Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
The post-credits scene: The first post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 sees Kraglin practising using Yondu’s fin and arrow which Quill gave to him after the funeral. It all seems to be going well enough as the arrow flies around the room, falling to the floor occasionally, but then Kraglin gets a bit over-confident and flies the arrow around a corner and straight into Drax’s throat! Drax clutches his throat screaming in agony as Kraglin stands there stunned before slowly backing away before Drax discovers what happened.
What it means: That Kraglin is really clumsy and will probably be dead by the time GOTG3 comes around? Not many characters have hurt Drax and lived to tell the tale, but maybe the rest of the Guardians will be able to keep him from turning the Ravager into mush. In that case, perhaps he’ll be joining the team once he gets the hang of the fin?
Read more: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 ending - 9 questions we need answered
The post-credits scene: The second GOTG2 post-credits scene sees Sylvester Stallone’s character, Stakar Ogord, reunited with some former Ravager companions, all of whom attended Yondu’s funeral. There’s the red-skinned Krugarr, a robot called Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus), the crystal-studded Martinex, who you see earlier in the movie (Michael Rosenbaum), Charlie-27 (Pulp Fiction’s Ving Rhames), and Aleta Ogord (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s Michelle Yeoh). Stallone says it’s a shame it’s taken Yondu’s death to bring them all back together again, but then they decided to reform and steal some stuff.
What it means: Hopefully it means that we’re going to get a GOTG spin-off movie about Stakar’s team of Ravagers - all of whom have been members of earlier Guardians teams in the comics. Just seeing them all together at the end of this movie made me want to know more. "Where they’ll show up and how they’ll show up, we’re still working on, but I would expect to see them in the future," James Gunn told USA Today.
Read more: 6 Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Easter eggs that tell us about the future of the MCU
The post-credits scene: In the third post-credits scene, we see Elizabeth Debicki’s Kismet (AKA Ayesha) sulking after her defeat at the hands of the Guardians. Her handmaiden approaches to tell her the Council is waiting for her, and it’s revealed that they’re not too happy after she wasted their resources failing to beat the heroes. She soon cheers up though as she announces that she’s created something sure to destroy the Guardians, which is when the scene cuts to a sarcophagus-like birthing pod and Kismet reveals that she’s going to call it Adam.
What it means: Any fan of the Marvel comic books will know which character James Gunn is teasing in this scene. Kismet is obviously referring to (and teasing) Adam Warlock, a genetically engineered superhuman with cosmic powers.
The post-credits scene: If you thought Baby Groot was cool, just wait until you see Guardians of the Galaxy 2’s fourth post-credits scene. It features Groot as a teenager, in his room, playing video games, and ignoring Quill’s pleas for him to tidy his room. Eventually giving up on getting any kind of reaction from Teenage Groot, Quill mutters to himself that now he knows how Yondu felt before leaving him to it.
What it means: That Groot could be back to his normal (massive) size in the third Guardians movie. As cute as Baby Groot is, there’s only so much you can do with that character, especially as Teenage Groot's turn in Infinity War was so memorable (and foul-mouthed).
The scene: The fifth and final post-credits scene from GOTG2 is an extension of Stan Lee’s cameo. We cut back to astronaut Stan sat on the barren planet he was occupying earlier in the movie, as the Watchers he entertained with his stories start to walk away. He asks them to stop, saying he’s got loads more tales to tell, and when they keep walking, insists he needs a lift home.
What it means: This extension of Stan Lee’s cameo may have helped confirm a long-held fan theory than Lee is actually playing the same character in all of his MCU cameos. His character could be a Watcher as well and has been travelling in time and space, checking out what all of the Marvel superheros have been up to. It’s a shame his fellow Watchers don’t seem as interested in what he’s witnessed as we are.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The scene: The first of Spider-Man: Homecoming's multiple post-credits scenes sees an imprisoned Adrian Toomes being approached by Mac Gargan, one of the criminals who was captured by the FBI during the Staten Island Ferry incident. He says there's a rumour going around that the Vulture knows the true identity of Spider-Man, to which Toomes replies: "If I knew who he was, he’d already be dead." He's then called away for a visit with his family.
What it means: That the Vulture isn't all bad? We know that Toomes knows exactly who Spider-Man is, but he obviously has no intention of giving up Peter Parker. The look on his face when he's told his family have arrived seems to imply to me that his secrecy is more for his daughter's sake than anything else, but still... The bigger point though, is that this scene reestablishes Gargan and shows off his scorpion tattoo. Gargan becomes Spider-Man villain the Scorpion (with a capital 'S') in the comics, so it looks like that could be a future bad-guy setup, especially in the wake of the Spider-Man: Far From Home ending.
The end-credits scene: The second post-credits scene features Captain America. He appears on screen, talking about patience, and how sometimes it can be rewarded but sometimes it's all for nothing. You see where I'm going with this, can't you? It's a massive, 'Go home, you're not getting a tease of Infinity War'.
What it means: That Marvel knows what you're waiting for, and isn't pandering to you one little bit.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
The post-credits scene: Thor: Ragnarok has a grand total of two post-credits scenes, and in the first one, Thor and Loki are aboard their new spaceship home, along with all the refugees of Asgard, trying to decide where to go next. They decide on Earth, even if its people are unlikely to throw Loki a parade when they realise he's returned. It's all lovely and fuzzy... until a huge, shadowy ship appears.
What it means: This marks the arrival of Thanos, the big bad for Avengers: Infinity War, who would later attack the ship and collect the Space Stone from Loki.
The end-credits scene: Scene stealer the Grandmaster, played by Jeff Golblum, stumbles out of a wrecked ship as natives of the planet Sakaar approach in the second post-credits scene. He congratulates them on a successful revolution, only to point out a revolution needs someone to overthrow, so he really played a vital part. "It’s a tie!" he yells, before the screen cuts to black.
What it means: We want it to mean there's a Grandmaster spin off in the works, but it's really a sign that Taika Watiti and his team knew that Goldblum would be a fan favorite. Still, we can but hope.
