Guardians Of The Galaxy Press Screenings Have No After The Credits Scene

Guardians of the Galaxy has started official screenings for the press, and Comicbook.com has confirmed from multiple sources that the press screenings have no after the credits scene. On Friday, New York Post entertainment movies writer Reed Tucker tweeted, "No postcredits sequence on #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy that we saw. Might have been held back for press."

Does this mean that there will be no post-credits stinger when Guardians of the Galaxy is released in theaters to the public? Not necessarily, as Reed pointed out, sometimes studios do not include bonus scenes in early press previews.

There are really a couple ways that the lack of a bonus scene in press screenings can be interpreted. One possibility is that there will be no bonus scene in Guardians of the Galaxy, because Marvel Studios still wants to keep it under wraps as to how Guardians of the Galaxy might link to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe, Marvel Studios hasn't fully decided where they will go next with Guardians of the Galaxy, and they didn't want to pigeonhole themselves into something with an after the credits scene. Still, with this explanation, one would expect that Marvel Studios might at least have done some type of humorous stinger, since Marvel Studios audiences have come to expect something after the credits.

Another possibility is that there is a shocking and surprising bonus scene that Marvel Studios isn't including in press screenings, because they know that the press reporters wouldn't be able to keep their mouths shut about it. Since the Ant-Man movie hasn't really geared up production yet, the most likely post-credits scenes with Guardians of the Galaxy would be something involving Avengers: Age of Ultron. If Marvel Studios is going to let the cat out of the bag as to how the Guardians of the Galaxy will link to the rest of the Marvel Universe, they might prefer to save that surprise for the wide-release of the film.

Or maybe the after the credits scene might somehow play into the upcoming Doctor Strange film. Maybe, the stinger reveals the actor playing Doctor Strange, and Marvel Studios wants to save that announcement for San Diego Comic Con.

Guardians of the Galaxy is scheduled to be released in movie theaters in the U.S. on August 1, 2014.