The post-credit scene has become one of the hallmark features of the MCU — which isn't
surprising, since every instalment in the franchise has at least one.
But these sequences do more than just advertise future Marvel movies.
Here's why the post-credit scenes are the best part of the MCU.
Marvel uses their end-credit scenes for a number of different purposes.
Some, of course, are serious and somber — but one of the best uses for a good end-credit
clip is as a humor-laced palette cleanser.
For obvious reasons, superhero flicks typically go high-stakes during the third act, and that
means things can get pretty serious pretty quick.
Villains make bold moves, heroes overcome their personal shortcomings, and the action
gets cranked up to 11.
A post-credit scene is an ideal way to keep things light as the story wraps up.
For example, a quick trip to the Shawarma Palace was the perfect way to ease the tension-filled
final act of The Avengers.
Bruce Banner's role as a sleepy therapist played off nicely against Tony Stark's weighty
self-revelations in Iron Man 3.
Even in a more comedic movie like Guardians of the Galaxy, the sapling Groot's sneaky
jive to "I Want You Back" just keeps the good times rolling.
There are many other, often more serious, reasons that the MCU's arsenal of post-credit
scenes are counted among the best parts of these films.
And yet, even if there was literally no narrative substance to be found in them, their comedic
nature alone would still make them invaluable additions to the MCU canon.
The end of a movie is typically meant to bring a sense of clarity and closure.
Storylines are wrapped up, mysteries are solved, and a sense of normalcy tends to be restored.
However, when it comes to a serial universe like the MCU, everyone already knows that
the tranquility is only temporary and, often, circumstantial.
This is where post-credit scenes come in to pack a punch — by relentlessly stirring
up a constant sense of uncertainty for the future.
As much as viewers might want to rest easy knowing that Peter Parker put Adrian Toomes
behind bars, the villain's post-credit run-in with Mac Gargan shows that Spidey's duel with
Vulture is anything but over.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strange's morbid time loop with Dormammu may have ended well for the
Master of the Mystic Arts.
But Mordo's subsequent appearance as a villain-in-the-making ensures that the good doctor's work in his
titular franchise is far from complete.
Heck, even in a film like Infinity War, which ends on a cliffhanger, the post-credit scene
with Nick Fury's pager still manages to throw in one last dash of tension.
And then you've got J. Jonah Jameson's Far From Home appearance, which raises about a
million questions at once.
All in all, one of the best ways that post-credit scenes bring the heat is by regularly disrupting
the traditional concept of the "happy ending" — and leaving audiences clamoring for more.
Considering they exist in a detached form at the tail-end of a movie, post-credit scenes
manage to get a lot of stuff done in a very short amount of time.
Take the new characters they introduce, for example.
When you look back over the years, there are a ton of MCU favorites who interrupted a wall
of credits to make their first appearances.
Nick Fury kicked the introductions off way back at the MCU's genesis by popping up in
the final moments of Iron Man.
Fans also met Wanda and Pietro Maximoff for the first time at the end of Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, and Howard the Duck even makes his first appearance in the Collector's
trashed museum at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Sometimes the "introduction" comes with more of a hint, though.
Thor is preceded by Mjolnir at the end of Iron Man 2, the long-awaited Adam Warlock
is strongly hinted at in a post-credit scene for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and of
course, Captain Marvel is headed off by her famous symbol glowing on Nick Fury's pager
at the end of Infinity War.
Whether it's the character themselves or a blatant hint at their impending arrival, however,
Marvel uses their post-credit scenes to introduce characters early and often throughout the
MCU.
There's no doubt that each and every MCU film has to juggle a lot of content.
Multiple character arcs, storylines, and crossovers must all be addressed in just a couple of
hours.
This inevitably leaves countless ends loose and questions unanswered as each story marches
towards its conclusion.
With the larger interconnectedness of the MCU to fall back on, these hints often aren't
addressed until later films.
However, at times, the writers and directors take advantage of the humble post-credit scene
to fill in some gaps, answer questions, and occasionally even provide a big reveal or
two that never made it into the movie itself.
Take, for instance, Erik Selvig's scene at the end of Thor.
With Odin back on the throne and peace apparently restored to the Nine Realms, everything seems
hunky-dory in the son of Odin's world — except for the little detail that Loki is using mind
control to manipulate Selvig.
The big reveal sets up the first Avengers film, of course, which follows two installments
later.
Similar big reveals take place when Nick Fury first brings up the Avengers Initiative in
Iron Man, Cap and Falcon detain Bucky at the end of Ant-Man, and Wakanda finally gets some
real screen time in the final moments of Captain America: Civil War.
While many post-credit scenes are fairly forward-thinking, occasionally, they serve as little more than
a dramatic flourish for the job-well-done-of-a-movie that preceded them.
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is particularly good at pulling off these quirky embellishments.
These movies consistently tapped into a variety of entertaining credit scenes that feel like
nothing so much as a humorous bow at the end of a successful third act.
Baby Groot secretly dancing when Drax isn't looking, Kraglin stabbing Drax with Yondu's
Arrow, and Peter Quill checking in on Adolescent Groot to criticize the state of his bedroom
are all perfect codas to their respective movies.
They don't make grand gestures or reveal massive new pieces of information.
They're just plain fun.
These kinds of scenes show up in other MCU films, too.
Captain America pops in for a quick public service announcement at the end of Spider-Man:
Homecoming.
Thor pays Jane Foster a visit at the end of Thor: The Dark World.
The team nabs a quick bite to eat at the end of The Avengers.
In all of these cases, the post-credit scenes don't necessarily bring much in the way of
new info or future teases, but that doesn't change the fact that they're pretty darn entertaining
all the same.
One of the best ways that post-credit scenes shine is simply by keeping the MCU freight
train rolling along.
This is true whether a movie has an open-ended resolution or wraps up in a neat and tidy
manner.
In these cases, the post-credit scenes take the audience by the shoulders, turn them in
a specific direction, and explicitly demonstrate where the story is going next.
Little hints of information, like Bucky checking out his past at the end of The Winter Soldier
or Hope van Dyne being shown the Wasp suit in Ant-Man's post-credit scene, are loaded
with possibility, but they don't actually tell the viewer much.
Meanwhile, post-credit scenes are often called in to save the day by restoring a sense of
hope for the fans.
Sometimes this is a direct counterstroke to a devastating development, such as Nick Fury
paging Captain Marvel in the wake of Thanos' snap, or Bucky being sent back into cryostasis
in Wakanda in order to finally find some rest and healing.
His future post-credit scene in Black Panther also sowed the seeds of hope — that Bucky
would eventually find his place as a hero in the Marvel universe.
All this typically sets the internet forums ablaze and gives podcasters and YouTubers
hours of juicy content, as they endlessly rehash each scene and theorize about what
might happen next.
Essentially, these scenes whet everyone's appetites, prepare them for the future, and
keep them coming back for more — time and time again.
The Mad Titan is a big deal in the world of MCU post-credit scenes.
After all, the villain practically lives on the murky edges of the franchise for nearly
the entire first three quarters of the Infinity Saga.
Thanos' impending yet reticent off-screen approach was dimly felt for years, as the
Infinity Stones were slowly revealed one by one, and the storylines for Infinity War and
Endgame were gradually teed up.
He plays a minor role in Guardians of the Galaxy, sure, but apart from that, he only
appears twice before his full unveiling in Infinity War.
Where does he make these appearances, you ask?
Why, in two post-credit sequences, of course.
The Mad Titan first appeared at the end of The Avengers, where he smiles at the thought
that challenging Earth's heroes would be courting death — a shoutout to his morbidly romantic
comic book origins.
He then appears once more in the middle of the credits for Avengers: Age of Ultron, at
which point he dons the Infinity Gauntlet and decides to take matters into his own hands.
While plenty of characters get their introductions in post-credit sequences, Thanos alone can
claim that he was literally developed by them for years — before he finally was unleashed
to wreak havoc on the main narrative itself.
The Infinity Stones are a central part of the MCU.
This is especially true for the first three phases that make up the Infinity Saga, which,
obviously, is literally named after them.
The Tesseract shapes the stories of both Captain Marvel and Captain America.
The Power Stone is a central focal point for the first Guardians film.
The Mind Stone impacts the first two Avengers movies and gives us Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver,
and Vision.
The Aether also tampers with Thor's storyline, and Doctor Strange would never have achieved
greatness without the help of the Eye of Agamotto.
While most of the Infinity Stone storylines take place in the main movies, though, the
post-credit scenes do help fill in some pretty important points in their collective story.
The Tesseract's narrative thread goes right through both Goose's upchucking credit scene
in Captain Marvel to Erik Selvig's post-credit scene in Thor.
The Aether finds its way into the hands of the Collector in his scene from Thor: The
Dark World, and Wolfgang von Strucker's experiments with the Mind Stone are first shown at the
end of The Winter Soldier.
No matter which way you slice it, post-credit scenes played a pivotal part in the Stones'
journeys throughout the Infinity Saga — and it's fair to say they'll have a role to play
in MCU's next saga, too.
Post-credit scenes are occasionally used to provide a sense of closure that may have been
missing during the actual movie.
For example, a good portion of Thor: Ragnarok takes place on Sakaar, where Thor meets the
villainous Grandmaster and his cronies.
Eventually, the newly-formed Revengers high-tail it off the garbage planet, leaving a fledgling
rebellion in their wake.
The movie itself doesn't show how that rebellion plays out, though the audience is given a
quick glimpse of Sakaar's fate when a post-credit scene shows the Grandmaster cornered by rebels.
Black Panther also ties up loose ends during the credits, when a scene shows T'Challa informing
the United Nations that Wakanda will be opening up its borders — a theme that was brought
up more than once throughout the film.
Sometimes this closure is far more subtle, though.
For instance, Avengers: Endgame famously lacked a post-credit scene, opting instead to play
a few seconds of audio — that sounded an awful lot like a final homage to Tony Stark,
hammering away on his Iron Man armor.
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