SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses the plot development and first post-credits scene in Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder, currently playing in theaters.
Since its inception, Marvel Studios has used its post-credits scenes as bonus teasers for its upcoming films. Sometimes scenes point to a direct sequel, like when Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) showed Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) the Wasp suit at the end of 2015’s Ant-Man, foreshadowing Hope’s rise to starring status for 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp Just as often, they serve as handoffs between characters: Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) visit to Stephen Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) sanctuary at the end of 2016’s Doctor Strange sets the beginning of Thor’s search for his father in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok.”
These scenes have been both fun throwaways and essential threads that tie the Marvel Cinematic Universe together. Audiences wait to see them to get a taste of what’s to come, and that ritual is crucial to cementing the MCU as the greatest storytelling force in Hollywood history.
On rare occasions, the end credits also introduce new characters, such as Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson), appearing in late 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which helped lay the groundwork for their crucial roles in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. But with the exception of the introduction of Thanos at the end of 2012’s The Avengers, audiences—at least those in the know who follow entertainment news—already knew that these characters and actors they come well in advance.
No longer. Last year, Marvel Studios began changing its strategy for post-credits scenes for its feature films, using them less as previews of previously announced titles than as de facto casting announcements for brand new characters whose futures in the MCU have yet to be decided. is unknown.
The end of 2021’s “Eternals” could have included a spoonful of the cosmic events of “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Instead, Harry Styles appears as Starfox, aka Thanos’ brother Eros, who talks vaguely about helping the Eternals find their lost compatriots. At the end of May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we could get a taste of the multiverse shenanigans to come in February’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or the upcoming second season of Loki. Instead, Charlize Theron suddenly approaches Strange on a city street, challenging him to join her on the Dark Dimension mission without ever announcing her name. (It’s Clea.)
Most recently, the post-credits scene for Thor: Love and Thunder (which opened in theaters on Friday) can be expected to hint at what’s to come in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”, given the role of the Guardians in the first act of the film. Instead, we’re introduced to Hercules – the mythical Greek demigod and a mainstay of Marvel Comics since 1965 – played by Emmy-winning star “Ted Lasso” Brett Goldstein.
Hercules makes his MCU debut after a speech from his father, Zeus (Russell Crowe), who confronts Thor earlier in the film as the God of Thunder impales Zeus with his own lightning bolt. In the post-credits scene, the camera remains fixed on Zeus as he heals his wound, bitterly wondering to someone offscreen how the gods of ancient myth have ended up so overshadowed by upstart superheroes. To restore their stature, Zeus ordered his son Hercules to overthrow Thor. The camera cuts to the masculine, armored and hairy-chested Goldstein growling “Yeah, Dad” with all the seething rage we’ve come to expect from Goldstein’s “Ted Lasso” performance as reluctantly retired football player Roy Kent.
As with Styles and Theron, Marvel Studios has yet to say when or how Goldstein will reappear in the MCU, but good money is on these actors headlining the respective sequels to the films in which they first appeared . After all, in the comics, Starfox is Eternal, Clea marries Doctor Strange, and Hercules begins as Thor’s antagonist before the two become friends.
Still, it’s a sign of deep confidence (with a healthy pinch of hubris) that Marvel Studios would use these scenes to introduce new characters without specifying exactly where those characters are going. In any case, the thrill is more about seeing Stiles, Theron, and Goldstein make appearances in the MCU than whatever those appearances mean for the larger story, especially as the MCU is stretched thinner than ever. There is great storytelling potential in Starfox, Clea and Hercules. But with over 25 Disney+ movies and series already on the horizon for Marvel Studios, adding three More ▼ major characters in the mix risk exacerbating the complaint that keeping up with the MCU is starting to feel less like fun and more like homework.
In fact, Marvel planned to start this strategy even earlier – with the appearance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the post-credits scene of Black Widow. That film, of course, was first planned for May 2020. But the pandemic pushed it to July 2021, skipping it ahead of what was supposed to be Val’s second appearance, in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. In this show, Val gets a proper introduction, so the excitement of seeing Louis-Dreyfus is combined with a better understanding of the wicked role she has to play in the MCU. When Val reappears in Black Widow, ordering Jelena (Florence Pugh) to hunt down Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), we’re more interested in what that means for these characters than buzzing with surprise that we’re suddenly seeing Louis-Dreyfus in a Marvel movie.
Maybe Marvel Studios just outgrew the need for post-credits scenes — no need to tease us anymore when we already know it’s all connected. However, rituals are hard to break even after they are no longer useful.
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