Marvel's Post-Credits Scenes Started As "A Lark"

Post-credit scenes often appear to be strategic features used to create hype for sequels, however, Jon Favreau has disclosed that’s not quite the case for Iron Man‘s 2008 ending. If you recall, 10 years ago, the Marvel favorite included a post-credit scene introducing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. In the scene, Nick Fury appears in Tony Stark’s home and hints at a larger future MCU franchise saying, “You’re part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.” With Avenger’s Infinity War launching this April, many would applaud Marvel for its foresight, however, director Jon Favreau admits it was originally only meant to be nugget for hardcore fans. Favreau says:

That was a bit of a lark. I wanted to include Easter eggs that the fans would appreciate and we thought the idea of a post-credit scene it could be fun. It was something that wasn’t really in the script originally. But I thought the idea of Nick Fury being Sam Jackson would be really fun, because when Nick Fury was reimagined in The Ultimates (comic book) they recast him as Sam Jackson, and I thought that that would be a really good nod to the audience.

At the time, Marvel Studios had no idea how important this post-credit scene would become. While executives had decided on a crossover feature, Jon Favreau recalls carefully selecting the script to only lay out the intent without strong commitment. He continues:

We had the idea that we would somehow group these characters together, that was part of what would happen, but a lot of things had to go right for that to happen, so we were really just laying out a basic mission statement of purpose, to show our intent, and thinking that the few people who would linger in the theater would be the ones who would appreciate it most.

It turns out testing breadcrumbs worked. Watch the scene below, and be sure to cop your advanced tickets to Avengers: Infinity War before they run out.