The Stinger / Marvel Cinematic Universe

"Hi, I’m Captain America, here to talk to you about one of the most valuable traits a soldier or student can have: patience. Sometimes, patience is the key to victory. Sometimes, it leads to very little, and it seems like it’s not worth it. And you wonder... why you waited so long for something so disappointing."

— Spider-Man: Homecoming (stinger)

A staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stingers are generally used to build up continuity but are just as often used to simply troll the audience. They are so common in the MCU that they have come to be expected by audiences:

Movies

Phase 1

• In the first Iron Man movie, Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) talks with Tony Stark about the "Avenger Initiative". As the first such scene, it set the tone going forward and teased the eventual teamup of the Avengers.
• The Incredible Hulk has no stinger — the final scene of the movie has Tony Stark showing up to discuss with General Ross about a certain team that's getting together. However, Word of God says it was originally supposed to be one, but Executive Meddling pushed it forward. The Consultant short shows that the scene was set up specifically to block what they were talking about from happening.
• Iron Man 2 ends with Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. arriving at a massive crater in New Mexico. He calls Nick Fury and says that "We've found it." — "it" being Thor's Hammer.
• Thor has Nick Fury showing Dr. Selvig the Tesseract in his possession. Unbeknownst to him is that Selvig is being manipulated by Loki..., setting up Loki later using him in his invasion in The Avengers.
• Captain America: The First Avenger dispensed with the subtlety and showed a trailer for The Avengers, showing all the characters and revealing Loki as one of the main villains.
• The Avengers has a mid-credits scene revealing that The Man Behind the Man who gave Loki his scepter and the Chitauri army to command is Thanos. And after the full credits, there's a scene showing the team tiredly and quietly eating lunch at a shawarma place that Tony suggested. This second scene was added to the USA theatrical release; earlier screenings in places such as the UK didn't include it. This scene being a very late addition to the film is why Steve is covering his face throughout the entire clip; Chris Evans had grown a beard in the time since main production ended.

Phase 2

• Iron Man 3 has some good comedic competition for The Avengers; the film began with Tony narrating the events to the audience, but the stinger reveals that he's pouring his heart out to Bruce Banner — who's fallen asleep. He wakes up to Tony's exasperation, but Banner just apologetically points out that he's Not That Kind of Doctor.
• Thor: The Dark World is like The Avengers, in that it has a mid-credits serious scene and a post-credits humorous scene. The mid-credits scene has Volstagg and Sif giving The Collector the Aether for safekeeping and revealing that it and the previous movies' Tesseract are Infinity Stones, while the post-credits scene has Thor and Jane reuniting on Earth... and the Ice Beast that ended up on Earth during the final fight still loose, chasing pigeons.
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier also has two separate stingers. The mid-credits scene shows Baron Strucker observing a captive Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as Loki's scepter, setting up Avengers: Age of Ultron. The post-credits scene shows the Winter Soldier visiting the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian, implying that his memory is returning.
• Guardians of the Galaxy has just one: a battered Collector sitting in his hideout, getting licked by Cosmo the Spacedog and listening to the chatter of one of his specimens: Howard the Duck!
• A mid-credits scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron has Thanos taking the Infinity Gauntlet and deciding that he'll have to take all of the Infinity Stones himself (this was later declared non-canon by the directors of Avengers: Infinity War). However, it's also the first film since The Incredible Hulk to not feature a post-credits scene.
• Ant-Man returns to the mid-credits and post-credits model. One scene shows Hope van Dyne getting her own suit and becoming the new Wasp. The other is a scene from Captain America: Civil War that shows Captain America and The Falcon locating Bucky Barnes, who is stuck to some sort of contraption. Falcon then mentions that he knows a guy (Ant-Man) who could help them out.

Phase 3

• Captain America: Civil War's mid-credits scene shows Bucky willingly deciding to be frozen again until a cure is found to free himself from Hydra's mind control program, with T'Challa/Black Panther providing him a much needed safe and secret haven inside his headquarters in Wakanda. The post-credits scene shows Peter Parker/Spider-Man in his room, activating a gadget that Tony Stark offered him. He is amusingly telling half-lies about "a guy from Brooklyn named Steve and another huge guy" to Aunt May to explain his bruised face. It concludes with a James Bond-Esque phrase: "Spider-Man will return".
• Doctor Strange
  • Mid-credits: A scene directly tying into Thor: Ragnarok, where Strange agrees to help Thor and Loki find Odin.
  • The post-credits: Mordo's descent into evil begins as he steals the magic that Jonathan Pangborn was using to keep walking, as Mordo decides there are "too many sorcerers."
• Exaggerated even by MCU standards! — with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as the movie has no less than five scenes during and after the credits (many of which are just throwaway gags):
  • Kraglin practices how to use Yondu's Yaka Arrow, only to accidentally stab Drax in the neck.
  • In the aftermath of Yondu's death, Stakar reassembles his original team, whom comic fans might recognize as the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • Ayesha is in the process of creating the "next step" in the evolution of her people, and decides to christen said new creation with the name "Adam".
  • Groot, now grown to be a teenager, is scolded by Peter for letting his room on the Ravager dropship become filthy, but ignores Peter in favor of playing a video game. It's implied that Peter understands Groot's speech now.
  • The Watchers abandon Stan Lee, leaving him without a way to get back home.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
  • Mid-credits: Mac Gargan (known in the comics as Scorpion), is interested in teaming up with Vulture and going after Spider-Man. However, Toomes refuses to give up Peter's identity since he owes Peter his life.
  • Post-credits: Captain America appears in another educational short like the one that Peter and his classmates watched in school, discussing the importance of patience, then becomes annoyed at how many of these PSAs he has to film.
• Thor: Ragnarok:
  • Mid-credits: The Asgardian refugees are headed to Earth on a spaceship. Loki points out that it might not be the best idea to bring him with them, but Thor assures him that it'll work out... and then a massive ship, which we later find out contains Thanos and the Black Order, appears right in their path.
  • Post-credits: The Grandmaster tries to take partial credit for the uprising on Sakaar. After all, you can't have an uprising without someone to rise up against, right? Oh, and it's a tie.
• The mid-credits scene of Black Panther (2018) sees King T'Challa telling the truth about Wakanda to the United Nations, and pledging to share their resources and technology. The post-credits scene has a few Wakandan children awaken a sleeping Bucky Barnes. He's greeted by Shuri as he walks out, who says there's a lot of things they have to do.
• Avengers: Infinity War has a post-credits scene where Nick Fury and Maria Hill are driving and discussing signs that a great battle happened over Wakanda. Then, due to Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet to randomly kill half the universe's population, random people start disintegrating, causing cars and helicopters to crash. As the survivors panic, the two attempt to help them, but Maria disintegrates. Nick pulls out a pager-like device, but he disintegrates, letting out a "Motherfu-" before he goes. The device falls to the ground and shows that it sent a message to Captain Marvel.
• The mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp sees Scott going to the Quantum Realm to collect the materials needed to help Ghost's condition, only to have Hank, Hope, and Janet disintegrate from Thanos randomly killing half of the universe in Avengers: Infinity War while Scott remains stranded in the Quantum Realm. The post-credit scene has the giant ant from the previous Ant-Man movie playing the drums while an emergency broadcast signal is on the television due to the events of Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet.
• The mid-credits scene of Captain Marvel has the surviving Avengers looking at Fury's mysterious pager as its power seemingly runs out. As Natasha talks about wanting to know who the pager was trying to reach, Captain Marvel suddenly appears behind them, asking about Fury's whereabouts. The post-credits scene, on the other hand, simply shows Goose, the Flerken, coughing up the Tesseract - which she had swallowed during the course of the film - onto Fury's desk.
• Avengers: Endgame has no mid- or post-credits scenes, befitting its status as the End of an Age. However, after the credits, the sound of Tony forging the Iron Man armor from his first film is heard, as a Call-Back to where it all began. As part of the special edition re-release, the added extras add a deleted scene after the film’s conclusion, where Professor Hulk helps some firefighters. Some theaters did show something after the credits, though: a message from Tom Holland asking viewers not to spoil the movie for future watchers. Or, in some countries, an ad for the Huawei P30 Series smartphones.
• Spider-Man: Far From Home; In the mid-credits scene, J. Jonah Jameson (once again played by J. K. Simmons) presents Quentin Beck's doctored footage to the public, exposing Spider-Man's Secret Identity and framing him for the London attack. In the post-credits scene, Fury and Hill are revealed to be Talos and Soren impersonating them, while the real Fury is on a Skrull spaceship and working with them on an unknown task.

Phase 4

• Black Widow (2021) has a post-credits scene (taking place after the events of Endgame) in which Yelena, also shown to have gone through with adopting a dog, visits Natasha's grave, only to be intercepted by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (with whom she seems to have already established a solid working relationship). The Contessa offers Yelena a new assignment to kill the man responsible for Natasha's death, while showing Yelena a picture of Clint Barton, setting up her appearance in Hawkeye.
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has two:
  • The mid-credits scene has Shang-Chi, Katy, and Wong discussing the origin of the rings with Bruce Banner (who reverted to human form) and Captain Marvel and revealing that the rings may be sending a beacon. Later, Shang-Chi and Katy take Wong out to a karaoke bar.
  • The post-credits scene shows Xialing taking over the Ten Rings, where she's made changes that include allowing female trainees and installing rooftop solar panels.
• Eternals features two scenes:
  • In the mid-credits scene, the Eternals who went out into space in the Domo have gone weeks without being able to contact any other Eternals. Suddenly Pip the Troll and Eros a.k.a. Starfox board the vessel and tell them they know where their friends are.
  • In the post-credits scene, Dane opens a chest containing the Ebony Blade and steels himself to grab it when an unseen male voice asks him if he's ready for that.
• Spider-Man: No Way Home has two scenes:
  • The mid-credits scene follows up on the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which placed Eddie Brock and Venom into the MCU as a result of Strange's spell. Rather than pursing Spider-Man, like their film implied they would, they are shown drunk at a resort bar and getting caught up on the events of the MCU so far. They DO resolve to go to New York to meet Spider-Man, but then Strange's spell sends them back to their home universe, against their will. However, a bit of the symbiote was left behind, which starts moving...
  • The post-credit scene is a trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, showing Strange having to clean up the mess caused by his tampering with the multiverse and asking Wanda for help doing so. The trailer also introduces some new characters such as America Chavez and the alternate Doctor Strange.
  • The extended re-release replaces the Multiverse of Madness trailer with a new scene showing Betty Brant's final news segment for Midtown High before her class's graduation, showcasing memorable moments from the students' time at the school with Peter Parker being conspicuously absent, demonstrating just how wide-reaching the spell erasing Peter from everybody's memories really was.
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness contains two:
  • Mid-credits scene: Moments after the final scene of the movie, Stephen is suddenly stopped by a woman, identified offscreen as his ally from the comics Clea, who tells Stephen that an incursion throughout reality has occurred, and uses a magical dagger to open a doorway to the Dark Dimension. Strange joins her, unveiling his third eye.
  • Post-credits scene: The pizza ball salesman, who has been hitting himself with his hand (courtesy of Strange's magic) for what seems like a long time, is finally freed from the spell that made him do that. He then looks directly at the camera and delivers this Leaning on the Fourth Wall line:
    Pizza Ball Salesman: [laughs ecstatically] IT'S OVER!!!
• Thor: Love and Thunder has two scenes:
  • Mid-credits scene: Zeus is revealed to have survived Thor impaling him. He angrily says the mortals will learn to fear the gods again, summons his son, Hercules, and orders him to hunt down and kill Thor.
  • Post-credits scene: After her Heroic Sacrifice, Jane Foster finds herself in Valhalla, where she is warmly greeted by Heimdall.
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Mid-credits scene. Nakia reveals to Shuri that she and T'Challa had a son, Toussaint, whom she had been raising in secret to keep him safe, but confirms Queen Ramonda met him before her death. Toussaint says his Wakandan name is T'Challa, which makes Shuri happy. Afterwards is a dedication to the late Chadwick Boseman.
• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Rocket and Cosmo cover Groot with lights to make him look like a Christmas tree, but Groot moves and the lights fall off, making Rocket complain.

Phase 5

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: A two-fer this time around:
  • Mid-credits: We see a humongous army of Kang variants meeting together in an undisclosed location, being led by the prominent Kang variants Rama-Tut, Immortus, and Scarlet Centurion. Given they assume that their exiled variant (that being the Big Bad of this movie) is dead, they are now ready to launch a full-on Multiversal War against the timeline responsible.
  • Post-credits: A scene borrowed from the then-upcoming season of Loki, teasing the next Kang variant: A man named Victor Timely is shown in the Victorian era, and is explaining his time-related invention at the Chicago World's Fair. The camera pans to reveal that Loki and Mobius are in the audience, and Loki is terrified of Kang.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3:
  • Mid-credits: Rocket, the new leader of the team after Peter Quill retired, discusses music with the new team before leading them into battle and playing "Come and Get Your Love" on Peter's Zune.
  • Post-credits: Peter has a peaceful breakfast with his grandfather.
• The Marvels (2023):
  • Mid-credits: Monica wakes up in a hospital bed next to her mother, who doesn't recognize her. Then Beast walks in and addresses Maria as Binary, and Monica realizes she's trapped in another dimension as the audience is shown that she's in the basement of the X-Mansion.
  • Post-credits: An audio stinger of Goose or another flerken vomiting out something.

TV Series on Disney+

Note that unlike the movies, not every episode has a stinger; most of the time, it seems to appear in plot-pivotal episodes and series/season finales.

• WandaVision doesn't have any for the first six episodes. However, they begin appearing from the seventh episode onward.
  • Episode 7 has a mid-credits scene where Monica Rambeau looks for Wanda at Agnes's house until she gets captured by "Pietro", who had been revealed to be in cahoots with Agatha Harkness.
  • Episode 8 has its own mid-credits scene, revealing that S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward was able to complete Project Cataract (a reconstruction of the real Vision) thanks to using a sample of Wanda's magic from the drone that tried to attack her during the fifth episode.
  • The finale ALSO has a mid-credits scene, showing Hayward getting arrested, allowing the FBI to investigate the Westview case themselves. There's also a Sequel Hook for The Marvels in which Monica learns from a Skrull masquerading as an FBI agent that Fury or Talos needs her help somewhere in space.
  • The series as whole ends on the traditional post-credits scene, this time showing the fully-minted Scarlet Witch studying the Darkhold (and able to somehow project her astral form while fully awake and conscious) when she hears cries for help — it appears Billy and Tommy somehow still exist without the sitcom anomaly. This, of course, sets up Wanda's role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
• Like WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has no examples early in the series, but Episode 5 is the first episode to have a mid-credits scene. In it, John Walker, having been stripped of the mantle of Captain America by the U.S. government for murder, is seen forging a new shield out of scrap metal and his military decorations, still believing he has what it takes to be Captain America.
  • The finale, Episode 6, has Sharon Carter receive a pardon and is reinstated by the CIA. Unfortunately, she is the villainous Power Broker, and plans to use her position to further her plans to sell secrets and destabilize the government.
• In Loki (2021):
  • The first episode, "Glorious Purpose", has an audible stinger (without any visuals) right at the very end of the end credits. Miss Minutes thanks those visiting the TVA and asks them to not forget to share their feedback on the service.
  • Episode 4, "The Nexus Event", has a mid-credits scene where after Loki was "pruned" (supposedly erased from existence), he wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world. A group of Loki Variants approach him and tell him to come with them if he wants to live.
  • The season finale, "For All Time. Always", has a post-credits scene that shows a TVA document of Loki being stamped with a mark saying "Loki will return in Season 2."
  • The first episode of season 2, "Ouroboros", has Sylvie arrive in 1982 on a branched timeline, and for the first time in her life she's finally free from the TVA. To celebrate, she decides she's going to try everything on the menu at a McDonald's.
• In What If…?: In "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath? (S1E09) has one where after returning to her universe Captain Carter is told by Natasha that she found something, which is the HYDRA Stomper, and that there is someone inside, heavily implied to be this universe's Steve Rogers.
• Hawkeye (2021): The show's stinger is the full performance of the "Save the City" musical number from Rogers: The Musical, along with a message of "happy holidays from marvel studios".
• Moon Knight (2022): The last episode's stinger consists of Harrow being led into a white limousine. Khonshu is opposite Harrow's seat, divulging that Layla was never going to be his next Avatar, because he already has one. He then introduces Harrow to a secret third personality of Marc Spector and Steven Grant: Jake Lockley. Lockley then coldly kills Harrow with a Double Tap and drives away.
• Ms. Marvel (2022):
  • The first episode has a stinger where Damage Control agents watch a video of Kamala accidentally using her powers at AvengerCon, and they decide how they're going to deal with this new enhanced individual.
  • At the end of the finale, Kamala is in her room when her bangle makes her switch places with Carol Danvers, who seems horrified when she realizes that a kid ended up wherever she had just been.
• She-Hulk: Attorney at Law:
  • The first four episodes all have comedic stingers; a drunk Jen shouts that CAPTAIN AMERICA FU-, Jen uses her She-Hulk powers to help her parents with housework, Jen and Megan Thee Stallion twerk in Jen's office, and Wong and Madisynn watch The Sopranos together.
  • The finale has a more traditional stinger where Wong shows up and breaks Emil out of prison again.
• Echo (2024): In the mid-credits of the finale, Kingpin watches the news on his private jet's TV and sees that there's an opening for the New York City Mayoral election.

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"...How many more of these?"

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