10 Worst Marvel Post-Credits Scenes, Ranked

With dozens of movies under its belt since launching with "Iron Man" in 2008, Marvel Studios is known for closing out most of its movies with a post-credits scene. Whether setting up the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or providing one last gag, these scenes keep audiences seated during the credits. On some occasions, the post-credits scene feels more concisely entertaining and important than the entire movie that came before it. But after chronicling the best Marvel post-credits scenes of all time, now we're going to take a look at the MCU's worst so far.

For this list, we're going to adhere to the same ground rules as we did with the last one, focusing on mid and post-credits scenes for Marvel Studios movies, not shows. We're also looking at projects that are explicitly within the MCU, not outside projects like Fox or Sony's set of Marvel movies, even if they also had post-credits scenes. That means even as utterly confusing as the "Morbius" post-credits scene is, it did not make this list. 

These are the 10 worst Marvel post-credits scenes ranked, each entirely skippable upon a rewatch of the MCU movies.

To be clear, "Captain America: Civil War" is easily one of the best movies in the MCU to feature Captain America at all, Avengers flicks included. The 2016 movie is also the project that memorably introduces the iteration of Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, before he was headlining multi-billion blockbusters by himself. Holland makes a great first impression, but the movie's post-credits scene centered on Spidey is far less memorable than its mid-credits scene of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) arriving in Wakanda. While recovering from his fight against Captain America (Chris Evans) back in New York bedroom, Peter Parker uses a small gadget displaying the Spidey signal.

On some level, the Spidey signal scene cements that Peter Parker has a bright future ahead of him in the MCU. But, frankly, Spider-Man's pivotal role in the movie's massive airport fight sequence already made that distinction clear to audiences. But the Spidey signal is never really seen again after this sequence, raising questions why the trinket even exists in the first place. "Captain America: Civil War" could've come up with a better button to set up the following year's "Spider-Man: Homecoming" that didn't involve Spidey playing with his new and pointless flashlight.

Over a decade later, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" stands as one of Marvel's most underrated movies, as it takes its titular team into darker and more emotionally complex territory. One sequence that feels more questionable in its inclusion is the movie's mid-credits scene featuring Thanos (Josh Brolin) claiming the Infinity Gauntlet. Based on Thanos' comments, it implies that he's frustrated by his subordinates being unable to secure the Infinity Stones for the gauntlet and is taking matters into his own hands. The scene is oddly out of place, just like a forced earlier scene that has Thor (Chris Hemsworth) explaining the lore behind the Infinity Stones.

Before its release, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told fans not to expect Thanos in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," before slightly backtracking on the claim. That seemingly last-minute change of heart is felt in the scene itself, shoehorned in to continue setting up Thanos' role in the wider MCU. This afterthought feeling is underscored by Thanos wielding a different Infinity Gauntlet than the final design he ultimately has in "Avengers: Infinity War." Also, given the context of the film, it sounds like Thanos is frustrated by unaffiliated Ultron (James Spader), adding another layer of confusion to the scene.

A recurring theme across several of the entries on this list are clear introductions and setups for future MCU stories that never came to pass. While tantalizing at the time, these post-credits scenes feel a bit embarrassing now, knowing that Marvel Studios didn't follow through on what these sequences alluded to. The most prominent MCU plan that got left visibly in the lurch was the intention for Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) to become the shared universe's next big bad. Teeing up the fifth Avengers movie, then titled "The Kang Dynasty," was a mid-credits scene featuring a stadium full of Kangs plotting to conquer the multiverse.

Featured in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," the scene confirmed Marvel had huge plans for Kang, which were scrapped after Majors was fired 10 months later. That means an entire stadium of Kangs, each presumably as dangerous as the one in "Quantumania," are now a big non-issue. Marvel Studios had bet big on Kang the Conqueror only to fumble him in full view of the public eye. If there was ever a question that Marvel Studios winning streak had snapped, it was dashed by the unrealized mid-credits scene setup in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

With its tale of the villainous Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) hunting down deities, "Thor: Love and Thunder" introduces divine pantheons beyond Norse mythology. This includes the Greek gods, led by Zeus (Russell Crowe) from the holy metropolis of Omnipotence City where he clashes with Thor. The movie's mid-credits scene reveals that Zeus, while gravely wounded, has survived his encounter with the God of Thunder and summoned one of his sons as reinforcements. Played by "Ted Lasso" star Brett Goldstein, the muscular figure vowing vengeance on Thor for attacking his father is none other than Hercules.

There is a lot wrong with "Thor: Love and Thunder" in its disappointing follow-up to "Thor: Ragnarok," and that includes its time in Omnipotence City. Crowe's Zeus is one of the worst performances in the distinguished actor's prolific career and underscores that filmmaker Taika Waititi feels like he's trying too hard to be funny. That Zeus returns in the mid-credits scene with a poorly presented image of Hercules is just a crappy cherry on top of this saccharine sundae. Hercules hasn't shown up in the MCU since, and we're not exactly disappointed by those lack of subsequent appearances.

The only thing that could possibly be worse than fumbling Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror is fumbling Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali as Blade. In the post-credits scene to 2021's "Eternals," Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) is seen approaching the cursed Ebony Blade. He is interrupted by an unseen someone asking if he's sure he wants to do that, an Easter egg in "Eternals" that was revealed to be Ali's Blade. Unfortunately, outside of an alternate universe appearance of Blade in "Marvel Zombies" resembling Ali, neither actor has been seen in the MCU since.

The "Eternals" post-credits scene somehow manages to waste two Marvel superheroes for the price of one as it brings the movie to a close. While it would've been cool to see Harington's Black Knight wield the Ebony Blade in action, the bigger loss is Blade. After being stuck in over five years of development hell, Mahershala Ali updated fans that the movie appeared dead (or at least it's dead for him). Watching this post-credits scene now with that news in mind just pours salt on the wound of missing out on something that had a lot of potential.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is a strange beast, standing as half of a fun Sam Raimi movie, since the fan-favorite filmmaker replaced original director Scott Derrickson. The main film ends with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) developing a third eye after using dark magic to save the day. The last shot of this portion of the movie has Strange screaming in pain on the sidewalk as this new eyeball opens on his forehead. This awkwardly sets the scene for the movie's mid-credits scene introducing a new character to the MCU familiar to Doctor Strange fans.

Despite the ominous scene preceding it, the mid-credits sequence shows Strange just strolling down the sidewalk, having acclimated to his new eye real quick. He meets with a mysterious silver-haired woman named Clea (Charlize Theron) and agrees to help her stop an incursion elsewhere in the multiverse. While incursions have gone on to ominously appear in the MCU, the rushed nature of Clea's introduction robs this scene of any sense of intrigue or peril. That the visual effects behind rendering Strange's third eye look like garbage only adds to the scene's disappointment.

At the end of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the Venom symbiote he's bonded to are transported to the MCU. The subsequent "Spider-Man: No Way Home" reveals this to be the result of a spell cast by Doctor Strange, accidentally bringing characters from other universes to his own. Though Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Venom never cross paths in the movie, Eddie and the symbiote are revisited in the "No Way Home" post-credits scene. Still at the Mexican resort where he was last seen in "Let There Be Carnage," Eddie is transported back to his universe, inadvertently leaving a piece of the symbiote behind.

On its own merits, the "No Way Home" post-credits scene is fine, stepping up a Venom to arise in the MCU. But "Venom: The Last Dance" seemingly puts a stop to this tease, ditching this MCU setup as it weaves its own story and botches its multiversal elements. Tom Hardy tried to explain how the universes are connected but confused everyone, and "The Last Dance" only makes any presumed connection more headache-inducing. We may see Venom and Holland's Spider-Man get entangled at some point, but the "No Way Home" scene offered a direction that its follow-ups quickly abandoned.

"Eternals" squandered more than just its setup for the Black Knight and Blade, with its mid-credits scene also losing the plot. As a group of the Eternals cruise the cosmos to warn their counterparts about the Celestial threat, they are met by unexpected visitors on their spaceship. The badly CG animated Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt) introduces his patron Eros (Harry Styles) to the astonished Eternals. Heightening the intrigue, Eros is described to his new acquaintances as the never before mentioned brother of Thanos.

What makes the Eros and Pip mid-credits scene worse than the Black Knight and Blade scene is that the post-credits sequence is at least intriguing. There is nothing particularly interesting about the movie's mid-credits scene, least of all a poorly rendered Pip and the sight of Harry Styles in an Eros costume. Along with much introduced in "Eternals," except its forgotten storyline continued in "Captain America: Brave New World," the Eros plot thread has never been revisited. Both Pip and Eros are MCU characters that we don't expect to see again as well as the Eternals themselves.

There are some Marvel post-credits scenes that serve no practical purpose in the grand scheme of the MCU and, worse yet, aren't funny at all. That means you just blew through however many minutes with the anticipation of a tantalizing post-credits scene being dashed by a humorless gag. One of the most egregious in that sense is the post-credits scene to "Ant-Man and the Wasp," set in the immediate aftermath of Thanos wiping out half of all life. As emergency broadcasts are shown playing throughout San Francisco, the camera reveals a giant ant playing an electronic drum kit, oblivious to the mayhem outside.

On the one hand, the sight of a giant ant happily pounding away at a drum kit is a tonal counterpoint to Thanos' murderous use of the Infinity Gauntlet. On the other hand, it doesn't really bring anything else to the mix, not laughs and not any sense of merriment given the cosmic genocide occurring around it. If a scene induces more groans and eye-rolling than anything else, it's likely going to earn a spot on this list. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" is a relatively forgettable MCU project anyway and its post-credits scene solidifies that distinction.

The worst thing that any movie or scene therein can do is be utterly forgettable, with its entire existence superfluous to a viewing experience at best. With that criteria in mind, the most forgettable and pointless post-credits scene in MCU history to date is in 2013's "Thor: The Dark World." One could argue, quite reasonably, that "The Dark World" is among the most easily dismissable entries in the MCU, but its post-credits scene goes the extra mile in its worthlessness. The scene has Thor and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) reunite over breakfast before cutting to an ice monster chasing pigeons in London.

This post-credits scene feels particularly tacked on to the rest of "The Dark World," adding nothing to the mix. The scene is played without dialogue and the shot of Thor and Jane kissing has Elsa Pataky filling in for Natalie Portman in an uncredited appearance. The final tag, of the monster lurking around London, is an even more pointless extension to the scene. By the start of "Thor: Ragnarok," the couple had broken up off-screen anyway, making this little reunion all the more hollow in retrospect.

I bet you didn't remember that this scene existed as a post-credits scene did you?