Post-credits scene
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A post-credits scene (also called a stinger or tag)[citation needed] is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run. It is usually included for humor or to set up a possible sequel.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
The use of stingers may be traced back to the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love, which was the first in the series to show the ubiquitous "James Bond will return in..." at the end of the credits.[citation needed] The 1978 film Superman featured a tagline promoting the film's sequel, due out the following year. However, these were simply text at the end of the credits, and did not include clips or teasers from the upcoming films (although the original shooting script for Superman contained a stinger that featured General Zod, Ursa, and Non being freed from the Phantom Zone following the credits).[citation needed]
One of the earliest appearances of a true stinger[citation needed] in a mainstream film was in The Muppet Movie in 1979, and use of such scenes gained popularity throughout the 1980s at the end of comedy films. The Muppet Movie also began a trend[citation needed] of using such stingers to break the fourth wall, even when much of the rest of the film had kept it intact. The scenes were often used as a form of metafiction, with characters showing an awareness that they were at the end of a film, and often telling the audience directly to leave the theatre. Films using this technique include Ferris Bueller's Day Off (in which the title character frequently broke the fourth wall during the movie) and The Producers (in which it was not so common). The stinger of the latter movie also includes the film's only cameo appearance of producer Mel Brooks. Stingers also appeared on the long-running TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, introduced in episode 205 ("Rocket Attack USA"), continuing until the end of the series. The stingers, with a few exceptions, highlighted moments from the films that were either particularly nonsensical or had simply caught the Brains' attention.
The 1903 film The Great Train Robbery ends with leader of the outlaw band taking aim and firing point blank at the audience (after having been killed in the previous scene). After the credits of 1985's "Young Sherlock Holmes", the villainous schoolmaster Rathe is revealed to have survived his drowning and taken the name Professor James Moriarty.
[edit] Modern examples
Stingers lacking the metafictional aspects also gained prominence in the 1980s[citation needed], although they were still primarily used for comedy films.[citation needed] Post-credits scenes became useful places for humorous scenes that would not fit in the main body of the film. Most[citation needed] were short clips that served to tie together loose ends—minor characters whose fates were not elaborated on earlier in the movie, or plotlines that were not fully wrapped up. For example, all three Pirates of the Caribbean films include such scenes. At the end of the Disney animated made-for-video film Aladdin: The Return of Jafar, Abis Mal asks for his third wish while in its sequel, towards the end of the song "Welcome to the Forty Thieves", which plays over the credits, the Genie is seen squished between the black background and the credits with a bit of dialogue at the very end. During its wide release, Napoleon Dynamite features a stinger that reveals that Kip and LaFawnduh get married.
Even when post-credit scenes started to be used by films with little comedy development, the same format of giving closure to incomplete storylines or inconsequential characters remained in use. Using humor in such scenes is also still common for more serious films, as in the film Daredevil, in which Bullseye is shown after his defeat by Daredevil in a full body cast. Another example happens in Hellboy when Tom Manning is shown still wandering around the catacombs when he was last seen previously in the film when the other major players have clearly left. Other films eschew the comedy in favor of a twist or revelation that would be out of place elsewhere in the movie, as in X-Men: The Last Stand's post-credits scene, where Professor X is shown to be alive.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back features, after the closing credits, a scene where God (portrayed by Alanis Morissette) closes a book labeled View Askew (referencing the "View Askewniverse", the series of films of which Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is part). As referenced in the DVD bonus feature of Clerks 2, it is pointed out that when the book is closed, there are still a substantial number of pages left following the bookmarked page, revealed to be the story told in the DVD's main feature.
Midway through the 2008 film Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Neil Patrick Harris is shot and supposedly killed. However, a stinger at the end of the film reveals that he had survived.
After the ending credits of Iron Man, Tony Stark is shown arriving back home to be greeted by a mysterious visitor standing by the window. The character turns around to reveal himself as none other than Samuel L. Jackson who introduces himself as Nick Fury from the agency S.H.I.E.L.D. another Marvel Comic. Fury tells Stark that he wants to discuss The Avengers Initiative.[1]
After the ending credits of Kung-Fu Panda a very short scene shows Po and Shifu eating dumplings together under a tree. The camera slowly zooms out to show the seed planted earlier by Oogway and Shifu, now growing, representing Po blossoming into the Dragon Warrior.[2]
[edit] Post-credit scenes in video games
Video games, particularly the ones that make use of complex stories, have begun using post-credits scenes.
- 1987's Castlevania II: Simon's Quest had no end credits, but after the final epilogue text scrolls off the screen and the music ends (which takes considerable time), Dracula's hand is shown reaching out of his grave.
- In 1994's EarthBound, Ness awakens to knocks on the front door just like the beginning of the game, and finds Porky's brother Picky with a message from Porky, indicating that he did not die and plans revenge.
- Examples also exist in the Metal Gear series of video games, in which Metal Gear Solid, MGS2, MGS3 and MPO feature a voice-over only scene after the credits of one or more characters speaking as the game's logo is displayed, all of which reveal new information that gives a new perspective to the previous events as well as setting up part of the next game in the series.
- Another example is the Kingdom Hearts video game series, in which Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II include a post-credits epilogue, along with an unlockable, highly enigmatic scene depicting possible events in a future installment of the series (The Final Mix versions of both games also include another unlockable scene that takes off where the previous ones left).
- The post-credits scenes of Halo 2 and Halo 3 also double as cliffhangers.
- In "Version one" (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/Windows) of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, if the player completes the game still on the side of Third Echelon, a post-credit level begins allowing the player to finish the game. Another example of this would be in The Warriors, in which one can fight the Rogues as the Riff leader during the game's end credits.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Halo 3 are rare example in video games where a crucial twist is unveiled: for Twilight Princess, the title character Midna shatters the Mirror of Twilight before jumping into the vortex herself, leaving Link and Zelda standing alone in the desert and breaking the only known link between the normal and Twilight realms. Halo 3's post-credits scene reveals that Master Chief actually survived the events of the ending scene and sees him entering suspended animation to await his rescue. If the game is completed on Legendary difficulty, a longer scene is played which show Master Chief's ship drifting toward an as yet unknown planet.
- In the Infinity Ward game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, there is a short interactive stinger involving a VIP rescue on a hijacked airliner that hints at the next game by having one of the SAS soldiers call out, "See ya next time, mate!" at the end. A picture is then shown of the protagonists who had been killed by the game's end.
- In the game Half-Life 2 after the credits roll and logo display there's a short scene in which Dr. Kleiner's once again lost pet headcrab Lamarr is seen jumping through an opening in the screen and attacking the player as the screen fades out.
- In Wing Commander 3 Tom Wilson (who plays 'Maniac') asks Jennifer MacDonald (playing 'Flint') if Christoper Blair is 'the guy from Star Wars'.
- In Iron Man The Game after the ending credits (providing you have unlocked just about everything) you will get either a sneak peek of The Incredible Hulk or a 10 minute Interactive Stinger which you can either play as The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Iron Man, The First Iron Man Suit or Mysterio
