Avengers: Endgame marks Marvel Studios’ “grand conclusion to twenty-two films,” per its official synopsis, but will the saga-ending blockbuster close out with Marvel’s expected end credits scenes?
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Billed as the ending to the first 11-year chapter launched with 2008’s Iron Man, Endgame isn’t the end of the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe: the Infinity War sequel will be followed first by Spider-Man: Far From Home, out in July, with Avengers spinoff Black Widow and newcomer entries The Eternals and Shang-Chi among the projects expected to arrive between 2020 and 2021.
Endgame also does not signal the end of Phase Three, an honor that instead goes to Far From Home, as recently confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Feige and directors Anthony and Joe Russo are understandably cagey when talks dip into territory too spoiler-filled in nature, leaving fans to speculate what, if any, end credits scenes will trail Endgame.
In the wake of its devastating ending, in which Thanos (Josh Brolin) obliterated fifty percent of all life in the universe, the preceding Infinity War did not feature a mid-credits scene. Instead, it had just one teaser: a post-credits scene setting up the introduction of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), who headlined her own past-set solo movie before joining linking with Earth’s mightiest heroes in present day, as shown in Captain Marvel‘s own mid-credits tie-in tease.
Because Marvel credits scenes typically push into following films — Black Panther into Infinity War, Infinity War into Endgame, and both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel into Endgame — a tag setting up Phase 3 ender Far From Home could be possible, lest Marvel opt to look back instead of ahead when Endgame rolls its credits as the close to Marvel Studios’ first chapter.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal previously let slip Far From Home starts just “a few minutes after Avengers 4 wraps as a story,” making it the likeliest contender for an Endgame credits spot.
While plot details are mostly kept under wraps, Far From Home sees Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) overseas class field trip hijacked by shadowy S.H.I.E.L.D. super-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who recruits the young Avenger as part of a mission to defend Europe when the continent finds itself under siege from elemental-powered creatures.
First-look footage revealed the unsnapped Parker and Fury back among the living, alongside Infinity War survivor Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), who is seen presenting a check signed by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who in Infinity War was engaged to be married to Parker’s mentor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr).
Far From Home picking up immediately after Endgame, and its overt ties to the Avengers franchise as a whole, means the Phase 3 closer could be previewed before it swings into theaters July 2.
The Eternals
Marvel Studios is now prepping its next franchise hopeful, The Eternals, which has already tapped Angelina Jolie (Maleficent), Kumail Nanjiani (Men in Black: International) and Ma Dong-seok (The Outlaws) for roles.
Whether or not any Eternals characters make their debut in a potential Endgame tag, the coming project could be alluded to in a teaser setting up one of Marvel Comics’ lesser-known titles. It wouldn’t be the first time a previously unseen character debuted in a credits scene: 2013’s Thor: The Dark World introduced the Collector (Benicio Del Toro) ahead of his involvement in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, where he presented the band of space outlaws with the concept of the Infinity Stones.
Disney+ MCU Shows
Marvel Studios will soon premiere multiple MCU-set series on Disney+, the coming streaming service to exclusively host WandaVision, centered around Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, and a Loki-centric series starring Tom Hiddleston.
“These shows will be on the same level of quality that you’ve come to expect from Marvel Studios, and we’ll be taking advantage of that creative freedom that Disney+ offers exploring the MCU, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with our favorite characters over multiple episodes,” Feige said during a Disney investors meeting earlier this month when unveiling the first WandaVision details.
“These will be both new and continuing stories, and one of the things we’re most excited about, is that these will be major storylines set in the MCU with ramifications that will be felt both through the other Disney+ series we’re producing and our features on the big screen.”
The service launches in November and is Disney’s biggest priority for 2019, making a Disney+ tie-in possible.
X-Men or Fantastic Four
Following completion of Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of 20th Century Fox’s entertainment assets, Marvel Studios now has unimpeded access to hundreds of characters belonging to the X-Men and Fantastic Four brands.
That deal closed March 20, marking the first day Marvel Studios could legally utilize any previously Fox-controlled characters and ancillary properties. Endgame was finalized early April, making possible — although not probable — Marvel put together a tease hinting at either the X-Men or the Fantastic Four. (The studio famously assembled The Avengers‘ lighthearted credits scene, which sees the exhausted heroes eat shawarma, after the film had its Hollywood premiere.)
As unlikely as it may be, a potential teaser would be likely be on par with the Captain Marvel teaser that closed Infinity War: one that doesn’t directly involve the character, but nonetheless hints at something greater.
Though not always truthful to better keep secrets closely guarded, the Russo brothers did tell ComicBook.com fans should not expect any kind of reference towards Marvel’s merry mutants or its first family.
“It would not have been [possible],” Joe Russo told us April 9. “That deal didn’t actually officially close until a week and a half ago. It would not have been logistically possible.”
“We’ll get there,” Anthony Russo said. Added Joe, “We’ll get to Secret Wars one day.”
Feige, meanwhile, doesn’t expect the X-Men to reach the MCU just quite yet.
“It’ll be a while. It’s all just beginning and the five-year plan that we’ve been working on, we were working on before any of that was set,” Feige told io9.
“So really it’s much more, for us, less about specifics of when and where [the X-Men will appear] right now and more just the comfort factor and how nice it is that they’re home. That they’re all back. But it will be a very long time.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Could Marvel tee up Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after the delay caused by the ousting of writer-director James Gunn? Gunn’s script has long been completed and is in place, so an Endgame tease could hint at a trajectory for the trilogy’s finale.
Gunn has since been rehired by Disney — who fired Gunn in July when inappropriate tweets resurfaced and subsequently went viral — but the filmmaker won’t shoot Vol. 3 until after completing work on DC’s The Suicide Squad for studio Warner Bros.
Whatever Endgame holds for the Guardians, their next adventure is a few years off — putting odds of a Guardians of the Galaxy-centric teaser at fifty-fifty.
Tribute to Stan Lee
Marvel opened Captain Marvel with a tribute honoring late Marvel Comics visionary Stan Lee, who died in November. The Larson-led film was the first Marvel Studios film released after Lee’s death.
The Russos have since confirmed Endgame marks Lee’s final cameo, telling ComicBook.com, “This was his final cameo that was committed to film.”
In lieu of a tease centered around a future Marvel project, the studio could instead pay its respects with a special tribute to Lee, whose contributions to the Marvel Universe made the Marvel Cinematic Universe possible.
Avengers: Endgame releases Thursday.
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