Kevin Feige Reveals the Origin of Marvel’s Post-Credits Scenes

When Iron Man first released in theaters a decade ago, they changed the landscape of superhero movies by introducing audiences to Nick Fury in the film’s post-credits scene.

That clip opened the door to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the mid- and post-credits scene has since become a staple of very Marvel Studios film, and even started appearing in other movies more frequently. But of course, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige didn’t invent this technique, but he was inspired by an ’80s comedy classic: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

After the credits roll, Ferris sticks his head out of a doorway and tells audiences to go home, the movie is over.

“It was the greatest thing in the world,” Feige said to EW. “I thought it was hilarious. It was like a little reward for me for sitting through the credits.”

It wasn’t until the middle of production on Iron Man that Feige realized how those tags could be used to add flourishes to the budding MCU.

“It occurred to us [while making Iron Man], ‘Well, we don’t have X-Men, we don’t have Fantastic Four, we don’t have Spider-Man, but we have everything else,’” Feige said. “Even though everything else hadn’t been turned into a big film before, or had the name recognition among non-comic-book readers that others ones did, we had the opportunity to start putting certain heroes in other heroes’ movies, which hadn’t been done before. It’s a bonus of what’s to come.”

Though Samuel L. Jackson agreed to cameo in the film as Nick Fury, Feige needed to figure out a way to bring him into the film without disrupting the pace.

“We wanted Nick Fury to be the character to intertwine characters, but we didn’t want to interrupt the movie,” Feige said. “You know, if Sam Jackson in an eyepatch showed up in the middle, it might be jarring. I presumed the only people who would stay through the credits were people who would know who the guy in the eyepatch was.”

That tradition will continue, of course, when Avengers: Infinity War premieres in theaters. Early screenings indicate that there will be one post-credit scene, though Marvel Studios has previously held some back ahead of the movie’s worldwide premiere.

After all, Marvel and Kevin Feige take pride in their ability to surprise fans.

Avengers: Infinity War premieres in theaters on April 27th.

What’s your favorite post- or mid-credits tag? Let us know what you think in the comments!