Over the past 11 years, Marvel has trained its audience to sit in their seats a little while longer as the credits roll, baited by the promise of seeing at least one more scene before the movie is really over. For Marvel, it’s a way to get the names of every person that helped with its movie in front of some eyeballs; for fans, it’s a treat, a tease toward the next big thing.
Avengers: Endgame doesn’t have a post-credits scene. It doesn’t need one.
The Avengers’ final chapter is no time for the traditional big Marvel teaser.
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.
So it’s a surprise that this time, for the studio’s biggest movie ever, Marvel has bucked its own trend. Avengers: Endgame has no post-credits scenes. And I’m not mad about it; the movie doesn’t need them, nor should it have them.
Endgame doesn’t need a post-credits scene
Marvel fans have cherished the thrill of sitting in wait for a post-credits scene, because these scenes often function as a teasing glimpse at Marvel’s next big thing. That was the case with Infinity War’s post-credits scenes, which featured Nick Fury sending a distress signal to Captain Marvel. That fed right into Captain Marvel, which then had post-credits scene that teased the character’s appearance in Endgame. While there’s nothing wrong with anticipating the next big thing in Marvel’s gigantic cinematic universe, to wrap Endgame with a teaser for a bigger, bolder, more epic movie slightly undercuts the power of this movie that we’ve all been waiting for for the past 11 years.
Instead, Marvel wants us to focus on what just happened in the movie and nothing more. The lack of a post-credits scene signals that what just happened to Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Thor, Hawkeye, Hulk, and the rest of the Avengers matters. It’s Marvel’s mic drop of sorts to subvert our expectations after so many movies’ worth of precedent.
For fans still yearning for the next big thing, Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters in July and may end with a scene or two teasing the webslinger’s future adventures. There’s also Disney’s D23 expo in August, where Marvel will probably make announcements regarding its future plans. But for now, fans can just enjoy Endgame for a beat, without having to think about what’s next.
By Alex Abad-Santos, Alissa Wilkinson and 2 more
