8 Best MCU Post-Credits Scenes, Ranked

Summary

Post and mid-credits scenes in MCU movies provide hints for future plots and character developments.
Notable post-credits include the Spider-Signal’s debut in Captain America: Civil War and Thanos’ introduction in The Avengers.
Scenes like The Blip in Ant-Man and The Wasp and Mysterio framing Peter in Spider-Man: Far From Home have significant impacts.

Post-credits and mid-credits scenes have existed in the film industry for decades, but there’s no denying that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is single-handedly responsible for their immense rise in popularity in the past few years. By including one or two scenes at the very end of a film, Marvel Studios is able to either close off plot threads that were initially left open or maybe even give fans a small hint of storylines and characters that will appear in future movies or shows.

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But, of course, this practice has also left passionate MCU fans with one question in their minds: what exactly makes a post-credits scene actually good? For starters, most fans seem to agree that they should not only be exciting and interesting (to properly reward those who stayed throughout the entirety of the credits sequence) but that they should introduce characters or plot threads that should not take literal decades to appear in another film or series. The MCU is filled to the brim with memorable post-credits scenes, but the following eight are the absolute best ones in the entire franchise so far.

8

Spider-Man’s True Beginnings

Captain America: Civil War

The history of Spider-Man in film has been quite troublesome, as the character’s rights have belonged to Sony for several years, meaning that Marvel and Disney couldn’t use him in an MCU movie for a very long time. However, the stars finally aligned and, after an agreement between both companies, Peter Parker made his long-awaited MCU debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Needless to say, his brief role in the movie was really fun and the studio definitely did the character justice, but Spidey fans were especially excited by its post-credits scene, which shows Peter Parker back in Brooklyn, talking with Aunt May and tinkering with the web-shooters that Tony Stark made for him, only to discover that they have a Spider-Signal feature hidden in them. This was the first hint that Spider-Man was not going to be a secondary character in the MCU, but that he was going to be the protagonist of his own series of films, and fortunately, this post-credits scene perfectly captured his personality and his dynamic with May.

7

The Twins

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier featured a very solid mid-credits scene that left longtime comic book fans very excited about the near future. In it, Hydra’s Baron Strucker can be seen discussing Loki’s scepter and the two test subjects he was able to experiment on with it, whom he simply refers to as “the twins.” Of course, comic book readers immediately noticed that these two characters were Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, also known as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

These two have been popular for many decades, and longtime fans wanted to see them both in a feature film for a very long time, so their reveal was extremely satisfying for most people. On top of that, the scene itself is quite sinister and creepy, which added to the disturbing nature of their origin story in the MCU and teased the tone that the next movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, was going to have.

6

Thanos’ Introduction

The Avengers

The Avengers

Release Date: May 4, 2012
Runtime: 143 minutes
Director: Joss Whedon

For a movie as anticipated and well-received as The Avengers, its mid-credits scene is surprisingly short and yet, it had an enormous impact, not only on the franchise, but on the entire film industry. In it, the Other can be seen talking to his master, who suddenly turns around to partially face the camera, and it’s none other than Thanos, who is implied to have been the mastermind behind Loki and the Chitauri’s attack on earth.

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Thanos has always been one of the most powerful and popular villains in Marvel Comics, so introducing him with this small but shocking mid-credits scene was enough to make longtime comic fans incredibly excited. Of course, nowadays, everyone remembers Thanos as the powerful villain who changed the MCU in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but back in 2012, this was the first hint that he was going to play a huge role in the future.

5

Thanos’ Arrival

Thor: Ragnarok

Needless to say, it took Thanos quite a long time to actually do something and play an active role in the franchise, but it finally happened in the mid-credits scene for Thor: Ragnarok. This one starts with Thor and Loki talking about their return to Earth after they barely escaped from Asgard’s destruction, a fun interaction that’s elevated by the witty dialogue and the impeccable chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.

But suddenly, the entire mood shifts when their ship is intercepted by a giant spaceship, which is implied to belong to Thanos himself. This abrupt ending left audiences both shocked and thrilled, and, fortunately for them, it wouldn’t take long for it to pay off, since this mid-credits scene was immediately followed up in the opening sequence of Avengers: Infinity War.

4

The New Guardians Of The Galaxy

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a very depressing film that, surprisingly enough, has a lighthearted finale that gives a happy ending to all of its main characters. Because of this, its post-credits scene shows the new iteration of the Guardians, formed by Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon as their leader.

The scene starts with the team discussing their personal musical preferences, which is both endearing and funny, until their conversation is cut off by their current mission, in which they have to fight a group of wild aliens to protect a town. This post-credits scene works so well because, while it may not immediately tie with any future projects, it gives every character involved a satisfying end to their stories: Rocket found his purpose as the new leader of the Guardians, Kraglin is carrying on Yondu’s legacy, Adam decided to use his incredible powers for good and Groot is finally as big and strong as his previous incarnation.

3

Nick Fury’s Proposition

Iron Man

Iron Man

Release Date: May 2, 2008
Runtime: 126 minutes
Director: Jon Favreau

When compared to other post-credits and mid-credits scenes that came shortly after it, the post-credits scene of the original Iron Man seems relatively uneventful and mundane. But, of course, when taking into consideration the context of the time this film was released, this can be considered the single most important scene in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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This is the introduction of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, who suddenly appears at Tony Stark’s house to tell him that he’s part of a “bigger universe” and that he wants to discuss something called the Avengers Initiative with him. That’s it. With a short but effective and well-acted scene, Marvel Studios established that it was slowly building a revolutionary cinematic universe and that all of their superheroes were eventually going to join forces in an Avengers film. Most moviegoers may take this for granted nowadays, but seeing Nick Fury utter those words to Tony Stark back in 2008 was truly mind-blowing.

2

The Blip

Ant-Man And The Wasp

Ant-Man and The Wasp is often considered one of the weakest entries in the MCU, but curiously enough, it does feature one of the best post-credits scenes in the entire franchise. After all, this movie was released after Avengers: Infinity War (even though its story takes place a few in-universe months before it), so naturally, fans were wondering where Scott Lang was during the events of that movie and what happened to him after Thanos snapped his fingers.

Fortunately, they got their answer during Ant-Man and The Wasp’s mid-credits scene, and it was definitely worth it: Scott Lang dives into the Quantum Realm with the help of Hank, Janet, and Hope, until he can suddenly no longer hear them from the outside. This is because they were all turned to dust by the Blip, and while he was one of the lucky few that didn’t disappear, this meant that Scott Lang was stuck inside the Quantum Realm without anybody to rescue him. This mid-credits scene is unnerving and disturbing, not to mention that it also perfectly shows audiences how Thanos’ actions affected the rest of the world. Furthermore, it’s incredibly important because it ties directly to the plot of Avengers: Endgame.

1

Mysterio Ruins Peter Parker’s Life

Spider-Man: Far From Home

The mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home is so important to the narrative that it almost feels weird to call it a “mid-credits” scene because it’s directly connected to the main plot of the movie. Peter Parker can be seen enjoying his new life with his new girlfriend, MJ, until he witnesses a shocking broadcast on one of Times Square’s screens: Mysterio has left doctored footage of Spider-Man “killing him” and framing him for the drone attack in London, which concludes with the villain revealing Peter Parker’s secret identity to the entire world.

This mid-credits scene is perfect because it works on so many levels. First, it marks the long-awaited return of fan favorite J.K. Simmons in the role of J. Jonah Jameson. Secondly, it effectively establishes that Mysterio is a true threat to Spider-Man, who was able to ruin Peter’s life by deceiving people, even after his death. Lastly, while the scene itself is very shocking, it’s also crucial because it ties directly to the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home and forever changed the fate of Spider-Man’s character in the MCU. Curiously enough, both this film and its predecessor, Spider-Man: Homecoming, conclude with a character swearing before they are cut off, which is a hilarious running gag.