Having credits scenes with such high expectations and connections is distracting, and is often a disservice to the two-hour-long movie that audiences just watched. Instead of letting viewers have breathing room for decompression, celebration, and reflection on what happened in the movie, the MCU immediately presents audiences with a set up for the next film, a major universe twist, or a jaw-dropping event based on whoever or whatever appears, all of which Phase 4 has been a repeat offender.
The disappointing quality of the MCU’s Phase 4 credits scenes have needed a change-up for quite some time, and Spider-Man: No Way Home’s stinger approach was exactly what the franchise deserved. There was no explanation beforehand of the incidences in Spider-Man: No Way Home - viewers had to have seen the post-credits stinger from Far From Home to realize the events were picking up not directly after, but in that moment.
Instead, No Way Home makes Far From Home’s scene one of the most important post-credits stingers in MCU history. This was brand new territory for the MCU, as stingers always felt like their own entities that wouldn’t reappear in future projects. Spider-Man: No Way Home then uses this exact scene to open its movie, with Peter Parker seeing the broadcast, avoiding angry crowds, and immediately swinging MJ out of there. The stinger in Far From Home (2019) saw Peter swing down with MJ into the city, only for Mysterio’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) twist video exposing Peter Parker’s identity to broadcast on every screen. One of the most important deviations from the MCU’s typical post-credits legacies in Spider-Man: No Way Home was its reuse of Spider-Man: Far From Home’s mid-credits scene.