It might come as a shock, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has no end-credits scene. For the past decade, post-credits scenes have been a staple in superhero media, blockbuster projects, and stories meant to set up sequels. So, since Across the Spider-Verse checks all these boxes, fans will likely fight their bladders and stick to the end of the credits. However, waiting is not worth it in this case because Sony didn’t add any end-credits scene to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. As surprising as this choice might be, Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t need a post-credit scene. The movie already does a beautiful job setting its sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. In addition, any funny end-credits scenes could diminish the emotional impact of the movie’s mind-blowing ending.
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Doesn’t Need an End-Credits Scene
Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse tells the origin story of Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), while building an ambitious adventure involving the Multiverse and multiple Variants of the web-slinger. It could have been a bloated script, but the film ensured the main focus would be the characters and their emotional struggles. Furthermore, Into the Spider-verse introduced the world to groundbreaking 3D animation technique that looks just like comic books. It’s no wonder the movie became a huge box office hit, and Sony quickly gave Lord and Miller the keys of the kingdom to produce two sequels.
Into the Spider-Verse had an end-credits scene introducing the character of Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, voiced by Oscar Isaac in Across the Spider-Verse. It’s a funny scene that teases a bigger Multiverse out there while paying homage to the classic meme of Spider-Men pointing at each other. It would be a mistake to do something similar for Across the Spider-Verse. First, Lord and Miller don’t need to point out to sequels they hope to develop, as the next chapter of the Spider-Verse saga is coming to theaters in less than a year. Second, since the emotional stakes of Across the Spider-Verse are higher than in the first movie, it would feel wrong to wrap things up with a laugh.
A lot is going on in Across the Spider-Verse’s ending, and everything is essential to set the stage for Beyond the Spider-Verse. But none of it is a laughing matter. In fact, the proper reaction is to leave theaters wondering what will happen next in the lives of our favorite Spider-People, knowing what grim price they’ll have to pay should they fail their next mission. Because of that, adding a joke post-credit scene would feel strange.
Without the need to set a sequel or the right atmosphere to joke about something with the Spider-Man fandom, there was no reason to add an end-credits scene to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. So, since the movie has beaten some animation runtime records, you can safely rush to the bathroom once the credits start to roll.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse comes to theaters on June 2, 2023. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on March 29, 2024.
