'Black Panther' Has The Scene Marvel Fans Have Been Waiting For & It's So Damn Cool

Spoilers ahead. Like all of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther has to tie itself into the franchise in a neat way. Ever since Iron Man premiered back in 2008, the MCU has used post-credits scenes to hint at what's to come, and Black Panther is, of course, no different. The Black Panther himself, T'Challa, first appeared in Captain America: Civil War, and now with the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War combining characters from the Avengers movies, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, and Spider-Man, the second Black Panther post-credits scene helps tie everyone together.

There are actually two post-credits scenes after Black Panther ends. The first is a super cool scene in which T'Challa addresses the United Nations, and reveals that Wakanda actually has a lot of resources to help the world out and pledges to use it for good. The hero talks of building bridges instead of walls, and pledges to work for peace. It's a great moment and as inspiring as it gets. But it's the second post-credits scene that actually ties Black Panther into the rest of the MCU and hints at what's coming up next in Infinity War. And it features one of Marvel fans' favorite characters — none other than the Winter Soldier himself, Bucky Barnes.

The scene begins with a shot of the faces of three, adorable Wakandan children looking down at something inside a hut. They run out giggling and talking about a "White Wolf," while T'Challa's sister, Shuri, waits by a river. From the hut emerges Bucky, wrapped in traditional Wakandan dress, his robotic arms still missing, and apparently healed of his mind control brainwashing. He looks calm and peaceful, but knows that he has to get to work. That war is coming, and he's going to have to be involved. Shuri can see that he's healed, but remarks that he does still have, "Much to learn," before the scene fades to black.

Audiences knew that Bucky was heading off to Wakanda at the end of Civil War. Since the Hydra code words would always be a problem if they weren't eradicated from his brain, Bucky chose to head off to Wakanda with T'Challa and be put back into frozen cryo-sleep until they could figure out a way to heal him. Since Wakanda has incredible technology, and super healing abilities thanks to the plants from the purple heart-shaped herb, it's no surprise that T'Challa's sister, Shuri, was able to figure out a way to break Bucky's branwashing as well as heal his damaged body.

Including this Bucky-centric post-credits scene is a fun way of tying Black Panther back into the larger storyline of the Marvel movie universe. And as Black Panther director Ryan Coogler told Radio Times, they mainly included the scene out of pure fun. "We weren’t asked to do it, Coogler said. "Obviously it ties in, but the studio didn’t force our hand, or tell us what the post-credits scene should be. It was something that we were interested in doing. And for us it was fun, because I think the audience, if they’re familiar with the MCU, knows that Bucky is in Wakanda."

But Coogler didn't want to include Bucky in Black Panther itself. "Our film wasn’t about Bucky, obviously, [so] we didn’t feel like it would be right to deal with him in this context," the director explained. "But we thought it’d be cool for the fans that stayed 'til the end to check in on this character that they love."

And we know from the Infinity War trailer that Bucky is going to be coming back into the fold and fighting again alongside his old pal, Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America. So after you're done enjoying Black Panther, stick around through the credits if you want to see an MCU favorite back to his old self again before he tears off into the next battle.