Post-credit scenes are now a common practice in cinema, and almost all Hollywood blockbusters have one or more: But when and how did this ‘phenomenon’ originate, and how has it evolved over the years? The answer will probably surprise you, especially if you are a fan of Marvel Studios.
The very first post-credit scene
Today, it is mistakenly believed that post-credit scenes were invented by Marvel: In some ways, it could indeed be so, especially if we consider the ‘narrative’ use that is usually attributed to these secret scenes, but at the same time, the truth is another and much more complex.
The first example of a post-credit scene actually dates back to 1903, with the silent masterpiece The Great Train Robbery: At the end of this film, in fact, a famous extra shot is shown, disconnected from the rest of the story, in which the bandit leader points the gun at the screen and shoots directly at the audience. The sequence remains a historic gesture of breaking the fourth wall, but it is also effectively a ‘post-credit scene’.
Other examples of post-credit scenes in the history of cinema The first true post-credit scene as we can understand it today, however, arrives with the film “The Wrecking Crew,” a famous parody of James Bond films starring Dean Martin and released in theaters in 1966, right on the heels of the early 007 films with Sean Connery.
The sequence, always in a parodic tone, mocked the James Bond cliché of announcing the next film in the saga during the credits: the scene shows Matt Helm (Dean Martin) on a revolving couch surrounded by several women in revealing outfits, when the text “Coming Soon: Matt Helm Meets Lovey Kravezit in Murderers’ Row” appears on the screen. The text is ‘seen’ by Dean Martin himself, who reacts to the presence of the text and addresses the audience with a desperate expression as if to say ‘oh no, I have to make another movie’.
Even earlier, in 1956, the film The Bad Seed includes a post-credit scene in which the director makes the actors reappear on screen to take their bows, as happens in theater (not coincidentally, the work is adapted from the play The Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn was inspired by the novel of the same name by William March).
Finally, we also mention The Muppet Movie from 1979: long before the post-credit scene of Deadpool, with Ryan Reynolds inviting the audience to get lost, in this film the Muppet Animal suddenly appears shouting: “Go home!” Go home! Bye bye!”
The Invention of Pixar Before being acquired by Disney, and long before the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar was also a pioneer in post-credit scenes.
In 1998, in fact, for the very first time, A Bug’s Life introduced the hilarious trick of fake “set errors”: extra scenes were specifically created to be added during the credits to pay homage to the bloopers of films with real live actors, a practice made famous by Jackie Chan.
The idea was so successful with the audience that it was replicated for Toy Story 2 in 1999, Pixar’s next film after A Bug’s Life, and then again in Monsters, Inc. in 2001.
Post-credit scenes in the Marvel era
In 2008, the first Marvel Studios film, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, was released, and it forever changed the way post-credit scenes are used: Since Nick Fury invited Tony Stark to join the Avengers Initiative, teasing viewers with the crossover film The Avengers that would arrive four years later, these secret sequences are no longer just hidden gems for those who prefer to stay seated and linger before leaving the theater, but have become unmissable appointments that foreshadow the future of a saga.
This ‘trend’ has gone beyond Marvel and has been embraced by practically all the most famous franchises in Hollywood, such as Super Mario Galaxy—just to mention a title released this year. But Marvel remains a pioneer in this field: for example, last year the post-credit scenes of Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four: The Beginnings surprised us doubly, as their production took place on the set of a third film, Avengers: Doomsday; In fact, they were not even made by Jake Schreier and Matt Shakman, the directors of Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four, but by the Russo Brothers, the creators of the crossover.
To date, the latest post-credit scenes we’ve seen in theaters are those hidden at the end of Toy Story 5, the latest Pixar film currently showing in cinemas, but there is also great anticipation to discover those of Spider-Man: Brand New Day… which will presumably foreshadow Peter Parker’s fate in view of Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.
