In today’s cinematic world, post-credits and mid-credits scenes are the highly-anticipated dessert to a satisfying meal of a movie. We anxiously watch the credits scroll, hoping that we will get the gift of a teaser for a sequel or more information about a story’s ending. Even if a post-credits scene is simply for funsies, it is a nice way to cap off a viewing experience. We know that the MCU made post-credits and mid-credits scenes a staple in current pop culture, but what’s the history behind these additional moments? The idea of wanting more from a story goes back further than you’d expect.
Post-Credits Scenes Pre-Film Origins: Theater and Encores
Long before the existence of “talking pictures” and post-credits scenes, there were live theater performances and encores. The concept of a performer giving a cheering audience even additional performance time is likely the foundation for our modern day post-credits scenes. The earliest encore on record is the 1786 premiere of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and featured several pieces getting another performance round during the opera. Sometimes, every single part of it would get an encore. In general, this could extend or even double the original performance time, depending on the audience’s veracity.
In modern theater, encores typically come at the end of the show, but the thought is still the same: people love this so much that we have to give them more. The encore eventually spread to the music world, with fans wanting their favorite artists to come out and perform a beloved song or extend the show’s finale. This became a particularly popular part of pop, R&B, and rock shows in the 1960s, and are often the standard for headlining acts from all genres today.
The First Post-Credits Film Scene Ever Is Rather Racy
Interestingly, the 1960s is when we get our first general release film that has a post-credits scene. The Silencers, a spy spoof flick released in 1966, shows Dean Martin’s lead character Matt Helm lying on a rotating sofa with 10 half-naked women around him. He kisses two women before saying “Oh, my god.” The first post-credits scene ever ends with text saying “Coming Up Next,” and “Matt Helm Meets Lovey Kravezit.” And yes, there was a sequel to this film with a character named Lovey Kravezit.
A sidebar: While it seems like there would’ve been a post-credits scene long before this, the standard practice was to run the credits prior to a film up until the late 1950s. Credits at that time were not very long nor extensive because they didn’t include a lot of the behind the scenes staff. One of the first notable films to put the credits at the end of the film was Around the World in 80 Days in 1956.
From this point, the use of post-credits and mid-credits scenes kept rising. Horror classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) includes several mid-credits scenes of piles of bodies and a bonfire. This doesn’t tease anything for the future but it provides more silent insight into the aftermath of this devastated world. However, other post-credits scenes of the time, like House of Dark Shadows (1970), did hint that the story isn’t over yet. In that film, vampire Barnabas Collins’ supposedly dead body turns into a bat and flies away.
And, when it comes to post-credits scenes that break the fourth wall Deadpool-style, we have The Muppet Movie (1979) to thank for that. Our favorite Muppets are themselves watching the movie and stand up to walk around, joke, and have conversations, keeping the audience in their seats to see where this gag is going. At the end, Animal breaks the fourth wall and tells the viewing audience to “Go Home!” before passing out from exhaustion.
TV Bloopers Gave Way to Post-Credits Scenes on the Small Screen
In the TV world, deleted scenes with errors or mistakes (both funny and serious), which we call bloopers, were incredibly popular. Throughout the 1950-1980s, there were entire shows like TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes that were dedicated to curating and showing recorded blunders from all types of shows and commercials. But one day, some genius decided that these bloopers would be excellent as post-credits and mid-credits scenes for a show like Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1990).
Many shows in the 1980s and 1990s, specifically sitcoms like Seinfeld and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, would air bloopers and other gags during its brief credits. And, films like the Rush Hour franchise and Smokey and the Bandit II kept audiences in theaters and laughing at their fave actor’s mistakes. Generally speaking, post-credits scenes would function to tease what’s coming next, to make the audience laugh, or to bring a meta aspect to a story by making its characters aware of the audience’s existence.
Sadly, bloopers and credits scenes (and theme songs, for that matter) have lost their popularity on most TV shows, thanks to more streaming series and fewer sitcoms. The way of TV seems to be to watch it as quickly as possible and skip right past the credits. That is, unless you are watching a Marvel series.
The Rise of Modern Social Platforms and the MCU Made Post-Credits Scenes a True Staple
As we all know, the usage of post-credits and mid-credits scenes hit a new level of popularity thanks to the MCU. We got our first one with the franchise’s very first film, Iron Man, in 2008. Nick Fury visits Tony Stark to discuss a little thing called the Avengers Initiative. And, as they say, the rest is history. The MCU uses post-credits to do everything from teasing their next project to dropping fun Easter Eggs to introducing new characters, all of which audiences love.
Their initial use of post-credits scenes happened alongside the rise of modern social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. These online avenues helped to incite conversations about post-credits material and build fandom community around the burgeoning franchise. Now, it is an official rule that if you go see a Marvel movie, you don’t get up and leave until the lights come on.
People frequently search online to see 1) if there’s a post-credit scene for a new film and 2) what happens in it and why it matters. So, if you want to keep people talking about your film, adding a little extra content at the end is the way to keep it going. Thanks to Marvel, it is commonplace for most franchise films to have a post-credits scene.
In fact, for many people, it feels like a letdown if a film doesn’t have one. We continue to get them across genres, from horror films like Sinners (2025) to family flicks like A Minecraft Movie. Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? Maybe so. But, for now, the reign of post-credits scenes continues to dominate the big screen.