MCU's Iconic 15-Year Tradition Started Off As a Last-Minute Addition
And now it's hard to imagine leaving any Marvel film early.
There's probably not a person on the planet who doesn't know that you have to watch the post-credits after a Marvel Studios movie.
While it can be annoying to sit through the fast-moving text on the screen, the little post-credit episodes are usually worth it.
They offer a closer look at upcoming projects and tease what the future may hold for the characters.
But like any tradition, it all started somewhere. And it's fair to say that the beginning of this one was neither intentional nor as glamorous and hyped as it is now.
We can assume that today's post-credit scenes are as carefully crafted as the rest of the movie script, with the director, studio executives, and writers coming up with the perfect balance of humor and spoilers they can fit in.
The scene we all saw (or missed) back in 2008 when the first Iron Man movie was released was very different.
"I got a call from Kevin, who said, 'Samuel L. Jackson is showing up tomorrow to do a favor. He's just showing up and we're going to wing it," Brian Michael Bendis recalls the moment he was asked to write a final dialogue.
It's almost impossible to imagine the reality in which Marvel decides to shoot a scene in one day, with no script, no plans, and the big Hollywood actor available only out of goodwill, but that's exactly what happened.
Much like the student's last-minute project, the scene was put together and written overnight.
Fortunately for the film's production team, it was a huge success, and the final scene did not go unnoticed either.
With Samuel L. Jackson's iconic line, "I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative," the MCU not only launched another incredibly successful franchise but also a long-running tradition that fans are still on board with 15 years later.
If you are feeling nostalgic, you can re-watch all the Iron Man movies from the beginning on Disney Plus.
Source: Collider