As the credits of The Marvels begin to roll, the three lead heroes find themselves in different places than when they started their adventure together – one emotionally, one in terms of their maturity and one in a different place in a very real, cosmological sense. And while it makes for a satisfying ending to the film, some of these new statuses open doorways to new Marvel Cinematic Universe storylines, which are further teased in the film’s two closing end credits scenes.
(Spoilers ahead for the final moments of The Marvels.)
I’m Building A Team
The first credits scene does not follow the traditional Marvel placement for such scenes, i.e., either as a break within the end credits or at the very end of the credits. This scene actually comes before the end credits start. But since the scene itself still feels disconnected enough from the main narrative of The Marvels and looks forward to tease future MCU developments, we are giving it honorary end credits status.
This first scene opens in a rundown New York City apartment as Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) – last seen in 2021’s Disney+ series Hawkeye – enters in her purple Hawkeye costume with her bow, fresh from a night of adventuring. She has a bit of pizza for Lucky the Pizza Dog. As she begins to put her bow away, a figure sitting in a shadowy corner of the apartment speaks, “Kate Bishop, did you really think you were the only teenage superhero?”
Kate turns to see the figure standing up and coming into the light to reveal themselves as Kamala Khan. She is holding a datapad similar to the one we saw Nick Fury had earlier in the film, a datapad that connects to SWORD’s superhero database. “I’m twenty-three,” Kate protests, but Kamala ignores her and continues, “Did you know Ant-Man has a daughter?”
Essentially, the gist of Kamala’s visit with Kate is, if the Nick Fury-like antics didn’t make it obvious, to pitch her on a new team of younger heroes, a group that will sound to comics fans suspiciously like the Young Avengers. Kate seems dubious, and the scene ends with a “Please?” from Kamala.
The Young Avengers
In comics lore, the Young Avengers are group of adolescent heroes, some of whom have direct connections to the older Avengers team. Although the older heroes have reservations about the younger group risking their lives, they have helped train them to be the heroes of tomorrow. The possibility of a Young Avengers team coming to the MCU has been talked about by fans ever since the first announcements of projects for Phase Four and Five were made. And so far, we have seen in the MCU a few of the various young heroes who have made up the team’s roster in the comics – Kate Bishop, aka, Hawkeye, Kid Loki, Scott Lang/Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie, who goes by the codename Stature in the comics and America Chavez, aka Miss America. Additionally, we have seen Eli Bradley, who goes by the codename Patriot in the comics make an appearance in the Disney+ series The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, though he didn’t not exhibit the abilities of his comics counterpart. And while we have seen variant, alternate Earth versions of the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s twin sons, the main MCU has not yet seen them or their superhero personas of Wiccan and Speed.
So for right now, Marvel has a good number of characters that they can call on to create a Young Avengers team. Interestingly enough, though Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel has never been a Young Avenger, which opens the possibility of other characters that we have already seen in the MCU as potentially joining the team. Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, who was introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and will be seen in her own Disney+ series next year, seems like an obvious choice if you are looking to create a team of young heroes whose lineup echoes that of the main Avengers. The same goes for Skar, the Hulk’s son introduced in the Disney+ She-Hulk series.
So when will see this Kamala continuing her Nick Fury-like recruitment drive or even the whole group itself?
That is hard to say. The next several Marvel movies – Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts – don’t appear to have any of the teen heroes who would be eligible for a Young Avengers team. On the streaming side of the MCU, Echo, whose series is dropping on Disney+ in January, seems like a potential dark horse candidate. A Kamala appearance in the upcoming Ironheart streaming series is also a possibility, but while filming is completed on the show, no release date has been announced. However, as the MCU moves into Phase Six, there may be some additional spots for appearances that haven’t been announced yet. (See below.)
Which is, of course, impossible
The second credits scene comes midway through the end credits.
It opens with Monica waking up in a white room, the IV in her had suggests it is a hospital or medical bay. As she starts to take in her surroundings, she turns her head to see a woman seated in a chair next to her bed, a woman who looks like her dead mother, Maria. As Monica is trying to recover from that shock, someone else in a white lab coat enters the room, and asks “How’s our visitor?”
“She seems a bit disoriented,” Maria replies.
Monica turns to the newcomer and is shocked to see that he is covered in blue fur. He doesn’t introduce himself but X-Men fans will recognize him as Dr. Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, as played by Kelsey Grammer.
“Where are we?” Monica asks. “What happened?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” replies Hank. “All we know is that Binary found you. My theory? You somehow crossed through a tear in space-time. You are now in a reality parallel to your own. Which is, of course, impossible.”
Maria suggests that Monica may be confused about what is happening, to which Hank replies, “Confusion is but the first step on the journey to knowledge.” Maria then volunteers to stay with Monica, so Hank excuses himself, stating “Charles asked for an update. I’ll come by and check on you later.” After Hank exits, Maria/Photon turns to Monica and asks “Who are you?”
Where Are We
Well, it should be pretty obvious that the parallel world that Monica has landed in is the Earth of the recently ended X-Men film franchise produced by 20th Century Fox. Grammer appeared as Hank McCoy in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and 2014’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past. The fact that we are in the main X-Men franchise film timeline – which admittedly is a bit convoluted because of time travel shenanigans over the course of its films – and not the Earth with X-Men leader Professor Charles Xavier that we saw in Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, is mostly down to the way that Hanks mentions Xavier as if he were alive and not killed by Scarlet Witch as we saw in Multiverse Of Madness.
The scene does help to supply more of an answer to a question many fans have been asking since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, the owners of the film rights to the X-Men – How is Marvel going to introduce the X-Men characters into the MCU?It looks like they will be folded in from the franchise universe that has already existed since 2000. Of course, that is not a complete answer and it remains to be seen how the revelation that Kamala might be a mutant herself that was made at the end of the Ms. Marvel series plays into things.
And it does still fuel the follow-up question as to when we are going to see more on this plotline.
The multiverse is a big part of the ongoing storylines in the MCU right now; Kevin Feige hasn’t labeled the collective arc of Phases Four, Five and Six “The Multiverse Saga” for nothing and the whole cycle is going to culminate with two Avengers films – The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars – in 2026 and 2027. It feels unlikely that Marvel would want to hold off on following up on this scene until these two films, but there are a few stops along the way to Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars where Marvel can pick up the story of Monica’s displacement to the X-Men’s Earth.
Next July’s Deadpool 3, which does take place within the regular X-Men film continuity, looks to involve some multiversal shenanigans based on reported cast listings. However, it feels unlikely that the Deadpool sequel will be picking up this story thread. In general, these end credit scenes tease films where the characters are going to have their next major appearance. Deadpool 3 looks to be mostly concentrating on the titular merc with a mouth teaming up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to have much room to further explore what is going on with Monica. Likewise, the remaining three films in Phase Five seem unlikely candidates as well. Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts and Blade (all scheduled for later in 2025) are Earth-bound stories and they don’t seem to offer the story opportunities needed.
Marvel’s Phase Six offers a few possibilities, but only through the films that Marvel has not announced yet. The Phase is set to kick off in May 2025 with the long-awaited Fantastic Four, but that will strictly be a film establishing them and their place in the MCU so don’t look for any followup to this scene there. And although Fantastic Four and the two Avengers films have been announced, Marvel has three dates in 2026 earmarked for as-yet-unannounced MCU films. Furthermore, although they do not have additional announced dates earmarked for 2025, it is doubtful that Fantastic Four will be the only film that Marvel will release date year. And while Marvel does have a number of films in development that could go into those open spots – Shang-Chi 2, Doctor Strange 3, Eternals 2 and Armor Wars – it is possible that they already have an idea as to what place in one of them, but to announce a title like – just to pick something at random, an X-Men or Young Avengers film – so far in advance could be something of a spoiler.
