‘The Marvels’ Mid-Credits Scene Is Setting Up Something Big in the MCU

Unlike many other Marvel movies, The Marvels only has one post-credits scene. It’s a big one, though! The final moments of The Marvels teases much bigger developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—including one of the most anticipated projects in Marvel’s Multiverse Saga.

Warning: massive spoilers for The Marvels ahead!

Note: the scene in which Kamala Khan recruits Kate Bishop has the flavor of a post-credit scene, but actually comes before the credits, so you can read more about it here.

Monica Rambeau is in a new universe … with some familiar faces

After Monica (Teyonah Parris) gets trapped in a parallel reality by sealing the rift opened by Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), she wakes up in a hospital bed. The first thing she sees is her mother, Maria (Lashana Lynch), but something is different: Maria is younger than she should be, and doesn’t seem to recognize Monica. Plus, she’s wearing a superhero outfit, with a cape and a symbol with two X’s on her chest. Monica is too stunned to notice the changes at first, though. After all, Maria died of cancer during the Blip, and in WandaVision, Monica came back to life to find out that she was gone.

Someone else walks in, after pushing his way through a set of heavy wooden doors. X-Men fans will immediately recognize this new character: it’s Beast, played by Kelsey Grammer. Grammer played the menacing yet scholarly mutant in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past, and now he’s reprising his role to confirm that Monica really has ended up in a parallel universe. In this universe, the X-Men exist, and Maria Rambeau is the superhero Binary. You’ll recall that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a variant of Maria: in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, she was Earth-838’s Captain Marvel. You just can’t keep Lashana Lynch out of the MCU, no matter how many times Maria dies—and the MCU is better for it.

How The Marvels‘ mid-credits scene sets up Avengers: Secret Wars

Now that a character from the main Marvel universe, Earth-616, is trapped in another reality with another set of heroes, it’s easier to see how 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars will come together.

In Marvel comics, Secret Wars tells the story of what happens after the multiverse is destroyed by a series of the collisions between realities known as incursions. Incursions have already begun in the MCU, with Doctor Strange witnessing one firsthand in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but now we’re starting to actually meet the residents of those alternate realities.

Crucially, the Secret Wars comics features characters from different realities coming together to restore the shattered multiverse, and now, with Monica trapped in another reality, that multiverse is finally taking shape in the MCU. Hopefully, this post-credits scene is part of the momentum that the Multiverse Saga has been sorely lacking thus far. Rumor has it that in Deadpool 3, the Time Variance Authority from Loki will be assembling a team of the best superheroes from each reality, and there’s even a rumor floating around that Fantastic Four will take place in a separate universe from the rest of the MCU. If those rumors are true, then the multiverse might start to feel like a place that’s worth saving.

(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)