The MCU Wouldn’t Have Post-Credit Scenes Without This 40-Year-Old Comedy Classic

Marvel Studios has released dozens of films since it kicked off the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man. That film, of course, changed the course of cinema with its introduction of an interconnected, intertwining series of films. The concept, while familiar to fans of the comics, felt novel in a way that is now hard to imagine, given how central the notion of a shared cinematic universe has become in Hollywood. Whether it’s the Conjuring universe, the Godzilla and Kong-led Monsterverse, or those other iconic heroes over at DC Comics, just about every studio has at least attempted to create an interconnected franchise in the vein of the MCU with varying degrees of success.

But from the moment Samuel L. Jackson stepped into frame as Nick Fury, Marvel has confidently led the way forward, always whetting fans’ appetites for what might come next. The post-credits scene has become so synonymous with the MCU that it’s wild to think of the franchise — especially in those early days of Phases 1 and 2 — building towards the universe-spanning Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame without them. Even more incredibly, the MCU might have never even thought to include post-credits scenes if not for a beloved classic comedy from the 1980s.

Kevin Feige Admitted He Was Inspired By Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Back in 2018, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige admitted to Entertainment Weekly that he was inspired to add a post-credits scene to Iron Man because of his experience seeing the 1986 John Hughes-directed comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In that film, Matthew Broderick’s title character pops up on screen at the very end of the credits. Surprised to see moviegoers still watching, he tells them “it’s over” and to “go home.”

“It was the greatest thing in the world,” Feige told EW. “I thought it was hilarious. It was like a little reward for me for sitting through the credits.”

The response to Jackson’s appearance at the end of Iron Man, in which Fury memorably ushers Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) into a “bigger universe,” name-dropping the “Avenger Initiative,” led Feige and Marvel to embrace the post-credits scene going forward. But rather than serving as the “real” ending to the film fans just watched, it looks ahead to what the future might hold.

“[The ending] is before the credits, that’s really how we look at it,” Feige explained. “That’s the conclusion of the story that we’re telling, and then if there’s a credits scene after the main one ends or the first one, it’s usually something that ties into the movie you’ve just seen that’s extra. At the very end of the credits, that’s what’s to come.”

At Least Two Marvel Movies Paid Tribute to the John Hughes Classic

Indeed, most MCU movies have featured at least one post-credits scene, often including a mid-credits scene too. These don’t always pan out in future projects, as fans have noticed, particularly in later projects such as Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder. But they remain a coveted spot for MCU films to hint at the road ahead or crack a joke. Still, Marvel has never shied away from paying homage to the film that inspired this trend in the first place. In fact, at least two Marvel films have directly referenced Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The first, of course, is in 2016’s Deadpool, in which Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth parodies Broderick’s post-credits appearance, bathrobe and all. In the grand tradition of Marvel post-credits scenes, he even teases that Cable would appear in the sequel, which he did.

Then, just a year later, Spider-Man: Homecoming sees the friendly neighborhood webslinger race through people’s homes and backyards to catch up with a villain, essentially recreating a sequence from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And if the reference wasn’t clear enough, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) swings past a TV playing that exact scene in the film. “Great movie!” Peter shouts as he skims across the top of someone’s swimming pool, splashing unsuspecting partygoers. If only the in-universe Peter Parker knew how much his debut MCU solo feature — as well as the franchise as a whole — owes to Hughes’ classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which incidentally marks its 40th anniversary this year.

Deadpool and Spider-Man: Homecoming are both streaming on Disney+.