Entertainment
What's The 'Age Of Ultron' Post-Credits Scene?
Every Marvel movie fan knows to stay all the way until the very end of the credits. There's always a post-credits scene in Marvel films, whether it's just an extra minute of footage and at least a teaser for what's coming in the follow-up movies. However, Joss Whedon said that there will be no Avengers: Age of Ultron post-credits scene — but, fear not, fans, because there is one mid-credits teasers (aka, placed just after the first set of credits, but before the main list). If you've already seen the film and need more information as to what it means, or you're just curious as to what it is, here's a breakdown.
Obviously, there will be SPOILERS, so turn back now if you want to keep it all a secret.
After the screen goes black, light starts to poke through the center. The camera is positioned in some sort of mechanical vault that is slowly opening to reveal what's sitting inside. The gem-less golden glove that is The Infinity Gauntlet is resting in the center, and the figure reaching in to grab it is the Mad Titan himself, Thanos, performed through motion capture and voiced by Josh Brolin. He says, in a deep, gravely voice, "Fine. I'll do it myself."
The stinger in the first Avengers revealed Thanos' smirking profile for the first time, Thor: The Dark World gave us a first look at The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy , and Captain America: The Winter Soldier debuted Age of Ultron's Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. So this latest addition is short and a bit underwhelming to say the least. But if you can't get enough of Thanos, then it's worth sticking around for.
Marvel has had a plan in place since the studio's first MCU installment, Iron Man, and that plan is the impending two-part Avengers: Infinity War, of which Thanos plays an intricate role. For those who need a quick crash course in what all of this means, here's what you need to know to impress your Marvel-obsessed friends:
As Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) explained in Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively, there are relics called The Infinity Stones. These gems pre-date the universe, and contain limitless power. We've already seen a few of them, too: Captain America introduced the Tesseract, the first Avengers film brought in the stone in Loki's scepter, the Aether popped up in Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy dealt with the orb. It's all connected! There are six in total — Mind (Loki's scepter), Soul (rumored to be the Aether), Power (the orb), Space (Tesseract), Time (TBD) and Reality (TBD) — but when combined with the Infinity Gauntlet, they create a weapon more powerful than anything in the universe. (However, it's worth noting that the image of the Infinity Gauntlet only shows room for five stones instead of six.)
This has been Thanos' plan all along. If you remember, he was the one who gave Loki the mind gem and an army in order to bring back the Tesseract, and he enlisted Ronan The Accuser to acquire the Power Stone. He's been relying on lesser beings to acquire these artifacts, but now, according to the Avengers: Age of Ultron post-credits scene, he will do the job himself.
The third and fourth Avengers movies, coming in 2018 and 2019, will be two parts of one story that sees Earth's Mightiest Heroes facing off against the most powerful villain in the Marvel comics as he wields the Infinity Gauntlet. Before this happens, Marvel will introduce movies for Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel, all of which will presumably join the Avengers in this epic battle.
But, we don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. Age of Ultron is debuting in U.S. theaters this weekend, and that alone has a lot to offer fans.
