Every 2021 MCU Post-Credit Scene Ranked Worst To Best
Which movie set up the MCU's future best?
There has never been a franchise quite like the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the history of the industry. Under its banner it can now boast 27 movies, with five Disney+ series, and this number will only grow exponentially as the years go on.
Arguably one of the most impressive aspects is how intricately these movies are planned in advance, and how each is a single puzzle piece in a much larger story. With every chapter comes at least one or two post-credit scenes, to help further map out the future of the franchise.
Over the years, these have come in many forms, from introducing new characters, new stories, teases for the next release, or even scenes that exist solely to give the audience one last laugh before leaving the cinema. 2021 was no different, with each of the four MCU releases boasting two post-credit scenes.
These are now synonymous with the franchise, the anticipation of which is almost as exciting as seeing the movie itself. However, while some of them teased major advancements in the franchise for the future, some fell rather more flat, teasing nothing near the same level as others.
8. Setting Up A Movie Already Seen - Black Widow
With Black Widow coming at a time when her ultimate fate was already known, the movie was robbed of much of its potential tension. Fans already knew Natasha didn’t die until she was on Vormir in 2023, so any danger she appeared to be in was essentially moot, as she was guaranteed to survive it.
There was a similar problem with the movie’s post-credit scenes; the first one at least. The MCU often uses these stings to tease the main character’s future, but again, this movie took place before Infinity War and Endgame, meaning fans already knew exactly what happened to her.
Still, this didn’t stop Black Widow from teasing it anyway. Natasha, fresh off her defeat of Dreykov and with a new haircut to aid her exile, was given a Quinjet by Rick Mason. This allowed her to go and find her other family, joining up with Steve and Sam, before coming to the rescue of Wanda and Vision some years later.
The problem with this is that it was a set-up for Infinity War, three years after Infinity War was released. This was supposed to just fill that last remaining gap between Civil War and her next appearance on the MCU timeline, but there was no excitement in telling us what we already knew.