Last September, Deadline mentioned in a report that Robert Downey Jr. was set to make a cameo appearance in the Black Widow movie. That came as something of a surprise, especially after the actor had bid farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe following Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame.
Of course, with Black Widow set to take place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, it wouldn't be hard to have Tony Stark factor into the story in some way.
Now, though, Amit Chaudhari, who has proven to be a reliable source for inside information as someone working on localisation of trailers and movies in India, claims to have heard that there's no sign of Downey's iconic character in the final cut. This isn't overly surprising, though the prevailing theory was that Marvel Studios planned to use old footage from Captain America: Civil War, anyway.
Ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see (until next May, unfortunately), but there are bound to be some big surprises in Black Widow, and it does sound like we can expect to see Hawkeye!
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out the MCU's 10 best post-credits scenes!
10. Thor's Hammer (Iron Man 2, 2010)
Another early post-credits scene, we all knew that Thor was coming when
Iron Man 2 was released, but this stinger provided our first look at Mjolnir after it had crash-landed on Earth.
While it left us with a lot of questions, it was impossible not to feel psyched after witnessing this tease for the God of Thunder's arrival and knowing it would be a game-changer for the MCU as we moved from the grounded adventures of Iron Man to the alien halls of Asgard.
To many of you, this will seem like a tame teaser by today's standards, but in 2010, it was truly epic!
9. "Adam" (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, 2017)
James Gunn's critically acclaimed
Guardians of the Galaxy sequel features more post-credits scenes than any other Marvel movie, but this was an undeniable highlight. For years, speculation had been running rampant about the possibility of Adam Warlock coming to the MCU, and the filmmaker finally laid the groundwork for that with this intriguing sequence.
The sequel boasted a number of post-credits scenes, of course, but this one really stands out as being something special, even if many fans were disappointed by it not paying off in Avengers: Infinity War.
Non-fans would have no doubt been left baffled by the mention of "Adam," but we all knew what this meant and seeing it pay off in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 promises to be a lot of fun.
8. Captain Marvel Tease (Avengers: Infinity War, 2018)
Marvel Studios did a great job of keeping
Avengers: Infinity War's biggest surprises under wraps and that meant we had no idea what to expect from the massive superhero ensemble's post-credits scene.
Kicking off with Nick Fury and Maria Hill's investigation of Thanos' attack on Wakanda, we were left reeling when they both turned to dust and the mysterious device the former dropped displayed a logo that was instantly familiar to fans of the comic books. Captain Marvel had finally arrived (sort of), and this definitely increased excitement for her solo adventure.
What a visual too!
7. Groot Dances (Guardians Of The Galaxy, 2014)
This may have just been a "fun" post-credits scene, but Marvel Studios never could have realised what sort of impact it would have. This brief - and ridiculously cute - sequence featuring Baby Groot dancing away led to huge demand for merchandise which Disney hadn't thought to produce, and they were left scrambling to catch up.
It also served as an introduction to the baby version of Groot we'd all end up falling in love with (even more than we already had done) a few years later with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Here's a fun fact you may not know: James Gunn provided motion-capture for Groot's dance here!
6. Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2014)
In many ways, the MCU was still in its infancy back in 2014 and so the introduction of characters like Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch was a considerably bigger deal than it is now.
Serving as a tease of what was to come in Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got a glimpse of "The Twins" in action, and while we weren't entirely sure whether they would be heroes or villains (or even mutants) at this point in time, this sneak peek was an absolute treat and gets bonus points for tying into the events of the movie it was attached to by mentioning HYDRA's apparent downfall.
At this point, the prospect of characters like Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch coming to this shared world was hard to fathom, so even a glimpse of them in action was exciting.
5. Stan Lee Reports To The Watchers (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, 2017)
How could you not love this?
The late, great Stan "The Man" Lee made a number of memorable cameos in the MCU but the apparent revelation that he had been sent to Earth by The Watchers to keep an eye on things was a game-changer, and something fans had been theorising for years. Of course, we'd seen this earlier in the movie, but them walking away from the comic creator as his tales continued was hilarious.
Just seeing The Watchers in live-action was amazing, and now that the rights to the Fantastic Four have returned home, here's hoping we'll finally get to see Uatu appear during key moments.
4. The Avengers Initiative (Iron Man, 2008)
This was where it all began. While details had leaked online beforehand, social media was in its infancy back in 2008 so it's not like it was all over Twitter and Instagram! As a result, the handful of fans who decided to wait until the very end of the credits were treated to witnessing the introduction of Samuel L. Jackson and getting to hear about The Avengers Initiative for the first time.
It was clear that Marvel Studios was using The Ultimates for inspiration here, and that was exciting for a lot of reasons. However, the very ideas of The Avengers assembling on the big screen was hard to believe and most of us didn't think it would ever come to much.
How wrong were we, eh? This was bigger than anyone could have ever imagined...
3. Thanos Arrives (The Avengers, 2012)
By now, we've seen an awful lot of Thanos, so it's fair to say that the novelty has somewhat worn off, right? Well, while fans waited patiently for a post-credits scene at the end of
The Avengers, they were treated to the big screen debut of the Mad Titan as we learned that he had been the one pulling Loki's strings from the start.
Brought to life with practical effects rather than CGI, he didn't look great, but was more than enough to have fans losing their minds. It's crazy to think how long it took for this to pay off, but the wait was worth it and this proved that Marvel Studios had big plans following this epic team-up. Now, it goes without saying that the pay off was incredible!
Did you guess that this was who "The Other" was reporting to?
2. The Avengers (Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011)
You didn't forget this one, did you?
Captain America: The First Avenger arrived in theaters in July 2011, and the first trailer for
The Avengers didn't come our way until October. However, providing you waited until the very end of this movie (by now, that should have become the norm), you would have been treated to a teaser featuring very early footage that left everyone talking.
We got to see Loki in custody, new costumes, and a conversation between Iron Man and Thor - something it was hard to imagine ever happening at the time. Proving that, yes, The Avengers movie was really happening, the excitement this created at the time is probably hard to imagine for younger fans used to releases as large in scale as Avengers: Endgame!
Looking back at it now, it's kind of funny seeing how much of that footage was clearly unfinished.
1. J. Jonah Jameson Returns (Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2019)
Thankfully, Spider-Man is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year (well, hopefully), but had this marked his final appearance, he'd have got out in style! In this mid-credits scene, the wall-crawler's attention was grabbed by a news report in the Big Apple which not only featured the shock return of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, but his identity being revealed to the world!
Both of those moments were genuinely jaw-dropping and nicely set the stage for this version of Spidey to be branded a "menace" after he was framed for the murder of Mysterio. This has to be the most exciting teases ever, and if those big rumours about Spider-Man 3 are to be believed, Peter Parker will be heading into the "Spider-Verse" in order to make his identity a secret again.
It's impossible to watch this and not get a kick out of it if you're a fan of Sam Raimi's movies.