Superman may be the start of James Gunn's new DCU, but the post-credits scenes may not hold the game-changing future teases fans want. The DC Studios co-CEO has used last-second stingers for various purposes throughout his superhero filmmaking tenure, from teasing sequels and spin-offs to pure comedic relief.
During his "Out of Theater" reaction to Superman, YouTuber John Rocha confirmed the DCU's first blockbuster has two post-credits scenes. While fans will be quick to theorize about Batman teases and Brainiac set-up, James Gunn's past comments indicate that expectations should be tempered going into Superman.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn revealed he has a "philosophy about post-credit scenes" that stems from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
He explained how teasing Adam Warlock in the Vol. 2 stinger "set up all this s**t that [he] didn't necessarily plan on," which ended up causing problems as he was forced to deliver on such when it came to Vol. 3:
“I did not like what I did in Guardians 2 where we set up Adam Warlock and we set up the Guardians of the Galaxy and we set up all this s--- that I didn't necessarily plan on. Well, I guess I kind of planned on fulfilling that [Adam Warlock] promise, but you want to be careful about that... It was not easy to work Adam Warlock into Guardians 3. I loved working with Will, and I liked dealing with the character, but at the end of the day, was he kind of fitting a weird square peg into a round hole? A little bit, yeah.
The DCU boss also stated that he will only include a future-teasing post-credits scene if it “really, really works." One example of this could be The Suicide Squad's post-credits scene confirming Peacemaker's survival, which undeniably works as his HBO Max show was already moving forward.
Gunn has been critical of post-credits scenes in the past, even one in which he directed himself for Thor: The Dark World to tease Guardians of the Galaxy. While meaningful in setting up the Infinity Stones and featuring a strong performance from Benicio del Toro, he noted how it was "overall sort of rushed."
Despite all this, Gunn was clear he "[loves] giving something back to the audience" who stick around for the credits to hear all the cast and crew who were involved and will always try to include something for them:
“I do love giving something back to the audience, so I will try to put something in the end credits for audiences to see, because I think it’s great. I love my crew, and I want you to stick around and see who the gaffers were.”
Unfortunately, it seems Superman won't be one of these cases that has something ready to tease after the credits, as scooper MyTimeToShineHello teased that, of the movie's two stingers, "Neither one is worth staying for after the credits."
Why Superman's Post-Credits Scene Will Just Be a Gag
Especially with Gunn already cooking up the next appearance for David Corenswet's Man of Steel, fans have been eager to see Superman tease what comes next in a sequel or another upcoming DCU project.
While far-out characters like Batman and Wonder Woman may have always been a pipe dream, there was hope that DCU projects that are already moving forward, such as Lanterns, Supergirl, and Peacemaker Season 2, may have had a chance.
Unfortunately, that doesn't look to be the case as Gunn's comments on his post-credits scene philosophy and MyTimeToShineHello's scoop indicate these will instead be simple gags to cap off Superman in a fun way.
As the DCU is just getting started, so much of the future hangs in the balance based on the performance and reactions to Superman (which are already looking strong). As such, it makes far more sense for Gunn to avoid over-promising and instead do something fun with Superman, Krypto, or the Justice Gang.
