Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters. And from its sub-two-hour-long runtime, to the lack of a traditional Marvel opening credits, it’s maybe not changing the game, but it definitely comes at the MCU in a different way. So if you’re sitting in the theater at the end of the movie, you may be wondering: does Captain America: Brave New World have an end credits scene?
The answer, to get it out of the way is: yes, there is one post-credits scene for Captain America: Brave New World. While the movie eschews the traditional mid-credits scene, there is something waiting after the credits, and it teases big things for the MCU. So with that in mind, let’s explain it. And MAJOR spoilers for the movie past this point.
What Happens In The Captain America: Brave New World End Credits Scene?
So just to reiterate, after the movie ends, there’s the main credits — i.e. the animated ones to Kendrick Lamar’s title song that call to mind Samuel Sterns’s (Tim Blake Nelson) mind-controlling, flashing lights — and then no mid-credits scene. After the full title of the movie hits the screen (at the beginning, it just says Brave New World, without Captain America), you’ll have to sit through all the traditional credits to get to the end credits surprise.
But when you do, here’s what happens. The final scene of the movie found Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) visiting former President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) in the floating superhero prison called The Raft. Ross is being held there for Red Hulking out and destroying most of the White House, though we find he gave himself up easily for the rampage. And as a little present, Sam brings him Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), his formerly estranged daughter, as a visitor. Very nice!
After the credits, Sam is still on The Raft, but a different cell block, apparently. There he visits Sam Sterns, the broccoli-headed madman who caused all the action of the movie. And Sterns has a message for Sam, who is now actively thinking about restarting The Avengers, after waffling on it all movie long: it’s not going to be enough.
Specifically, since Sterns is all about running the odds, he’s figured out there’s a very good probability that the MCU is only one of many universes, and those universes are going to find out about each other, sooner rather than later.
“We’ll see what happens when you have to protect this place from the others,” Sterns says, and the screen cuts to black, with the words “Captain America Will Return.”
What Does The Captain America: Brave New World Post-Credits Scene Tease? Avengers: Doomsday And Secret Wars, Baby
Rather than setting up either of the next two movies, per Marvel tradition — those would be Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four: First Steps — this post-credits scene directly sets up the conflict to come in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, a pair of superhero mash-up movies that will premiere on May 1, 2026, and May 7, 2027, respectively.
While not much is known of the exact plot of either movie, we do know that Robert Downey Jr. is in the cast as Doctor Doom — not Tony Stark, or Iron Man (unless he is that, too). And this part is pure educated speculation based on the comic book storyline, but it’s likely the conflict that’s been bubbling in the background of Marvel’s “Multiverse Saga” will come to a head.
Specifically, we have at least three separate, major parts of the Marvel Multiverse we’ve met so far — or are about to meet. The first is the MCU, the way we know it. The second is the retro-future universe of Fantastic Four, which we’ll head to later this year. And the third is the X-Men universe, which we know includes Beast (Kelsey Grammar) and Binary (Lashana Lynch), along with Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), who was trapped there at the end of The Marvels. It’s possible that universe may include Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), or they may be in a fourth universe, it’s unclear at the moment.
There’s also the Illuminati’s multiverse from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which still exists, albeit Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) killed all the main heroes. More importantly, in that movie — without getting too in the weeds — we were introduced to the concept of Incursions, which happen when two branches of the multiverse start to encroach on each other (this also happened in The Marvels).
So what we’re heading towards, and what Sterns is teasing, is an Incursion that hits the MCU. Given what we know about the Marvel Comics miniseries Secret Wars, it’s likely that all of these universes — including the MCU — will be destroyed, with one patchwork planet made of the remains ruled over by Doom as god/Emperor. When Sterns says “the others,” he means the non-MCU universes, who will be battling as hard for their own survival as Sam and his new team of Avengers (whoever they are). See ya next year, Cap! Hope you survive the experience.
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