In the age of big-budget superhero movies, audiences have grown accustomed to sitting through the credits at the end to see what secrets lie beyond.
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in particular the trend has been clear, with each of those films containing some kind of bonus material after the credits begin to roll. But it’s not an absolute for all superhero movies.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” earlier this year, on the DC side of the comic book movie coin, was missing a post-credits stinger. But “X-Men” movies, despite not being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have tended to have them as of late. So what about “X-Men: Apocalypse”?
The latest X-film does indeed has a post-credits stinger, and it’s a mysterious one that appears to set up the standalone “Wolverine” movie scheduled for early 2017. If you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading now.
The stinger follows up on Wolverine’s cameo appearance at William Stryker’s Alkali Lake facility, where Wolverine had been turned into a feral killing machine as part of the Weapon X project. After being set free by Jean Grey, Wolverine goes totally nuts and rampages through the facility murdering guards and staff at will.
The post-credits scene revisits the scene of the carnage, as a cleanup crew mops up blood and stuffs mutilated corpses in body bags. A man in a suit and sunglasses enters the scene, making his way through the hallways until he reaches his destination, at which point he retrieves a vial of blood marked “Weapon X.” The implication is that this is Wolverine’s blood.
The man places the vial in a briefcase alongside several other blood vials. When he closes the briefcase, we see the words “ESSEX CORP” are imprinted on it.
The Essex Corporation is run by one Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mister Sinister, a villain commonly associated with the X-Men who’s obsessed with experimenting on mutants. In the comics he has shadowy ties to Weapon X — and this post-credits scene seems to indicate that Mister Sinister will appear in next year’s “Wolverine” movie. For more info, check out our short explainer on just who Mister Sinister is.