James Mangold shares his views on post-credit scenes

James Mangold has directed two comic-book movies, Wolverine and Logan, but he isn’t a fan of attaching post-credit sequences to movies.

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Superheroes have thrived through comic-books for decades. However, it’s only recently that their jump from the colorful pages to celluloid has captured the attention of billions of viewers worldwide. In addition to that, as Marvel has popularized the use of post-credit scenes, it has become almost customary to sit through till the end of blockbuster movies to catch a glimpse of what’s next. While that might be enjoyable for some viewers, James Mangold is certainly not happy about it.

Mangold has mastered a variety of genres (3:10 to Yuma, Girl, Interrupted, Identity), but it was his foray into the superhero sub-genre that landed him his first Oscar nod in the adapted screenplay category. Although Mangold was unable to avoid the post-credit scene trope for Wolverine, he was successful in doing so for Logan, thereby maintaining the stand-alone vibe he wanted for the movie. Considering how he prefers self-contained movies, Mangold told Cinemablend about how after-credit scenes are a detriment to that.

"“The idea of making a movie that would f****ng embarrass me, that’s part of the anesthetizing of this country or the world. That’s further confirming what they already know and tying in with other f****ng products and selling them the next movie while you’re making this movie, and kind of all that shit that I find really f****ng embarrassing. Like, that audiences are actually asking for scenes in end credits when those scenes were first developed for movies that suck, so they put something extra at the end to pick up the scores when the movie couldn’t end right on its own f***ing feet.”"

Logan had two major tasks to accomplish: being an X-men movie and considering how Hugh Jackman was looking to retire from the role, providing a definitive end for Wolverine. And in order to achieve this, Mangold set the movie chronologically far from the convoluted timeline of the franchise and adapted a Western-esque tone for the movie. Additionally, due to Logan‘s sentimental conclusion, Mangold avoided adding a post-credit scene that would be contradictory to the movie’s emotional impact.

Should all comic-book movies follow James Mangold’s approach towards post-credit scenes?

Although we’d like to blame Marvel for this trend, post-credit sequences have existed way before the MCU’s inception. While The Silencers is known to be the first movie to use an end-credit scene, it was turned into a humorous tradition by movies like Airplane! & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. However, as this process was used sparsely, it never caught on until Nick Fury informed us about The Avengers Initiative. And considering how modern viewers have begun to show interest in these post-credit scenes rather than the film itself, Mangold thinks it’s a type of cheating.

"“Now we’ve actually gotten audiences addicted to a f****ng bonus in the credits. It’s f****ng embarrassing. It means you couldn’t land your f****ng movie is what it means. Even if you got 100,000 Twitter addicts who are gambling on what f****ng scene is going to happen after the f****ng credits it’s still cheating. It’s just cheating, but there’s all sorts of bad habits like that that f****ng horrify me, man, that have become de rigueur in the way we make movies and I think the fear of being one of them that did that end then everyone’s patting me on the back and I feel like shit inside because I know I cheated, is probably the greatest thing that scares the shit out of me.”"

One of the best examples that illustrates Mangold’s views is Justice League. This DCEU movie certainly had an extremely tumultuous journey, with Zack Snyder leaving the director’s chair due to personal reasons and Joss Whedon completely revamping the movie, but that doesn’t excuse the final product from criticisms. So, as the movie was clearly poorly edited, had badly rendered CGI and a vapid plot, the powers that be decided to hype fans with the help of Lex Luthor and Deathstroke. And since it was comparatively more talked about, it goes to show how effective post-credit scenes can be.

Next: Joel Kinnaman discusses Suicide Squad’s issues and where it went wrong

As James Mangold has elevated himself to a position where he can attract moviegoers on the basis of his name alone, he is entitled to his opinion on post-credit scenes. However, as franchises like Marvel tend to experiment with new directors, it’s necessary for them to generate the adequate amount of excitement for their next project. So, while Mangold has the freedom to control his movie through and through, even if post-credit scenes detract from the overall tone of the main film, it’s a compromise that franchises have to make for the sake of more revenue.

Do you agree or disagree with James Mangold regarding post-credit scenes? Comment below and let me know.