This article contains spoilers for the post-credits scene of “Thunderbolts*.”
At the end of Jake Schreier’s new Marvel Cinematic Universe flick “Thunderbolts*,” the scrappy, depressive title team — having saved the day — is unexpectedly dragged into an impromptu press conference. Without being able to give any input on the matter, Yelena (Florence Pugh), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), the Red Guardian (David Harbour), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) are collectively introduced by the devious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as the New Avengers.
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This leads to a post-credits scene, set 14 months later, where the New Avengers have already been installed in their tower-bound New York headquarters. Although they were all previously mercenaries and killers, they are clearly trying very hard to fit into their new roles as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. They still don’t have all the techno-jargon down, and they haven’t bothered to decorate; their headquarters seems a little empty. Most frustratingly, they are in a legal copyright battle over the name “The Avengers.” Captain America, they say, owns the rights. Who would have thought legal haggling would be a major concern for Marvel’s freelance military?
Yelena is looking at a high-tech tablet when a buzzer goes off. Their scanning equipment has detected something wonky in the upper atmosphere. Yelena pushes a few buttons, and brings up a spacebound camera feed on her wall-sized TV screen. They mention that something seems to have traveled to their planet from another dimension (!). They take a look at a spaceship, and you can guess the number emblazoned on the side.
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As the reader might intuit from the description, this is a somewhat long scene. Indeed, it now holds a record as the longest post-credits sequence from any MCU film, running a full 174 seconds. That beat the record held by “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which had five post-credits scenes that ran for a combined 171 seconds.
The Thunderbolts* post-credits scene is the longest in MCU history
Coming in at 2 minutes at 54 seconds, the new post-credits scene beat the record held by “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which had five post-credits scenes that ran for a combined 2 minutes and 51 seconds.
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As the world’s many MCU fans know, Marvel post-credit scenes tend to serve as previews and/or advertisements for upcoming installations in the series. They introduce new characters, remind audiences that a heretofore unseen villain is still operating in the background, or tell viewers that some kind of universe-altering cataclysm is at hand. The post-credits scenes are typically greeted with wiggly enthusiasm, and MCU fans will immediately storm into their theater lobbies to discuss the potential meeting between a classic MCU character and the new ones they just saw. Marvel Comics know-it-alls will happy begin detailing the history of the new character, and some outlets (hi!) will write articles about how the post-credits sequence is significant.
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The post-credits scene in “Thunderbolts*” does indeed serve that function, as it is a reminder that the MCU has a third film coming out in 2025. People excited for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will only be made more excited.
But the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits sequence serves a more interesting function as well. The film audiences just saw (one of the best in the MCU, frankly) was about depression and trauma. The Thunderbolts all had terrible lives leading up to their heroic careers, or they had fallen into destitution after their heyday ended. The Thunderbolts/New Avengers are not happy people, and kind of hate that they’re good at murder. Indeed, the filmmakers seemed to declare that trauma is a prerequisite for becoming a superhero. One needs to be emotionally damaged if they elect to take a job that requires constant violence and perpetual death.
The function of the post-credits scene
The post-credits sequence shows that the Thunderbolts/New Avengers are not the wacky banter-machines or slick-haired party-boys like the last batch. None of the old Avengers are ever astonished by the miracle technologies around them, as they’re just everyday objects to them. As such, they typically come across as too-cool-for-school, only acknowledging that something is weird with a “Well … that happened”-style joke. The brisk brand of Marvel banter that once made the series popular has long since fallen into insufferable territory. It’s telling that there are no secret identities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, heroes show their faces in public, gather fame, accumulate fanboys and fangirls, and sign autographs. The Avengers are well-known to everyone, and most of them seem to enjoy their fame. When “lesser” Avengers aren’t recognized, they get miffed. Heroism, for them, isn’t so much about committing acts of justice from the shadows. It’s about getting credit for their hard work. In a generation that was raised with the possibility of online fame lurking around every corner, anonymous heroics is anathema.
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The Thunderbolts are very different people. They don’t want to be Avengers, don’t want to be famous, and don’t really know how to do this well. The post-credits scene shows a different kind of off-duty status quo for the heroes. They’re angrier (or at least more exhausted), and see their job as a weary obligation. They aren’t eager to use the widgets and toys, and don’t necessarily want to leap into action. The Thunderbolts/New Avengers are put-upon, slovenly, and embroiled in legal battles. One of them reads all day.
The post-credits scene needed a little extra time to establish all that. It wasn’t just an ad for an upcoming movie. It needed to reinforce the character of the New Avengers, and it broke a Marvel record in the process.
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A couple of my colleagues had a conversation about “Thunderbolts*” on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below: