The Avengers

[Ben]

"After after credits"!?

I saw the mid-way next villain hint but that was it, at least over here, and I stayed right to the end Paramount logo. Maybe they added something extra for the US or part way into the run as a way to get people to go back again?

Anyway...WHAT THE HECK HAPPENS "AFTER AFTER CREDITS"!!??

[Macaluso]

Yeah, it's a thing that was added in the US. After the credits:

All the heroes are sitting around a table in a Schwarma restaurant eating their food. They do this in silence for like 20 seconds and that's it.

It's such a great way to end everything.

[Randall]

Mac is correct. It premiered with the US/Canada release. Other territories got left out. And, though it doesn't seem like much, it was a perfect closer. It got a good laugh when it finally went to black, and we were all left smiling.

[Dan]

It was a fantastic culmination to Marvel having used the after credits bonus scene for virtually all the films leading up to Avengers. It was excellent.

[Ben]

Ahh, you know I was surprised that there wasn't anything after the credits when all the previous films (mostly) had put some little coda there.

Still, at least I'll see it when it comes to Blu - thanks for the details!

[EricJ]

Yeah, it's a thing that was added in the US. After the credits:

All the heroes are sitting around a table in a Schwarma restaurant eating their food. They do this in silence for like 20 seconds and that's it.

Running-gagging the line about

the shawarma restaurant being the only thing NOT destroyed in the city block.

They save the "teases" for the solo movies.

As for the "Oh no, it's....THIS guy! " tease in mid-credits,

Thanos, who was pulling Loki's strings, was a villain from the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, a FF and Silver Surfer(?) regular, whose villain-quirk is that he devotedly talks to a statue of the Goddess of Death, and hopes to sacrifice the universe to her. So, when one of the aliens says "To attack the humans is to court death".....

A touch way off the "real-world" universes of the Marvel movies if they're setting it up for the next round of crossover storylines, but a nice bit of obscure lore from Whedon/Penn.

[Randall]

The fun thing about the Marvel films is that, having established a "real world" feel previously, it actually makes it easier to go more fantastic while allowing for it to still feel grounded. Over time, these may get crazier and crazier.

[estefan]

I also hope DreamWorks now start to have some better box-office luck through their Disney arrangement, since the marketing on their films has been lousy too (as Spielberg has been very public about and even had a spat with Ross over War Horse).

Sorry I'm being late in this reply (haven't logged in, in a while), but I'm pretty sure The Help was very successful.

[Ben]

I think critically, yes, but not on the kind of mainstream commercial level that the relationship initially promised.