An elderly man settles into a chair beside a hospital bed and opens a worn storybook for his feverish grandson. He introduces the tale as a beloved volume by S. Morgenstern and begins to read aloud. The boy resists at first, but as the old man's voice carries the opening lines, the camera moves into the story itself and the narrative of Buttercup begins.

On a bleak farm in the country of Florin, a young woman named Buttercup works at the fields and commands the household with a proud, imperious air. She falls in love with the farm boy Westley, who tells her "As you wish" whenever she asks him to do anything; Buttercup interprets that phrase as an expression of devotion and accepts his vow of love. Westley departs to seek his fortune overseas so they can marry, promising to return. Months later, a messenger brings a grim report: a dread pirate called Roberts has been plundering ships, and Westley's vessel has been sunk. Buttercup is told Westley is dead. She grieves, remarries the phrase to memory, and ultimately accepts an engagement to the handsome and politically ambitious Prince Humperdinck of Florin, who plots to use Buttercup's marriage as a public spectacle for his own ends.

On the eve of the wedding, Buttercup is seized from her bed by three kidnappers: Vizzini, a cunning Sicilian strategist; Fezzik, a mountain of a man with immense strength; and Inigo Montoya, a Spaniard and master swordsman who has spent years searching for the six-fingered man who killed his father. The trio spirit Buttercup away by ship and set course toward unknown ships and safe havens. As their cutter pushes through fog, a lone man in black pursues them relentlessly. He wades ashore at the Cliffs of Insanity and confronts the three kidnappers on top of the cliff.

The man in black first singles out the giant Fezzik. He uses agility and trickery to outmaneuver Fezzik's brute force, lifting and throwing the giant's weight with ropes and momentum until Fezzik collapses in exhaustion. The man in black then engages Inigo in a duel of blades; the two exchange a long, expert fencing match across the cliff's steep face, with Inigo's practiced style meeting the man in black's relentless precision. After a drawn-out fight, the man in black wounds and disarms Inigo but spares his life, bound by a spare sense of honor, and turns to settle a game of wits with Vizzini.

Vizzini challenges the man in black to a test of cunning that will determine Buttercup's fate. He produces two goblets and an open threat. Vizzini believes himself clever enough to outguess anyone, but the man in black constructs a chain of logic about which cup might contain poison and which might be safe, and convinces Vizzini to drink first. Vizzini triumphantly applauds his own trickery and swigs from one goblet; almost immediately he convulses and dies from iocane powder, a fast-acting, odorless poison. The man in black reveals his face beneath the mask: he is Westley. Buttercup recognizes him and collapses into his arms. Westley explains that on a ship captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts he survived because the pirate officer allowed new captains to inherit the Roberts name and the mantle of the terror of the seas; Westley trained, learned seamanship and swordplay, and took on the persona so that he might return to rescue Buttercup.

Westley and Buttercup flee together into the Fire Swamp, a vast marshland riddled with traps. The Fire Swamp spits flame geysers that erupt without warning; on several occasions they dive for cover and suffer burns when the flames flare up beneath them. They encounter "ROUSes" -- Rodents Of Unusual Size -- colossal ratlike creatures that lunge with snapping jaws. Westley kills one ROU with a single sword stroke as it leaps for Buttercup. Later, Buttercup sinks into a patch of lightning sand; she disappears up to her neck, and Westley plunges into the sand to pull her out, straining his strength. Their flight through the swamp ends when soldiers from Prince Humperdinck's party ambush them; men who had been hunting for Buttercup seize Westley and drag him away. Buttercup is forced back to the castle of Florin, and the soldiers deliver Westley alive to the prince.

Prince Humperdinck, who has courted Buttercup not for love but as a figurehead in a larger political scheme, lays out his plan: he intends to stage the murder of Buttercup so that Florin can blame the neighboring country of Guilder, thus providing him with justification to declare war and marshal his power. Humperdinck tells no one his full plan, though he has already commissioned Count Tyrone Rugen, the prince's confidant and a man with a disturbing distinguishing feature -- a right hand with six fingers -- to attend to the prisoner. Rugen is methodical and remorseless; he carries a horrifying electrical torture device he calls a machine, which he boasts will ruin a man's will.

Rugen takes Westley to a windowless laboratory that he dubs the "Pit of Despair." He straps Westley into leather restraints, clamps iron cuffs into his hands and feet, and rigging sparking cables to the machine, subjects Westley to systematic, prolonged torture designed to break him physically and mentally. Rugen brings Westley to the brink of death, draining his strength and mocking him as he calls the captive "mostly dead." Rugen leaves Westley alive but broken, confident that he has killed Westley's spirit. He reports the prisoner's condition to Humperdinck and allows Westley to be believed dead by the court.

Back in the streets, Inigo continues to search for Count Rugen, propelled by the single motive that has governed his life for years: revenge for his father's murder. He is a skilled swordfighter but lacks a final confrontation until fate brings him a lead to the castle. Fezzik, grieving his own sense of honor, teams with Inigo; the two of them decide to mount a rescue of Buttercup. Inigo's quest for vengeance remains his overriding purpose, and he trains himself to fight the six-fingered man.

Within the castle, Humperdinck uses Westley's supposed death as the crux of the ceremony he plans: he intends to stage a private wedding to Buttercup for political gain while preparing a public event that will allow him to have her killed. Buttercup, devastated and convinced that Westley is dead after a staged funeral scene, breaks down and agrees to marry the prince, hoping to spare herself any further cruelty but also to survive by complicit compliance. Humperdinck announces the wedding will take place that very day.

Inigo and Fezzik infiltrate the castle's grounds to rescue Buttercup before the wedding bell rings. They find Westley's body -- or what they believe to be a body -- and carry him out discreetly across the countryside toward a small cottage where a miracle-worker named Max resides. Max, a pudgy, argumentative healer who calls himself Miracle Max, answers the knock with bluster. He declares Westley "mostly dead," then argues with his wife Valerie about whether Westley can be brought fully back to life. They bicker through the miserable weather, trading wit and recrimination. Max produces a secret pill and details an odd procedure: a small concoction, hot water, vigorous stirring, and an injection of forceful will. He gives Westley a pill and explains that Westley is "only mostly dead" -- a phrase the film repeats. Max revives Westley using a combination of the pill, a mind-over-matter speech, and a feverish shot of adrenaline. Westley coughs and gasps and slowly regains his faculties; he returns to his old clarity, though still weakened.

While Max and his wife fuss, Inigo and Fezzik prepare for the castle assault. Westley, patched up and helped by the pair, hikes back toward Florin to intercept the ceremony. The timing is urgent: the wedding is about to begin in the chapel and Humperdinck intends to make Buttercup his bride in the public eye. Westley sneaks into the palace and stealthily neutralizes Humperdinck's guards. He confronts the prince in his dressing room in a tense, purely verbal duel that serves as a test of wills. Westley demonstrates he still commands danger and cunning; he threatens to kill the prince if he continues with his plan, forcing Humperdinck to confess his plot aloud -- that he intends to murder Buttercup and blame Guilder to start a war. Westley coerces the prince to reveal that he dispatched a pair of men to put Buttercup away for good, thus getting Humperdinck to incriminate himself.

Meanwhile Inigo finds Count Rugen and demands satisfaction for his father's murder. They face off in a fencing duel that flows from corridors into courtyards. Rugen fights with clinical precision and cheats when possible; Inigo fights with the raw, personal rage of a son who has practiced for twenty years. The duel escalates: Rugen scores a grievous cut across Inigo's chest, and Inigo feels his strength ebbing. He stumbles and appears to be losing until a flood of memory and a final cry propel him to rise for one more exchange. Inigo finally stabs Rugen multiple times, repeating his long-rehearsed declaration in a voice that mixes triumph and grief: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." With the repeated thrusts he kills the six-fingered man; Rugen collapses and dies, his body crumpling where he falls.

With Rugen dead and Humperdinck's confession extracted, Westley returns to the wedding chamber to stop the fatal ceremony. He confronts the prince and brings the confrontation into the open: he produces the evidence of Humperdinck's scheme and forces the prince to reveal his intention to stage a murder to provoke a war. Westley uses the confession to immobilize the prince politically; though the prince is powerful, Westley's ferocity and the dead count's body shift the balance. A brief scuffle breaks out as palace guards rush in; Westley, using wit and cunning rather than brute force, incapacitates many of them. Fezzik arrives and helps carry Buttercup away from the chapel in the chaos. The four -- Buttercup, Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik -- flee on horseback through the palace gates that are thrown open in the confusion, or, in some sequences, they slip silent and rapid through servants' passages until they seize two horses waiting outside. They gallop into the night, leaving behind the prince and his crumbling schemes.

In the final beats of the tale within the book, Inigo receives his vengeance and collapses, exhausted but fulfilled; Fezzik grieves for his fallen foes and laughs with relief at the lightness of new possibilities; Westley and Buttercup ride away together, reunited and once more pledged to a life built from the trials they survived. The old man reading closes the book.

The narrative cuts back to the sick boy in the present: he has been soothed by the story and now asks the grandfather to read it again the next day. The grandfather teases that he will, and the boy, fever reduced, says he wants to hear the book one more time before he will sleep. The old man leans close, repeats the line the boy loved to hear as Western and Buttercup used it, and whispers "As you wish." He kisses the boy on the forehead and leaves the room as the boy drifts toward sleep. The final image holds on the closed book and the quiet house, ending the layered tale with the promise that the story will be told again.

The ending of The Bride! (2026) concludes with the Bride, Frankenstein's companion, fully awakened and asserting her own identity beyond what her creators intended. The romance between Frankenstein's monster and the Bride culminates amid escalating police pursuit and social upheaval, leading to a dramatic confrontation that leaves the fate of the main characters--Frankenstein's monster, the Bride, and Dr. Euphronius--resolved in a way that underscores the film's themes of autonomy, love, and rebellion.

Expanded narrative of the ending scene by scene:

The final act opens with the Bride, newly reanimated from a murdered young woman, increasingly aware of her own existence and the world around her. She moves through the gritty, Depression-era Chicago streets with a mix of naive loyalty to Frankenstein's monster and a growing curiosity about her origins and purpose. This duality drives her actions as she begins to question the intentions of her creators.

Frankenstein's monster, named Frank, remains deeply attached to the Bride, hoping she will be his companion and equal. Their relationship, however, is complicated by the Bride's emerging independence and the external pressures from the police and society. The police, led by a detective played by Peter Sarsgaard, intensify their pursuit of the two, viewing them as dangerous outlaws due to the radical social movement sparked by the Bride's existence.

Dr. Euphronius, the scientist who helped create the Bride, is caught between her scientific ambitions and the moral consequences of their actions. She watches as the Bride's influence grows beyond her control, symbolizing the unpredictable nature of playing god.

In a climactic confrontation, the Bride and Frankenstein's monster face off against the police. The Bride's actions here are decisive and assertive, marking her full transformation from a passive creation to an active agent of change. The scene is charged with tension, violence, and emotional intensity, highlighting the combustible romance and the radical cultural upheaval the Bride has ignited.

The fate of the characters is as follows:

• The Bride survives the confrontation, emerging as a symbol of radical change and autonomy. Her survival suggests a new beginning, not just for herself but for the social movement she inspires.

• Frankenstein's monster's fate is intertwined with the Bride's; he either escapes with her or is lost in the chaos, depending on the interpretation of the final moments, but his emotional arc concludes with a profound connection to the Bride.

• Dr. Euphronius faces the consequences of her scientific hubris, her role as creator shadowed by the uncontrollable outcomes of her experiment.

The film closes on a note that emphasizes the Bride's transformation from a mere creation into a powerful figure who challenges societal norms and expectations, leaving the audience with a sense of both resolution and ongoing struggle.

This detailed ending reflects the film's exploration of identity, love, and rebellion set against the backdrop of 1930s Chicago, blending gothic horror with social commentary and a dark, gangster-inflected atmosphere.

There is no available information indicating that the 2026 movie titled The Bride! directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal has a post-credits scene. The sources covering the film's production, cast, and trailer details do not mention any post-credits or after-credits scenes. Additionally, no reports or listings of post-credits scenes for this film have appeared in common film databases or news articles as of now.

The relationship between Frankenstein's monster (Frank) and the Bride is a complex and combustible romance that develops after the Bride is brought to life. Their connection goes beyond what either Frank or Dr. Euphronius intended, sparking both emotional intimacy and social upheaval.

Dr. Euphronius, a groundbreaking scientist in 1930s Chicago, assists Frankenstein's monster by using her scientific expertise to revive a murdered young woman, creating the Bride. Her role is pivotal in the process of bringing the Bride to life and shaping the consequences that follow.

The murdered woman, once revived as the Bride, becomes more than just a companion; she embodies a new, unexpected force that ignites a radical social movement and attracts police attention. She oscillates between loyal naivete toward Frankenstein's monster and a growing curiosity about her origins.

The police interest is represented by a detective character played by Peter Sarsgaard, who becomes involved as the Bride's existence triggers law enforcement attention. The Bride herself becomes the catalyst for a wild and radical cultural movement, influencing the social dynamics of 1930s Chicago.

The Bride experiences a range of emotions, including loyal naivete toward Frankenstein's monster and a lingering curiosity about her own origins and identity. This internal conflict drives much of the film's tension and character development, as she navigates her existence between being a created companion and an autonomous individual.

The 2026 movie titled The Bride! is rated R and is not family-friendly for children. It contains potentially upsetting and objectionable content such as murder, possession, and intense romance set in a dark, horror and sci-fi context involving Frankenstein and a revived murdered woman. The film includes themes of violence, radical social change, and complex adult relationships that may be disturbing for children or sensitive viewers.

Specifically, the film's tone and content involve:

• Murder and resurrection elements with horror and monster themes.
• Dark romance that includes mature emotional and possibly sexual content.
• Police interest and social upheaval, implying tension and conflict.
• The overall atmosphere is intense and likely unsettling for younger audiences or those sensitive to horror and violence.

Because of these mature themes and the R rating, it is advisable that this movie be viewed only by adults or mature teenagers under parental guidance. It is not suitable for children or family viewing.