Avengers: Infinity War is a game-changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the movie's
post-credits scene is crucial to a complete understanding of its cliffhanger ending.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and today I'm breaking down the end-credits
scene to reveal what it means, easter eggs and how it sets up Avengers 4.
I'm also kicking off a new Avengers giveaway, so make sure you're a subscriber and leave
a comment about the movie to enter.
As you'd expect, spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War.
The post-credits scene starts with Nick Fury and Maria Hill driving through New York.
Fury asks Hill if there's any word from Tony Stark, but although Hill is monitoring satellites
worldwide, she's not picking anything up as Stark's on Titan.
Hill does get a signal though for multiple unidentified crafts over Wakanda that have
an energy signature 10 times those seen during the Chitauri invasion of New York.
Fury then mentions a name which sounds like Klein or Clint but he gets cut off as a car
swerves out of control in front of them.
As Hill and Fury check the car that crashed, they find the driver's seat is empty because
the driver has disintegrated.
A helicopter then smashes into a Manhattan skyscraper, again because the pilot has vanished;
and Fury tells Hill to "Call Control.
Code Red."
But Maria Hill starts to fade into ash and people in the street also start to disappear.
Fury runs to his car, grabs a device and as he activates it, he also starts to evaporate
into dust.
The device falls to the ground but blinks a message "Sending" for a few seconds before
coming up with Captain Marvel's emblem.
So, this is a pretty crucial scene as it shows the Snap event that Thanos initiated is already
happening on a global level.
At the end of the movie, we saw the Snap wipe out around half of the heroes assembled in
Wakanda and on Titan, but this extra scene shows that it's now a wider event with Thanos
fulfilling his goal of wiping out half of all living beings in the cosmos.
This is a pretty desperate situation and, on the surface, it seems a rather bleak ending
to the movie, however, that final shot of Captain Marvel's logo brings a much-needed
ray of hope.
The introduction of Captain Marvel will be essential to how our surviving heroes will
try to take down Thanos in Avengers 4.
Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has said that Captain Marvel will be the most
"powerful […] character [that Marvel] has ever put in a movie.
Her powers are off the charts, and when she's introduced, she will be by far the strongest
character we've ever had."
Before she arrives in Avengers 4 though, Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, will be debuting
as Carol Danvers in her own solo movie where we'll get to see exactly why she's so important
in the MCU.
Danvers first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1968 and obtained her powers when during an
accident her DNA bonded with that of Mar-vell, a Kree alien.
Carol Danvers has an incredible variety of powers ranging from superhuman strength, to
space flight, plus energy absorption and projection among others.
Brie Larson has said that Captain Marvel is "a believer in truth and justice and she is
a bridge […] between Earth and Space".
And that means she's key to fixing the ending of Avengers: Infinity War where there are
just two surviving groups of heroes.
In Wakanda, we've got Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, War Machine, Rocket Racoon,
Okoye and M'Baku and on Titan there's just Iron Man and Nebula.
As for Shuri, Wong and Pepper Potts, their fate during the snap event is, for the moment,
unknown.
For Avengers 4, the heroes who are separated will need to band together and I can see that
Carol Danvers being a bridge between Earth and Space could be able to make this happen.
By the way, it's interesting that the movie begins and ends with a distress signal: at
the start, it was the Asgardians under attack from Thanos, and now, it's Fury to Captain
Marvel.
Regards to Nick Fury, it's obviously pretty heart-breaking to see both him and Maria Hill
just fade to ash in this scene, but it's a really striking way of showing the universal
and devastating effect of Thanos's snap.
That moment is made even more poignant coming, as it does, in a film that celebrates the
tenth anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because, after all, it was Nick
Fury who appeared in the very first Marvel Studios post-credits scene at the end of Iron
Man.
"'I am Iron Man.'
You think you're the only superhero in the world?"
"Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe."
"You just don't know it yet."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Ah."
"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."
Actor Samuel L. Jackson has been cast in the Captain Marvel movie which will also explore
Fury's origins and very likely what led him to the Avenger Initiative.
It's set in the 1990s where we'll meet Nick Fury at a time before he lost an eye.
Talking about Fury's role in the film, Kevin Feige has said that Fury "has reached a point
in his career where he thought the Cold War is over and the best days are behind him.
And when he encounters certain things in this movie, it sets him on a path that leads us
to where we are 19 films later."
Looking at the device Fury used to contact Danvers, I thought it seemed a bit dated in
terms of tech, which made me suspect it may have been designed in the 90s and so it's
quite possible we'll see it in the Captain Marvel movie.
Another possible hat-tip in the post-credits scene is to a moment in Captain America: The
Winter Soldier.
Spoiler ahead if you haven't seen The Winter Soldier.
In that movie, Fury had to silently spell out a message to Steve Rogers to let him know
that SHIELD had been compromised.
In both films, Fury is warning another superhero of a threat and, just as he does, the former
SHIELD director is killed.
Or at least, he appeared to die in The Winter Soldier, because later it's revealed that
the death was a fake-out.
And I suspect that Fury's death in this post-credits scene could well be reversed in Avengers 4.
Something that will need to be addressed in the Captain Marvel movie is why Nick Fury
never contacted Carol Danvers until now for help.
After all, there have been some global-threat-level events, like the Chitauri invasion of New
York in the first Avengers film, and then there were the events in Sokovia in Age of
Ultron.
It's possible that, as serious as those incidents were, Fury felt comfortable enough that the
Avengers could contain those threats.
However, in Infinity War, the threat is clearly massively larger with Maria Hill saying the
energy signatures of the invaders over Wakanda were 10 times bigger than those recorded during
the Battle of New York.
With Tony Stark unavailable and people literally vanishing around Fury, it's likely that all
this is why Fury hit that Captain Marvel distress call now.
By the way, Nick Fury's "MotherF.." was, of course, a joke about Samuel L. Jackson's signature
curse word and him finally getting to almost say it in the MCU, but I wonder if it's also
a little wink to Age of Ultron when Fury scolds Cap about his language?
"She's dusty, but she'll do."
"Fury, you son of a bitch."
"Ooh!
You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
We also need to talk about the name Fury drops just before the car crashes in front of him
and Maria Hill.
Fury's line isn't totally clear and sounds a bit like he's saying "tell Clint" meaning
that he's trying to get in touch with Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye.
But, if you listen really carefully, he actually says "tell Klein to meet" just before he gets
cut off.
Klein refers to Cameron Klein, the former SHIELD tech who refused to launch the Insight
helicarriers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Klein also had a brief cameo in Age of Ultron where Hill and Fury saved him from one of
Ultron's bots.
Interestingly, in the comics, Klein has worked alongside Captain America and his grandfather
was saved by Cap during World War Two.
And I wonder whether Klein's name drop in the post-credits means we'll see this tech
specialist reappear in Avengers 4 to help the Avengers pick up the pieces of the snap
aftermath?
Another little thing to look out for in this scene is the model of the car Hill and Fury
are driving.
Suitably enough, it's a Nissan Infiniti [QX50] which has already featured in an Infinity
War-related promo.
Now, you may still have a lot of questions about how the snap and Infinity War's cliffhanger
ending is going to be resolved, and I go into lots more detail about that in my ending explained
video.
I'll add a link to tap here and in the video description below as soon as that's live.
So, what are your thoughts on the end-credits scene and the Captain Marvel tease?
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Tap left for my Infinity War Ending Explained video and tap right for my full Marvel playlist
with easter eggs, theories and deleted scenes.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers!