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End-credits have become a key part of superhero storytelling in movies and television, but Superman writer/director James Gunn says he's been burned by it before - and has the regrets to prove it. Namely, the introduction of Adam Warlock in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It came up when Phase Hero's Brandon Davis asked the writer/director about post-credits scenes.

"If you look at my credits scene on the Marvel movies, the one time I fucked myself was when I put Adam Warlock in because then I'm like, 'Oh shit, now I gotta put Adam Warlock in the next movie,' which actually was a pain in the ass."

Gunn teased Warlock in the post-credits scene to 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and formally introduced the character (as played by Will Poulter) in 2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Gunn said he learned from that, "So I'm not going to set up whole universes with end credits scene. I love giving audiences who sit through all of the end-credits scenes but I'd rather it be something that's fun for fans and not necessarily, 'Hey, we're setting up the whole next part of the universe!'"

That's a curious statement given the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 end-credits scene which set up a new itteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy team after the departure of most of the founding members, and set-up Chris Pratt's Star-Lord as living on Earth.

Want more? Make sure you've read our list of all the best Marvel Comics stories of all time, and get ready for all the free Marvel comics coming as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day / Comics Giveaway Day events.