I'm not going to tell you what happens in the post-credits scenes in Thor: The Dark World. The whole point of Marvel's famous credits scenes is that they're still surprising, even now that we all know to stay through the end of the credits and expect a tiny scene that moves the story forward for the next movie. But with Thor: The Dark World's director Alan Taylor talking about one of the two credits scenes in his movie, and sounding not so happy about it, it's worth revealing a tiny bit. Tiny bit! That said:
SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE POST-CREDITS SCENES IN THOR: THE DARK WORLD
OK. So if you pay attention to the upcoming Marvel Studios slate, you've probably guessed by now that one of the two bonus scenes in Thor: The Dark World sets up Guardians of the Galaxy, the next would-be franchise that Marvel is launching with a release next August. Guardians just wrapped production, it's set in outer space just like Thor-- it makes sense. And in an interview with Bleeding Cool Taylor was willing to talk a bit about the mid-credits scene that introduces the Guardians world-- and, surprisingly, sounded fairly unhappy with how it turned out. Here's the snippet in question, which starts when the Bleeding Cool interviewer asks Taylor if he filmed the scene:
BC: So was that James Gunn?AT: I wouldn’t blame it on James Gunn.BC: Blame?AT: Er… I wouldn’t attribute it to James Gunn… it’s clearly his sets and his characters…BC: So you’re not quite comfortable with it?AT: I am very happy not to take responsibility for that…BC: It’s a different tone for sure, huh?AT: It’s a different tone. I would have shot it differently. But I think it’s cool that it reaches out and touches that other universe. That universe is coming. The Guardians universe is really cool and wacky… but that sequence in the credits, I would say, is the only part of the movie where I’m happy to give the credit away…
To be fair, the universe of Guardians of the Galaxy is extremely different from the one of Thor: The Dark World, something that's obvious just by comparing this image from Asgard to this concept artfrom Guardians. For my money that's what makes the mid-credits scene such a blast, the contrast between the mythic world of Thor and the shinier, more modern sci-fi of Guardians. With weird stuff like Bradley Cooper voicing a raccoon and Vin Diesel probably playing a tree, Guardians will feature all kinds of things that haven't been in any other Marvel movies before, and offering a sneak peek at the end of Thor: The Dark World gives audiences a little extra time to get used to it.
And you would think that Alan Taylor, who spent years directing TV shows as varied as Game of Thrones and Sex and the City and Bored to Death, would understand how to step into a larger storytelling universe and allow other people to tinker with what he's done. But apparently that contrast between the world of Thor and the Guardians felt jarring to him, and now he's put himself in the odd position of critiquing the directorial work behind a movie that won't come out for nearly a year.
For some more info Thor: The Dark World that includes even fewer spoilers than this post, you can check out our rundown of the 10 things to look out for in the movie. And to see a space movie that is nothing at all like Guardians of the Galaxy, apparently, check out the latest trailer for Thor: The Dark World below.
