10 Best Marvel Post-Credits Scenes, Ranked

Ever since the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008's "Iron Man," Marvel Studios has developed a tradition of including at least one credits scene in the vast majority of their movies. Whether teasing future projects, solidifying these stories' shared universe nature, or just offering one last gag, these scenes have kept audiences in their seats throughout an end credits roll. Not all of these post-credit scenes have paid off yet, but the ones that have keep the tradition strong nearly 20 years later. With that in mind, we're taking a look at the best post-credits scenes that the MCU has released thus far.

For the purposes of this list, we're including both mid and post-credits scenes for consideration in this ranking. So as long as these scenes began after the end credits started to roll, they're eligible for inclusion on this list. We're also only keeping this ranking to theatrical movie releases, excluding Disney+ series and specials that have maintained the tradition on television.

These are the 10 best Marvel post-credit scenes ranked, from the entertaining to the ones that impacted the entire MCU.

After being introduced in the "Captain America: Civil War," T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) took center stage in 2018's "Black Panther." The movie established that Wakanda, the Sub-Saharan African nation ruled by T'Challa and his family, is secretly the most advanced civilization on Earth. Much of the story has CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) investigating the truth behind Wakanda and its vast stores of vibranium. After generations of relative isolation from global politics, T'Challa decides to share what Wakanda is capable of to the United Nations in the mid-credits scene.

"Black Panther" is an all-around triumph, providing audiences with an immersive look at its vibrant Afrofuturist setting and celebrating that vision. The mid-credits scene takes those qualities and is poised to share them with the rest of the world. This aligns with the movie's ending prior to the credits, with T'Challa commissioning outreach centers around the globe to make up for generations of isolationism. "Black Panther" was a motion picture event in 2018, and its mid-credits scene answers its underlying question of what Wakanda brings to the world.

Released in the aftermath of "Avengers: Infinity War" and its shocking twist ending, "Ant-Man and the Wasp" broke from the Marvel formula... until it didn't. The movie is essentially a rescue mission, as Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) save Hope's mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. After thwarting a cadre of criminals after their size-changing tech, this rescue proves to be successful, though the mysteries of the Quantum Realm remain. In the mid-credits scene, Scott explores the Quantum Realm while supervised by Hope, Janet, and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas).

Of course, this mid-credits scene is where the movie catches up with the events of "Infinity War," with Hank, Hope, and Janet all killed by Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet snap. This effectively leaves an oblivious Scott stranded in the Quantum Realm, setting up his game-changing role in "Avengers: Endgame." As lightweight as "Ant-Man and the Wasp" is overall, this scene reminds audiences that there is a larger game at play. At the very least, it's a lot more interesting than the enlarged ant playing an electronic drumming machine in the movie's post-credits scene.

All of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" exists within the shadow of the late Chadwick Boseman, who passed away after appearing as T'Challa, with the movies killing off T'Challa off-screen. By the end of the 2022 movie, T'Challa's younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) burned her funeral garments, signaling she was ready to grieve her brother's loss. This emotional moment closes the movie, as Shuri reconnects with T'Challa's lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) in Haiti. The movie's mid-credits scene immediately follows up from this, with Nakia introducing Shuri to T'Challa's son Toussaint (Divine Love Konadu-Sun), whom she had been raising in secret.

The introduction of Toussaint and his Wakandan name T'Challa, honoring his late father, provides an emotional coda to "Wakanda Forever." With the power of the Black Panther so intrinsically linked to the family's ancestral line, T'Challa II is a reminder that life and legacy live on beyond us. The scene has only become more important in the years following the 2022 film, with David Jonsson signed to play an adult T'Challa in a third Black Panther movie. In honoring its fallen star, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and its mid-credits scene set up a major part of the MCU's future.

After the success of "Iron Man," fast-tracking a sequel meant the rushed "Iron Man 2" production pushed its cast and crew to its limits. One of the things that the movie was able to handle adequately, apart from a solid climactic battle, was setting up the MCU's most fantastical hero yet. During the film, S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) informs Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) that he's investigating an incident in New Mexico. The 2010 movie's post-credits scene reveals what that incident is, with Coulson finding Mjolnir, the mythical hammer of Thor in a large crater.

"Iron Man 2" feels like a case of the post-credits scene being more memorable than the rest of the movie attached to it. There are some interesting ideas brought forth by the 2010 sequel, including different institutions vying to control the Iron Man technology for themselves, but not much else. In setting up Thor, a mythical hero compared to Iron Man's sci-fi one, it felt like Marvel Studios was taking its biggest risk yet. Fortunately, the post-credits scene set the stage for the 2011 movie beautifully and was later incorporated into the film itself.

While most of this list is comprised of post-credits scenes that feel crucial to the future of the MCU, "Guardians of the Galaxy" brings the colorfully cosmic fun. The 2014 movie's mid-credits scene of a baby Groot dancing is crucial in its own way to the spacefaring team's sensibilities. The scene has Groot dancing happily along to "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 while trying to avoid being noticed by the surly Drax (Dave Bautista). The playful moment underscores the connection between music and the Guardians as well as the charming dynamic shared by its characters.

The dancing Groot scene in "Guardians of the Galaxy" was one of those breakout moments from the movie, instantly striking a chord with audiences. There was merchandising based entirely on the scene, and the opening credits of "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" clearly riffed on it too. As overly cutesy and cloying scenes like this can feel in the hands of lesser filmmakers, it works here. Baby Groot became the cute mascot for the team, at least for its 2017 sequel, and he won over audiences for that distinction here.

In one of the biggest superhero movie plot twists, the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy fail to save the day in "Avengers: Infinity War." After gaining all the Infinity Stones, Thanos dusted half the heroes with a snap of his fingers, along with half of all sentient life in the universe. With the movie closing on Thanos reflecting on his victory, the following credits roll continues interrupted to let audiences ruminate on the defeat they just witnessed. This is followed by a post-credits scene that sets up the introduction of a previously unseen MCU superhero, Captain Marvel.

The post-credits scene showcases chaos erupting as people begin dying from Thanos' snap with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in the middle of it. As Nick and Maria are among the dusted, he sends one last message via pager before succumbing to his cosmic fate. Before cutting to black, Captain Marvel's logo appears on the pager, teasing Brie Larson's debut as the character in "Captain Marvel" 10 months later. Coming off the ending to "Infinity War," fans were looking for a silver lining for the heroes, and the "Captain Marvel" tease provided.

"The Avengers" is the first MCU movie to contain two scenes upon the credits beginning, one after the stylized credits portion and one following the end of the roll. While the mid-credits scene quietly introduces the MCU's first overarching big bad — more on that later — the post-credits scene offers a funny denouement to the action. After all the spectacle, with the Avengers repelling an extraterrestrial attack on Manhattan, the Avengers are seen eating shawarma in a wrecked restaurant. Outside of diegetic noise, the scene is completely silent and pays off from a Robert Downey Jr. line improvised in the movie.

"The Avengers" set the formula of a mid-credits scene with a bigger payoff and the post-credits usually providing parting audiences with a lightweight joke. This isn't a hard rule, but movies like "Thor: The Dark World" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp" are among the films that followed suit. But while the joke may feel played out now, over a decade later, it was a legitimately funny moment during its initial release. Offering a chance to see our heroes in the immediate aftermath of saving the world, "The Avengers" and its post-credits scene closes out the MCU's first big crossover in style.

2019's "Spider-Man: From Far Home" is all about Peter Parker (Tom Holland) emerging from the shadow of his late mentor to become his own superhero. This comes at the cost of Peter temporarily falling in with the wrong crowd, teaming up with tech wiz Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) after believing him to be a hero too. Peter eventually learns Mysterio's true villainous nature, but not before the special effect-driven crook has discovered Spider-Man's true identity before dying during an attack on London. Mysterio gets his revenge from beyond the grave in the mid-credits scene, not only blaming the London incident on Spider-Man but revealing his identity through a posthumous broadcast.

As far as mid and post-credits scenes with a tremendous impact on the MCU, few can top "Far From Home." The movie's post-credits scene directly informed the next Spidey adventure, 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," with Peter's life in complete disarray from having his identity revealed. The scene also marks the return of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, albeit not quite the cigar-chomping newspaper editor that fans first saw him as. "Far From Home" may be arguably the weakest solo Spider-Man movie starring Holland but its mid-credits scene packs a wallop.

The first scene unveiled after the credits begin for "The Avengers" reveals the mastermind behind the movie's villainous plot and who Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was taking his orders from. The mid-credits scene has the Other (Alexis Denisof), Loki's unnamed overseer, deliver the bad news to his master that their plans to recover the Tesseract have failed, saying:

"Humans... they are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly, and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them is to court death."

The Other's shadowy boss rises from his cosmic throne revealing himself to be Thanos (Damion Poitier), though the character himself is unnamed in the movie. Offering a knowing grin to the audience, the credits then resume after the MCU's first unifying threat makes his on-screen debut.

Thanos really defined the MCU's output after "The Avengers," with the role recast with Josh Brolin starting with 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy." Marvel Studios has arguably struggled to find a compelling villain at the same scale as Thanos, after his defeat in "Avengers: Endgame," but hopefully Doctor Doom will solve that problem. That all starts with this mid-credits scene even if, amusingly, the first Thanos actor thought he was playing someone else. Bringing in one of the most recognizable supervillains in cinematic history, "The Avengers" set the course and tone for the studio moving forward.

The post-credits scene that started it all set the standard for the MCU for a good reason, and it still holds up today. As the inaugural film in this shared universe, 2008's "Iron Man" keeps its wider foundational work to the introduction of S.H.I.E.L.D. This tees up the movie's post-credits scene, with Tony Stark returning to his home alone only to find a lone figure waiting for him in the shadows. Turning to face Tony, the man introduces himself as Nick Fury, who wants to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative.

With that introduction, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was truly born, along with the groundwork for its heroes to work together one day. Alternate versions of the scene have Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury leaning harder to his expected on-screen persona, but saying less works better for this appearance. What makes the scene work better than the others is that it truly feels like a secret we've stumbled across. With its post-credits scene, "Iron Man" called a lofty promise, and despite all odds, it was able to deliver.