'Thor: Ragnarok' has two post-credits scenes. Here's what they mean.
Spoiler alert: This post contains major spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok.
No Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever just ends when it ends. All of them reward audiences who sit through the credits, using the time to cram in another beat or two (or five).
In the case of Thor: Ragnarok, there are two end-credits scenes – one that teases a future installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and another that seems to be just for fun. Here's what they are and what they mean.
1. Thor and Loki encounter a giant ship
What happens: At the end of Thor: Ragnarok, Asgard has been completely destroyed. Thor and Loki have escaped on a ship, along with the rest of the Asgardian population. They're headed to Midgard (i.e., Earth) to make a new home.
The mid-credits scene picks up with Thor and Loki still on the ship, making their way through space and discussing their decision. (Thor is happy to go to Earth because he's very popular there, but Loki is more ambivalent because he is not.) As they're talking, they notice a massive ship looming outside and getting closer.
What it means: While the scene doesn't explicitly confirm who's in that larger ship, the obvious guess is that it's Thanos, since Avengers: Infinity War will be the next Marvel movie to feature Thor and Loki.
In the Infinity War footage screened at D23, the Guardians find Thor floating through space, while Loki has somehow gotten ahold of the Tesseract. At the time, we wondered how Thor and Loki would end up where they were. The Ragnarok mid-credits scene begins to answer that question.
2. The Grandmaster faces the rebellion
What happens: Back on Sakaar, the Grandmaster's ship has landed in a trash heap much like the one where Valkyrie first found Thor. The door opens, and he tumbles out, along with two alien women. A crowd of scavengers approaches, and for a second it appears he's about to be captured.
But the Grandmaster gets back on his feet and begins to talk. "I'm proud of you all. This revolution has been a huge success," he says. And he'll gladly take credit for his contributions – after all, he says, "You can't have a revolution without someone to overthrow." He finishes his little speech by declaring, "It's a tie."
What it means: In its third act, Thor: Ragnarok largely turns its attention away from Sakaar to focus on Asgard. So the post-credits sequence ties up the Sakaar revolution subplot, and also gives Jeff Goldblum one last chance to do his Jeff Goldblum thing.
Less clear is whether this plot point will have any relevance to future MCU movies. Probably not. But it's still nice to know what happened, right?
