There are certain things audiences expect when they go see anMCUmovie, and the biggest is a scene after the credits. While movies have been using after-credit moments for years, as inFerris Bueller’s DayOffor thePirates of the Caribbeanfilms, it was the MCU that made them an engraved part of popular culture, where audiences stick around after the movie to see what is coming next. Marvel movies use ofafter-credit sceneshas become so popular that other franchises have started to implement them and many people are genuinely confused when other superhero movies don’t use after-credit scenes.
While the Phase 1 Marvel movies typically featured one after credit moment, the studio started adding more in with some coming during the mid-credits and others at the very end,post-credits. These types of end credits vary in content, with some setting up future Marvel movies, introducing new characters, or following up with a joke; regardless, they always make for an exciting moment as the audience eagerly awaits one final closing moment in a film. After 27 Marvel movies and now streaming series on Disney+ there is no shortage of after-credit scenes, and these are the best of the MCU best.
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9Thor: Ragnarok
Ever since the shawarma scene at the end ofThe Avengers, Marvel tends to do two types of end credit scenes, with the mid-credit scene being a major setup for a future project and the post-credit scene being a good laugh for the audience to go home on, andThor: Ragnarokfalls into the latter category. The movie ends with The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) stepping out from his bunker to find himself surrounded by angry revolutionaries. In his typical fashion, he can’t help but make it about himself, congratulating everyone for their revolution including himself, as they wouldn’t have someone to overthrow without him, as he literally pats himself on the back. It is hilarious and matches the silly, playful tone of one of the funniest Marvel movies,Taika Waititi’sThor: Ragnarok, and perfectly uses Jeff Goldblum’s comedic talents. This is hopefully not the last for The Grandmaster.
8Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Homeactually ties up the after-credit moment ofVenom: Let There Be Carnage. While that film saw Venom transported to the MCU, instead of joining the action, the end credits of the latest Spider-Man movie show Eddie Brock and Venom getting drunk in a bar in Mexico and trying to make sense of this crazy new world they have landed in. Once they finally decide to go after Spider-Man, they are transported back to their universe, but the camera pans down to reveal a small part of the symbiote has been left behind in the MCU, teasing afuture appearance by another Venomin the MCU. While some audiences may have wanted Venom in the main action ofSpider-Man: No Way Home, the after-credit moment fits the more laid-back nature of the incarnation theVenommovie set up, while also allowing a way for the MCU to create their own version of Venom.
Eternalsends with Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) and Druig (Barry Keoghan) in their ship traveling the stars. They find themselves not alone on their ship as Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt) teleports in and introduces a fellow Eternal, the brother of the MCU big bad Thanos, Starfox, to the MCU. As the character emerges from the shadows, it is revealed that Starfox is played by none other than pop superstar Harry Styles. Bringing in an iconic performer like Harry Styles into the MCU as a character as obscure to audiences as Starfox immediately sent a message that this character was going to be a big deal in future Marvel movies. It also opened the door for a whole new fan base to jump into the MCU if they weren’t already.
As soon as viewers caught a glimpse ofRogers! The Musicalin the trailer forHawkeye, the internet went ablaze. While quickly glimpsed in the first episode, afterHawkeyefinished its story, the after-credit scene of the series showcased the whole musical number as a gift from Marvel Studios to viewers for the holidays. The musical sequence is a great example of further building out the world of Marvel movies by examining how the impact of the Avengers themselves have changed and influenced pop culture, very much like they have in real life. While some fans may have wanted something bigger like a tease at the larger story, the light-hearted and catchy song was a great way to end 2021, which had been a whole year of MCU stories across movies and Disney+.
5Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldieroffers the mid-credit scene that seems to be the perfect encapsulation of what fans want out of a scene like this. It not only is a tease at Marvel movies but offers the first glimpse of two new characters joining the MCU that gives a vague tease of what is to come for people to speculate over. The scene introduces Baron Von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and gives audiences their first glimpse of Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a year beforeAvengers: Age of Ultronwould be released. The final statement, that “this is the age of miracles,” marked a turning point for the MCU, and while at the time it was believed to be a placeholder for the term ‘mutant’ which Marvel movies couldn’t use, it was more the mark of a new chapter in the MCU where more super-powered individuals would be joining the ever-growing universe.
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4Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsmid-credit scene finds Shang (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) joining Wong (Benedict Wong) analyzing the ten rings using a magic decoder, and it is revealed that they are known artifacts to the sorcerers. The scene reveals Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) appearing as holograms saying the rings are mysteries to them, and that the rings seem to be sending out a beacon. The after-credit scene raises so many exciting questions for fans to theorize about for years to come about who exactly the rings could be signaling to and their place in the MCU, as well as why they only activated when Shang-Chi used them as opposed to his father. It also establishes Shang-Chi as already having a working relationship with The Avengers, teasing exciting future team-ups in Marvel movies. Fittingly, the very serious setup ends with Shang, Katy, and Wong going to do drunk karaoke while singing “Hotel California.”
3Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity Warhas the bleakest ending of any MCU film, with thevillain winning the movieand half of all life snapping out of existence, so the film’s post-credits scene gives the audience a glimmer of hope. The end credit scene of the movie finds Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) driving in the streets trying to understand the battle going on in Wakanda, when suddenly people start disappearing and causing mass destruction. Maria Hill vanishes and Fury quickly runs to the car to grab something before he himself vanishes. The camera pans down to the item, revealed to be a beeper that sends out a signal when, at the end, the logo of Captain Marvel appears. With how massiveAvengers: Infinity Warwas at the box office, there is a good chance that audiences who stuck around and didn’t recognize the logo went online to find the answer and putCaptain Marvelimmediately on their radar as a must-see movie the following year. In the hopelessness that the ending ofAvengers: Infinity Warleft, the Captain Marvel logo showed that help was on the way, and the most powerful hero in the MCU was about to make an impression.
2The Avengers
The Avengersis such a strong narrative that by the time the movie is over, audiences tend to forget that the movie kept saying Loki was working for someone else, a bigger bad on the horizon. As the credits forThe Avengersended, the scene cuts to a throne in space where The Other (Alexis Denisof), who chastises Loki earlier, reveals to an unknown figure that Earth is mightier than they expected, and that to challenge the people of Earth is to court death. The figure stands up and turns to the camera and is revealed with a devilish grin as Thanos, the Mad Titan played by stunt actor Damion Poitier. In 2012, general audience members didn’t know who this purple-chinned individual was, but it became the key scene for mapping out the whole MCU moving forward. Comic book fans knew immediately that this, along with the Infinity Gauntlet tease inThor,was what Marvel movies were building to; that every new character in Marvel movies would eventually be leading to Thanos and an adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet storyline. In just six short years, every audience member in the world would know who Thanos was.
“You’ve become part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.” With those few simple words, the MCU was truly born.Iron Man, for the most part, is a self-contained narrative, and no different from any other Marvel adaptation at the time likeFantastic FourorSpider-Man,as it was expected to just lead to traditionalIron Mansequels. However, this after-credit moment radically alters everything the audience knew from that point going forward, and the mission statement for the whole Marvel movies franchise was laid out, that every character was just a smaller piece of a larger whole. When Nick Fury, played by Samuel Jackson, stepped out of the shadows and mentioned the Avengers Initiative, it was a promise that this was only the beginning. This one after-credit scene changed the course of the MCU and changed movies forever.
