Ask any Marvel fan about the post-credit scene in the first Iron Man movie and you’ll likely get a smile, a flash of the eye, and the indescribable feeling of seeing a universe take shape right before your very eyes.
Back then, the MCU’s post-credit scenes were single-scoop delectables doled out at the end of movies to spark enthusiasm for projects whirling in the pipeline; Samuel L. Jackson emerges from the shadows as Nick Fury in Iron Man to tell Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) that he isn’t the only superhero in the universe; Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) dials Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man 2 to report the sighting of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) hammer at the center of a large crater; Nick Fury approaches Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in Captain America: The First Avenger to enlist him as an Avenger.
Post-credit scenes have become a signature sign-off for the MCU. Over the years they’ve even become part of the franchise’s genetic makeup. Without a post-credit scene (or five, as was the case in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), it would hardly feel like an MCU movie at all. And still, there are increasing concerns as to whether it’s time to hang up the hat and retire post-credit scenes entirely or continue trudging along as it has been.
This concern has only been magnified by the lackluster performance of Phase Four. With disappointing films like Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness offering relatively exciting post-credit scenes, but doing so on the heels of an uninspired film, it’s no wonder the lust for post-credit scenes has waned; some could say it’s waned almost as much as the excitement for Marvel movies themselves.
When the MCU first launched its post-credit scenes, they were used as a tool to expand the franchise’s universe; to tease incoming characters, and to promise exciting upcoming storylines. Now it feels as though they’ve become an afterthought; a begrudged assignment Marvel never realized it signed up for. Hindsight is 20/20, though, so it’s easy to reminisce on these early iterations as a bygone era of cinematic excellence, but in reality, even those early installments suffered fates as lackluster as those of late.
Think back on Thor: The Dark World when Thor returns to Earth to share a final kiss with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) while a Frost Beast ravages London in the distance. Or Avengers: Age of Ultron when Thanos (Josh Brolin) creates confusion over the origin of the Infinity gauntlet and reiterates what we already knew is coming, i.e. he plans to hunt for the Infinity Stones himself.
The issue is not the post-credit scenes. It’s Marvel. The MCU has gotten so much bigger — even bigger with the introduction of the multiverse — that it’s begun telling the story of mankind when it should go back to telling the simple, complicated story of man.
Of course, that’s hard to do when Kang (Jonathan Majors) is your main villain and he has thousands of variants across multiple timelines, as do some of our superheroes, but therein lies the problem. It’s too late now to turn back. Marvel must face the music and make corrections where necessary, scale back where it can; focus more on the brush strokes instead of the outcome of the painting. Invest more time and energy into its CGI. Spend more time telling the stories of individual characters and less time focusing on multiversal concepts. It’s a fine line to walk, but this is the boat Marvel has chosen to steer.
It’s not necessarily time to retire the post-credit scenes. That would be a major overhaul of the MCU’s genetic makeup. To do so now, right as Marvel is in the middle of battling a brutal storm, would be akin to letting water in through the hole of a boat it knowingly created itself. Instead, it’s time to go back to the basics, if such a concept is even possible for a franchise this far along in the game.
The next 80 years of Marvel movies depend on how the franchise handles this next phase of its storytelling. The fans can only hang around for so long.
Published: Feb 28, 2023 06:21 pm