Every 2023 Post Credits Movie Scene Explained

Though post-credits scenes are certainly nothing new in the world of Hollywood — having often appeared in comedies and horror films for decades — it's hard to deny that they've become more and more common in recent years. The Marvel Cinematic Universe post-credits scenes are now legendary, and they have been a pioneer in bringing them into the mainstream. Nowadays, most big blockbuster releases seem to add a little something at the end to entice audiences to stick around.

Whether it is to add one last comedic moment, tie up some loose ends, or even tease a sequel down the road, post-credit scenes offer that final sting to get audiences leaving theaters on a high. There are plenty of great post-credit scenes in 2023 so far, and we'll be focusing on the movies that got a theatrical release, rather than the streaming options. Of course, heavy spoilers to follow so proceed with caution.

The third Ant-Man movie sees Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) once again donning the size-altering suit, and teaming up with his girlfriend and fellow hero Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) — aka The Wasp — as they venture into the Quantum Realm. In tow are Scott's daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), and Hope's parents, Hank and Janet (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer) — the latter of whom have been to the Quantum Realm before, but discover it is now very different under the rule of the despotic villain Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

In the first of two post-credits scenes — and in a homage to a classic comic book panel – Kang's defeat is shown to not be as final as it seems. We witness hundreds of variants of Kang, discussing how to avenge their recently defeated ally in a chilling moment that gives us a peek at what to expect in the coming films.

Finally, we see the first theatrical appearance of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) since 2019, as the God of Mischief comes face to face with another of Kang's variants during a science lecture. Given that the scene is set during the early 20th century — where Loki is still working with agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) — it is a clear teaser for the second season of "Loki," and one that goes to show just how far-reaching Kang's presence will be in the next phase of the MCU. 

Certainly one of the stranger releases of 2023, "Cocaine Bear" took a premise more at home in your average B-movie, and bumped it up to a big-budget project. The film kicks off with a batch of the titular drug falling out of a smuggler's aircraft, where it is picked up and consumed by a black bear deep in the Georgia woods. Not long after, drug kingpin Syd (Ray Liotta) sends his son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), along with one of his goons, Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), to find the missing product, all while a nearby town contends with the jacked-up predator's cocaine-fuelled rampage.

In the first of a pair of post-credits scenes, it is shown that Stache (Aaron Holliday) — the sole survivor of the local Duchamps gang — escaped not only with his life but with whatever cocaine didn't wind up inside the bear. In the second scene, it is revealed that both Eddie and Daveed managed to survive the ordeal (mostly) in one piece, with Eddie motivated by his brush with death to reconcile with his estranged son. While neither scene lays a solid foundation for a sequel, given the film's success at the box office, combined with the fact that the cocaine bear is still prowling the woods by the film's end, we may yet see another entry down the road.

One of only a handful of films on this list that is outside of an existing franchise, the Adam Driver-led sci-fi thriller "65" took audiences back in time to a brief period when dinosaurs — and aliens — roamed the Earth. 65 million years in our past, Driver's Captain Mills is on a deep space journey that goes horribly wrong, leaving him and one other survivor stranded on a mysterious and hostile planet that we quickly discover is Earth. Forced to contend against massive dinosaurs and an impending mass extinction event, the unlikely duo manages to escape the doomed planet in the nick of time by the film's end. So what exactly could the post-credits scene add?

As far as the story is concerned, not too much. As the credits roll, the disastrous effects of the planet-decimating asteroid are shown, as well as the subsequent millennia of evolution that follow. The significance of this, however, also dispels the potential twist of Driver's character being a time traveler, which some had predicted. Captain Mills' arrival on Earth doesn't change the course of history — the asteroid still collides with the planet — and the events that follow don't seem to differ from what we know. The finality of this scene also means that the chances of a sequel are pretty unlikely, which is only compounded by the lackluster box office performance of "65."

"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" saw the return of the titular red-suited hero, this time duking it out with the daughters of Atlas on a quest for revenge. Like many superhero movies, the latest "Shazam!" title treats audiences to a pair of post-credits scenes after the film's conclusion — both of which tease future installments.

The first sees a meeting between Shazam (Zachary Levi) and members of the Justice Society, who are looking to recruit him as their latest addition. Last mentioned in 2022's "Black Adam," the pairing of the Justice Society and Shazam reconnects the two characters who went astray between the comic book pages and their big screen productions.

The second post-credits scene may induce feelings of déjà vu for fans who stuck around after the first "Shazam!" movie, since it once again teases a scheme between Doctor Sivana (Mark Strong) and the caterpillar supervillain, Mister Mind (voiced by director David F. Sandberg). The irony of essentially using the same post-credits scene for both films wasn't lost on Sandberg, who stated in an interview with DC.com that the repeat was a result of the complicated plot of "Fury of the Gods." Sandberg confirmed that Mister Mind is "still working on something, it just takes some time." Time will tell whether the nefarious caterpillar's long-awaited scheme will ever make it out of the jailhouse.

The "John Wick" series needs little introduction. Debuting nearly a decade ago, the simple action-packed revenge thriller has evolved into something much bigger, with the latest installment finding Wick (Keanu Reeves) at his lowest point. Beaten and betrayed by Winston (Ian McShane) — and now the High Table's biggest target — the stakes have never been higher. In a first for the franchise, "John Wick: Chapter 4" features a brief but crucial post-credits scene, following a particularly shocking ending.

Though we're led to believe John Wick is dead by the end of "Chapter 4," this doesn't mean that every loose string has been tied up. With Caine (Donnie Yen), the victor of Wick's final duel, still alive, we're given a final shot of Akira (Rina Sawayama) stalking him — looking to exact revenge on behalf of her late father. Since the film's release, director Chad Stahelski has opened up on what exactly the scene means, both for Akira and for the future of the franchise, stating, "Does Rina go down that road? You know, we have John Wick and his demise, and we're like, 'Well, let's open the door to the new John,' like, 'Who's the new...' And we're like, 'Akira.'"

Based on the massively popular role-playing game, "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" proved to be the first on-screen adaptation of the game to be loved by critics and audiences alike. The film follows the vagabond Edgin (Chris Pine), who sets off to find a powerful tablet that will not only reunite him with his long-lost daughter but also potentially resurrect his dead wife. Along the journey, Edgin teams up with a band of adventurers. When their journey eventually takes them to a graveyard, they use the powers of necromancy to gain vital information from a handful of the deceased, who are brought to life solely to answer their questions.

Once the credits start rolling, we revisit the graveyard only to discover that the gang didn't finish their end of the ritual, leaving one of the summoned corpses unable to return to its eternal slumber. Though it was a perfect comedic moment that could have been revisited in a follow-up film, due to a surprisingly lackluster performance in ticket sales, it's possible that the unlucky corpse will be waiting for another question for all eternity.

When it comes to video games their cinematic adaptations rarely do well in Hollywood. That all changed in 2023 with "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," a film that broke the mold and delivered on the series' decades-long heritage. With an all-star lineup of comedy talent led by Chris Pratt, plumber brothers Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) become embroiled in a war between Princess Peach's (Anya Taylor-Joy) Mushroom Kingdom, and the evil Bowser's (Jack Black) Koopas.

Audiences are treated to two scenes after the movie, the first of which gives us one last look at Jack Black's memorable singing of "Peaches" as Bowser, now from behind bars. Next up — and back in real-world Brooklyn — we watch as a familiar spotted egg begins to hatch, with Yoshi the dinosaur shouting his name. With the film making more than $1.3 billion worldwide, a sequel is all but confirmed, so it seems we'll be seeing more of Yoshi down the line.

Beloved for its quirky characters and offbeat sense of humor, it's not a stretch to say that the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise has redefined the genre since its inception — its latest entry being no exception. This time, the crew of misfits tackle a maniacal alien scientist who shares a personal connection to Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper).

Like most Marvel movies, we're given two post-credit scenes. The first shows Rocket, now captain of the Guardians, leading an almost entirely new team as they continue to defend those who need them. While it is likely intended as a positive send-off for many fans' favorite scruffy hero, it could also serve as a lead-in for a future film featuring this fresh gang of Guardians. 

The second scene is a little more innocuous — showing Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) now reunited with his grandfather on Earth — but it ends with the tantalizing promise: "The legendary Star-Lord will return." Whatever the future may hold for the Guardians, one thing is certain: it will be entirely different from what we've seen before. Director James Gunn has jumped ship to helm the new DC Universe, meaning he's unlikely to return for any future "Guardians of the Galaxy" adventures.

The "Fast and the Furious" films have become some of Hollywood's most iconic — and profitable — titles. Starting off as a simple heist story with a heavy focus on the driving element, the stakes — and the action set-pieces — have gotten bigger with every new release. 2023's "Fast X" — the first half of the epic finale to the franchise — continued this trajectory. This time, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) — the son of an old enemy of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) — arrives on the scene looking to avenge his late father by any means necessary.

At the end of the movie, the fates of all our heroes are up in the air thanks to Dante. To make matters more complicated, the post-credits scene delivers a surprising reveal, in which Dom's on-again-off-again friend Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) gets a call from Dante warning him that he's next. Johnson's absence was felt in "F9: The Fast Saga," so this sting seemingly confirming his return for the concluding chapter gives fans a huge reason to be excited. It also makes for the series' most thrilling cliffhanger, one that shows nobody is safe from Dante's wrath.

Continuing the story that 2018's "Bumblebee" laid the groundwork for, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" marked the end of the longest hiatus that the live-action series has gone through since it debuted back in 2007. The latest installment takes the fight to Earth, as the humans and Autobots unite against the impending threat of Unicron (voiced by Colman Domingo).

While the post-credits scene doesn't quite match the hype of the film's unexpected crossover ending, it's still a crucial moment that you wouldn't want to miss. It begins with Noah (Anthony Ramos) tinkering away at a car, only for it to spring to life, revealing that Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson) has been successfully brought back from the brink of death. This seems to suggest Mirage will take up arms to defend Earth again in the near future. However, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Variety that a sequel might even see the action move to other planets, saying, "We have spent a lot of time on Earth and I'm curious as to what else is out there."

It seems that just about every superhero movie is playing with the concept of the multiverse lately, and this year "The Flash" joined their ranks in force. Still mourning the death of his mother and the wrongful imprisonment of his father decades later, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) decides to try and right the wrongs of his past. While doing that is deceptively easy, the march of time isn't willing to change without a fight.

Given the two-and-a-half hours of multiverse madness that is "The Flash," with almost too many cameos and callbacks to count, the sole post-credits scene is surprisingly low-key. As the credits roll, it cuts to The Flash and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) — who at one point in the mix-up never even existed — sitting in a bar together. Trying to wrap their heads around the concept of the multiverse that we just saw, Aquaman opts to call it a night, lying in a drunken stupor on the street. It is undoubtedly a much-needed comedic moment after the emotional gut-punch of an ending, even if it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

"Insidious: The Red Door" is the fifth entry in the franchise, and serves to finally bring an end to the Lamberts' story. It picks up years after the traumatic possession, which rocked the family to its core and is revealed to have caused a divorce between parents Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne). With their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) now an adult, painful memories of the haunting resurface, threatening to throw their lives into turmoil yet again.

By the film's conclusion, both father and son have managed to overcome their many differences and join forces against the Red-Faced Demon (Joseph Bishara), persevering through their combined traumas and banishing the evil from their lives for good ... or so they think. Of course, if there's one thing horror films are known for besides scares, it's their numerous sequels, and the post-credits scene in "The Red Door" certainly suggests a future for the series. 

In a final brief scene, a lone light above the titular red door that keeps the demon at bay begins to falter and flicker, suggesting that the seal Dalton applied may not hold forever. Whether the demon will return to terrorize the Lamberts, or another poor soul, remains to be seen.

Easily one of the year's most unexpected successes at the box office — and one of the most controversial — "Sound of Freedom" chronicles the struggles between law enforcement and child traffickers across the Americas. It stars Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard — an agent employed by Homeland Security Investigations — who leaves his career behind to try and track down a missing child, which leads him deep into the jungles of Colombia.

Given that "Sound of Freedom" is a far cry from the rest of this year's releases, it stands to reason that its post-credits sequence would similarly be unlike any of the other entries we've discussed. After taking out a cartel leader and reuniting Rocío (Cristal Aparicio) with her family, wrapping up the film on a positive note, an epilogue plays showing the real-life Tim Ballard the film is based on, with footage from his Congressional hearings on child trafficking. It states that more people exist in slavery in the present day than at any point in history, with many of them being children. To push the message even further, Caviezel — as himself, this time — returns to the screen encouraging audiences to share this film with others in the hope that they can see an end to child trafficking for good. 

Serving as the latest reboot of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" seems to have finally found some of what made the series so popular to begin with, debuting to stellar reviews from just about everyone who saw it. The latest spin on the franchise sees Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), and Raphael (Brady Noon) doing battle with a mutant fly (Ice Cube) gunning for world domination, all while trying to gain the acceptance of their above-ground peers.

In a noteworthy post-credits sequence, all four of the turtles are shown enrolled in the local high school, bringing a close to their separation from the human world, and showing their ability to overcome Splinter's (Jackie Chan) misguided lessons about the dangers of humanity. Meanwhile, it's revealed that Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph) — the villain behind the scenes the whole time — has enlisted the help of the turtles' classic nemesis Shredder in a new bid to bring them into the Techno Cosmic Research Institute's control.

The "Saw" franchise followed up the experimental "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" with another unique take on the horror premise in the Jigsaw-centered "Saw X." In this sequel, set between the first two movies, John Kramer (Tobin Bell) gets duped by scammers who stole his money for a fake cancer treatment in Mexico. The ending reveals a series of twists, but John eventually ends up on top while most of the rest of the cast die. He then returns, in the movie's post-credits scene, to the man who set him up in the first place.

Patient viewers got to see a mid-credits scene in which John returns to the States and tracks down Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), the man who first told him about the fake treatment. In the sequence, we're back in the bathroom from the original "Saw," where John has Henry tied up with a gruesome new trap attached to his stomach. This is the final image we see before "Saw X" cuts to its final credits.

In addition to being a nice homage to the film that started everything off, this scene implies that Henry was in on the grift from the start — a fact left ambiguous until the very end of the movie. 

Beginning with the 2022 reboot, titled "Scream," the modern run of "Scream" movies since the death of original director and horror icon Wes Craven has been divisive among fans of the franchise. This polarization has continued with "Scream 6," right up until the post-credits scenes that had fans divided when they saw it in theaters earlier in 2023.

After the credits roll on "Scream 6," we get one short, meta scene that's a joke very much in line with the tone of the series. The character Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) looks into the camera and tells us, "Not every movie needs a post-credits scene." With that stinger, the film cuts to black for the last time. So what do fans hate about it?

Look, moviegoers are impatient, and if they have to sit through an entire end credits crawl just to get made fun of, well, that might turn some people off. Understandably, the lack of meaningful content in this scene makes a lot of fans say that waiting through to the end wasn't worth the punchline. With respect, we disagree. The joke, this time, is on you.

If you've seen a superhero movie in theaters any time in the past decade, it will come as no surprise to you that "Blue Beetle" has two end credits sequences: a mid-credits scene and a post-credits bonus bit.

The first is pretty critical to the plot, although it doesn't tie into any DCEU material outside of "Blue Beetle." In the film, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) meets Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), whose father Ted Kord was previously the Blue Beetle before Jaime takes up the mantle. Throughout the movie, Ted is missing and presumed to be dead. But in the movie's mid-credits scene, we return to the original, now-abandoned Blue Beetle lair where, out of the blue, the shape of a man appears on its computer screen. This being says that he is Ted Kord, and that he's still alive and looking for his daughter. This ending scene is almost certainly a set-up for a "Blue Beetle" sequel.

The post-credits scene in "Blue Beetle," meanwhile, is the second half of a joke. It's a short montage of claymation clips from the "El Chapulín Colorado" animated series, a Mexican superhero parody from the '70s. This character feels like a big inspiration for director Ángel Manuel Soto and how he brought live-action DC its first Latino superhero.

It's getting hard to track which horror movies fall under the umbrella of "The Conjuring" universe. But if you went into "The Nun II" without realizing it was part of this franchise, you would have been thoroughly reminded by its post-credits sequence, which ties this spin-off directly back to the main "Conjuring" movies.

As far as the story of "The Nun II" is concerned, everything is wrapped up by the time this credits scene rolls. It is 1956 and at a convent in Italy, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Sister Debra (Storm Reid) fight off possessions and a demon nun, which they manage to successfully banish back to Hell.

After the credits, though, time has clearly moved forward. We hear a phone ringing and being answered before seeing the home of paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), circa 1980. A woman answers the phone as Ed and Lorraine enter the room from outside. The woman tells Ed it's Father Gordon (Steve Coulter), a priest who frequently works with the Warrens on their cases, on the line. Before the scene ends, Ed picks up the phone and teases their next adventure by saying "Yes, Father, how can we help?"

We know the next movie in the "Conjuring" universe is going to feature the Warrens. What we don't know yet is just when "The Conjuring: Last Rites" will go into production. Scheduling has been delayed by the Hollywood strikes.

No, you weren't bamboozled if you saw "Barbie" when it originally came to theaters and missed this post-credits sequence. When Greta Gerwig's much-anticipated blockbuster first hit the theaters the same day as "Oppenheimer," there was no post-credits anything. A montage of deleted scenes, outtakes, and bloopers was added at the end for the IMAX re-release of the film in September 2023.

This extended blooper reel is full of little goofs and gags that didn't make it into the final cut of the movie. New scenes include an exchange between Ryan Gosling's Ken and Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), Gosling singing a spoof of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," and Midge the pregnant doll going into labor. We didn't think it possible, but there are also many more references to Mattel toys like Barney, Hot Wheels, and Thomas the Tank Engine. There's also just a bunch of silly lines and improvisations, sure to put a smile on everyone's face, that finally get to see the light of day.

You don't need a breakdown of the latest Pixar movie's lore to understand the meaning behind its post-credits scene. "Elemental" follows a group of anthropomorphized elements of nature in a story about different groups coming together. Bringing the polar opposites of fire and water together serves as the central metaphor, as Ember (Leah Lewis) and Wade (Mamoudou Athie) begin to fall for each other throughout the adventure.

Director Peter Sohn based the narrative in "Elemental" off his experience growing up as a child of immigrants in New York City. The movie is dedicated to both of his parents, which you only know if you stick around past the credits until the very end of the movie.

We're not sure if it's quite a full "scene," but there is a brief "in memoriam" at the end of "Elemental" that serves as a heartwarming cherry on top of the rest of the film. We love this because it's such a rare example of using the post-credits scene in a personal and meaningful way. It makes audiences feel good for sticking around.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is a popular horror game franchise about creepy animatronic robots possessed by the spirits of dead children. In the first game, you play as a security guard working inside the rundown Freddy Fazbear's Pizza — similar to places like Chuck E. Cheese — and must survive five nights (hence the title) without getting killed by the aforementioned animatronics.

The 2023 feature film adaptation follows much of the same beats as the original game, while of course expanding on the characters' backstories. In the film, Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), the security guard protagonist from the first game, is entrusted with taking care of his disabled sister, Abby (Piper Rubio). Mike then accepts the shady job offer at Freddy Fazbear's to keep custody of her.

Eventually, the ghost children possessing the animatronics want to turn Abby into one of them. Freddy even comes to Mike and Abby's home to kidnap her. Afterward, Abby and Freddy take a taxi back to Fazbear's Pizza in a comedic scene, as the driver (played by YouTuber CoryxKenshin) is seemingly unperturbed by Freddy's appearance.

In a mid-credits scene, the taxi driver returns, only to be menaced by Balloon Boy — an animatronic character who appears in the game "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" — and who is seen sporadically throughout the film. It's a funny, if inconsequential, sequence. However, there's also an eerie after-credits moment where a creepy electronic voice appears to say, "Find me" or "Come find me."