The 10 Worst Post-Credits Scenes Of All Time

The Marvel Cinematic Universe popularized the post-credits scene in the modern era. Since 2008’s “Iron Man,” fans had to wait until their seats until the very long credits end just to see if there’s any tease to what might happen next. Sometimes, these can be very good, like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) walking out of the shadows to discuss the Avengers Initiative in “Iron Man.” In other cases, they seem pretty tacked on.

Marvel may have popularized the post-credit scene, but make no mistake, it’s been around for decades. The very first film to utilize this technique was 1966’s “The Silencers,” which asserted that Matt Helm (Dean Martin) would return in “Murderer’s Row.” Since then, many movies have incorporated the bonus scene to sneak one more joke in there or propose a fun sequel idea. 

A post-credits scene is usually a harmless bit of fun, but many films have completely misunderstood the moment’s appeal and have squandered what could’ve been wonderful opportunities. These films in our list wasted our time. We sat there patiently and were met with scenes that felt insulting to our intelligence. These moments failed to excite us for a sequel or just plain baffled us with what the filmmakers were trying to do. 

With entries from Marvel, DC, and movies that have absolutely nothing to do with superheroes, these are the worst post-credits scenes of all time. 

My favorite scene of “Morbius” is when Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) looks right at the camera and says, “It’s morbin’ time!” My least favorite is the utterly baffling post-credits scene that raises far more questions than it answers. A multiversal disturbance causes Michael Keaton’s Vulture from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” to enter Morbius’ universe. He proceeds to track Morbius down, and while he doesn’t know how he ended up in this new reality, he thinks it has something to do with Spider-Man. 

This causes so much confusion. First, why would he assume it has something to do with Spider-Man? Last time he saw Peter Parker (Tom Holland), he wasn’t messing with the multiverse, so there’s no reason why he would think that. Even if he did, Vulture has a reluctant respect for Peter at the end of “Homecoming.” Mac Gargan (Michael Mando) even asks for Spidey’s secret identity in that film’s post-credits scene, but Vulture doesn’t give him up. He’s completely turned heel for no reason. On top of all this, Morbius finds the idea of Spider-Man intriguing and seems down to partner with this random guy in a bird suit he just met. 

Maybe it would be less baffling if it wasn’t for the film’s marketing, which promised Keaton having a larger role in the film. Plus, the trailer showed a scene of Morbius walking past a Spider-Man poster with “Murderer” painted onto it. In the end, the film steered away from more explicit Spidey references and instead tried to cram it all in a convoluted post-credits scene to the point where none of it makes any sense.

The ending of “Argylle” already sets up a pretty baffling sequel idea. The movie establishes that Elly (Bryce Dallas Howard) has written a series of successful spy books based on her own repressed memories as a spy herself. An actual agent Argylle isn’t supposed to exist until he shows up at a book reading, played by Henry Cavill, apparently as the real deal. So Elly invented Argylle as an avatar for herself — but also he’s real? That’s one twist already, but then we get a mid-credits scene where a younger version of Argylle (Louis Partridge) goes to a bar, and we learn that he’s a Kingsman agent, connecting “Argylle” to the “Kingsman” franchise, both of which have been helmed by director Matthew Vaughn. 

The issue with this scene is that it’s a total hat on a hat. The ending offers one twist (that Argylle is real), and that would be enough for a potential sequel to explore. However, viewers get thrown for another loop upon learning that “Argylle” is connected to this whole other film franchise. It’s too much to end a single film on, especially one that no one really seemed to care for. “Argylle” has a 33% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it grossed just shy of $100 million at the worldwide box office. This feels like a one-and-done film as opposed to the beginning of a fruitful franchise. 

Even if it was a larger success, it complicates the future of the sequels. Would we get “Argylle 2” or would a follow-up be some kind of “Argylle” and “Kingsman” crossover? Neither one sounds particularly promising, so maybe it’d be best for movies to wait until their proven quantities before teasing such ambitious teases.

The post-credits scene to “Argylle” is especially weird considering the last entry in the “Kingsman” franchise — 2021’s “The King’s Man” — already has a bizarre bonus scene of its own that will likely never pay off. “The King’s Man” is a prequel to the previous films that takes place in the lead-up to World War I, with Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl) helping with atrocities behind the scenes. In the movie’s bumper, Erik is with Vladimir Lenin (August Diehl), and a third figure soon appears from the shadows. Erik introduces the two, who will serve as his left and right hands, and the mystery man introduces himself as Adolf Hitler (David Kross). 

Since “The King’s Man” is about World War I, it makes sense that a prospective sequel would involve World War II. This would involve Hitler, but it doesn’t make the tease any less distasteful. It’s even more baffling in context, as Hitler appears in silhouette at first, teeing him up like he’s a new Marvel villain.

In a 2023 interview with Collider, Matthew Vaughn said how he wanted to still make a sequel to “The King’s Man,” called “The Traitor King.” “The next one is about the rise of Hitler, and how Hitler did come to power and was essentially supported by the English aristocracy,” Vaughn explained. That could’ve been interesting, and perhaps it would’ve redeeemed the post-credits scene. However, in 2024, Steve Asbell, an executive at 20th Century Studios, said there are no plans for more “Kingsman” movies. Like so many comic book post-credits scenes that preceded it, the Hitler tease seems to be going nowhere. 

Even Gavin Hood, the director of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” understands what went wrong with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in that film. Namely, the character needs to be allowed to embrace his full R-rated potential and be as foul-mouthed as he can be. Turning him into a mute assassin for a movie’s big climax isn’t the right move to make, and the post-credits scene let the character down even further. 

Following Deadpool’s battle with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the film cuts back to the wreckage they left behind. We see a severed hand moving amongst the debris, and it makes its way to Deadpool’s decapitated head. The eyes bolt open and then he shooshes the audience. It’s all very cliche, and it’s disappointing that the film apparently was setting up a more comic-accurate Deadpool only in these final moments. 

Deadpool is basically immortal, so it makes sense he’s still alive here. Plus, the skin covering his mouth has been undone, so theoretically, a future version of this Deadpool could’ve been a motormouth. It sets up a Deadpool everyone would’ve wanted to see rather than give us that version right now. Then again, if this was going to turn into the Merc with the Mouth we all know and love, it would’ve been more appropriate for him to do something funny. Thank goodness Reynolds got a chance to play a better Deadpool, because it would be super disappointing if this was the last time such an iconic character appeared on the big screen. 

There are numerous things in “Green Lantern” that don’t make sense, and chiefly among them is the post-credits scene. On the surface, it’s a standard superhero movie teaser where Sinestro (Mark Strong) receives a yellow ring, hinting that he would embrace his villainous side for the “Green Lantern” sequel that never happened. That in and of itself isn’t enough to make this one of the worst post-credits scenes ever. There are plenty of movies hinting at something that never comes to fruition.

The “Green Lantern” post-credits scene is bizarre because it completely undoes Sinestro’s arc in the rest of the film. Sinestro is another member of the Green Lantern Corps., albeit one who doesn’t believe Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is worthy of wearing the ring. After Hal showcases his bravery, Sinestro and the rest of the Corps. accept him as one of their own. There’s really no point in Sinestro putting on the yellow ring in the film other than we, as the audience, know from the comics that he becomes a bad guy. 

Perhaps a sequel would’ve put this scene in greater context and redeemed it. As it stands, it ruins Sinestro’s character in the context of that film, who was one of the few good things in that movie to begin with.

If you’re just now learning that “Vice,” the Dick Cheney biopic, has a post-credits scene, you’re not alone. It’s not exactly the type of film that lends itself to a teaser, unless a shadowy figure were to enter a room and say something like, “My name’s Donald Trump, and I have big plans for this country.” No, “Vice” has an extra scene partway through the credits where we cut to a focus group discussing the movie we just saw. One guy’s upset that “Vice” clearly has a liberal bias, and another man starts an argument with him, asserting there can’t be a bias because the film is just reporting things Cheney did. 

It’s almost like director Adam McKay knew “Vice” would draw controversy, so he’s getting ahead of the firestorm. But “Vice” should really be a film that stands on its own. It’s almost like McKay’s saying that, if you dislike the film, you must be a conservative, while liberals will defend everything in this movie. It doesn’t take long until a fight breaks out between the two men, at which point, we go toward a young woman who says, “I can’t wait to see the new ‘Fast and the Furious’ movie. That looks lit.”

With that, it seems like McKay’s saying most people just want to watch mind-numbing entertainment without substance. We could be completely off-base with this interpretation, but it feels like the movie’s already calling out anyone who winds up disliking or getting bored by it. It’s a weird, goofy note to end on after we saw Christian Bale’s Cheney growl directly at the camera and say how he has no regrets about anything he’s done.

Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) is primarily a Shazam villain. If his movie was going to set up a fight in a sequel, it’d make sense for Shazam (Zachary Levi) to show up, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Black Adam gets on Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) radar, who insists he shouldn’t step out of bounds, as she can call in a favor to keep him in line. In a cloud of dust and smoke, Superman (Henry Cavill) emerges and says that the two of them should talk. With this, we learn the whole point of “Black Adam” is to set up a fight with the Man of Steel.

What would Superman and Black Adam chat about? We’ll never know, since the DC Extended Universe was dying at this point, and any future projects with either iteration of the character would move forward. Even if it did, a “Black Adam vs. Superman” movie comes across as needless posturing for Johnson. It’s obvious “Black Adam” was a vanity project for Johnson, who didn’t want to stoop to fighting Shazam in another project. Johnson wanted the big man himself — Superman. It feels like this prospective sequel would’ve existed to stroke Johnson’s ego rather than fit into a more cohesive narrative. 

Not only that, it’s downright odd that the movie establishes Amanda Waller and Superman have some kind of relationship. Waller’s involved in plenty of nefarious activities, and Superman should never work with her, even tangentially. It’s a scene that makes no sense to set up a movie no one wants. 

There’s a really bizarre trend of superhero movie post-credits scenes where the scene itself is trying to build hype rather than make any logical sense. Before “Black Adam,” there was the 2016 “Suicide Squad” bonus scene that involves Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) meeting up with Amanda Waller. She provides him with details concerning metahumans like the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa). Waller insists she could get in big trouble for providing him with this information, and he assures her she’s under his protection. Waller then reveals she knows Bruce is Batman, and Bruce gives her a stern warning to shut down Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad program.

The scene’s clearly meant to get viewers excited for “Justice League,” but none of this adds up. Bruce Wayne should already know about the Flash and Aquaman, because there was a whole sequence in “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” where he had security footage of them. He shouldn’t need Waller’s help at all. Bruce’s warning also appears to have fallen on deaf ears, as Waller continues with Task Force X.

Come to think of it, the scenes in “Suicide Squad” and “Black Adam” make zero sense together. Bruce Wayne would never allow anyone on the Justice League, let alone Superman, to work with Waller, yet that’s precisely what happens. Every film seems concerned with doing whatever looks cool in the moment without considering how it fits into the larger puzzle of having an interconnected cinematic universe. 

Knull (Andy Serkis) in “Venom: The Last Dance” is the definition of aura farming. He doesn’t really do anything other than monologue ominously in shadows while sending Xenophages to Earth to hunt Venom and Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy). In a mid-credits scene, we return to the prison Knull is held at where he says how he’ll soon be released and unleash chaos throughout the cosmos. He then pulls his head up and looks directly at the camera to say, “And you will watch!”

Unfortunately, no one will be watching that, as Sony has cancelled all upcoming Spider-Man spinoff films as part of its cinematic universe that also includes “Morbius,” “Madame Web,” and “Kraven the Hunter.” Knull is one of Marvel’s most terrifying villains in the comics, and he’s completely wasted in “The Last Dance.” It’s utterly perplexing that the third “Venom” movie, which should theoretically close out Venom’s arc, dedicates so much of its runtime to establishing Knull as this future threat without knowing for certain that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe would properly use him.

This is a big problem with a lot of post-credits scenes. It always feels like the movie you just watched isn’t the one the filmmakers wanted to tell. They’d rather give you the more exciting idea being teased. If that’s the case, then just make the exciting movie. Don’t waste people’s time with a pointless origin story when we could just get Knull versus Venom right from the start.

A lot of post-credits scene don’t go anywhere. Hopefully, the scene is entertaining in its own right and allows you to speculate as to where the franchise could’ve gone had it been given a chance. Then there’s whatever 1987’s “Master of the Universe” was trying to do.

To be fair, in the 1980s, post-credits scenes weren’t as prevalent as they are today. When they did pop up, they were usually for jokes like in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” However, “Masters of the Universe” was confident that it would get a sequel, so its last scene sees Skeletor (Frank Langella), who was stripped of his power and pushed into a pit earlier, return. His skull emerges from a red, bubbling liquid and says, “I’ll be back!” The scene then freeze-frames on his face with a foreboding musical cue. 

“Masters of the Universe 2” never happened, but aside from that, the scene just feels lazy. There’s no hint at what Skeletor’s next plan would be, and that’s probably because the writers hadn’t thought that far. They just wanted to let everyone know Skeletor survived the fall and wished for the best. In a way, the “Masters of the Universe” post-credits scene shows how Hollywood really hasn’t come that far. Decades after that scene, we still get moments that make us scratch our heads and wonder why anyone thought this was a good idea.