At this point, there are certain expectations for a Marvel Cinematic Universe post-credits scene. A few of them are just last-minute buttons on a gag from the movie, like The Avengers’ wordless shawarma-eating scene, or the giant ant playing drums after Ant-Man and the Wasp. But most of them are designed to move the focus from the movie you’re currently watching to the next planned film in Marvel Studios’ lineup, with some kind of teaser for the future.
Given all the cameos, references, and future teases in Deadpool & Wolverine, fans might go in expecting a post-credits scene that teases a Deadpool 4 or a Deadpool & Wolverine 2. You might think you’re getting a tease of the first full MCU X-Men movie, given the way Marvel has used multiverse shenanigans to ease the X-Men into the universe after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, the franchise’s former home. Or maybe you’re expecting a tease for Blade, Captain America: Brave New World, or another film still to come on the MCU Phase Five roster.
Deadpool & Wolverine goes in a different direction, more in line with the two Deadpool movies that star Ryan Reynolds made before Disney got control of the character rights in the Fox acquisition. The first Deadpool spent its post-credits scene on a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off homage, albeit with a small tease that Cable would be part of the Deadpool 2 story. And Deadpool 2 doesn’t have a post-credits scene at all — just a mid-credits montage of time-travel antics.
So let’s talk about what is and isn’t in Deadpool & Wolverine’s mid-credits and end-credits scenes, and what it says about the future of the Deadpool franchise.
Does Deadpool & Wolverine have a post-credits scene?
Sure does, but it isn’t a sequel teaser of any kind — it’s a look backward, not forward. The post-credits scene adds to an earlier scene in the movie, revealing that one of Deadpool’s most surprising acts in the movie wasn’t quite as callous and murderous as it looked. (He’s still a mouthy asshole, but that’s nothing new.)
[Ed. note: Warning: Significant spoilers lie ahead.]
What happens in Deadpool & Wolverine’s post-credits scene?
Somewhere around the midpoint of Deadpool & Wolverine, the two title characters (played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman) wind up in The Void, the dimensional garbage heap of the Time Variance Authority from the Loki TV series. Along with various characters from the X-Men roster, they meet Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, as played by Chris Evans in Tim Story’s 2005 movie.
They all get captured by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Professor Xavier’s powerfully psychic and psychotic twin. Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, promptly mouths off to her, claiming Johnny said all sorts of profane things about her, including that she’s a “megalomaniacal psychotic asshole” who can “lick my goddamn cinnamon ring clean and kick rocks all the way to bald hell.” While Johnny nervously protests that he never said any of that, Cassandra responds by psychically ripping off his skin, killing him in a comedically grotesque way. Wolverine spends the rest of the movie blaming Deadpool for cavalierly getting Johnny murdered.
The post-credits scene features Deadpool denying the “absolutely vile rumors that I got Johnny killed,” and showing footage from the scene that we didn’t see the first time, where Johnny does actually say all those things. And he adds, “In fact, I don’t give a shit if she removes all my skin and pops me like some nightmarish blood balloon! If the last thing I do with this godforsaken cum-gutter existence is light that fuck-box on fire, I still won’t die happy. That’s right, Wade, I won’t be happy until I’ve urinated on her freshly barbecued corpse and husk-fucked the charred remains while gargling Juggernaut’s jugger-nuts. And you can quote me.”
The whole scene is mostly just a gag on Evans’ squeaky-clean MCU persona when he was playing Captain America — the guy who spent nearly a dozen MCU movies refusing to swear, and protesting (“Language!”) when other people do. It’s also meant to at least partially vindicate Wade, and make him seem a little less casually culpable for Johnny’s death. But c’mon, man, everybody knows snitches get stitches.
What happens in Deadpool & Wolverine’s mid-credits scene?
Deadpool & Wolverine’s credits scenes aren’t all about watching Chris Evans drop F-bombs: A mid-credits montage set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” goes for earnestness, stringing together behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from every corner of 20th Century Fox’s Marvel Comics films.
Emphasis on “every corner.” The clips include moments from classics like Logan and the 2000 X-Men, but give them equal weight with footage from bombs like Elektra and the 2015 Fantastic Four. And there’s a particular focus on Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds behind the scenes in their respective first Marvel movies, X-Men and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those clips showcase some real heart — candid moments full of smiling, famous faces that are, in some cases, 25 years younger than we’re used to seeing them. It’s an acknowledgement of the human artists behind these IP behemoths, a welcome touch of sincerity after Deadpool & Wolverine spent much of its run time mocking, wallowing in, and calling back to (if not truly continuing) their work.
It’s difficult to read the montage as anything other than a goodbye to 20th Century Fox’s Marvel output.
So what does that mean for a Deadpool 4?
It’s notable that Deadpool & Wolverine does not end with “Deadpool and Wolverine will return,” Marvel Studios’ habitual ending line. And while we don’t know much about what the company plans for its mutant characters going forward, it doesn’t seem like Deadpool is a part of those plans — at least not at the moment.
While Marvel Studios has begun to tease mutant characters in the MCU and its parallel universe, particularly in Ms. Marvel and The Marvels, the company is still only in the early stages of a full film intro for the X-Men. Michael Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) is currently set to write one, but there’s no director attached yet — or at least, Marvel hasn’t announced one as of the moment of publication.
And in spite of Deadpool & Wolverine’s quips about Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine until he’s 90, Jackman isn’t under contract for any more movies, as far as we know. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has stated pretty clearly that the plan from here is to make the MCU’s mutants distinct from 20th Century Fox’s.
Given how well Deadpool & Wolverine is trending in early box office sales, there’s always a chance that Deadpool simply becomes too profitable for Disney to not continue his story in some cinematic form. But for the moment, at least, Deadpool & Wolverine seems to be a farewell to this version of both its title characters.