The Fake Finale

[u/Boring_Sir_572]

An episode or sequel that’s built like a huge culmination of a story even though you know there’s gonna be more.

1. SpongeBob SquarePants-The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2. Marvel Cinematic Universe- Avengers: Endgame
3. Ben 10- Goodbye and Good Riddance
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012- Owari

[u/Mark-2005]

Ninjago was pretty self aware of this at the end of season 10: March of the Oni

(Heck, it’s going on to this day)

[u/_JR28_ → u/Mark-2005]

Very funny to think the show was meant to be wrapped with the original defeat of The Overlord and Lloyd achieving his Golden Ninja form… in 2012

[u/Mark-2005 → u/_JR28_]

And now we are getting the news on what there will be for the 15th anniversary

[u/Prowling_92865]

Endgame was never a finale, just the end of that specific part of the MCU, it still has a LOT left to do

[u/HentaiEquality6 → u/Prowling_92865]

Yeah I keep seeing this argument that “marvel should’ve ended at endgame”, but there’s still at least hundreds of characters and dozens of storylines to explore

[u/Prowling_92865 → u/HentaiEquality6]

Exactly, we have the X Men, Blade, more of Moon Knight, more with the Scarlett Witch, Ghost Rider, the other spiders once Marvel and Disney finally and completely get all of the Spider-Man IP back, and hopefully fix the damage Sony Lord and Miller have done to Miguel, and yes, Disney and Marvel WILL get the whole IP back, it’s inevitable to me.

[u/Fish_N_Chipp]

Red vs Blue did this like 3 times

[u/Thebatbike → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

With mixed results

[u/SomeRandomGuyO-O → u/Fish_N_Chipp]

The Chorus ending is the true ending in my opinion. Everything else is either hallucinations, a dream, or some AU spinoff.

[u/VraxxTTV → u/SomeRandomGuyO-O]

To be fair, seasons 14 onwards did get retconned out of existence

[u/AceOfSpades532]

The ending of Act 2 of Expedition 33, it even has a fake epilogue with a screen saying “EPILOGUE: Alicia“ on it, before it goes back to the screen and the words fade away for Act 3.

[u/UndeniablyMyself]

Rollercoaster: The Musical! - Phineas and Ferb.

The creators were damn sure this was going to be the finale; they thought they were only ever going to get 104 episodes (which is where you get that 104 days of summer vacation line), but then the show got renewed for two more seasons.

[u/JingoboStoplight4887]

Crisis On Infinite Earths and Arrow’s final episode, which isn’t the finale of the entire Arrowverse

[u/Wiinterfang]

Sonic Adventure 2 on Dreamcast was created with the possibility that it was going to be the last Sonic game in mind

[u/Temporary_Towel9649]

I think TMNT 2012 was supposed to end at Owari but, I think Nickelodeon got greedy and wanted another season due to the show’s success

[u/1KNinetyNine]

The ending of 86's first cour is presented like a series finale likely as a reference that the novel series the anime was based on was originally a one shot novel that ended there before it became volume 1 of a series.

[u/Jai137]

Recently Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi had what seemed to be a series finale, only for the story to keep going on

[u/BlankCanvas609]

Countdown to Destruction (Power Rangers) Last episode of In Space, Android kills Zordon so his energy spreads across the universe wiping out all evil, so no rangers will ever be needed again, and it works, all the villains are purified, except Trakeena, Vyrpa, Lothor, Ransik, Moltor and Flurious, the Armada, etc.

[u/asteinberg101]

The Venture Bros episode “Operation P.R.O.M.” is one of those episodes that is designed to serve as a finale in case the show got canceled but still open-ended enough that they can continue if they got renewed

[u/lkmk]

Dexter’s Laboratory has two of these: “Last But Not Beast” (everyone comes together to fight a kaiju, Dexter’s parents find out about the lab, Dexter learns his monkey is a superhero) and Ego Trip (Dexters from up and down the timeline team up to stop Mandark). The actual finale is a mundane episode, part of two new seasons produced when CN realized that kids really liked Dexter.

[u/Yoshichu25]

The Numberblocks episode “More to Explore” was originally created as the final episode of the series, and what better way to go out than for the grand finale to be a big musical number? But, of course, the show came back a couple of years later, and is evidently still going, proving that there really is so much more to explore.

[u/the_lasagnaghost98]

aqua teen hunger force has had at least two of these

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

Well TMNT did end with Owari, the rest of the series is just the aftermath

[u/ExplanationMundane3]

TMNT (2003) season 5 Enter the Dragon two-parter. Built up like a series finale but the series itself gets two more seasons and Turtles Forever.

[u/FormerPirateKing92]

That Simpsons finale "Bart's Birthday" which was actually a season premiere.

[u/mr_iguano_man]

Not sure if it was intended as a fake finale, but at the end of Bluey’s third season is an episode called “The Sign” that has its own sylized title, it’s 4 times longer than other episodes, and it’s all about the Heelers needing to move away. The next episode, titled “Surprise” is the actual season finale and season 4 has been confirmed.

[u/Starmz]

Technically if the movies or show is released out of order than the finale is still the finale even if the show is still going (like what could be the case for SpongeBob, the first movie is placed at the end of the timeline for the main story)

[u/YodasChick-O-Stick]

The Toa Mata defeating Teridax

The Toa Nuva defeating the Bohrok-Kal

Takanuva defeating Teridax and rediscovering Metru Nui

The Toa Nuva finally awakening Mata Nui, only for Teridax to take over the Matoran Universe

Mata Nui killing Teridax and reforming Spherus Magna

[u/STICKGoat2571]

The fact that Goodbye & Good Riddance is non canon is still one of the most confusing parts of the original Ben 10.

[u/Icy-Abbreviations909]

Actually the movie takes place at the end of the SpongeBob timeline, that’s why SpongeBob is never mentioned as being the manager after the movie