Summer of cliffhangers: Why 'Mission: Impossible 7' and others are embracing the suspense

Spoiler alert: The following discusses the endings of "Fast X," "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and the new "Mission: Impossible" movie, so beware if you haven't seen them.

Cliffhangers are nothing new for a Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” movie: In his newest big-screen adventure, Cruise literally hangs off a train car that's dangling precariously from a cliff in the film’s action-packed climax.

Big stunts and death-defying sequences are a staple of Cruise’s movie wheelhouse. But wrapping up “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” in a crowd-pleasing fashion, while setting the stage for the next film, was something that “something that really kept Tom awake at night,” says co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. “You wanted to feel a definitive end. And we were not entirely sure how that was going to work.”

While Cruise’s superspy Ethan Hunt saves the day in “Dead Reckoning,” a larger threat to the world looms dangerously, leading into “Part Two.” It’s a different sort of cliffhanger in a summer movie season that's uncommonly full of them. In May, “Fast X” ended with franchise face Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his young son at the bottom of a dam and an explosion that might seal their fates as the credits begin to roll. And last month left a lump in the throats of superhero fans with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” when teen web-swinger Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) wound up stuck in an alternate universe, at the mercy of a ruthless doppelgänger.

Filmmakers break down their summer cliffhangers and the infamous endings that inspired them:

Cliffhangers have a long history in Hollywood

Superhero and sci-fi serials of the early 20th century popularized the cliffhanger: A suspenseful ending, often with a main character in some sort of peril, fuels interest in the next installment or leaves a viewer (or reader) wondering what’s next. It’s become a go-to device for movies, and especially for season finales of TV shows, though, in recent years, films have used them less often than in the past.

“Fast X” director Louis Leterrier chalks up the dearth of movie cliffhangers to modern storytelling and audiences’ expectation to walk out of a movie theater with a sense of completion rather than be left, well, hanging.

“We're definitely in an age of expected instant gratification," Spider-Verse” producer Chris Miller adds. But "the anticipation is the thing that audiences don't realize is the fun part. The excitement, the build as you're waiting for the next chapter to come, is part of the delight of the experience.”

Director Louis Letterier looked to ‘Infinity War’ for ‘Fast X’ finale

For Letterier, the ultimate cliffhanger was Thanos’ finger-snap climax in “Avengers: Infinity War,” which turned half the Marvel heroes into ash and left their super friends (and fans) shocked. “It completely pulled the rug from under the audience,” the filmmaker says. “It was a truly visceral experience seeing it in a packed theater. Strangers were crying in each other’s arms. I will never forget this moment.”

The “Fast X” ending leaves the “Furious” faithful in a similar spot. Not only are Dom and his kid in mortal danger, thanks to the villainous Dante (Jason Momoa), other members of his crew are shot down in a plane, leaving folks to worry about the “family” until “Fast X Part Two,” expected in 2025. “From the very beginning, it was conceived as a multipart film to conclude this saga,” Leterrier says. “We considered the full story we needed to tell, the arcs of the characters and collectively decided when it was the best moment to pause our film.”

'Fast X' spoilers! How that cliffhanger, end-credit scene lead to a 'Furious' final chapter

‘Across the Spider-Verse’ borrowed from the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ playbook

Miles Morales might not be in as bad a pickle as poor Dom, but things aren’t going well for the kid as “Across the Spider-Verse” closes. This other Miles (voiced by Jharrel Jerome), the alternate Earth’s villainous Prowler, is a threatening sort, though hero Miles’ pal Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) is getting the Spider troops together for a rescue mission.

This film and the next, trilogy closer “Beyond the Spider-Verse,” were originally conceived as one film before a “natural cliffhanger” led producers to break it in two, Miller says. It made for a better experience: Lord recalls showing “Across the Spider-Verse” to two cousins, both teenage girls, as the movie was being worked on, “and they both screamed.”

Their biggest cliffhanger influence was an all-timer: “The Empire Strikes Back,” which ends just as Luke Skywalker learns that Darth Vader is his father and Han Solo is trapped in carbonite and taken away. They used “Empire” as a template for “how to get the right level of, 'Uh oh,' but then a feeling of help is on the way, there is still hope,” Miller says.

'Spider-Verse' spoilers! How a twisty cliffhanger sets up the next 'Spider-Man' movie

‘Mission: Impossible 7’ director appreciates ‘Star Wars’ changeup

“Empire” was definitely “effective,” yet McQuarrie also digs the “unusual” cliffhanger of George Lucas’ original “Star Wars”: The heroes won the day and attended a medal ceremony, although Darth Vader gets away at the end of the film. “I remember feeling as a kid how unusual that was,” he says. “You were always so used to it being tied up in a bow and the bad guy getting his.”

That was what he was going for at the end of “Dead Reckoning Part One”: Narrative threads are resolved, but the artificial intelligence threat is still out there for Ethan and Co., and the last shot of a Russian submarine (which houses the source code that can destroy the AI) “is there to promise you that something is coming,” McQuarrie says. “It's meant to let you go home and imagine what that next sequence is going to be. And I can tell you with some confidence, it's going to be pretty effing crazy.”

'Mission: Impossible 7' ending: You won't believe who dies (Spoilers!)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why 'Mission: Impossible 7' and 'Spider-Verse' embraced cliffhangers