The Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed the way people watch movies in many ways, but possibly the most important is the way it has convinced audiences to sit through the credits. Rare is there an MCU movie without an exciting post-credits tease for an upcoming Marvel movie, or at the very least a funny joke.
However, Marvel Studios didn't invent the post-credits scene. Many movies added scenes after the credits began that made it worth continuing to watch. And since the MCU made them popular, a lot more movies have added their own. Here are some of the best post-credits scenes that aren't from Marvel movies.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off gets the audience to hang around by having an entire extra scene play out throughout the credits. This means there's a pretty good chance most of the audience is still watching when Matthew Broderick's Ferris returns, in his bathrobe, to ask why the audience why they're all still here because the movie is over.
The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The curse, in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is all about pirates who have been cursed with a state of living death after stealing Aztec gold. By the end of the film, the curse has been lifted as all the gold is returned. However, in a post-credits scene, we see Captain Barbossa's pet monkey, Jack, steal one of the pieces of gold back, cursing the little monkey once again.
Frozen II
One of the most popular scenes in Frozen II is where Olaf relates the story of the original movie to the people of the Enchanted Forest. It was so popular Olaf got an entire Disney+ show dedicated to him telling different Disney stories. But there is one final Olaf story you missed as if you haven't sat through the credits as Olaf relates the movie we just watched to Marshmellow and the Snowgies at Elsa's Ice Castle.
Black Adam
Black Adam was one of the last DC movies released before the decision was made to reboot the DCU under James Gunn. It was especially unfortunate timing since the Black Adam post-credits scene saw the return of Henry Cavill as Superman for the first time since Justice League, and teased a superhero battle with Black Adam we'll now never see.
The Muppet Movie
The Muppet Movie is a movie within a movie, so when the credits roll, the audiences of both films are wrapping up their theater experience. We watch a scene over the credit of the Muppets getting up to various shenanigans. If you got so involved that you stayed through the credits, Animal shouts at you to "Go Home."
Tomb Raider
Alicia Vikander starred as video game heroine Lara Croft in a 2018 film that failed to relaunch a franchise. The first film was clearly hoping there would be more, as a post-credits scene shows Lara returning to a weapons dealer she dealt with earlier in the film, to buy two identical handguns, a reference to the video game character's classic dual-wielding style.
Daredevil
The MCU may have made post-credits scenes cool, but some pre-MCU Marvel movies had them first. The original Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck in the title role included Colin Farrell as comic book villain Bullseye. The character appears to die in the film, being tossed out a window by the man without fear. However, a post-credits scene reveals a heavily bandaged Bullseye is still alive, teasing a sequel that would never come.
Fast & Furious 6
Many post-credits scenes are used to tease the villains for future installments, but few have gone as big as Fast & Furious 6. The final scene in that movie reveals that the death of fan-favorite character Han wasn't an accident as believed, but rather caused by a new antagonist, played by none other than Jason Statham, and he was coming for the rest of the team.
Masters of the Universe
The first attempt at a big-screen live-action He-Man movie did not go well, but that didn't mean Masters of the Universe wasn't ready for sequels. Despite Skelator appearing to die in the movie, a post-credit scene reveals that the villain is still very much alive. He promised, "I'll be back." He was not.
Space Jam
Space Jam starred Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, and there's really only way to end a Looney Tunes movie. Bugs Bunny appears in a post-credits scene to say the classic "That's All Folks" before Porky Pig arrives to claim the line as his own. Even Daffy Duck gets in on the action leading to a scuffle over who gets to end the movie.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The box office success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie made a sequel all but guaranteed. Considering the decades of Mario games there are plenty of directions for a second film to go, but a post-credits scene seemed to make at least one thing clear, as it revealed the existence of a Yoshi egg in New York, and it was hatching.
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Ralph Breaks the Internet wasn't the best Disney movie but it had some pretty good jokes about the modern internet age. One of the best came after the credits of the film where Ralph teased the audience with scenes from the then-upcoming Frozen II only to Rickroll the audience with a clip of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The Venom movies are not technically part of the MCU, but the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage teased that possibility when Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote found themselves transported to a world where Tom Holland played Spider-Man.
Cloverfield
What we got at the end of Cloverfield wasn't technically a scene, as it had no visual element. Instead, staying through to the end audiences heard a sound which, when played in reverse, revealed a voice saying "It's still alive." It seems the monster maybe isn't dead after all.
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand kills off several members of the classic team, but not all of them stay dead. In a post-credits scene, Dr. Moira MacTaggert discovers that Professor X is still alive. After having his body destroyed by Phoenix, his mind has seemingly taken over a comatose patient.
Pacific Rim
Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim certainly left a door open to potential sequels, but its post-credits scene is just a hilarious joke that reveals that Ron Perlman's character, who had been consumed by a baby kaiju, is actually still alive. He cuts himself free while wondering what happened to his shoe, which had fallen off while he was being devoured.
Deadpool
In a post-credits scene that references another post-credits scene, the final shots of Deadpool are dedicated to a shot-for-shot recreation of the Ferris Bueller's Day Off scene where the Merc with a Mouth informs audiences waiting for a post-credits scene to go home because the movie is over.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has a somewhat sad ending as it confirms that Will's new responsibilities as Captain of the Flying Dutchman will keep away from his love Elizabeth. But the post-credits scene makes things a bit happier Set years later, Elizabeth and her child, conceived during their last time together, are seen arriving at the shore for Will's return. Love has won out.
Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad was a movie that, despite a solid box office, never got the follow-up many fans were expecting. This is even though its post-credits scene included an appearance by Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne, getting information on the Squad for reasons that we would never learn about.
Lightyear
Lightyear was Pixar's attempt to take the popular Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear in a new direction, making a more traditional science fiction action movie. While the movie's box office guaranteed no sequel would be forthcoming, the movie has multiple post-credit sequences teasing a future for the character, including a final confirmation that Zurg still lives.
Kong: Skull Island
Modern post-credits scenes are frequently used to build cinematic universes, to add scenes that are not necessary to the main film but can add flavor or context. Such was the final scene of Kong: Skull Island which officially revealed that Kong lived in the same world as Godzilla and other kaiju, confirming the MonsterVerse that was to come.
Ghostbusters (2016)
The 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters featuring an all-female cast was largely its own thing, with a story and characters quite unlike the original, However, if there had been a sequel, it might have dealt with elements from the original franchise as the post-credits scene includes Leslie Jones listening to a tape recording and asking "What's Zuul?"
Airplane!
It's worth reading the credits for 1980's Airplane!, as many of them are quite funny. If you do stay through, you'll be treated to one final joke. The cab that Ted Striker left at the curb at the airport at the beginning of the movie, is still there, and surprisingly, so is the guy who was planning to take the cab before Ted ran off. He figures he's going to give the guy another 20 minutes, and then he'll leave.
Wonder Woman 1984
It's not uncommon for franchise movies that have been on TV or the big screen before to include cameo appearances by the stars who played the roles previously. Wonder Woman 1984 takes that to a new level when a post-credits scene reveals that Asteria, the Amazonian warrior whose armor Diana wore in the main film, is still alive, and is played by the original TV Wonder Woman Lynda Carter.
Big Hero 6
Until Stan Lee passed away the Marvel Comics creator had a cameo in virtually every movie ever made based on Marvel properties. While Big Hero 6 was the creation of Walt Disney Animation Studios, it's based on a Marvel Comic, and is about superheroes, so of course Stan Lee appears. Lee plays Fred's dad, and in the post-credits scene, Fred discovers his dad is also a superhero.
Jumanji: The Next Level
After two Jumanji movies brought kids into the game as video game avatars, the post-credits sequence of Jumanji: The Next Level potentially teased something different. After the game is activated once again our human main characters find themselves in the middle of a stampede of ostriches, indicating that Jumanji has now come to the real world.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was so popular that fans instantly wanted a sequel, and the movie itself seemed to know that. Its post-credits scene introduced a new version of Spidey we hadn't met in the main movie, Spider-Man 2099, who would go on to become a key character in the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Finding Dory
Finding Dory has little direct connection to its predecessor Finding Nemo beyond the main characters. However, the sequel does reveal the fate of some characters from the first film in a post-credits scene. We learn that Gill and the other fish who escaped from the aquarium are alive, though they're still stuck in the bags they escaped in.
Fast Five
Staying dead in the Fast & Furious franchise is a difficult thing. Nearly everybody who has died has come back to life. The first of those was Michelle Rodriquez's Letty. Believed dead early in the fourth Fast & Furious movie, in the post-credits scene of Fast Five we learn that she is, in fact, still alive.
Suicide Squad
Considering the name of the team is Suicide Squad, a surprising number of them don't die in the James Gunn-directed sequel. Two scenes pop in after the credits start. The first reveals that Weasel, despite apparently drowning in the first few minutes of the film, is still alive. The second scene reveals that Peacemaker, who had been shot in the neck and had a building fall on him, was somehow not dead, setting up his HBO Max series.
Moana
Moana goes through so much on her journey across the sea that it would be easy to forget about Tamatoa, the crab obsessed with shiny objects that Maui needs to face to get back his magic fishhook. He ends up flat on his back in the altercation, and as a post-credits scene reveals, he's still like that when the movie is over.
Deadpool 2
Deadpool 2 deals with time travel, and unsurprisingly Deadpool decides to use the power for his own ends once the future has been saved. In a series of sequences Deadpool saves the love of his life, undoes the events of X-Men: Origins Wolverine, and even prevents Ryan Reynolds from making a really bad superhero movie.
