Why 'Avengers: Endgame' does the end credits differently (spoiler-free!)

There was a time when audiences didn't stay for the closing credits of movies — and then the Marvel Cinematic Universe happened. While the Marvel movies didn't invent the closing-credits stinger, they were the first franchise to use it strategically, embedding at least one teaser for a future film into every single superhero installment, beginning with 2008's Iron Man. (In fact, there were end-credits scenes in 2003's Daredevil and 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, but those Marvel movies were pre-MCU.) So what kind of post-credits scene does the extra-long epic Avengers: Endgame have in store for fans?

The answer is: none at all. Rather than giving audiences a preview of an upcoming Disney-Marvel movie (like the Black Panther sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 or Black Widow), or teasing one of the live-action Avengers shows in development for Disney+ (including Loki, WandaVision, Falcon & Winter Soldier, and a Hawkeye series), Endgame does away with the end-credits scene entirely. It's a dramatic way of announcing that the current phase of Marvel movies has really, truly come to an end.The uneventful closing credits will be a bittersweet moment for fans — or perhaps a gift for anyone who drank a full-sized soda during the film's three-hour run.

Audiences who stay for the credits do get one thing: a mysterious hammering noise over the Marvel Studios logo at the very end. Some fans are speculating that this audio stinger is the sound of Tony Stark building his very first Iron Man suit, and thus bringing the MCU into being.

As a lead-up to the Endgame premiere, Marvel Studios tweeted out most of the previous end- and mid-credits scenes from Marvel's first decade, beginning with Nick Fury approaching Tony Stark to talk about "the Avenger Initiative." Enjoy the flashback below, shawarma and all.

Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters on Friday.

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