'Venom' Has 2 Post-Credit Scenes, So Make Sure To Stay Seated
When Sony made a deal with Disney to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was an open question how the production house would behave moving forward with other Marvel-based projects. Its rights were not just to Spidey, but every character in the Spider-Man universe, allowing the studio to do non-MCU related films featuring those characters. Would the Sony standalone films hew to these MCU standard practices? With the announcement this week that the upcoming Venom has two post-credit scenes, it seems at least some of the MCU's habits are crossing over.
After a decade of MCU films, the idea of the post-credit sequence in blockbuster films to help tie franchise universe movies together feels like a common practice. But it wasn't always this way. In fact, before Iron Man, the idea of a post-credit sequence was a novelty.
The MCU didn't invent the idea of putting a scene at the very end of the credits as a bonus to get filmgoers to stay until the bitter end. But its constant use of them at the end of every film has trained attendees to expect it. This has made it a question other production houses have to face: Do they follow the leader? Or do they refuse to join in the practice?
Star Wars, Disney's other major franchise, refuses. As director J.J. Abrams famously said: "All the scenes are actually in the movie." Warner Bros., who has the DC Extended Universe, splits the difference. There are post-credit sequences to movies like Batman v. Superman, but they are released on YouTube instead of in the theaters. 20th Century FOX puts post-credit sequences in their X-Men films, but its going to merge into Disney anyway, so it might as well.
Sony did not put mid- or post-credit sequences in its earlier Spider-Man films. But since its joint-MCU Spider-Man: Homecoming had the now-standard two post-credit scenes all MCU films seem to get, it's going to continue the practice... and even tweak it a little bit to put its own twist on it.
The first Venom press screenings occurred this past week, and it's now been confirmed that there are in fact TWO post-credits scenes (literally); one post-credits scene and then another post-post-credits scene. At least that is somewhat of a departure from the norm for most comic book movies, even those not made by Marvel Studios.
As is noted, this is a little bit different. When there are two scenes, the habit is to use them to break up the monotony of the credit roll. The first one goes in the middle after all the stars and significant people have been named, but before the pages and pages of CGI credits start speeding by in waves, and then one at the end as a bonus for sitting through them all.
Putting both at the end, back to back, is an interesting choice. It forces fans to sit through the credits in full before they get any footage. But it also links them together, by having nothing between them.
Venom arrives in theaters on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018.
