WARNING! This post contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home!

Spider-Man: No Way Home has been released to widespread acclaim, but has the MCU dropped the ball with its post-credits offerings? Featuring Tom Holland as the titular webhead, No Way Home is the final installment of the Spider-Man: Homecoming trilogy and features Spider-Man taking on a variety of multiversal variant villains from previous Spider-Man movies, including Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx's Electro, and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. As the credits roll, however, some could accuse the film of having the worst post-credits scenes in the MCU since its very beginning.

Harking back to the earliest days of the MCU, post-credits scenes have always been something for fans to look forward to after the credits have rolled. They often feature interactions between characters that tease a future movie, or present fans with brief glimpses into what could be coming in the future. The very first post-credits scene in the MCU did just that in Iron Man (2008), as it showed Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) talking to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) about how Iron Man isn't the only superhero in the world, before bringing up the Avengers Initiative. Subsequently, there has been a multitude of post-credits scenes and teases, showing off the likes of Thanos (Josh Brolin), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and the Darkhold. There have also been humourous moments shared in post-credits scenes, such as the Avengers enjoying a quiet Shwarma following the Battle of New York in 2012's The Avengers, as well as The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) attempting to placate the citizens of Sakaar after the revolution in Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Related: Scarlet Witch Can Be MCU Phase 4's Best Villain In Doctor Strange 2

However, the post-credits scenes from Spider-Man: No Way Home could be accused of falling somewhat short of the bar previously set by Marvel Studios. The first post-credits scene follows directly from the post-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and sees Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock attempting to understand who the Avengers are from a local bartender. After a short but hilarious interaction, Brock is transported back to his universe, the same as the villains, but a small amount of the Venom symbiote remained behind. While the possibility of Venom now appearing in the MCU is exciting, it is somewhat dampened by the fact that it appears to have come at the cost of Tom Hardy himself. The second post-credits offering is less of a scene, and more a preview of the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. A cut-together trailer shows Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) tentatively exploring new dimensions, battling interdimensional monsters, and seeking the help of Wanda Maximoff.

While there is reason to be excited about these offerings, they are radically different from what has come before in the MCU in terms of post-credits scenes. For instance, the first seeks to undo one of the most noteworthy and exciting aspects of the Venom sequel. Many fans were eager to see Holland's Spider-Man fight against Hardy's Venom, but that prospect now seems to be off the table in favor of recasting the character for the main MCU continuity. Tom Hardy's brilliance in the role of Eddie Brock is what brings the Venom movies to life, and losing an actor of that caliber may leave a sour taste in the mouth. Furthermore, this marks the first time that a trailer has been a post-credits scene in the MCU. A more fitting inclusion would have been a tease of an interaction between Doctor Strange and Wanda; a scene that was shown as part of the trailer and could have simply been used on its own to generate hype, mystery, and intrigue around the sorcery sequel.

One of the things that mark the MCU out as different from its cinematic counterparts is its building of a massively-branching franchise; one that is interconnected and ever-weaving. The post-credits scenes are teases of what's to come, whether it's through character reveals, brief cut-down scenes from future movies, or simple additions that are meticulously designed to whet the appetite of fans. Spider-Man: No Way Home's post-credits offerings differentiate from those that have gone before by losing an actor only recently gained, and offering a trailer rather than a teasing scene.

More: MCU Theory: Spider-Man 4 Will Deliver On Venom 2's Credits Promise

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