Warning: Avengers: Endgame and MCU spoilers will be found below.
Ever since 2008’s Iron Man (when fans first caught a glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in a post-credits scene), every MCU movie has followed the tradition of giving a glimpse of what was to come next. Avengers: Endgame broke that custom in favor of something more subtle (a hammering sound that functioned as a tribute to Tony Stark). It’s appropriate, given that his superhero died after being the one to turn Thanos into dust in the wind, but it’s still somewhat jarring, given that many fans probably still sat through the credits following a three-hour movie. Because they, you know, expected a little hint of what was to come in Phase Four. Or maybe even something from the last movie in Phase Three, Spider-Man: Far From Home, that’s due on July 5.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo recently spoke at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (via /Film) and explained how the lack of a post-credits scene was meant to provide closure in the best way:
“This is the first MCU movie we got to tell where we weren’t thinking [about the future]. You’re simply thinking about the past and the journey that we’ve all been out together since that first Iron Man movie and how do we bring the most epic sense of closure to that journey we can possibly do. So that was our goal and that was really why we had no tag because … even the people at Marvel aren’t thinking about the future of Marvel. Joe and I don’t have any plans to continue with Marvel after this.”
Also within that statement, obviously, is Anthony’s acknowledgment that he and Joe (who’ve been on board the MCU journey since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, for which their entry strategy involved making Cap less “boring”) don’t have any future Marvel Studios projects planned. In that way, Endgame‘s lack of a post-credits scene functioned as multiple goodbyes, although it would have been nice to have had a little Black Widow tribute tucked in there also. Then again, Natasha Romanoff will (finally) be getting a standalone movie one of these days. There’s no official release date for this project that will almost certainly be a prequel, but we should hear more on that note soon.
(Via /Film)