Let's be real: As great as a movie can be, the cherry on top of it all is always the post-credits scene. While post-credits scenes have been made especially popular in 21st century franchise movies, they didn't always start out that way. The 1966 spy comedy The Silencers, starring Dean Martin as a retired spy forced back into action by a former lover, is recognized as the first major movie to have a post-credits scene, though it didn't tease a sequel or a spin-off.
While some movies have snuck in fun additional scenes after the credits, the trend took off when Marvel Studios saw historic success by using them to tease future movies via surprise cameos. Now, almost all major franchise movies go out of their way to have post-credits scenes. Love them or hate them, they're here to stay. With that in mind, here are 33 of the greatest post-credits scenes in movies.
33. A League of Their Own, in Justice League (2017)
The 2017 theatrical version of Justice League may be no one's favorite movie, but it might have one of the coolest post-credits scenes in superhero movies. Sure, it's a cheap set-up for a sequel that ultimately never happened. But that doesn't mean it lacks vibes. In the post-credits of Justice League (after the other scene where Flash challenges Superman to a footrace), the movie follows a strange, masked man armored to the teeth who goes to a yacht owned by a now-bald Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). The masked man is the fearsome mercenary Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello), one of Batman's most formidable enemies. Now that the Justice League has formed, Lex proposes to Deathstroke that maybe they should get some of their own friends to do the same.
32. "I Don't Have the Temperament" in Iron Man 3 (2013)
Poor Bruce Banner. What did he do to get wrangled into hearing Tony Stark ramble? In Iron Man 3, the movie's narration device is revealed to be Stark, famously played by Robert Downey Jr., talking to his "therapist" about his recent anxieties following the events of The Avengers. Said therapist is actually co-Avenger, Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who had in fact been napping his way through all of Stark's story. Although Bruce insists he doesn't have the temperament to put up with it, Stark starts all over anyway.
31. The Cat-trix, in The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Lana Wachowski's treatise on Hollywood's nasty habit of empty reboots and remakes, 2021's The Matrix Resurrections, wouldn't be complete without some sly jabs towards the industry's endless franchising. In a post-credits scene to the long-awaited Matrix sequel, the movie resists giving audiences a teaser for a fifth movie. Instead, it returns to the boardroom where clueless executives yap about what might be the next big thing. Eventually, they land on a totally revolutionary idea: cat videos. For what it's worth, it may also be Wachowski paying homage to over a decade of YouTube videos that mix cats with The Matrix.
30. Napoleon on a Horse, in Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
File this one under: "This movie has a post-credits scene?" But it's true. The seminal 2000s comedy Napoleon Dynamite indeed has a post-credits scene. But instead of setting up a new villain for Napoleon Dynamite 2: The Winter Dynamite, it's instead just a nice post-script by showing how everyone finds love in the end. Set two months after the movie, the post-credits scene picks up at the wedding of Kip (Aaron Ruell) and LaFawnduh (Shondrella Avery), in which Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) rides in on a majestic horse, which he gifts to the newlyweds.
29. Every Scene in Deadpool 2 (2018)
Leave it to Deadpool to go all out. In the post-credits scene of 2018's Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) gets some help from Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) who fixes Cable's (Josh Brolin) time travel device. While Deadpool first uses it to save his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) from her murder that began the movie, the Merc with the Mouth seizes the chance to right some other wrongs. In a hilarious montage set to Cher ("If I could turn back time…"), Deadpool murders his embarrassing variant from 2009's X-Men: Origins as well as killing Ryan Reynolds before starting Green Lantern (2011). In a deleted scene, Deadpool goes to a German hospital in 1889 when a certain "A. Hitler" was born, and contemplates killing a baby. "I'm going to hell," Deadpool quips, before adding, "That makes two of us."
28. "I'll Give Him Another 20 Minutes" in Airplane! (1980)
Airplane! may not be the first movie to have a post-credits scene, but to do it in 1980 is some serious foresight. In the post-credits scene of the landmark '80s comedy Airplane!, the customer riding in the cab driven by Striker (Robert Hays) is shown still waiting for Striker to return. "Well, I'll give him another 20 minutes," he says, "but that's it!" (Too bad it's 1980, because he could get an Uber in just five minutes.) This scene is just one of many surprises kept hidden in Airplane!. Don't believe me? Read the end credits closely.
27. All the Scenes, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 packs a whole heck of a lot for one movie. Woven throughout the credits are not one, not two, not even three, but five bonus scenes. Most of them are gags, like Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) growing into a teenager and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) learning to use Yondu's whistle arrow. Other scenes have bigger implications. Stan Lee returns in yet another cameo to imply that all his cameos are one person, while the original comic book Guardians of the Galaxy – led by Stakar (Sylvester Stallone) – finally reunite. But the biggest scene involves Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), who reveals she is building her ultimate creation: Adam Warlock. Adam would eventually show up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, played by Will Poulter.
26. T'Challa's Legacy, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
After giving audiences a real good cry with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the movie returns to Shuri (Letitia Wright) on the beach, still thinking about her brother T'Challa. That's when Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) comes walking back, holding the hand of a young boy, who is introduced as Toussaint (played by child actor Divine Love Konadu-Sun). He is T'Challa's son, who also goes by T'Challa. Cynical fans might see this as simple assurance that the MCU's Black Panther will still be a T'Challa someday in the future, but for more sentimental fans, it's evidence that the legacy of actor Chadwick Boseman lives on.
25. The Tesseract, in Thor (2011)
Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn't spotless. The Marvel machinery was still figuring out its own plans as it was going along, like putting tracks down while the train is moving. Which is why there's inconsistency between alleged Erik Selvig's "possession" by Loki in the post-credits of Thor and it actually happening on screen in The Avengers (2012). Nevertheless, what really matters is how much Marvel intended to tie up its seemingly separate movies into one mega-franchise. It's in this scene that introduces audiences to The Tesseract, one of the six Infinity Stones that plays a very important role in the very next movie Captain America: The First Avenger, which is set in the early 1940s. As Samuel L. Jackson puts it in his cameo appearance as Nick Fury: "Legend tells us one thing. History tells us another."
24. Hannibal Chau Survives, in Pacific Rim (2013)
One of the coolest and kookiest characters in Guillermo del Toro's mechs-versus-monster mash Pacific Rim suffered a grim fate – or did he? Hannibal Chau, the colorful kaiju body parts dealer played by Ron Perlman, gets violently swallowed up by a baby kaiju halfway through the movie. (He loses one of his shoes in the process.) But in the post-credits scene, the movie returns to the scene of the crime to see Hannibal cutting his way out of the kaiiju's guts. Covered in slime, he yells out for his other shoe.
23. Karaoke Night 2, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Back when Kang was a thing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings took up the responsibility of implying Kang's epic reach through something within Shang-Chi's new weapon, the Ten Rings. Over a glorified Zoom call with guest cameos from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), there is a strange signal coming out of the Ten Rings. No one is sure where exactly it's coming from, and who it's meant for. The two Avengers sign off, with Hulk extending an invitation to "the circus" for Shang-Chi (Simu Liu). The scene ends with Shang-Chi, Katy (Awkwafina), and Wong (Benedict Wong) going out for karaoke, because what else is there to do? Saving the multiverse can wait.
22. Tommy Oliver: Green Ranger? in Power Rangers (2017)
Mirroring the original TV show from 1993, the 2017 reboot movie Power Rangers teed up a new member to join the mighty morphin' ranks: Tommy Oliver, who wields the powers of the legendary Green Ranger. The post-credits of Power Rangers teases the arrival of Tommy Oliver, whose empty seat in detention is covered by a green jacket with a dragon design. As revealed in interviews with director Dean Israelite, the sequel would have featured both Tommy and Lord Zedd, the next major villain after Rita Repulsa (played in the movie by Elizabeth Banks). Notably, the movie swerved from canon to have Rita be the first to command the powers of the Green Ranger. We can only assume in the sequel – which never happened – that she would have handed off her powers to Tommy Oliver as her successor.
21. A Venomous Surprise, in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
As if three whole Spider-Men weren't enough for one movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home had another surprise waiting for fans at the end credits: a guest cameo with Tom Hardy as Venom. Following up on the post-credits scene of his own movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Hardy's Eddie Brock (and Venom) wind up in a bar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where they get a recap of the MCU's history – from the Avengers to Thanos – with the help of a frustrated bartender. (Ted Lasso fans might recognize them.) Because of Doctor Strange's spellcasting, Venom is whisked off back to his proper universe, but not before leaving a parting gift: a small dollop of sentient symbiote. A symbiote that already knows the name Peter Parker.
20. Deadpool Confirms Cable, in Deadpool (2016)
Of course Deadpool would pay homage to Ferris Bueller. In his own riff over Ferris Bueller's iconic post-credits scene, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool (also in a bathrobe) addresses the audience, telling them to "Go home, it's over." But Deadpool knows what his people want: a teaser for the sequel. "Well, we don't have that kind of money," DP quips, "What were you expecting? Sam Jackson to show up? With an eyepatch and a saucy little leather number?" But just because they can't show anyone doesn't mean Deadpool can't spill beans. He confirms Cable will be in the sequel, joking he has "no idea" who will play the part. "Could be Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, Kiera Knightley. She's got range. Who knows?" (The role ultimately went to Josh Brolin, who played Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War the same year Deadpool 2 hit theaters.)
19. Fury's Last Call, in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and "Where's Fury?" in Captain Marvel (2019)
When Thanos used the Infinity Stones to dust half the universe away, every Marvel fan's instinct was to ask: Where's Fury? The post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War showed us exactly where, catching up to Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his trusted ally Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), who are going about routine when the world suddenly goes wrong. Just before he's dusted away himself, Fury sends out a distress signal to Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson), who debuted in her own movie a short year later. And in the post-credits of that movie, Captain Marvel arrives on Earth to respond to Fury's signal. "Where's Fury?" she asks the Avengers. There's no time for pleasantries when the world is in trouble.
19. Bucky in Wakanda, in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Black Panther (2018)
Captain America: Civil War was a huge milestone for the MCU franchise. In addition to pitting the Avengers against each other, the movie brought to the fold T'Challa, aka Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman. The inclusion of Black Panther was a big one, bringing with him his mysterious kingdom of Wakanda. The movie's post-credits sees Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) submitted to Wakanda to rehabilitate from his HYDRA brainwashing. In 2018's Black Panther, we again see Bucky, now reawakened and rehabilitating in Wakanda – a land few eyes like his have ever seen.
18. Dusted, in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Audiences were still reeling from the trauma of Avengers: Infinity War when Ant-Man and the Wasp came out a few short weeks later in the summer of 2018. While the movie was yet another breezy heist through the MCU, its post-credits scene snapped everyone back to reality (stone) as the movie's continuity synced up with Infinity War. In the post-credits scene, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) enters the Quantum Realm to harvest quantum energy to help Ava, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) only for everyone else to vanish into dust. This is where we leave Lang, quite literally dangling by a thread until many years later, when by chance a rat turns on the right buttons.
17. "Do You Believe in Ghosts?" in Fast Five (2011)
Superheroes ain't the only franchise to get post-credits scenes. In the 2011 summer crowd-pleaser Fast Five, almost everyone who mattered to the Fast & Furious "family" took part in the movie's big heist, except one: Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). While Letty was seemingly killed off in the previous movie – 2009's Fast & Furious – the post-credits of Fast Five reveals otherwise. Eva Mendes (who had a supporting role in 2 Fast 2 Furious) returns for a cameo to inform Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) that a presumably dead member of Toretto's family is, in fact, alive. Letty would be the first of many "dead" Fast & Furious icons to survive the odds simply because the fans want them to.
16. Doom Lives, in Fantastic Four (2005)
Way before Robert Downey Jr. donned the mask of Doctor Doom for Avengers: Doomsday, Julian McMahon reigned supreme in the 2005 movie Fantastic Four. (Which also starred Chris Evans, of all people, as Johnny Storm.) In the movie's post-credits scene, the frozen remains of Doctor Doom are shipped off on a big boat to Latveria (Doom's home country). However, a computer pad strangely malfunctions. As the camera lingers on the eerie mask of Doom, the movie heavily implies that Victor Von Doom isn't done yet.
15. "Fine, I'll Do It Myself" in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
When Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theaters in summer 2015, audiences were now familiar with Thanos and his goal to collect the Infinity Stones. That brings us to the movie's post-credits scene. With the dust settled on Ultron's uprising, somewhere on a faraway planet Thanos struts in to don his powerful Infinity Gauntlet – the glove that will enable him to wield the powers of the Infinity Stones. Thanos' one and only line – "Fine, I'll do it myself" – doesn't really make sense in terms of character. But it does feel like Thanos talking to the audience. As in: If Ultron couldn't wipe out the Avengers, then he will. And you know what? He absolutely did.
14. Shaw's Revenge, in Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
For years, the death of Han (Sung Kang) in 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift loomed like an inevitability. Finally, after three entire movies where the franchise danced around Han's death, the nightmare finally catches up to us in the post-credits of 2013's Fast & Furious 6. Dropping right into the race through Toyko from Tokyo Drift, Jason Statham (in a cameo appearance) makes his first appearance as the hard-hitting Deckard Shaw by ramming his car into Han's Mazda, leaving him to die in the explosion. Why? All so he can get payback for what Dom did to his brother Owen (Luke Evans). Not only does this scene tie up loose ends going back to Tokyo Drift, it also sets things in motion for 2015's Furious 7.
13. Bullseye vs. The Fly, in Daredevil (2003)
It's one of the most memorable post-credits scenes in superhero movie history. Not because it has a new character or a celebrity cameo, but just because of how weird the vibes are. In a totally non-verbal scene, audiences meet up with Bullseye (Colin Ferrell), who is heavily injured and bandaged like a mummy in a hospital bed. Annoyed by a buzzing fly, Bullseye – with only his eyes and wordless grunts to communicate – musters his remaining strength to kill a fly using a syringe needle like an arrow. The point is that Bullseye still has his killer marksmanship, and he'll get his revenge. It's just too bad Daredevil 2 never happened.
12. The Return of Will Turner, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
The third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, 2007's At World's End, drew polarizing reviews while taking some bold swings in hindsight. (Also: Have you seen Davy Jones recently? Those visual effects hold up so well after so many years!) The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have included post-credits scenes since the beginning, but At World's End was especially unique with its uplifting tone. The scene sees Orlando Bloom's Will Turner return aboard the Dutchman, reuniting with his family including his now 10-year-old son. It doesn't tease a thing for the sequel, although the character Henry Turner does show up down the road. It's just a man who once resented pirates rejoining his family of pirates, and frankly, it's the perfect closing scene to end an imperfect trilogy. We'll just ignore the other sequels.
11. Hammer in the Desert, in Iron Man 2 (2010)
How can a movie studio inspire excitement among fans with just a close-up of a hammer? Simple: Have that hammer belong to Thor. In the post-credits scene of Iron Man 2 in 2010, Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) drives to a giant crater in New Mexico where there's a very strange object dead center: the hammer Mjolnir, famously the preferred weapon of Thor. After two Iron Man movies (and one Hulk), the MCU was finally turning things up a notch to introduce the next Avenger, who made his debut in the 2011 film Thor starring Chris Hemsworth.
10. A Blue Wall of Steel in Black Adam (2022)
Black Adam maybe didn't change the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe, as Dwayne Johnson promised it would. But at least "The Rock" got to share screentime with a Man of Steel. In the post-credits scene of Black Adam, Henry Cavill returns as Superman – playing him for the first time since 2017's Justice League – to drop in on Black Adam, who sits on his throne in Kahndaq. While the two titans don't ever trade blows, they puff their chests and make a big show over who has the bigger cape, teasing a showdown for later down the road. Although that never happened, it's still fun to imagine how explosive it would have been.
9. Drinking to Remember, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Wolverine, ever the haunted mutant. While the Wolverine spin-off/prequel movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine is no one's favorite superhero movie, it did put the clawed mutant – played by Hugh Jackman – through one hell of an ordeal, leaving him with amnesia and no knowledge of his past. In the movie's post-credits scene, we catch up with Wolverine in Japan, who is taking shot after shot at a bar. When the bartender asks "Logan" if he's drinking to forget, he replies instead, "I'm drinking to remember." (The less said about the movie's second post-credits scene, with the severed head of Ryan Reynolds' Fake Deadpool, the better.)
8. Xavier and Erik Return in The Wolverine (2013)
When The Wolverine arrived in theaters, the X-Men movies were at a crossroads. 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand seemingly put an end to the first era of X-Men movies, while 2011's X-Men: First Class introduced a younger cast playing younger versions of characters like Magneto and Charles Xavier. But in the post-credits scene of 2013's The Wolverine, OG X-Men stars Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart return as their respective characters to recruit Wolverine into a very important mission – one involving time travel. The scene cues up 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, perhaps the last good X-Men movie ever made.
7. A Billionaire Walks into a Bar, in The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Robert Downey Jr. was freshly re-minted as a movie star when he showed up by surprise in the post-credits scene of 2008's The Incredible Hulk, meeting with General Ross (William Hurt) at a dive bar. It was a novelty at the time. When the "cinematic universe" experiment was still just that – an experiment – and there was no guarantee audiences would bother keeping up with every movie. Well, they did, though few clocked the scene bizarrely implies that the Hulk would be the villain of The Avengers instead of part of the team. Nevertheless, if you caught The Incredible Hulk in theaters in 2008, chances are you heard audiences lose their marbles over seeing Tony Stark out of nowhere – a crossover that was just a taste of things to come.
6. Akira vs. Caine, in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Who needs cinematic universes and celebrity cameos when all you need is Donnie Yen kicking butt? John Wick: Chapter 4 might have killed its title hero (spoilers?), but that doesn't mean the world of The Continental stops spinning. In the post-credits scene of Chapter 4, audiences reunite with the ultra-cool killer Caine (Yen), who is on his way to meet his daughter in Paris only to inadvertently cross paths with the vengeful Akira (Rina Sawayama), who demands blood for the death of her father. The scene ends just as Akira unsheathes her knife before Caine. In May 2024, Yen confirmed that production was underway for a Caine spin-off.
5. Davy Jones Returns, in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
In 2017, movie studios were all-in on sequel-izing and franchising, and Disney was no different when it came to Pirates of the Caribbean. While the 2017 installment Dead Men Tell No Tales left audiences and critics seasick, it didn't stop them from trying to tease a sixth movie for the aging franchise. In the post-credits scene, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley return as their beloved characters. In bed, Will Turner (Bloom) suffers a bad dream in which the feared Davy Jones returns from the ocean depths. Luckily it's just a dream, until the camera closes in on some soaked barnacles that seem to say Will's dreams are closer to reality than he might like.
4. The Virtue of Patience, in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
It's simply comic genius to see Chris Evans cameo as Captain America, giving cheesy after-school PSAs in the youth-oriented 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming. Never mind that he was technically a war criminal after the events of Civil War. Building upon that A-plus joke, the post-credits scene sees Evans step back into his white void to tell moviegoers the virtue of patience. It's good to have patience, even if it isn't rewarded. Yes, it's a big joke that the movie doesn't offer a universe-expanding tease for Avengers: Infinity War, but who could ever be mad at Captain America? (Don't say Tony Stark.)
3. Shawarma, in The Avengers (2012)
It was the post-credits scene that gave shawarma restaurants a huge spike in sales. In the seismic 2012 tentpole The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) quips that the exhausting Battle of New York has left him hungry, and that he's down to finally try shawarma. (Hey, when you've just escaped death and you have a whole new lease on life, it makes sense to want to try foods you've never had before.) Fast forward to the after-credits scene and there the Avengers are, in a shawarma restaurant that didn't get totally wrecked during the Avengers' big midtown showdown to save all of Earth from aliens. Fun fact: Chris Evans was in the middle of shooting the Bong Joon-ho movie Snowpiercer, which required him to have a beard. In this scene, which was filmed long after production on The Avengers wrapped, Evans is wearing prosthetics and resting his face on his hands to cover it up.
2. Ferris Bueller, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Before Deadpool broke the fourth wall, it was Matthew Broderick's Ferris Bueller who did it first. Throughout the landmark '80s teen movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Matthew Broderick addresses the audience, narrating the movie and providing insight into his and his friends' perspectives. In the movie's surprise post-credits scene, which few people knew about until the movie was released on home video, Ferris Bueller insists that the movie is over and that the audience can finally go home. He's actually almost mad about it, for some reason.
1. The Avengers Initiative, in Iron Man (2008)
All post-credits scenes since 2008 have tried to replicate this one. In the movie that built the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man, Samuel L. Jackson makes a surprise cameo as Nick Fury, the ultra-cool head of S.H.I.E.L.D. whose "superpower" is amassing the necessary intelligence for the sake of Earth's security. Emerging literally out of the shadows in Tony Stark's home, Fury introduces himself, and informs Stark that he's now part of "a bigger universe." The scene ends right after Fury tells him about The Avengers Initiative. And baby, that's how you build a cinematic universe.
