Kevin Feige explains how the MCU connect to Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige explains how the MCU’s post-credits scenes connect to the freshly-announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Kevin Feige explains how the MCU’s newest post-credits scenes connect to Avengers 5 and Avengers 6. From the get-go, stingers have been a staple in MCU projects. While the franchise didn’t invent them, it popularized their use in modern cinema. Now, even some of their TV series include post-credits scenes, mostly to set up what comes next in the MCU.

Given this, there’s understandable interest in knowing what Phase 4’s post-credits scenes mean in the greater scheme of things for the universe. Marvel Studios recently returned to San Diego Comic-Con for the first time in three years since announcing Phase 4 in 2019. This time, Feige laid out the MCU’s full Phase 5 slate, as well as some projects in Phase 6. Everything will culminate with two back-to-back Avengers films. Officially titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s safe to say that most of what Marvel Studios has been doing and still does will lead to their events. That includes their MCU post-credits scenes.

MCU’s Iron Man Post-Credits Trick Isn’t Working In Phase 4 – MCU Phase 4 is debuting a lot of new characters through post-credits scenes, but nothing has worked as well as Nick Fury’s stinger in Iron Man. Marvel Studios is desperately trying to repeat Iron Man’s post-credits trick, but because of one particular reason, it isn’t working in MCU Phase 4. After the events of the Infinity Saga, Kevin Feige and his team are busy rebuilding the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and they are currently setting the groundwork for their next culminating event. Since the franchise appears to be at another starting point again, it’s understandable that Marvel Studios’ moves to set up Phase 4 are drawing comparisons with their MCU Phase 1 blueprint. At this point, it’s still to early gauge what Marvel Studios’ long-term plan is. Unlike Phase 1, where films were clearly being woven together leading to The Avengers, there is barely a single common denominator among all of the MCU Phase 4 projects. Instead, most of their stories exist in their own pockets of the universe. One thing that Marvel Studios seems to be trying to copy from Phase 1 is using post-credits scenes to introduce new characters. This approach worked really well when debuting Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in Iron Man’s stinger, so it is sensible that they are trying to emulate its success once again.

Marvel Studios’ attempts at recreating their original post-credits trick’s impact for the wider MCU aren’t working. Both Phase 4 films and TV shows have used post-credits scenes to introduce new characters: Eternals had Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt) and Eros (Harry Styles), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had Clea (Charlize Theron), Moon Knight had Jake Lockley (Oscar Isaac), and more recently Thor: Love & Thunder had Hercules (Brett Goldstein). Yet none of these reveals have had the same effect as Fury’s Iron Man post-credits scene debut because, unlike the former SHIELD director, none of these characters have made another appearance since their arrival. Fury, on the other hand, immediately became a primary player in Iron Man 2, followed by his stinger involvement in Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Despite not being physically present in The Incredible Hulk, he was at least mentioned. All of these cameos led to The Avengers – where he solidified his place in the MCU’s Phase 1 storytelling.

Phase 4’S Post-Credits Prove The MCU’s Future Problem

Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel, Feige explains how recent post-credits scenes might connect to the next two Avengers films. According to him, not all stingers will be tied to the crossover events, just like not all projects will lead to them. However, he notes that there’s a conscious effort on them to properly set up Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. The truth is, all of the tags are never just about the future. There are tags that are eating shwarma, Captain America saying you know you gotta learn patience, sometimes, you know, you wait for something that’s not worth it. So they are always fun for us. We don’t want everything to feel the same. So some of the tags will connect and some of them won’t. Some of the films and shows will connect; some of them won’t. I think it’s just as important that we can have standalone introductory stories like Ms. Marvel, like Moon Knight, in addition to things that interconnect and build towards the larger story. A lot of what we’ve been doing has been building to this larger story, obviously with The Kang Dynasty and the Multiverse Saga, and now I think people will, I hope, come along for the ride. Both where it’s you’re on the express train to the finale, also when it’s fun, as many of our Phase 1, 2 and 3 films were. MCU Phase 4 post-credits scenes have been a mix of teases and fun tags. However, one pretty popular trend right now is using them to introduce new characters. This has been the case with Eternals debuting Eros (Harry Styles) and Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness revealing Charlize Theron’s Clea, and more recently, Brett Goldstein arriving as Hercules in Thor: Love and Thunder. It isn’t a new trick; Iron Man did this with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who immediately discussed the Avengers Initiative.