1. The Mid-Credits Scene
Marvel has built a trend in its own universe, providing a mix of both mid-credit and end credit stingers. Ever since its start in Iron Man (2008), every Marvel film has teased the audience of what to come next. The Dark World is no different, adding two more scenes to tease the minds of the fans. The end credits scene will no doubt leave people wanting more, and question of course what it means, but it's the mid-credits scene that will undoubtedly churn the contents of the pot. After the conflict has ended and all is well again, Sif and Volstagg take the contained Aether to Taneleer Tivan, otherwise known as the Collector (who is also one of the antagonists for next year's Guardians of the Galaxy), played by Benicio Del Toro. An immortal who makes a hobby of collecting rare and valuable artifacts (eventually moving on to the Avengers themselves), both Asgardians hand over the Aether to Tivan inside what appears to be a museum housing a wide assortment of strange relics. When we first see him, he appears shady albeit a little cooky. Moreover, his appearance is that of an intergalactic David Bowie. Volstagg tells Tivan that it's too dangerous to keep two "Infinity Stones" at the same place, and once the Aether is in his possession, he looks at it ominously and announces, "One down, five to go." And that's when comic book fans rejoiced. By mention of the Infinity Stones, or Infinity Gems as referred to in the comics, it clearly points to one definitive direction: the Infinity Gauntlet. While it's not clear how Marvel will get down that road or how Thanos fits into it all, one thing is for certain: some serious stuff is about to go down. Although the Infinity Gauntlet has already made a brief appearance in the first Thor film, it's clearly evident that Marvel is merging multiple roads together for the MCU. But moreover, The Dark World houses the most groundbreaking mid/end credits stinger yet. It drops a lot of information in its brief running time, but what follows is a lot of questions with more answers to be delivered next year. Click "next" below then for "The Major Problem"...