For over a decade, sitting through ten minutes of scrolling text at the end of a Marvel Studios film was a sacred ritual. The post-credits scene was the cheeky little reward: an intriguing glimpse into the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Nick Fury mentioned the “Avengers Initiative” in 2008, or when Thanos picked up the Infinity Gauntlet in 2015, audiences knew these moments carried real narrative weight. They were ironclad IOUs from Kevin Feige and the rest of the teams making these films.
However, in the era following Avengers: Endgame, that sacred contract has frayed. As Marvel Studios rapidly expanded across theatrical releases and Disney+ series, post-credits scenes transformed from a cohesive roadmap into a sprawling graveyard of abandoned plots, forgotten character introductions, and multiversal dead ends.
The post-credits rot set in when Marvel began using them to launch brand new heroes without a clear plan for when—or if—they would ever return.
The first noticeable example came at the end of 2021’s Eternals. The film concluded with two massive setups: Harry Styles making a surprise appearance as Eros (Starfox), brother of Thanos, alongside Pip the Troll, followed by Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman reaching for the cursed Ebony Blade while Mahershala Ali’s Blade spoke from the shadows. Years later, with Eternals sequels effectively erased and the standalone Blade project dipping into an endless delay, both teasers remain entirely frozen in time.
This issue isn’t unique to Eternals though. At the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wong, Carol Danvers, and Bruce Banner examine the mystical rings, revealing they are transmitting a beacon into deep space. Meanwhile, Shang-Chi’s sister, Xialing, assumes control of the Ten Rings organization. Neither the mysterious beacon nor the revamped criminal empire has been referenced in any film since. It’s believed this plot was going to tie deeply into the Kang storyline but to not have a Shang-Chi story despite it’s success and the love of the character is just criminal.
Similarly, Thor: Love and Thunder revealed Brett Goldstein as Hercules, tasked by a bitter Zeus to hunt down Thor. With no Thor 5 officially scheduled Zeus’s quest for vengeance feels less like an impending conflict and more like an ignored side-quest.
Some Not All
While the majority of these PCS’s have been ultimate dead ends for their set ups, we have had a few that were just nice little moments where we can step away from the characters for a while. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 did this perfectly. We not only got to see the new Guardians of the Galaxy team lead by Rocket, showing them still operating out there in deep space, but we also got to see Peter Quill chilling with his grandfather on Earth and simply being normal, before we’re teased that Star Lord will return.
These are both rewarding to long-time fans and also establishing the new status quo if we ever come back, not setting up some brand new idea that they failed to follow up from or dragging Peter into some limbo situation.
Deadpool & Wolverine chose to take a more nostalgic route and give us a heartfelt montage of all the 20th Century Fox products over the years and behind the scenes shots of the work and friendship built over the years. Then with an brilliant call back to the films earlier events proving Johnny Storm did in fact say all those things about Casandra Nova. These were fun full circle moments and in line with Deadpool’s tone of humour BUT it didn’t set up anything going forward to then waste our time.
Missed Opportunities & Dead Ends
The Multiverse Saga was meant to bring limitless possibilities, but its post-credit stingers have suffered from a lack of unified direction. Previously the Post Credit Scenes were set ups for the next film, or the next major event. Sometimes even just for a throwaway joke (looking at you Spider-Man Homecoming) but largely it was clear the scenes were leading towards something important.
When Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended, Charlize Theron made a dramatic entrance as Clea, dragging Doctor Strange into the Dark Dimension to fix a multiversal “incursion”. It presented an apocalyptic threat requiring immediate action. Yet Strange has not appeared in a feature film since, making the emergency feel remarkably un-urgent.
Spider-Man: No Way Home offered a brief crossover moment when Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock was pulled into Earth-616, only to be yanked back to his own reality at the end of the film, leaving a small drop of the Venom symbiote on a bar counter. It was a blatant set-up for a native MCU Symbiote suit, but the plot point was rewritten to not have been left in the 616 universe but now in the bar Eddie and Venom popped back to at the start of Venom: The Last Dance.
Even the grandest multiversal declarations have crumbled under real-world shifts. The mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania showed hundreds of Kang variants assembling in a vast colosseum to plot a multiversal war. It was designed as this pivotal moment establishing the saga’s next villain. Following behind-the-scenes chaos with the actor of Kang and Marvel’s ultimate creative pivot toward Doctor Doom for the next major Avengers arc, an entire stadium of Kangs was effectively rendered obsolete overnight with no mention or hint. We ‘could’ get to see them wiped out in Avengers: Doomsday but it feels highly unlikely at this point.
False Team-Ups
When Marvel isn’t abandoning lone heroes or multiversal plot threads, it is teasing team-ups that lack any payoff.
The Marvels ended with two major story beats: Monica Rambeau waking up in an alternate universe alongside Kelsey Grammars Beast and her alt universe self known as Binary from the X-Men, and Kamala Khan visiting Kate Bishop to recruit her for a new initiative. While the X-Men tease drew legitimate excitement, and the Young Avengers setup echoed Nick Fury’s original Iron Man pitch, neither has a confirmed project attached to pay it off. The Young Avengers teases have been scattered across half a dozen films and shows over three years without a single ensemble project officially on the slate. It’s gotten to a point where they can no longer be considered ‘Young’.
Why the Magic Faded
The fundamental issue with post-Endgame PCS’s isn’t just that they haven’t paid off yet; it’s that they no longer feel like part of a deliberate master plan. It’s almost like a pattern of throwing what they can at the wall and seeing what sticks. During the Infinity Saga, post-credit scenes worked because the narrative horizon was small and focused either on the next movie OR that Thanos is coming. A tease in 2011’s Thor directly set up 2012’s The Avengers. The turnaround was fast, and the momentum was continuous.
Post-Endgame, the studio prioritized sheer volume over narrative. By planting a flag in every single project concept, Marvel created a backlog of cliff-hangers it simply didn’t have the screen time or commitment to resolve.
When almost every movie ends with a false promise, the audience eventually stops taking the teasers seriously. What was once the MCU’s signature storytelling tool has become a symptom of its overextension—a reminder that in a universe trying to set up the next thing that nothing feels truly urgent or needed anymore.
Should they stop?
This brings to the ultimate point, should Marvel drop the PCS set ups now and instead lean towards a simple gag or closure moment for something previously established? Well yes and no.
If they were to have a PCS where it’s setting up, teasing or building towards a project already in heavy development then it gives us a clear goal on what is next. But if we’re giving us teases of characters where they are currently not in any scope to be included in an upcoming project or one heavy in the filming phase then yes, lets leave them behind and save ourselves the grief.
Hopefully with Kevin Feige suggesting the next major phase of the MCU after Avengers: Secret Wars being more streamlined and simplified, this could mean that their Post Credit Scenes would return to simply focusing on the next project in development and a tease to the next ‘chapter’ of the MCU rather than an idea conceived only on a single post it note.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, complete with its own interesting post-credit scene, is in UK cinemas now.
