will possibly discover much earlier that Bucky Barnes is still alive and Thanos will never complete the Infinity Gauntlet, but Thor has no way of returning to Asgard]].

** One of the credits scenes in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' showed Bucky going into cryosleep to be deprogrammed from his conditioning; with subsequent appearances implying it was successful until the first episode reveals that he's been stricken with PTSD and nightmares about his past experiences. His talks with his therapist also show that just because he was successfully deprogrammed, [[RealityEnsues doesn't mean the experience of what he did went away]].

* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Season 1 seems to end on a triumphant note. Mariah has been arrested for Cottonmouth's murder, Diamondback has been defeated. And then it's partially overridden as Misty learns that Shades has killed off Candace, the would-be witness to Cottonmouth's murder Misty had gotten to flip. This means that Mariah and Shades walk free and can come back for season 2.

* Within the film itself, Tony has spent the [[spoiler:five years since the snap]] relatively happy: he and Pepper live in a calm country home [[spoiler:with their five-year-old daughter]]. When Natasha, Steve, and Scott show up with [[spoiler:a plan to undo the snap via time travel]] - a ''very'' risky plan with low chance of survival, he has to decide whether it's worth it to risk giving up everything he has. [[spoiler: He ultimately dies at the end of the film after saving the universe, leaving behind his wife and daughter.]]

Considering that this is the darkest Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse film to date with as [[BigBad Thanos]] finally entering the main stage to assemble all the Infinity Stones, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' overrides any positive outcome that the earlier movies left off with: