17 Plot Twists That Were So Disappointing They Kind Of Ruined The Whole Thing

Get ready to face disappointment, like only a parent can.

We’ve all been there – hooked on a TV show desperately hoping it won’t end, or watching a movie and anticipating the final act. Then the plot twist comes in. Sometimes it works and it's the most satisfying thing ever, and other times it’s so disappointing you feel like you’ve actually just been slapped. Let's look through some of those painfully disappointing moments, because boy, there's a few and I'd like to talk about them please...

🚨 Warning – Obviously, big spoilers ahead!🚨

20th Century Fox

Yoda can sense what’s coming.

1. Game of Thrones: When Daenerys did a full 180 and burned King’s Landing.

HBO

After Season 6 of Game of Thrones, I could have chosen so many disappointing twists. This was by far the worst, it wasn’t earned and felt so out of the blue. I know for many people, the show lost quite a bit of credibility with this storyline. I wish she’d burned me alive too because this really ruined GOT for me. Lists like this are created for these sort of storylines.  

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine: The moment when Deadpool came back as Weapon XI.

20th Century Fox

They’ve since brought Deadpool back in a way that works, but we shouldn’t be forgetting this awful twist. Everything from the way he looked, to his introduction, looked stupid. Must be up there as one of the worst MCU villains.

3. Old: Finding out the resort was just a front for a research team and then having even more questions unanswered.

Universal Pictures

I don’t really expect too much from any of M.Night Shyamalan’s films now, barring The Sixth Sense, as they’ve mainly been underwhelming or laughably stupid. The film’s premise revolves around a beach that rapidly ages the people that are on it. Towards the climax of Old, we find out that they were essentially test subjects for new medical drugs. This twist just had me asking even more questions, as I too rapidly aged and regretted watching it.  

4. The Prestige: When cloning was just introduced and it didn’t really make sense in the film.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Prestige is a film I really like, but I thought this part didn’t really work. The film nailed the whole Borden twin thing and most of the plot was grounded in realism – apart from the sudden introduction of cloning technology, which had me wondering if I was still watching the same film. Up until that, I was hooked, so it was kind of a shame.

5. Now You See Me: FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes wasn’t chasing the other magicians, but was actually in charge the whole time.

Lionsgate

I’m starting to think I just don’t like movies about magic, but Now You See Me has one of the most ridiculous plot twists. FBI Agent Rhodes makes out like he has been pursuing the Four Horseman, but has in fact been dictating their every move. Yet when he is shown alone, he still seems to be carrying out his job investigating them. That’s just a misdirect at the audience for no reason. By the time the twist is revealed at the end, you’ll have already said ‘That doesn’t make sense’ enough times, that it’ll feel irrelevant.  

6. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: When we found out that Rey was a Palpatine.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

For a franchise that I really love, this was the most disappointing twist–and there were quite a few to choose from. Rey being a Palpatine feels like a decision that they made on the day of filming. This was so out of the blue that it just seemed ludicrous and has basically devalued the sequel trilogy. 

7. Hancock: Out of nowhere, Mary reveals she has powers and is over three thousand years old.

Sony Pictures Releasing

The first half of Hancock is fun, while the second half is so illogical that it’s like watching a different film. The twist is not so much disappointing as lazy and makes the film hard to rewatch. I’m not a fan of Will Smith movies anyway, so I’m used to being disappointed.

8. Game of Thrones: Bran becomes the King of Westeros.

HBO

Game of Thrones again, but this one is too big to leave out. After eight seasons and so much deliberation, we were left with Bran on the throne. This is the definition of being let-down and one where I’m sure you were screaming ‘What?!?’ at your TV.  

9. Serenity: The whole movie took place inside a computer game.

Aviron Pictures

It’s actually worse than it sounds. This is the only film where I’ve just laughed out of disbelief at the plot twist. It’s so outlandish and ridiculous, that you couldn't have seen it coming –nor would you ever want to.

10. Glass: When we found out Dr. Staple was actually part of an evil organisation that has spent years killing metahumans. Oh, and David died in a puddle. Enough said.

Buena Vista International

M Night Shymalan does pretty much what he did in Old, by having an inane plot twist near the very end of the film which lacks any sort of payoff. I still think David’s death is more dissatisfying than the evil doctor routine.  

11. The Walking Dead: We all thought Rick had died but he survived.

AMC

After being so invested in The Walking Dead, I’d rather they’d just killed Rick off. Now I know he is scheduled to be in a TWD movie in the upcoming future, but it immediately took away any sadness about his ‘death’ when he was found alive moments later. Somehow the show has crawled along, but we should be put out of our misery soon.

12. How I Met Your Mother: When you found out that Ted’s wife had already died.

CBS

How I Met Your Mother finally introduced us to the ‘mother’ in Season 8 only to have her killed off by the final season. Ted was back with Robin and everyone was genuinely disappointed. People were pissed and rightly so.  

13. Planet of the Apes: Captain Davidson travels back in time and finds the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced by a statue of General Thade.

20th Century Fox

Disappointing would be an understatement where this film is concerned, as the twist just comes out of nowhere. Cue total confusion.  

14. Line of Duty: When H was revealed to be Ian Buckells. Underwhelming in every way.

BBC

It seems that the more hyped up a finale is, the more painful the reveal can be. This development was not well received and I felt like it slightly took away from an otherwise brilliant show. TBH, Buckells was the last person I thought it’d be, so full marks for surprising me.

15. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Aliens.

Paramount Pictures

Now I know you’ll say that Indiana Jones deals with the occult all the time, but aliens were just too out there. The film wasn’t particularly good anyway, so the disappointment was just coming in waves.

16. Iron Man 3: The Mandarin was ridiculously revealed to be an actor.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

I don’t think anyone was happy with this, even though Shang-Chi has managed to retcon it. For most of us though, this twist ruined the film. The Mandarin is such an iconic character that this burns even more. Nonono.

 

17. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2: When the final battle turned out to be a vision, sort of like a primary school creative writing contest.

Lionsgate

The ‘It was all a dream/vision’ trope is about as poor as it can get really. Some people actually like this twist, but it was an ultimate waste of time IMO. They could have used the budget spent on that battle for Renesmee’s face.  

Do you agree with my list? What plot twists did you find super disappointing? Let me know in the comments!