'Avengers: Infinity War' Post-Credits Scene Is a Return to the MCU's Basics

The ending of Avengers: Infinity War was perhaps the most shocking thing that’s happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The conclusion totally upended the MCU in ways that fans were not prepared for, but the movie’s post-credits scene was a return to the basics in a comforting, familiar way.

This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War and its post-credits scene.

Infinity War ends with Thanos getting his hands on all of the Infinity Stones and snapping half of the universe’s population out of existence. For the first time in the MCU, the good guys lost, and in a major way. The last shot before the credits roll is Thanos looking at the sunset, as he promised he would do after he’d achieved victory. After an agonizingly long wait for the credits to wrap up, though, viewers are treated to something they’ve seen before: Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury subtly hinting there’s a larger story out there.

Right before Nick Fury turns to ash, having already watched Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) disappear, he pulls out a fancy pager and sends a message before vaporizing. Dude didn’t even get a chance to drop the MCU’s first F-bomb before he went. However, a look at his pager reveals he was reaching out to Captain Marvel, hinting that the hero (who makes her debut next year) will have a big role to play in fixing this mess.

It’s a neat little scene, and it’s very similar to the MCU’s first-ever post-credits scene, when Nick Fury stepped out of the shadows of Tony Stark’s mansion and told Iron Man about the Avengers Initiative.

Of course, the impact of Infinity War’s scene can’t quite match the impact of that first one. Not a single person in my Infinity War screening left early, because we expect post-credits scenes. And, a lot of folks in the audience probably expected that the scene would include some hint about Captain Marvel since that movie is already on Marvel’s widely known film schedule. Iron Man’s scene was a total surprise, and the promise of the The Avengers was groundbreaking.

Still, there’s a very nice bit of symmetry between Infinity War and Iron Man’s post-credits scenes. Infinity War, which is the end of an era in many ways, ends with a nice nod to the scene that started it all.

Avengers: Infinity War is now in theaters.