This year marks the end to one of the msot lucrative franchises of all time. A seven book stories and eight movies comes to an end in a conclusion thats guranteed to make a boat load of money. However, there are a fair amount of great finales out there in multiple forms of media across several different series. (Of course, finales never really stay finales for long.)

Disclaimer: As always, this is limited to my own experience. If a reader out there wishes to recommend a series with a great finale, go ahead and place it in the comments below.


10. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle (novel)
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Although its tone is decidedly more bleak than previous installments in C.S. Lewis's beloved franchise, the final novel in the series presents another Chrsitian parallel in its portrayel of the apocalypse. Characters are killed brutally, but in typical Lewis fashion returns in the final chapters. The Last Battle is a truly smart capper to a great series.


9. Ultimate Spider-man
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Although the series has yet to officially conclude, Brian Bendis has done tthe unthinkable, Peter Parker has died. Although death in comics is hardly permanent and main characters have been known to die, Marvel's Ultimate line is decidedly different. Only rarely do characters return from the grave and unlike the Marvel's main coninuity, writer Brian Bendis has complete control over how the series will play out from this point forward. Peter's death is handled with class and incredible emotion. It never feels like a gimmick.

8. Toy Story 3
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Last year, I doubt many of us would have expected to include this amoung the best series cappers of all time. However, Pixar's incredible third installment in the Toy Story series is just that. It not only stands on its own as a clever and inventive animated film, but delivers a poignant statement on mortality. It also delivers closure to characters we have come to love for over a decade.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)
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Are there lots of deaths? Yes. Powerful character revelations? Check. Controversial final scene? Yep. J.K. Rowling's modern fantasy epic concludes in typical fashion, but with a sense of grandeur and style the series is known for. And yes, while some hated the final scene, I have to admit I rather liked it.

6. Buffy The Vampire Slayer-"Chosen"
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Although it is not the best episode of the series, "Chosen" ends Buffy in grand fashion with the battle for evil taking even greater stakes than ever before. Friends are lost in heart breaking sacrifice and at the same time preparing its series for a new step in its mythology and a eventually a new medium.


5. Serenity
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Whoa, another Joss Whedon show? Insanity! This movie conclusion to the short lived series easily earns its place on this list. In addition to wrapping up the majority of the mythology questions posed by the series. However, Serenity thrives in bringing about sometimes heart breaking character conclusions through action filled spectacle.

4. Lost: The End
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Controversial and beloved at the time, the final episode of the epic television series Lost does not answer all the questions viewers posed about the show's intricate mythology. However, what it suceeds beautifully at is at creating some of the most satisfying and beautiful character resolutions ever seen. Plus there's that scene with the dog.

3. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
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Although it is still the worst of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi is one hell of a series capper. The epic of Anakin Skywalker comes to an emotional and empactful close amongst epic spacebattles and slug like crime lords. The wordless finale also delivers a sense of galactic euphoria.


2. Watchmen
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I may be cheating with this one. I mean Watchmen is a book right? Well before it was a book, Watchmen was a critically acclaimed miniseries. The bleak and atypical finale to the series not only subvert nearly every superhero cliche at the time, but creates a resolution that caps off a timeless series. It would also earn the series the label of being completely unfilmable for years.

1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Film/Novel)
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Perhaps the greatest fantasy series ever created, The Lord of the Rings suceeds in both forms of media. It brings its quest to a climactic close with spectacular battles, blood thirsty creatures, and twists left and right. However, what makes the finale to this trilogy such a winner are its quiet moments. Especially in Peter Jackson's film adaptation this finale suceeds with its characters. Whether its the realization of Gimley and Legolas's friendship, Pippin singing to the steward of Gondor, or its great conclusion that remembers that there are more to endings than climactic battles, Return of the King is storytelling gold and the best series finale of all time.

When it comes to comics and animation, there are few minds as respected as that of Paul Dini. The writer behind perhaps one of the best television series of all time Batman: The Animated Series and the award winning Arkham Asylum game, has received nearly universal acclaim from nerds and nonnerds alike. Today, Dini made thousands of more fanboys dreams come true with an announcement given to MTV. Dini will join the likes of Brian Bendis, Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle on the upcoming animated series Ultimate Spider-man.


The series, which is based off the highly popular comic book reboot under the same name, was announced earlier this year following the cancellation of Spectacular Spider-man. Although this decision was originally met with controversy, Dini made numerous claims to the quality and integrity of the upcoming take on Peter Parker. Reportedly the new series will be a 50% faithful adaptation of Bendis's award winning comic series, with a blend of stories original and familiar material. Dini also confirmed that changes will be made to Peter Parker's world and backstory to help fit the feel of the series and for a modern day audience: "As much as I love elements of Spider-Man's past, I don't really want to go back in and retell the Gwen Stacy and Green Goblin story in animation just so I can do my take on it. I don't want to redo the first Spider Slayer story. I don't want to redo some of those classic Lee/Romita and Lee/Ditka stories just for the sake of seeing them rendered in animation. For now, I just want to approach Spider-Man with fresh eyes, taking a few things we know about him and just doing a new spin on the concept". He also confirmed that there will in fact be guest appearances by other characters in the Marvel Universe, something that was absent in Spectacular.


Ultimate Spider-man is scheduled to air next fall with a first season of 26 episodes.

With Comic-con kicking into full gear, Activision has taken time to grant us with a new look at the upcoming Spider-man game. If you ask me, things are shaping up pretty nicely.

That's right folks, now you have it. The fourth and final Spider-man universe for the upcoming game has been revealed, courtesy of IGN.com. In addition to swinging through the Amazing, Noir, and 2099 universes, players will be able to hop into the highly popular Brian Bendis written spin off series Ultimate Spider-man. Unlike 2099 and Noir, the Ultimate universe is no stranger to the video game world, having a title based off it released to numerous consoles back in 2005.

The Ultimate universe is a cell shaded slick looking world that borrows much of its style from the original game based on the series. However, what sets Ultimate apart from the other Dimensions in the game is the prescence of the malevolent symbiote suit. Why Peter Parker is once again clad in his emo outfit is unknown storywise, but it adds unparalleled power to the character in combat. The Ultimate universe has already been announced to feature Deadpool, and Carnage as villains.

Check out this cool video preview, once again courtsey of IGN.com.

Thats right folks, theres a new Spider-man series planned for release. This time based on Brian Bendis's popular Ultimate Spider-man series, as reported by Worldscreen.com. Eric Rollman, chairman of Marvel Animation, says, " Ultimate Spider-Man will be a unique journey exploring our favorite web-slinger as he teams up with other fan favorite Marvel Super Heroes in never before seen stories with a new life filled with great challenges, new friends, intense action and character growth."

While this in its own is exciting news, it creates worry for a certain other show. The beloved and award winning Spectacular Spider-man has been in development limbo since the end of its second season. However, with the announcement of this new series, Spectacular Spider-man has now been confirmed dead.

This news brings a mix of emotions for me. While the idea of a new Spider-man series excites me, I am also rather upset. Spectacular Spider-man was an amazing series, and possibly my favorite version of the character currently in existance. I am also not a huge fan of the Ultimate series. While there are certainly some well written aspects of the story, there are others that bother me. Some of the character redesigns are unimaginative and bizarre. Others, especially the Green Goblin, are too far removed from their real characters. Also, I don't see purpose of the new series. The stories that Ultimate tells are very similar to Spectacular. However, it is still too early to jump to judgements, I will offer my opinions when the show finally does air.