7. Thanos (The Avengers Mid-Credits Scene)
In moves that Marvel Studios have now made their trademark, a number of post-credits scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have foreshadowed things to come. From Nick Fury's appearance in the post-credits scene in 2008's Iron Man (which represented the coming of the Avengers in the franchise) to Hope van Dyne being offered the new Wasp suit by Hank Pym in the mid-credits scene of 2014's Ant-Man (which represents her imminently joining the Avengers as Wasp), almost every movie in the MCU has had scenes within and/or after the credits to foreshadow future events. The mid-credits scene in 2012's The Avengers saw the first appearance of Thanos - the Mad Titan who will be the villain in the Avengers: Infinity War movies. In the scene, he turned to face the camera and smiled after his henchman, The Other, suggested that to go to war with Earth would be "to court Death". In the comic books, Thanos literally courts the entity known as Death - which presents itself as a humanoid female - and the Death entity has been pictured in murals in the MCU. This could potentially be a sub-plot of the Avengers: Infinity War movies.