Marvel: 5 Post & Mid-Credits Scenes That Were Never Resolved in the MCU
The MCU is gearing up for its biggest movie in seven years with Avengers: Doomsday. And yet, there are still so many storylines Marvel has seemingly forgotten to tie up.
Ever since the inception of the MCU, the post-credit sting has been a key facet of the superhero franchise. Some of them are epic, like Nick Fury’s pager contacting Carol Danvers at the end of Infinity War. Others are hilarious, like Howard the Duck’s drunken ramblings after Guardians of the Galaxy.
However, some of Marvel’s post- and mid-credits scenes have teased things that have gone nowhere, which is more than a little frustrating for long-time fans. Here are five of the most egregious unresolved (as of the time of writing) scenes in the MCU to date.
Eternals: Eros Today, Gone Tomorrow
You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Harry Styles is technically part of the MCU. It seems that even Kevin Feige has forgotten that fact, too. The popstar was introduced at the end of Eternals as Eros (also known as Starfox), who is the younger brother of none other than the Mad Titan himself, Thanos.
Eros is far more playful and peaceful than his sibling, and even becomes part of the Avengers at one point in Marvel comics. However, due to the poor critical reception and dire box-office takings for Eternals, and with Thanos now in the dust, there is a very good chance that we will never see Harry Styles and his version of Eros ever again.
Thor: Love and Thunder - Hercules, We Hardly Knew Ye
In a similar fashion to Styles, we caught a brief glimpse of Hercules, played by Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein, in a mid-credits scene in Thor: Love and Thunder. Zeus (Russell Crowe) also played a part in that Taika Waititi movie, and the film ended with the Greek god telling his son to get revenge against Thor.
That was more than four years ago now, and there’s not been any mention of mythological gods getting involved in the MCU since. Thor is busy dealing with Doctor Doom later this year, so it’s hard to imagine a time in the near future where he will have time for Hercules.
Spider-Man: No Way Home - We Aren’t Venom
Jon Watts packed a lot into his trilogy-closing Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield turning up, the multiverse tearing apart, and Doctor Strange making everyone forget who Peter Parker is. Watts even found space in the mid-credits scene to include Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and a teeny tiny splash of Venom goo.
Many suggested that this could lead to that version of Venom crashing into the MCU, but so far, it has been little more than a cheeky – and pretty pointless – teaser. Hardy is done with the Venom movies, while Sony and Marvel still can’t quite get on the same page when it comes to Spidey projects. We may still see Tom Holland’s webcrawler contend with Venom one day, but it’s unlikely to be the one we saw in this stinger.
Doctor Strange: Baron Mordo Goes Missing
In Doctor Strange, it was fellow sorcerer Baron Mordo who ended up turning rogue after seeing The Ancient One using the Dark Dimension and Strange bending the rules of time to defeat Kaecilius. He’s so annoyed, in fact, that in the post-credits scene, Mordo vows to hunt down sorcerers like Doctor Strange and restore order among those who wield the mystic arts.
That's been a very empty threat so far. The Earth-616 Mordo has not been seen since that first film, although Stephen Strange does mention in the follow-up, Multiverse of Madness, that his former teammate had been trying to kill him. Meanwhile, a variant from Earth-838 was a major player in the Illuminati in that Sam Raimi movie… that is, until Wanda Maximoff became unhinged and killed all his colleagues.
Spider-Man: Homecoming - Sinister Six, When?
Another Spider-Man movie that dangled a carrot that will never be eaten was his first MCU solo film, Homecoming, which teased a collaboration between Vulture and Scorpion in between the credits. Much like the Venom situation, Sony holding the rights to these Spidey villains makes things really complicated. Meanwhile, the competing studio's attempts to set up a Sinister Six project via films like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter seem to have fallen flat due to their poor performances.
We did see Scorpion again in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and while Keaton's Vulture last showed up in the Sony-verse at the end of Morbius, the chances of the actor returning to the MCU are up in the air. If Avengers: Secret Wars goes for a 'Battleworld' approach, we could still see foes like Vulture briefly, but I wouldn’t count on it.
