James Gunn Admits His First Marvel Post-Credits Scene Has Problems

The MCU is home to six of the most well-known weapons in all of pop culture: the Infinity Stones. The iconic objects were built up over a decade of films to culminate into one of the biggest films of the generation, Avengers: Endgame. Ironically, one of the worst movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (at least according to Rotten Tomatoes and the fans) played a massive role in capping off the Infinity Saga with the Stones in use.

The film in question is none other than Thor: The Dark World. The second Chris Hemsworth sequel introduced the Reality Stone as a key McGuffin in the plot. 

By the end of the story, the villain had been defeated, and the Reality Stone was imprisoned in a portable device. From there, as seen in the after-credits scene, the powerful weapon came under the ownership of The Collector.

The sequence in question was actually directed by The Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, and not Dark World’s Alan Taylor—who was not a fan of the tag back in 2013.

Now Gunn has come forward on Twitter, where he admitted the scene does have some problems.

Gunn’s First Tease Has Problems

Back in 2013, Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor spoke out against the film’s post-credits scene, which was actually directed by Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn.

When asked about the scene back when the film first came out, Taylor said, "I absolutely did not [direct it]. I am very happy to not take responsibility."

In response to a fan calling back to Taylor’s not-so-supportive words on Twitter, Gunn revealed how “Alan apologized to [him] personally for those comments” but admitted that the sequence “was overall sort of rushed:”

“Alan apologized to me personally for those comments, so we are more than good. And that tag - although helpful in setting up the stones - and of course Benicio was amazing as always - was overall sort of rushed, tbh.”

First Credit Scene Woes

It’s interesting to hear how Gunn feels that way about the Collector’s tease in Dark World, especially since most fans would likely disagree with him. The quick scene informed audiences where the Reality Stone went white introducing everyone to Benicio Del Toro’s Collector.

It paid off as well, as Knowhere played a massive role in Avengers: Infinity War. Not only did Thanos get the Reality Stone from there, but he also managed to kidnap his daughter—leading to her eventual death on Vormir.

There have been plenty of other post-credits scenes fans may consider rushed. The prime example of this would be Thanos grabbing a gold Gauntlet at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron—something that still doesn’t make much sense. Marvel Studios probably hopes that most audiences have just forgotten about it.

Gunn’s next Marvel Studios outing will be The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special later this year on Disney+, followed by Vol. 3 on May 5, 2023.