Predictions of the apocalypse have a bad record. However one theory based on more recent data than the Mayan calendar suggests that 2018 will see us hit Peak Cape. With 40 tentpole blockbusters, half scheduled only a week apart, it seems likely that at least one of our Superheroes will finally face the insurmountable enemy of boredom and the multi-million dollar failure that ensues could sink a studio. However, whilst the end might be closing in on the competing Cinematic Universes, the heroes that inhabit them seem less likely to achieve closure. Superheroes don’t do endings.

It is the beginning of the super hero story that we understand. Civil War and Dawn Of Justice may feature established characters but only to chart the creation of new heroic coalitions, and new vendettas. Endings and middles are hard, especially without deviating from the revenge narrative that underpins all vigilante stories. Batman Begins is driven by his personal revenge for the death of his parents. In The Dark Knight his true love gets killed, so again this time it’s personal. The Dark Knight Rises finds a different approach, the story is driven by the daughter of the bad guy Batman killed in the first film. Bruce may be looking for a retirement plan but the story is still one of personal revenge.

The problem with looping the same psychodrama for each film is that it requires the end to become meaningless. To be driven to victory once by murderous revenge is unfortunate, twice looks like a psychosis. Stacked on top of each other the Hero films become stories of process, all the beginnings blur into a single outraged howl that no amount of victorious ending can heal. Winning is both inevitable and empty.

Consequently it was a joy to rewatch The Crow. It’s a Superhero origin tale, if a perfunctory one where the actual reasons for (and mechanics of) the heroic rebirth are never really explored. It’s also the normal supernatural revenge drama, the big difference though, perhaps due to the awful tragedy that hit the production, is that this is a film with an end.

The Crow ends with our hero robbed of his magical invulnerability, losing his final fight. So far so common, however whilst it’s barely a spoiler to say that he completes his revenge, the manner of his victory is unique. Dying at the hands of a man numb even to the enjoyment of his own cruelty, Eric defeats his opponent by gifting an horrific empathy, which leaves the hero free of his grief. He then returns to his grave, released of his pain, his story needing to go no further. Not only is it a film that ends without a teaser for the sequel, it is a story where the end is a heartfelt comment on the themes of grief and numbness established by start.

I imagine poor Batman, still pumping Bat irons in the Bat Cave, looking on with envy and counting down the days to 2018’s final apocalypse. By now, so many of his closest friends have been obliterated that when the next interdimensional portal opens up I suspect he’ll jump straight in…