Millions of fans verbalized Pavlovian excitement and then abrupt disappointment this last weekend when The Amazing Spider-Man 2's credits finished rolling. Perhaps to the detriment of all comic book adaptations from now till the end of time, Marvel Studios has conditioned us movie-lovers to anticipate a post-credits stinger at the end of our blockbusters; ultimately ending in disappointment when our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man didn't have one.
...or maybe it did, at least at one point.
Keen viewers may remember that Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), father of Harry Osborn (Dane Dehaan), passed away early in the film, an event in which we never spotted an actual body to attach to (No preemptive pun intended... you'll see). Something which seemed to be a recurring theme with dads in the movie (We never actually saw Peter's dad die) You may also have noted that when one last shot of his bed chambers were shown, doctors and Oscorp employees were performing a laser scan of his body.
Well, thanks to the guys over at Geek Tyrant, it looks like we have an explanation of what that enigmatic scene was leading to! You see, wewere going to have a post-credits scene, and this is what it would have revealed.
I spy with my fan boy eye...
Let's zoom in for a closer look!
President Nixon from Futurama!!!
Here's an excerpt from Geek Tyrant's explanation:
Apparently, the original post credits scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was going to feature Norman Osborn's head in a jar. It seems Oscorp is secretly keeping his head cryogenically frozen so that they can bring him back to life when technology catches up to them.
The scene is described as showing the shadow man from the film walking up to Norman's cryogenically frozen head in a chamber and saying, "Wake up old friend."
In case you didn't notice the head in a jar.
Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events, and if the film wasn't so sloppily edited I would almost be sure Norman would be returning, deduced from his very ambiguous death scene and this former-end-credits scene. As things stand though, it may have been cut because they are reconsidering pursuing this story thread. Whether Cooper's noggin makes a cameo appearance later on or not, here's hoping we get the full-scene on the DVD/ blu-ray release!
What do you guys think? Did you ever think Norman Osborn was actually dead? Is Norman going to come back in future installments? Will he be returning as the Goblin; maybe as the ultimate incarnation of the goblin, or could his recent disembodiment work well for an Ultimates-style twist on fan-favorite Mysterio? Let me know in the comments below!