Avengers: Endgame is finally in theaters after a year-long wait. The movie is breaking box office records left and right, earning $1.2 billion globally in its opening weekend. Just for reference, it took Infinity War eleven days to reach that milestone. With that being said, Endgame is the end of eleven years-worth of storytelling and the culmination of 22 installments, which has led to questions about the post-credits scenes, or the lack of them. There are MAJOR SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame below, so read at your own risk.
While Avengers: Endgame is the end of an era, it is not the true end to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 3. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently revealed that information, stating this summer’s Spider-Man: Far From Home will mark the end of Phase 3. Going into the theater knowing this, many expected there to be a mid or post-credit scene to set up the next movie, but there are neither. Instead, at the very end of the credits, the Marvel logo flashes on the screen and fans are treated to a clanking noise.
It has not been officially confirmed exactly what the clanking noise is, but many MCU fans are under the impression that it’s a tribute to Tony Stark and the first Iron Man, otherwise known as the movie that started everything. It’s believed the clanking noise is Stark making the first Iron Man suit and that seems to fit almost too well. Stark obviously didn’t make it out of this movie alive and risked his life to save the universe, so it would seem the lack of post-credit scenes is a tribute to the man who started it all.
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There are other theories as to what the clanking sound at the end of Avengers: Endgame is. Could it be Riri Williams making her Iron Man suit in tribute to Tony Stark? Or is Beta Ray Bill on his way to the MCU? There are plenty of ways this could go, but for now, the most logical assumption is that the noise is a nod to the past and has nothing to do with the future. Hopefully the Russo Brothers will clear this one up after everybody has seen the movie, though with the box office numbers, it looks like everybody has already seen it.
Avengers: Endgame is the first movie in the MCU’s eleven year history to not include a post-credit scene. Since just about all of the MCU post-credit scenes led us to Endgame, it makes sense there isn’t a traditional post-credit scene at the end of the movie. Spider-Man: Far From Home will more than likely pickup the tradition again, but what is it going to set up? Will we get a Phase 4 tease from Peter Parker this summer? We’ll just have to wait and see what Marvel Studios has to say at San Diego Comic-Con.
