Fans of major properties known the world over can be a fickle bunch, and that’s often been the case for the vociferous supporters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the credits scene of the recent Hawkeye finale a notable example that sums things up pretty neatly.
After the premiere teased us with the wonderful Rogers: The Musical, the internet was demanding that the entire thing be released online. However, when the people got exactly what they wanted as the stinger of the final episode, some vocal subsections of Twitter were furious that something as valuable within the context of the MCU as a post-credits tag had been wasted on a song-and-dance number.
In an interview with Inverse, composer and lyricist Marc Shaiman addressed the backlash, admitting that he knew full well there were going to be a lot of folks left disappointed that instead of a sequence teasing what comes next in the MCU, they were given an extended musical interlude instead.
“I dangerously read just about everything. And so often it can be like, ‘oh, I wish I hadn’t read that,’ or just getting facts wrong. But it was really nice to see someone completely understand the balls you have in the air with the juggling act. The hard part was writing a song that had to be something that Hawkeye or people who don’t like musicals would roll their eyes at.
It’s been tough because we did our job well, and that means there are a lot of people who were like, what is this?”. I understand that there are a lot of people who would’ve expected and wanted the post-credits scene to be some new kernel of what’s gonna happen next in the MCU. I completely get it. But it has been tough to know that by doing our job well, we made something that not everyone likes. It’s been bittersweet almost, but to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is crazy.”
Not even Marvel Studios are capable of pleasing everyone all the time, so there was always going to be at least some minor dissent when Hawkeye ended with Rogers: The Musical‘s showstopping tune as opposed to something featuring a beloved character like Maya Lopez, Yelena Belova or Kingpin.
