With Marvel’s Part 5 Dividing the Fanbase, Is It Time to Retire Submit-Credit Scenes?

Picture by way of Marvel Studios

Ask any Marvel fan concerning the post-credit scene within the first Iron Man film and also you’ll probably get a smile, a flash of the attention, and the indescribable feeling of seeing a universe take form proper earlier than your very eyes. 

Again then, the MCU’s post-credit scenes have been single-scoop delectables doled out on the finish of films to spark enthusiasm for tasks whirling within the pipeline; Samuel L. Jackson emerges from the shadows as Nick Fury in Iron Man to inform Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) that he isn’t the one superhero within the universe; Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) dials Nick Fury on the finish of Iron Man 2 to report the sighting of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) hammer on the middle of a big crater; Nick Fury approaches Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in Captain America: The First Avenger to enlist him as an Avenger. 

Submit-credit scenes have develop into a signature sign-off for the MCU. Over time they’ve even develop into a part of the franchise’s genetic make-up. With out a post-credit scene (or 5, as was the case in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), it could hardly really feel like an MCU film in any respect. And nonetheless, there are growing considerations as as to if it’s time to hold up the hat and retire post-credit scenes fully or proceed trudging alongside because it has been. 

This concern has solely been magnified by the lackluster efficiency of Part 4. With disappointing movies like Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity providing comparatively thrilling post-credit scenes, however doing so on the heels of an uninspired movie, it’s no surprise the lust for post-credit scenes has waned; some may say it’s waned nearly as a lot as the thrill for Marvel films themselves.

When the MCU first launched its post-credit scenes, they have been used as a instrument to increase the franchise’s universe; to tease incoming characters, and to vow thrilling upcoming storylines. Now it feels as if they’ve develop into an afterthought; a begrudged project Marvel by no means realized it signed up for. Hindsight is 20/20, although, so it’s simple to reminisce on these early iterations as a bygone period of cinematic excellence, however in actuality, even these early installments suffered fates as lackluster as these of late.

Suppose again on Thor: The Darkish World when Thor returns to Earth to share a last kiss with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) whereas a Frost Beast ravages London within 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 difficulty isn’t the post-credit scenes. It’s Marvel. The MCU has gotten a lot larger — even larger with the introduction of the multiverse — that it’s begun telling the story of mankind when it ought to return to telling the straightforward, difficult story of man. 

In fact, that’s onerous to do when Kang (Jonathan Majors) is your major villain and he has hundreds of variants throughout a number of timelines, as do a few of our superheroes, however therein lies the issue. It’s too late now to show again. Marvel should face the music and make corrections the place crucial, cut back the place it may possibly; focus extra on the comb strokes as an alternative of the end result of the portray. Make investments extra time and power into its CGI. Spend extra time telling the tales of particular person characters and fewer time specializing in multiversal ideas. It’s a positive line to stroll, however that is the boat Marvel has chosen to steer. 

It’s not essentially time to retire the post-credit scenes. That will be a significant overhaul of the MCU’s genetic make-up. To take action now, proper as Marvel is in the course of battling a brutal storm, could be akin to letting water in by means of the opening of a ship it knowingly created itself. As a substitute, it’s time to return to the fundamentals, if such an idea is even potential for a franchise this far alongside within the recreation.

The subsequent 80 years of Marvel films rely on how the franchise handles this subsequent section of its storytelling. The followers can solely cling round for thus lengthy.