James Gunn says audiences liked his "stupid" Marvel post-credits best, which is why he went for jokes with Superman rather than "a shocking post-credit scene that we're never going to pay off"

Superman might be the first DCU movie, but it's surprisingly self-contained – and that includes the after credits stingers.

Both of the Superman post-credits scenes are small moments that don't set up the future or introduce any shocking cameos. The first scene is Supes and Krypto sitting on the moon overlooking Earth, and the second is a gag between Mister Terrific and Clark, in which Clark is mildly critical of Terrific putting a building back together a little lopsided.

"Well, I found in my time at Marvel that, first of all, the post-credit scenes of mine at Marvel that people liked the best were the stupid ones," Gunn explained to Screen Rant, citing the Howard the Duck and Stan Lee scenes from Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, respectively.

"And I really have found – and I've said it before – but I've set up things in the post-credit scenes, and Marvel has set up things in the post-credit scenes that never pay off," he added. "Unless it's really for sure going to pay off... like if we were making – we know what the Supergirl movie is – so if it was a payoff at the end of the credits that had to do with something in the Supergirl movie, I would be open to that. We know that's happening.

"But I don't want to set up stuff just because it's a shocking post-credit scene that we're never going to pay off. However, I do like giving the audience something for having stuck around through the credits and seeing who all the hardworking people are on the film," he concluded. "And so giving them something, I think, is fun. And that's what I did. So we put Terrific at the end."

Both credits scenes are pretty sweet notes to end the movie on, too, which we much prefer to set-up for a movie that might never get made.

Superman is in theaters now. For more, check out our Superman review or our spoilerific guide to the Superman ending explained.