Thanks to Marvel, superhero movies and post-credit scenes basically go hand in hand. Recently, Marvel has really played with that expectation, going super excessive with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and including a knowing wink in Spider-Man: Homecoming. DC movies, on the other hand, have never felt beholden to that; not incorporating scenes in the credits has been a way to stand apart from Marvel. But DC hasn’t skipped them altogether.
Image: Warner Bros.
Suicide Squad, for instance, has a credits scene of Bruce Wayne meeting Amanda Waller and getting the bios of a bunch of superheroes. It’s a vital moment leading up toward Justice League. And while neither Man of Steel nor Batman v Superman had one, director Zack Snyder did release a kind of teaser scene online shortly after the latter film’s release. He said the following about it on the set of Justice League:
That scene I guess was our way of — I kind thought like, ‘Oh, that would be a cool after-credits sequence.’ But then I was like, ‘I don’t know, can I do that?’ because Marvel kind of does that. ‘Is that a thing?’ So we were like, ‘Oh! Well, maybe there’s another way to do it, by just having it [online]’ — does that make sense?
Which brings us to the most recent DC movie, Wonder Woman. In a new interview, directory Patty Jenkins explained her thoughts on the subject.
I’m not always a believer in post-credit scenes. I feel like they make sense if the films are extremely similar. I think if you know the next movie is going to be set in the same world or have the exact same tone, then I think it makes sense. To me, it does not make sense to have a commercial for a completely different style of movie in the credits of another movie. One of my favourite things about the DC Universe is they were super supportive of me doing my own tone, but there’s no other movie that they have that’s of the same tone. So it just felt weird to do some other crossover. Also, the end of the movie was the end. It wasn’t, ‘Tune in later for more.’
Of course, she’s right. Having a credits scene setting up Justice League or something else at the end of a movie that’s set almost 100 years earlier wouldn’t make sense. Plus, after the singular experience of watching Wonder Woman, you don’t want the audience to already be thinking about the next thing. Let them enjoy the movie they just saw.
I love a good end credits scene, but I never want it to feel forced. The scenes that Marvel incorporates work because of the reason Jenkins gives: They’re used in films that take place in the same universe, and share a similar tone. Wonder Woman isn’t Suicide Squad nor is it Batman v Superman. And it remains to be seen if it’s Justice League. The question then becomes, is Justice League closer to Aquaman or whichever other DC movie comes next? It seems possible… and which leads us to believe that movie might have an end-credits scene. But, for Wonder Woman, ending the movie as the credits began to roll was the right choice.