7 Post-Credits Scenes That Were Never Resolved In The MCU
The post-credits scene has become a tried-and-true tradition in the MCU. Audiences have been trained for decades that a Marvel movie isn't over when the credits start, and there may be a few scenes sprinkled throughout the final minutes of the film. Some of these scenes are goofy little codas meant to get a chuckle out of the viewer, while others can have major teases for future plotlines and events. Most, if not all, of these important scenes have led to huge storylines and fed into the larger plot of the MCU, but others have been left unresolved for years, and it's doubtful they'll ever be resolved.
Given that Marvel is now prioritizing quality over quantity with its films (something it learned the hard way in Phase 4), it may be years before many of these post-credits scenes are ever followed up on. Some have only now come to fruition, like how Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) sets up David Jonsson stepping into the role of Black Panther, but there are a few that audiences just know will never actually be picked up on. There's a chance some of these post-credits scenes can be resolved in Avengers: Doomsday (2026), but for now, these are the loose ends that Marvel still hasn't tied up in its ever-expanding cinematic universe.
When it comes to the Infinity Saga, virtually every post-credits scene was in service of setting up the threat that Thanos would eventually present in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). And then there was Doctor Strange, which kind of went off and did its own thing.
While the film spent most of its time setting up the Time Stone, aka the Eye of Agamotto, it also presented the most in-depth exploration of magic in the MCU yet. We saw plenty of mind-bending visuals, and Stephen Strange defeat Kaecilius and Dormammu. However, it also established Baron Mordo as a former ally of Dr. Strange who became disillusioned with the way the magic users of the MCU operate, and in the film’s post-credits scene, steals the magical powers of Johnathan Pangborn and claims there are “too many sorcerers,” implying he’s on a crusade to rid the MCU of magic.
Does that amount to anything? Nope, as he hasn’t even been seen in the decade since Doctor Strange was released. Considering how the MCU has leaned a lot into multiversal shenanigans in recent years, odds are this plot thread is dead in the water.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a bit of an odd one out as far as MCU post-credits scenes go. As of now, it hasn’t been confirmed what exactly it leads to, but there’s a pretty good chance it can finally get some resolution with Shang-Chi’s next appearance in Avengers: Doomsday.
There’s definitely some comedy to Shang-Chi’s post-credits scene, showing Wong, Shang-Chi, and Katy blaring their hearts out at karaoke, but not before learning that the 10 rings are emitting a secret broadcast to some unknown source. Who or what has never been confirmed, but the odds are high that this thread could be picked up once Doctor Doom makes his way into the mainline MCU.
Maybe it’s reaching out to his universe, and that’s how he was able to find his way to Earth-616? Out of all of the unexplored post-credits scenes, this is the one that’s most likely to be resolved, but if we don’t get any confirmation about it in Avengers: Doomsday, then there’s very little chance of this thread getting picked up until the sequel, if at all.
Look, nobody really acknowledges Eternals in the MCU. The closest that the film got to being recognized within the wider franchise was how the stone remains of Tiamut became the source of conflict in Captain America: Brave New World (2025). So please be surprised when you find out that nothing from Eternals post-credits scenes has been followed up on.
The first scene, wherein several of the Eternals are visited by Harry Styles’ Eros and Patton Oswalt’s Pip the Troll, teases a sequel wherein the group travels space to find their lost allies. Given how the film underperformed, and Harry Styles is thankfully focused on singing over acting at the moment, that sequel will most likely never happen, and none of the Eternals are slated to appear in upcoming films.
The other post-credits scene is much more unfortunate, as it shows Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman gaining control of the Ebony Blade and encountering Blade. In theory, this would have led to the Blade movie, but that film has been through so many production delays, directors, and setbacks that there’s a good chance that movie will never see the light of day. Shame, as Mahershala Ali’s Blade would have been cool.
Spider-Man post-credits scenes generally tend to get resolved. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) teases Scorpion, who shows up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) radically alters the status quo for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). However, No Way Home’s post-credits scenes leave a gigantic dangling plot thread that still isn’t resolved.
As all the characters are being returned to their original dimensions, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, who was apparently just chilling out at a bar for the entire film, also gets zapped back, but not before accidentally leaving behind a part of the symbiote. Anyone who knows their Spider-Man history knows that Peter Parker and the symbiote go hand-in-hand, with Peter’s iconic black suit marking a much darker and violent turn for the character and serving as the origin for Venom.
By all accounts, fans expected the symbiote to factor into Spider-Man: Brand New Day given the changes affecting Peter in the movie, and yet it didn’t. There’s still a rogue symbiote floating around the MCU, and with Sony winding down its Spider-Man-adjacent films, you would think Marvel would be all over putting the Lethal Protector in their slate of films. Guess not!
Sad as it is to say, Doctor Strange is two-for-two for post-credits scenes with no resolution. It’s also not too surprising, given that Marvel has continuously skewed toward sci-fi over magic and Dr. Strange’s role becomes more and more muddied.
In a film focused on multiversal exploits and encountering plenty of alternate variants as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the post-credits scene shows a sorcerer from the Dark Dimension, Charlize Theron’s Clea, coming to tell Strange that the Dark Dimension needs his help with an incursion. What the incursion is, we don’t know, but Dr. Strange follows her to save the day. And… that’s about all we know!
Dr. Strange is set to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, but not Charlize Theron, so we probably won’t get any real resolution to what happened inside there, unless their adventures happened offscreen. It’s a lame resolution if that ends up happening, but it’s also the most likely outcome, as Marvel was trying to expand rapidly and probably didn’t have a full endgame for every single one of its post-credits scenes.
Sometimes, the simplest yet most effective post-credits scene is just to tease a new character coming to the MCU. It worked for Iron Man (2008) and The Avengers (2012), but Thor: Love and Thunder’s post-credits scene would have worked if the character it teased ever appeared in anything but the film’s final scene.
After revealing that Zeus was alive following his encounter with Thor, he swore revenge against the Norse God of Thunder and sicked his own hero against Thor, Hercules, played by Brett Goldstein. Hercules seems gleeful at the opportunity, as he prepares to hunt down Thor, but it never amounted to anything. Granted, Thor hasn’t been seen in the MCU since and won’t reappear until Avengers: Doomsday, but it’s highly unlikely Hercules will appear alongside him given how already stuffed that film appears to be.
Not only that, but there’s no confirmation of a Thor 5, and even if there were one, we probably wouldn’t see it until 2028 at the earliest. Given all that time, it seems more likely than not that we won’t see Hercules fight Thor anytime soon.
This is the big one. Even though this is the most recent post-credits scene on the list, this is the one every Marvel fan knows will never be resolved: The Council of Kangs.
Following the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with the Earth-616 Kang the Conqueror’s defeat, several other multiversal Kangs began to discuss their plans for an invasion of the multiverse, much to the delight of an entire legion of Kangs. It was a huge moment, one that set up Kang as being the big villain of the Multiverse Saga. And then Jonathan Majors was arrested for assault and was fired by Marvel shortly after, which necessitated Marvel starting from scratch with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, morphing it into what we now know as Avengers: Doomsday.
This was the largest disaster in the MCU’s history, as the company plans out its cinematic universe years upon years in advance, and now all their careful planning amounted to nothing. The Council of Kangs looked to be an interesting adversary for the Avengers, but now we’ll never see what happens when countless Kangs set their sights on Earth’s Mightiest Mortals.
