Captain America: Brave New World's Controversial Post-Credits Scene Explained By Director

This article contains spoilers for "Captain America: Brave New World."

In the post-credits stinger for Julius Onah's "Captain America: Brave New World," the large-brained evil-doer Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) is seen imprisoned in the high-tech villain-holding facility called The Raft, having been apprehended for his various wicked acts. Upon receiving a visit from Sam Wilson's Captain America (Anthony Mackie), Sterns issues a grave and portentous warning. "I've seen it in the probabilities, seen it plain as day," he tells Wilson. "All you heroes protecting this world, and you think you're the only ones? Do you think this is the only world? We'll see what happens when you have to protect this place ... from the others."

Sterns, as so many other characters have in other recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, is alluding to the existence of alternate universes. The full implications of the "Brave New World" post-credits scene have already been explored by /Film's own talented Jeremy Mathai. Meanwhile, the multiverse has been the key component of the MCU's ongoing Multiverse Saga for years now (with films and shows like "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," "Loki," "The Marvels," and "Deadpool & Wolverine" having already explored the concept), so Sterns' warning about "the others" doesn't ring very grave. Why bother teasing the existence of a multiverse when we already know it exists and have spent many hours inside of it? Indeed, the MCU even has a complex and hard-working police force overseeing parallel dimensions in the form of the Time Variance Authority (TVA).

It seems the multiverse tease at the end of "Brave New World" was, however, not how the film originally concluded. Speaking in an interview with Collider, Onah revealed the movie's post-credits stinger was the result of late-stage reshoots. He also said a more proper stinger couldn't be authored because of the 2023 writers strike.

Onah explained that his intention was always to include a single stinger at the end of "Brave New World." He added that it would've teed up what was coming in future MCU projects (as Marvel movie post-credits scenes are wont to do), but that it also would've been more directly related to Sam Wilson and his story arc. With most MCU films, there are two stingers, but Onah clarified that he preferred to have just the one, in the hopes of keeping his film focused on its eponymous character and not getting distracted with extraneous lore-building.

But then, after the 2023 writers strike hit, Marvel had to hold off on making further plans for the MCU, which meant Onah didn't know what films or shows would be arriving right after "Brave New World." He also didn't know who might be involved with those upcoming projects or what stories they would tell, so he held off on shooting a post-credits stinger. Eventually, though, the decision was made to shoot one at the last second. To quote Onah directly:

"That was shot during our additional photography [...] That's what I mean about [how] all this is planned ahead of time. We didn't know what our post-credit scene was going to be just yet. As you know, there was a massive writers strike, so that meant it was pencils down not just on this movie, but pencils down on everything in film and TV. Nothing was happening. So, who knew what 'Thunderbolts*' was going to look like, necessarily? Or the next 'Avengers' was going to look like?"

Onah added that when the strike ended, he was finally able to "put pen to paper," as could everyone else. The problem was, with no long-term plan immeidately in place, and with newer MCU projects still being developed, the stinger for "Brave New World" couldn't allude to anything specific. The MCU's plans were changing all the time, so Onah didn't know what he would be allowed to preview. As such, he had to stay vague and have Sterns merely talk about "the Others." In other words, we now know that Onah, sadly, had to remain unclear by design.

"Captain America: Brave New World" is now playing in theaters. The next MCU film, "Thunderbolts*," arrives on May 2, 2025.