What Does the Post-Credits Scene for 'Captain America: Brave New World' Mean?

With Captain America: Brave New World, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson picks up the big-screen mantle of one of Marvel’s oldest and most venerated comic book heroes. So far, audiences have responded: The film earned $192 million globally in its first weekend.

The TV series Falcon and the Winter Soldier laid the foundation for the newest MCU blockbuster. The last time we saw Cap, he’d uncovered a plot about a super serum, made nice with bestie Bucky Barnes, and fought off a group called the Flag Smashers. Brave New World introduces Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross and finds Sam caught up in a foreign relations debacle while investigating a deeper, more sinister scheme. 

Marvel is famous for dropping scenes after the credits start rolling and, to answer your question, yes, there is a single post-credits scene in Brave New World, and you must wait until all the credits are finished to see it. You can expect some teases with this vibranium-clad Captain America, too. 

If you haven’t seen the movie, pause here. Spoilers ahead.

Read more: The Hottest Movie Releases Coming in 2025

Captain America: Brave New World post-credits scene

Unlike many Marvel movies, Brave New World has no mid-credit scenes; there’s only one post-credits scene, and you have to wait until the absolute end to see it. So, what happens?

After the brainiac villain Samuel Sterns turns himself in to ignite President Ross’s inner Red Hulk, we don’t see him for the rest of the film. Sam has a short conversation with Sterns in which he confidently tells him he will foil his plot. Then, Sam struts off as armed guards surround Sterns. The scientist is arrested and carted off to a cell in parts unknown while Sam suits up to fight Red Hulk Ross. 

In the minute-long post-credits scene, Sam walks up to a cell and says, “Told you you were gonna lose that bet,” and we see Sterns sitting inside. They trade barbs, and then Sterns points out that they “share the same world, don’t we? This world you would die to save.” He ominously warns Sam, “It’s coming. I’ve seen it in the probabilities.” 

Sterns goes on to say that superheroes who protect this world think they’re the only ones — and believe this is the only world. With more menacing snark, he says you’ll see what happens when you need to protect everyone from “the others.”

What could the Brave New World post-credits scene mean?

One thing to remember here: We are still in the middle of Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. That likely won’t wrap up until Avengers: Secret Wars hits screens in 2027, so that means more Avengers, more timeline dizziness, and more comic book storylines involving interdimensional and intergalactic beings. I could get into Thunderbolts stuff here because that movie is next in line, but I want to talk about the Avengers. 

Sterns’ gamma-powered superintelligence allows him to see things with high levels of intuition, statistical probability and knowledge. With Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars in the pipeline, he may hint at the future appearance of beings called the Beyonders. I don’t know this for sure, but in the comics, they sit on the fringes of the multiverse outside of its scope. 

Like the Eternals, the Beyonders were created by the Celestials, and they have an appetite for destroying things. Think of Thanos’ desire to “Let me wipe out the whole wack universe,” but on a multiverse level. Their story is deeply connected to Doctor Doom, and they have comic book ties to the High Evolutionary, Guardians of the Galaxy and the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. 

If this is the group of “others” Sterns is alluding to (and perhaps the Molecule Men, too), fans should expect the next set of Marvel’s Avengers movies to be a war for the survival of the multiverse — and all the Avengers. 

Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters now, and the credits also let us know he’ll be back.