‘Black Panther’ Post-Credits Scenes Explained

Marvel’s Black Panther is now in theaters, and like every Marvel movie, there’s the obligatory set of end credits scenes that help set the stage for the next chapters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Below we breakdown what happens in the Black Panther mid-credits and post-credits scenes, and what they mean for the larger MCU. Obviously don’t read any further if you are worried about SPOILERS.

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Mid-Credits Scene: We Are Wakanda

The Mid-credits scene of Black Panther sees King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) make good on his promise to Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), to let the world know what Wakanda truly is. T’Challa appears at the U.N. with Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) watching on in approval, as the king of Wakanda proclaims that his country is reversing its logn history of isolationism and opening its borders for the world to see.

In some humorously sly social commentary, the other (read: non-black) nations of the world are initially skeptical of T’Challas’ offer of Wakandan aid, asking the new king what a nation of Third World farmers can the world. T’Challa’s answer is just a sly, knowing smile, before the scene cuts. It’s a nice little moment that feels like a spiritual successor to Tony Stark’s now-infamous “I am Iron Man” reveal.

End-Credits Scene: Return of Bucky

The end-credits scene of Black Panther takes us to a remote little village on a river, where we see Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) emerge from a hut in Wakandan robes, seemingly waking up from cryogenic stasis for the first time. The children of the village all refer to Bucky in Wakandan, calling him “White Wolf,” which is a clear Marvel Comics Easter egg.

Bucky’s still missing his bionic arm in the footage, but he seems more serene and peaceful than we’ve ever seen him. He’s quickly greeted by Shuri, (Letitia Wright), who bids him to go with her, as there’s more work to do to repair him.

There’s no real indication of when this scene takes place (most of Black Panther happens a week after Captain America: Civil War, but these scene is sometime after that). Howevere, there are two big implications in it:

1. Shuri has seemingly fixed the “Winter Soldier” programming inside Bucky’s head (he didn’t want to be revived until that was done).
2. Shuri has constructed a new Vibranium bionic arm for Bucky, which she is about to fit him with.

In the end, this end-credits scene fills in the story gap of how Bucky went from cryo-sleep in Captain America: Civil War to standing on the front lines of Avengers: Infinity War‘s “Battle of Wakanda” sequence.

Black Panther is now in theaters. It will be followed by Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.