As Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 begins its journey into theaters, many will be eager to know how many post-credits scenes they should be sticking around for.
Post-credits scenes may be a recognized Marvel Studios staple, but they're anything but predictable. Not only does the number of end-credit tags vary from project to project but so does the nature of their content.
At times, they're used to further the plot or tease future characters, such as Avengers: Infinity War's set-up for Captain Marvel; at others, they're a last laugh, like The Avengers' famous shwarma scene.
James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy projects have been famously unpredictable on this front, with each release up until now sporting a different total.
Guardians Vol. 3 Post-Credits Scene Count Confirmed
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 contains two post-credits scenes, with the first falling after the mid-credits and the second following the rolling credits - a fairly standard pattern for a Marvel Studios movie.
This is the same number as fellow Phase 5 MCU film, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which also included two, a departure from last November's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which only included one.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy film also had two post-credits scenes, which jumped to a whopping five for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - one of which foreshadowed the creation of Vol. 3's Adam Warlock.
On the other hand, Disney+'s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special only had one hilarious scene of Groot being decorated as a Christmas tree.
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Guardians 3's mid-credits scene set up a future for the Guardians - likely under a new director with James Gunn now over at DC Studios - through the introduction of a whole new line-up for the cosmic team.
The full line-up of the MCU's new Guardians can be seen below:
- Rocket Raccoon (Leader) - Bradley Cooper
- Groot - Vin Diesel
- Kraglin - Sean Gunn
- Adam Warlock - Will Poulter
- Phyla - Kai Zen
- Cosmo - Maria Bakalova
The movie's second stinger featured a simple moment of Chris Pratt's Peter Quill back on Earth, eating cereal with his grandpa - who was holding a newspaper referencing Kevin Bacon's "Alien Abduction" in The Holiday Special.
The uneventful moment was followed by a wipe to white, and text promising "The Legendary Star-Lord will Return" - and The Direct has six ideas for when that will likely come in the MCU.
Why Guardians Vol. 3's Post-Credits Scenes Are Different
With any Marvel film, post-credits info is a major topic amongst die-hards as they can reveal more of the MCU's overarching narrative.
One of the most recent examples is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings end-credits tag, which connected Shang-Chi to Captain Marvel, Bruce Banner, and Wong while also teasing something bigger at play.
However, the question of Vol. 3's end-credit content is different, as this movie is focused on closing the book for this group of Guardians, while also opening the doors to a future for this whole new roster.
Unlike other Marvel Studios movies, these scenes were firmly contained to the Guardians' own corner of the MCU, and not setting up larger stories with the Multiverse and Jonathan Majors' Kang.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives in theaters on Friday, May 5.
