A post-credits scene (also called a stinger, tag, credit cookie or movie coda) is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run. It is usually either included for humor (where it may be called a "stinger gag") or to set up a possible sequel, as well as to inspire the audience to stay through the credits during the theatrical release.
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Before stingers, movies frequently ended with a line of text advertising that a sequel was planned. One example is the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love, the first in the series to show the ubiquitous "James Bond will return in..." just before the ending credits. The Beatles' Yellow Submarine features an appearance by band members in a stinger after reversing their initial displeasure with the project. Animal House (1978) altered the "When in Hollywood, Visit Universal Studios" card by adding "Ask for Babs," a reference to a character who had become a tour guide there.
One of the earliest appearances of a true stinger 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 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 Spice World. 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.
Roger Ebert's Ebert's Little Movie Glossary has an entry (written by Serdor Yegulalp) called "Monk's Reward," which defines it as "A surprising final line or image, tagged on after the credits have finished rolling (e.g., in Airplane!, the fellow in the taxicab at the airport, still waiting for the driver). It is named so because it takes monk-like devotion to sit through the credits to get to it. (Also known as Credit Cookies)"
Stingers lacking the metafictional aspects also gained prominence in the 1980s, although they were still primarily used for comedy films. Post-credits scenes became useful places for humorous scenes that would not fit in the main body of the film. Most 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.
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 where he was last seen previously in the film when the other major players have 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, which suggests that Professor X may have transferred his mind to the body of a comatose patient (which was revealed in the DVD commentary to be the identical twin of Charles Xavier, whose mind had been crippled and destroyed due to Charles's growing powers in utero).
Marvel Studios uses post-credits scenes to develop connections for its cinematic universe. Iron Man had Samuel L. Jackson appear as Nick Fury to recruit Tony Stark for the "Avenger Initiative". A scene (though originally planned as one, it is not actually post-credits, but takes place after the main story is over) from 2008's The Incredible Hulk had Stark offer the services of the Avengers to General Ross. Iron Man 2 showed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) finding Thor's hammer Mjolnir in New Mexico. Thor showed Erik Selvig talking to Fury about the Cosmic Cube where it was revealed that Loki has mind control over Selvig and is seeking revenge. Captain America: The First Avenger included both a post-credits scene of Fury recruiting Steve Rogers for a new mission as well as a teaser for The Avengers. Both of the latter films also show tag lines similar to the James Bond films saying "Thor will return in the Avengers," and "Captain America will return in the Avengers" respectively. Avengers fans were surprised to discover a stinger possibly introducing vampires to the story line before the release of the film.
The Pirates of the Caribbean films each include post-credits scenes, some of which affect the plot in following films. Most notably, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl shows Jack the monkey taking a medallion from the chest, explaining why he is still cursed in the latter films. The second film features a throwaway gag, and the third provides a vision of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann's future. On Stranger Tides shows Angelica finding the voodoo doll of Jack Sparrow.
The British soap opera Hollyoaks has post-credit scenes almost every episode.
Video games, particularly the ones that make use of complex stories, have begun using post-credits scenes.