The post-credits scene has become a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films so it's no surprise that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 film has one. What's surprising is that it doesn't just have one. It also doesn't just have two. Incredibly, director James Gunn revealed following the critics' screening last night that the new film actually has five different scenes that unfold after the credits begin to roll.
If there are five scenes left after the credits begin, does the movie even still count as being "over" at that point? Maybe it's more accurate to say that the credits will roll during the movie's final scenes. Apparently, there are four scenes that would qualify as mid-credits scenes, as they take place during the film's final minutes, followed by a fifth scene at the very end once the credits are done. At this point, nobody is talking about what they are. Even our own Eric Eisenberg who was at the screening is not talking.
Most credits scenes in Marvel films act as connective tissue between entries in the franchise, although the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie broke that mold by giving us a scene that was pure comedy, and had no real impact on the MCU as a whole, unless Howard the Duck ends up being the one to defeat Thanos. With five scenes in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we can expect that entertainment is very likely the focus of most of them, but we'd guess that least one of them will give us some sort of connection to the greater MCU. With both Thor: Ragnarok releasing this year, which will also be a "cosmic" Marvel movie, and the fact that Avengers: Infinity War is getting ever closer, we're expecting the groundwork to begin to be laid that will bring the Guardians together with the rest of the Marvel universe.
One has to hand it to James Gunn. He knows that Marvel fans love those little post-credits stingers, and so he decides to go all out and just give the fans as many of them as he can probably fit into the credits. Putting five of them in at once feels like it's meant to be an additional joke on top of whatever we get in the scenes. "Oh, did you think that was going to be all? Stick around, we've got even more on the way."
At the same time, it will probably be really nice to have five scenes to keep us entertained. Movie credits can get so long, especially with digital effects-heavy movies like Guardians of the Galaxy. The fans are certainly going to sit through them to get to the end just to be sure they've seen everything, so at least we'll have four other scenes to help us get to the last one.
