Staying around for the post-credits scenes of a Marvel movie used to be part of the fan experience, but the magic got lost somewhere along the way, and it just hasn’t been the same. Picture this: It’s 2008 and fans are packing up their belongings to leave the theater. They’ve just watched Iron Man. It was incredible, and they’ll be raving about it for years, but it’s time to leave and let the employees clean up behind them. Suddenly, the movie cuts back on after the credits finish rolling. “What’s happening?”, the audience thinks to themselves. “Is this a blooper or something?”
Meanwhile, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) walks into his living room to find a mysterious figure shrouded in darkness. He introduces himself as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and proceeds to tell Tony – along with the audience – that the other man has “become part of a bigger universe”. Then he explains that he’s there to discuss something called “the Avengers Initiative”. This moment spawned an entire franchise with multiple Marvel movies and TV shows still taking over the industry over a decade later. More importantly, though, it set an exciting precedent for Marvel using the post-credits scenes to set up the next major project.
Marvel's post-credits scenes used to set up the next movie
As much as Marvel Studios has perfected the use of post-credit scenes, they weren’t actually the first ones to do it. That kudos goes to a 1966 James Bond parody starring Dean Martin. Funnily enough, however, Kevin Feige was inspired by the post-credits scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He called it “the greatest thing in the world [that felt] like a little reward for. . . sitting through the credits.” He wanted to carry that excitement into the Marvel projects while also figuring out a way to keep fans hooked between projects. The result was a short clip that both picked up where the story left off and gave a little hint of what was coming up next.
Marvel was getting ready to launch the first Avengers movie in those early days. So, they had Fury and his team make several more appearances in the post-credits scenes of Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and many others. These snippets set up the next movie while also establishing Marvel characters and their relationships with each other. They said something important, and it’s this vital detail that’s been missing from newer Marvel movies and TV shows.
Marvel's post-credits scenes aren't being delivered on
Post-credits scenes these days barely do more than apathetically confirm or deny who from the movie will return for the next. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 legit just ended by letting fans know Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) would be coming back in future projects. Worse, so-called leaks are more and more depriving faithful fans of the authentic Marvel experience of post-credit scenes. How spoilers have become more of a problem when the studio does its best to stop them is anyone’s guess. At the same time, fans are growing increasingly disappointed with the quality of the content being released.
Secret Invasion was initially supposed to be Marvel’s Andor. Instead, it was more like the equivalent to The Book of Boba Fett (no offense to Temuera Morrison as he did the best he could with what he had). Yet, Marvel movies still do great box office numbers despite the recent challenges. Spider-Man: No Way Home globally made back almost three times its $200 million budget in the first weekend alone. Fans are still loyal to the brand and will most likely continue being so even as they take to social media to air their complaints.
How Marvel can improve its post-credits scenes
So, how can Marvel use post-credits scenes to not only maintain this momentum but get it back to where it used to be? The answer lies in what motivates their usage in the first place. They have to do more than give an update on which actors will reprise which role. The experience of them has to touch on what the audience just watched and also titillate them for what comes next. Spider-Man: No Way Home marked a return to form by presenting two different post-credits scenes.
One established how the world had been altered without Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in it. The other brought in elements of the Venom movies while still respecting Sony’s hold on the characters. Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong) caused quite a stir with his appearances at the end of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The fascination with post-credits scenes hasn’t died out completely. It is, however, on life support and Marvel can only revive it by making a little more effort.
In the grand scheme of things, Marvel delivers more times than not. Fans get exactly what they’re expecting in reward for sticking around for the post-credits scenes. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaset up the Council of Kangs (Jonathan Majors) along with a sneak peek into Season 2 of Loki. It promised the return of key characters while also being an extension of the storylines touched on in Ant-Man 3. Another key ingredient for making sure the post-credit scenes stick the landing is teasing the audience’s expectations. The end of Shang-Chi saw Xu Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) sitting on her dead father’s throne and taking over his empire to remake it in her feminist vision.
This answered the question of what she would do next. It also left fans trying to figure out what the takeover meant for her brother Shang-Chi (Simu Liu). Marvel isn’t exactly required to put post-credits scenes at the end of all their projects. While it would leave fans terribly disappointed, it’s not like they could call the police on Feige and have him arrested. That being said, post-credits scenes have become as synonymous with Marvel as snappy comebacks and ill-timed jokes. It would be a shame if the studio suddenly stopped living up to its own self-made standard.