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What does the Avengers: Infinity War post-credits scene mean?

Spoilers ahead! Avengers: Infinity War ends with one of the best after-credits scenes yet. Let's break it down.

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Warning: I'll be spoiling the after-credits scene in Avengers: Infinity War below, and the ending of the movie, too. Leave right now if you don't want to know what happens before you see the movie. Good? Good.

Ever since Nick Fury showed up at the end of Iron Man a decade ago, the Marvel post-credits scenes have given exciting peeks at the future of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Fast-forward 10 years and 18 other movies, and the tradition continues with Avengers: Infinity War.

So how many after-credits scenes do movie-goers get? Do they provide a tantalizing glimpse at what Marvel has in store in 2019? Well, we totally know and are ready to break it down for you right here.

Let's get to it.

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What happens during the after-credits scene?

First of all there's only one after-credits scene, at the very end of the credits -- there's no mid-credits scene. So, after the credits end, we see Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury driving an SUV, with Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill as his passenger. They're referencing the battle in Wakanda being way bigger than the battle in New York seen earlier in the movie, when suddenly a car on the other side of the road spins out and crashes in front of them. They get out to inspect and Hill notices there's no one in the car. Then, a helicopter seemingly falls out of the sky, and crashes into a building.

As Fury sees people running through the chaos, Hill starts to disintegrate into dust much like many other characters in the movie do when Thanos snaps his fingers to randomly wipe out half of all the life in the universe. Fury then hurries to the back seat of his SUV and picks up what looks like a pager. He presses a button on the very 1990s piece of tech, but then realizes he too is turning to dust. As he vanishes, he starts to let loose with a classic Samuel L. Jackson curse word, but is gone before he can finish.

The pager drops from his now nonexistent hands as the camera begins zooming in on its screen: "Sending…….." Then a gold star appears on the same screen, followed by blue and red colors. Cut to black. 

What does it all mean?

The indication is that Fury sent a message to Captain Marvel. But who the hell is Captain Marvel? She's a hero named Carol Danvers we've not yet met, but so far we know the gold star is her symbol and blue and red are her colors.

captain-marvel.jpg

Captain Marvel in the comics is powerful, and her movie incarnation is expected to be too.

Marvel

We'll be learning way more about her in March 2019 when the Captain Marvel movie drops, starring Brie Larson as the titular hero. The movie will also be the first Marvel film to give a female superhero the sole spotlight and the second to feature a woman in the title following 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Here's our deeper explainer on Captain Marvel, but for those who just want some sweet highlights about the film:

  • It's going to take place in the 1990s, hence the beeper.
  • It will feature a younger Nick Fury in what will likely be his first encounter with the superheroes and space creatures that often feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (also returning will be Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson and Lee Pace reprising his Guardians of the Galaxy role of Ronan the Accuser).
  • According to a 2016 Vulture interview with MCU boss Kevin Feige, Captain Marvel will be the most powerful superhero yet. "Her powers are off the charts, and when she's introduced, she will be by far the strongest character we've ever had," Feige said. 

So where has she been this whole time? In hiding? Or perhaps flying through space? We'll find out next year.

Are you excited to see how Captain Marvel plays into the next Avengers movie? And were you hoping to see even more post-credits scenes? Tell us in the comments.

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