Does Dark Phoenix have a post-credits scene?
The new X-Men movie has been cited as the last in the series
For the last few years, hidden scenes after the credits of superhero movies have become the Done Thing – but maybe that’s starting to change.
After all, Marvel’s epic Avengers: Endgame did away with the post-credits scenes earlier this year as a mark of its status as the conclusion of the MCU’s saga until that point (though there was a little treat for fans if they waited), while superhero films from other non-Marvel studios have sometimes shied away from them in the past.
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And now, with the release of 20th Century Fox’s final X-Men movie Dark Phoenix – the last film in production before Fox’s sale to Disney, who also own Marvel and have their own plans for the X-Men characters – fans will also be greeted with nothing after the credits.
Yes, that’s right – the franchise that actually kicked off the trend for superheroic post-credits stings back in 2006’s The Last Stand ends without any, so if you’re hoping to see any teases about where the X-Men will go under Marvel, you’ll come away disappointed.
In a way, this is hardly a surprise. Post-credits scenes are traditionally used to tease future films and new villains, and given that the X-Men are ending this version of their existence without any such future projects in development, it makes sense to keep things simpler.
And perhaps we’re being churlish, sitting here and complaining about waiting through the list of everyone who worked on Dark Phoenix without a treat at the end.
The filmmakers themselves might think so – because there is actually a short message at the end of the credits noting the “15,000 jobs” created by the movie and the hundreds of thousands of work hours it generated. Don’t those people deserve a cursory watch of their name after all that effort?
Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe this message is where fans might expect a secret scene to remind us why the credits are there in the first place.
And maybe it’s a nudge to stay and appreciate people’s work in future, even without a Wolverine cameo hidden at the end…
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is in UK cinemas now
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
