Twists, teasers and tantilising first looks – post-credit scenes keep fans in their seats
▶ Gemma White explains why audiences love the concept, which has gained popularity in recent years
TThe first film to use the concept of post-credit scenes was the 1966 movie, ‘The Silencers’
hey were not the first to include post or midcredit scenes in their films, but there’s no denying that Marvel have perfected the technique – in which a final scene from the film is shown after the credits roll, or in between them. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The Winter Soldier are some of the MCU films that feature post-scene credits that offer a twist, teaser, or tantalising look at what’s coming next, and have become as anticipated as the movies themselves. The studio’s latest blockbuster, Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is no exception.
The film includes a mid-credits scene in which Clea (Charlize Theron), a former student and love interest of Stephen Strange, confronts the doctor with the consequences of his actions from the film. Namely that a recent “incursion” he made, in which two universes collided, resulted in the destruction of both. Clea opens a portal to the Dark Dimension, where Strange faced off against Dormammu in the first film, and asks if he’ll join her.
While some post-credits scenes are self-explanatory, others are picked apart on social media and in online forums as fans hope to decipher what every word, look and camera angle means.
The first film to use the concept was the 1966 movie The Silencers. After the credits rolled, Dean Martin’s super-spy, Matt Helm, is seen laying on a rotating bed surrounded by a group of scantily clad ladies, along with the promise that his character would return in a sequel. Another notable pioneer was The Muppet Movie, released in 1979. After the final credits roll, Animal appears to tell the audience to “go home” in his own inimitable way. A message that would be repeated by Matthew Broderick in the 1986 hit, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
By the 1980s, the concept had gained traction, with some films using the device to add humorous details, such as Airplane!’s abandoned taxi driver and his ever-increasing fare meter. Others were clearly included to set up sequels, some of which were never green-lit, such as with 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes, whose post-credits reveal that Moriarty was in fact, alive.
While the device began as a way of alerting audiences to a sequel or plot twist, they also serve as a gift to fans, often recognising in-jokes that have become canon within the fandom.
Although they’ve never contained a post-credits scene, the James Bond films have become famous for featuring the words: “James Bond Will Return”, after the final credits roll. Four words made all the more intriguing given that producers killed him off in the recent No Time To Die.
They’ve also become a place where writers can be mischievous, irreverent or downright nostalgic. In 2016’s Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, as the eponymous anti-hero, pays homage to the post-credits scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by wearing a replica of Bueller’s dressing gown and mocking the audience for sitting around waiting for the scene.
It also gives writers the chance to pay homage to films that have inspired them, or even go full meta, as is the case with 2009’s Zombieland.
After Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) mistakenly shoots Bill Murray in his LA mansion, the gang bid him farewell and leave.
The post-credits scene flashes back to a moment between Murray and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) in which Harrelson attempts to quote Murray’s Caddyshack character Carl Spackler, who in turn was quoting French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Murray then breaks character to show him how to do it. Look closely and you can see Harrelson desperately trying to keep a straight face.