James Mangold has never been one to shy away from voicing criticisms. After co-writing and directing the critical and commercial hit Logan, Mangold has earned enough street cred among film fans that he is allowed to have a hot take or two. However, his recent rant about post-credits scenes needs to be addressed. You see, not only is James Mangold’s take on the scenes controversial, it’s also just flat-out wrong.

Recently, Mangold was invited to talk at the 2018 Writers Guild Association Beyond Words Panel. After discussing a variety of film-related subjects, the filmmaker decided to tackle a trend he's disgusted by.

“Now we've actually gotten audiences addicted to a fucking bonus in the credits," Mangold said. "It's fucking embarrassing. It means you couldn't land your fucking movie is what it means. Even if you got 100,000 Twitter addicts who are gambling on what fucking scene is going to happen after the fucking credits it's still cheating.”

Let’s just get this out of the way first: Kudos for Mangold for having the confidence to speak his mind and throw diplomacy out the window. It’s refreshing to see this in an industry where creators are so scared to offend the wrong people. Unfortunately, in this case, Mangold is just wrong.

Yes, They’re Ads And That’s Okay!

Avengers Thanos Reveal

Mangold has spoken about post-credits scenes before. In an interview ahead of Logan’s release, Mangold discussed what he wanted to do different for his film. “If there’s normally a cameo or an end-credit scene, we’re not doing that," he said. "That’s essentially turning it into a product that has to come out of the widget machine the same way every time and that’s not how the best movies are going to get made … in any genre.

“And really, what are those scenes but ads for another movie?” he continued. “We were trying to make a movie that begun and ended on its own terms. There was nothing else to say, because we had said it.”

Fair enough.

There’s no denying that the scenes shown during and after a comic book film’s credits serve one purpose – advertisement. These scenes are supposed to get fans excited for the next installment in their favorite film franchise. But that doesn’t make them inherently bad or “embarrassing.”

The bottom line is, the idea that a 15 second stinger at the end of the credits somehow detracts from the main film is just silly. Would you say that the quality of The Avengers was hurt by its Thanos reveal or the schwarma scene at the end? Of course not! Was there anyone that left the theater before those scenes played and thought they missed a major part of the film? No.

If you left the moment the credits began, you would have seen a complete story, and judging by the box office receipts, you would have left a very happy customer. Those two scenes at the end just hinted at what’s to come. And you know what? They're not only fun for fans, they're completely harmless to the film preceding it.

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There’s also a bit of irony in Mangold’s comments. If you’re a fan of the X-Men movies, you may have read his comment and thought, “But wait, didn’t The Wolverine have an post-credits scene?” Guess what? You’d be right!

The James Mangold directed film, The Wolverine, not only featured a post-credits scene, it was a scene that actually had superfluous cameos! What makes it even more interesting is that fans could argue that the scene in question, which took place two years in the future and sees Wolverine confronted by Magneto and a now-alive Professor Xavier, actually confused audiences.

Why was there a two-year jump? How did Professor X return from the dead? When did he team up with Magneto? If you’re looking for answers, sorry, you’re out of luck. Instead of being fun and teaser-iffic, it just left the audience with questions. Compared to the scenes at the end of most recent superhero films, the scene at the end of The Wolverine is absolutely flawed.

Professor X Returns in The Wolverine

Perhaps we can give Mangold the benefit of the doubt. It's possible that after his work on The Wolverine, he realized how problematic the film's post-credits scene was and now wants to implore filmmakers to do things differently. However, if that’s the case, say that. Don’t accuse other filmmakers of “not landing” their movie. Mr. Mangold, you were part of the “embarrassing” problem and you “cheated.” Own up to it.

Post-Credit Scenes Are Rooted In Comic Book Storytelling

Logan Holding an X-Men Comic

Comic books are a serialized storytelling medium. You don’t read Wolverine #25, and then stop. Ideally, you come back next month for #26, then #27, and so on. Storylines begin and end, then start all over with new settings, themes and conflicts.

When you put it in that context, it would actually be odd if superhero films didn’t hint at future stories or give audiences a taste or tease of what’s to come. Routinely, in almost every superhero comic book, there are teases for future issues. A villain could cameo in one issue, but that storyline might not be resolved until five, seven, nine issues down the line, where the villain finally makes his presence known and the hero has to confront him. Sound familiar? That’s basically the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Granted, some of these hints in comic books are handled better than others. The same thing can be said about the post-credits scenes, as well. Hell, you can say that about any sort of storytelling. Bad storytelling leads to bad stories, just as great storytelling leads to great stories. However, it’s that connective tissue between story arcs that makes superhero storytelling, and comics in general, unique.

This connective tissue belongs in the films as well. These “ads” for future films are made for the die-hard fans that want more from the Marvel Cinematic Universe than other films. As long as the movie is good, and the stingers are done well, there’s no harm in them, whatsoever. If they bother you so much, you can simply leave during the credits. No one will judge you.

Perhaps Mangold’s rant about these scenes is rooted in something else. The filmmaker seems to see a majority of superhero films as products from that “widget factory” he talked about. He sees these films as uninspired, and it’s this mindset that led to Logan. If that is where his anger comes from, then an argument could be made for the validity of that statement.

Instead, Mangold is taking his frustration out on these little scenes that are the definition of harmless fan-service, rooted in the long history of the medium that inspired them. And while we'd never argue that Logan wasn't a fantastic film, maybe superhero films aren’t Mangold's cup of tea in the end.