American filmmaker James Gunn is setting expectations straight when it comes to what fans should anticipate after the credits roll on the upcoming film Superman. While the film will include a post-credits scene, James made it clear that it won’t follow the typical Marvel formula of teasing what’s next.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 58-year-old director explained that his approach to end-credit tags has been shaped by his past experience in the superhero genre — especially during his time with Marvel. “I have a philosophy about post-credit scenes. It's somewhat related to my own mistakes in my time with Marvel," he said.
He reflected on one of those missteps: the moment in Avengers: Endgame when Thor joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. “I said in the script notes: 'I’m not gonna put him in. I don’t want to have Thor in the Guardians. I don’t want to do a movie with Thor. I don’t understand the character that much. I love watching his movies and I love Chris Hemsworth as a guy. I don't understand how to write that character,'" James shared.
{{/usCountry}}He reflected on one of those missteps: the moment in Avengers: Endgame when Thor joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. “I said in the script notes: 'I’m not gonna put him in. I don’t want to have Thor in the Guardians. I don’t want to do a movie with Thor. I don’t understand the character that much. I love watching his movies and I love Chris Hemsworth as a guy. I don't understand how to write that character,'" James shared.
{{/usCountry}}Another example he cited was the introduction of Adam Warlock, who first appeared in a post-credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and later became part of the third film. “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**t that I didn't necessarily plan on,” James admitted.
“Well, I guess I kind of planned on fulfilling that [Adam Warlock] promise, but you want to be careful about that. The way a post-credits scene works is a punch to the face, like, 'Oh my God! Look at this.' At times when you're using it just solely to set something up, sometimes you're screwing yourself over. 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," he added.
Instead, James said he prefers moments that feel rewarding without pressuring future stories into a specific direction — like the humorous appearance of Howard the Duck in the first Guardians film. He emphasized that he avoids forward-looking tags “unless it really, really works.”
He pointed to the post-credits scene in The Suicide Squad, which set up Peacemaker, as an example of when it did work well. “I started shooting the Peacemaker show and then I shot [the post-credits scene] and then put it in there, so it was easy,” James explained.
“I knew it was coming, so that was fine, but I got to be a little bit careful about it. 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," he added.
Starring David Corenswet as the titular hero Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, the upcoming movie is slated to release on July 11.