SPOILER ALERT: This story is about the evolution of the plot and the first post-credits scene from Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which is currently being shown in theaters.
Since its inception, Marvel Studios has famously used its post-credits scenes as additional teasers for its upcoming films. Sometimes the scenes have pointed to a direct sequel, like when Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) showed Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) the wasp costume in late 2015’s “Ant-Man,” foreshadowing the rise of Hope in the lead role for “Ant-Man and the Wasp” of 2018. With the same frequency, they serve as a delivery between characters: the visit of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to the shrine of Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in end of “Doctor Strange” of 2016 establishes Thor’s search for his father in “Thor: Ragnarok” of 2017. “
These scenes have been both fun to throw and the essential threads that bind the Marvel movie universe together. Audiences look forward to seeing them for a taste of what’s to come, and this ritual has been crucial in consolidating the MCU as the greatest narrative force in Hollywood history.
On rare occasions, the final credits have also featured new characters, such as Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who appeared in the late “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” of 2014, who helped establish the bases of their crucial roles. in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” of 2015. But except for Thanos’ presentation at the end of “The Avengers” of 2012, the audience, at least, the experts who follow the entertainment news, already knew that these characters and actors they were arriving well in advance.
Not anymore. Last year, Marvel Studios began shifting its strategy to the post-credits scenes of its feature films, using them less as previews of previously announced titles than as de facto casting announcements for new characters in the future. of which in the MCU is still unknown.
The end of 2021’s “Eternals” could have included a spoonful of cosmic events in “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Instead, Harry Styles appears as Starfox, also known as Thanos’ brother, Eros, who vaguely talks about helping the Eternals find their lost compatriots. At the end of May’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” we could have tasted the upcoming multiversal traversals in February’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” or the upcoming second season of “Loki.” Instead, Charlize Theron suddenly approaches Strange on a city street, challenging him to join her in a search for the Dark Dimension without ever announcing her name. (It’s Clea.)
More recently, the post-credits scene for “Thor: Love and Thunder” (which premiered in theaters on Friday) could be expected to suggest what will come in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” given the role of the Guardians in first act of the film. Instead, we are introduced to Hercules, the mythical Greek demigod and pillar of Marvel Comics since 1965, played by Emmy-winning star “Ted Lasso,” Brett Goldstein.
Hercules makes his MCU debut after a speech by his father, Zeus (Russell Crowe), who collides with Thor at the beginning of the film until the God of Thunder impales Zeus with his own lightning. In the post-credits scene, the camera stays fixed on Zeus as he nurses his wound, bitterly wondering someone off screen how the gods of ancient myth have found themselves so overshadowed by the adventurous superheroes. To regain his stature, Zeus orders his son Hercules to overthrow Thor. The camera cuts to an armored, hairy Goldstein grunting “Yes, Dad” with all the rage we expect from Goldstein’s “Ted Lasso” performance as reluctantly retired footballer Roy Kent.
As with Styles and Theron, Marvel Studios has not yet indicated when or how Goldstein will reappear on the MCU, but the good money is in those actors who co-head the respective sequels of the films in which they appeared for first time. After all, in comics, Starfox is an Eternal, Clea marries Doctor Strange, and Hercules begins as an antagonist of Thor before the two become friends.
Still, it’s a brand of deep trust (with a good pinch of hubris) that Marvel Studios would use these scenes to introduce new characters without also indicating exactly where these characters are going. In each case, the excitement ends up being more about seeing Styles, Theron, and Goldstein appear on the MCU than what these appearances might mean for the larger story, mostly because the MCU stretches thinner than ever. There is great narrative potential in Starfox, Clea and Hercules. But with more than 25 Disney + movies and series on the horizon for Marvel Studios, adding three month The main characters in the mix run the risk of aggravating the complaint that staying up to date with the MCU is starting to feel less fun and more like homework.
In fact, Marvel had planned to start this strategy even earlier, with the appearance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the post-“Black Widow” credits scene. This film, of course, was scheduled to open for the first time in May 2020. But the pandemic pushed it into July 2021, surpassing it over what was supposed to be Val’s second appearance, in the Disney + series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” In this program, Val receives a proper presentation, so that the excitement of seeing Louis-Dreyfus is combined with a better understanding of the nefarious role he has to play within the MCU. When Val reappears in “Black Widow,” ordering Yelena (Florence Pugh) to go after Hawk’s Eye (Jeremy Renner), we’re more interested in what it means to these characters than the surprise of seeing it suddenly. Louis-Dreyfus. in a Marvel movie.
Perhaps Marvel Studios has just overcome the need for post-credits scenes; you no longer need to make fun of us when we already know everything is connected. Rituals, however, are difficult to break, even after they are no longer useful.
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