History Main / AllThereInTheStinger

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': One of the most well-known (and confusing) examples in anime, in which the final episode's Stinger suggests that perhaps [[spoiler:Lelouch may be NotQuiteDead. There are WordOfGod statements which only serve to reiterate that he was killed, but they do not address whether he ''is'' truly and finally dead.]]

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': The first stinger gives us our first look at Thanos. (Starting here, they tend to have two stingers, one party-way into the credits with a significant occurrence, and another more humorous or throw-away one at the very end.)

* Series/ArrestedDevelopment: The "OnTheNext" segments of episodes, rather than being a preview of what will happen on the next episode, they serve as stingers to show what will have happened behind the scenes by the time of the next episode. While these stingers usually are done for some throw away gags, occasionally some important details are revealed, such as the revelation that Rita Leeds is a MRF (Mentally Retarded Female), before they become plot relevant.

** ''Film/{{Thor}}'': Comicbook/{{Loki}}, who seemingly fell to his death while fighting Thor, appear in the post credits scene (unseen by either Fury or Dr. Erik Selvig and also possessing the latter) to show that he is still alive and planning for something which comes to fruition in ''The Avengers''.

** ''Film/DoctorStrange'': The first stinger shows that Thor has found out that Loki is still alive and asks Doctor Strange to help them to find Odin, who has somehow disappeared. In the second one, Mordo confronts Pangborn and takes away the magic powers that allowed him to walk again, saying that the world has "too many sorcerers".

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' gives a first look at Samus' main enemy through the next two games, and Dark Samus emerges from the Metroid Prime chamber.

** ''Film/IronMan2'' has Coulson locating Mjolnir in the New Mexico desert.

* In the third episode of the anime adaptation of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Jonathan impales Dio on the statue at the front of the manor, and the fire appears to disintegrate him completely. While not exactly crucial, if you miss the TheStinger that shows Wang Chan recover the stone mask from the ruins of the Joestar manor before being grabbed from under the rubble, it can be quite baffling to see an undead Wang Chan carrying around Dio in the next episode.

* In some video games these stingers can be unlocked through HundredPercentCompletion.

This is most often seen in TV shows, since their credits sequences are much shorter and audiences are more willing to watch through the whole thing. Often, just to be on the safe side, the {{Continuity Announce|ment}}r will tell the audience to keep watching through the credits to make sure they don't miss it. Sometimes, you can tell there's a stinger coming because [[SpoiledByTheFormat the credits start rolling earlier than usual]], or roll while the action's still going.

This is most often seen in TV shows, since their credits sequences are much shorter and audiences are more willing to watch through the whole thing. Often, just to be on the safe side, the {{Continuity Announce|ment}}er will tell the audience to keep watching through the credits to make sure they don't miss it. Sometimes, you can tell there's a stinger coming because [[SpoiledByTheFormat the credits start rolling earlier than usual]], or roll while the action's still going.

[[CaptainObvious Naturally]], this is a SubTrope of TheStinger. It can overlap with TwistEnding, or even TheEndingChangesEverything if the stinger is revelatory enough. Can result in LateArrivalSpoiler if the events of TheStinger are crucial to the sequel, in which case it would also overlap with SequelHook (though a Sequel Hook itself is not necessarily this trope, and vice versa). Contrast BrickJoke, where the stinger is used to deliver the punchline to an earlier gag.

* The ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' movies have a subplot in which TheCracker and one of the Game Masters are casually playing the fictional MMORPG in which the story is set in hope to make up for a long-standing feud between them, with a rule of completely ignoring each other's usual activities. During the first movie, ''Film/NoobLeConseilDesTroisFactions'', TheCracker complains about how his StarterEquipment looks and they run into a bunch of players talking about having done illegal stuff right in front of them. In TheStinger, they strike a deal: the Game Master can go offcially ban the group they ran into, and TheCracker can hack his avatar to change his equipment early during that laps of time.

** ''VideoGame/{{Halo2}}'''s stinger shows The Gravemind approaching Cortana, who agrees to answer its questions.

* The Stinger of ''[[WebAnimation/NazoUnleashed Sonic: Nazo Unleashed]]'' shows Dr. Eggman finding one of Nazo's bracelets and laughing evilly to himself. This was initially a subversion, as Chakra-X stated that he didn't want to follow up on it, but in February 2016 a sequel was announced in which Dr. Eggman has resurrected Nazo, meaning The Stinger now plays this trope straight as skipping it will leave you wondering how Dr. Eggman got hold of Nazo's genetic material.

* Throughout ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', Po has to deal with the knowledge that he is TheLastOfHisKind, as a genocidal warlord murdered the rest of his species. The Stinger reveals that there are still other pandas out there, living in a hidden village, setting up the plot for ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3''.

* If you missed the stinger in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' you'd wonder what the smeg was happening when Captain Sparrow shoots Jack the monkey, and he's later shot out of a 6-pounder as a screeching fireball, but later seen not dead.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero2'''s stinger features a disembodied voice telling his "creation", Omega, that it's the "right time to attack". This leads directly into the events of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3'', in which Omega appears in the intro level, and we're introduced to the likely source of the voice: the BigBad Dr. Weil.

That one movie you really enjoyed has suddenly had a sequel announced, but you're confused. The hero died in a HeroicSacrifice at the end of the film... [[LateArrivalSpoiler so why is he in the trailer for the sequel, kicking ass just like before?]] It's not a RetCon or an AssPull... it was All There In The Stinger.

When considering if something is an example of this trope, ask yourself this: if you were to discuss the work with someone who hadn't seen The Stinger, would they be able to understand what you were talking about? If you skip one instalment's stinger, would the next instalment still make sense? If not, then it's this trope. Basically, it has to be something important that you can ''only'' learn if you watch TheStinger.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/AldnoahZero''

[[folder: Films - Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' ends with the human Twilight claiming that there is something strange about Canterlot High. Cue [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames Friendship Games]]...

[[folder: Films - Live Action]]

** ''Film/{{Thor}}'': Comicbook/{{Loki}}, who seemingly fell to his death while fighting Thor, appear in the post credits scene (unseen by either Fury or Dr. Erik Selvig and also possessing the latter) to show that he was still alive and planning for something which comes to fruition in the Avengers.
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': the first stinger gives us our first look at Thanos. (starting here, they tend to have two stingers, one party-way into the credits with a significant occurrence, and another more humorous or throw-away one at the very end.)
** ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'': The Aether being delivered to the Collector.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': The first one we find out HYDRA has Loki's staff as well as Quiksilver and Scarlet Witch, and the second one shows Bucky starting to piece together who he used to be.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* A staple of movies in the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', all of which have stingers, though not all of them are significant plot-wise. The ones that are are as follows:
** ''Film/IronMan'' has Nick Fury showing up to talk to Tony about the Avengers Initiative.

** ''Film/{{Thor}}'': SelfDemonstrating/{{Loki}}, who seemingly fell to his death while fighting Thor, appear in the post credits scene (unseen by either Fury or Dr. Erik Selvig and also possessing the latter) to show that he was still alive and planning for something which comes to fruition in the Avengers.
** ''Film/TheAvengers'': the first stinger gives us our first look at Thanos. (starting here, they tend to have two stingers, one party-way into the credits with a significant occurrence, and another more humorous or throw-away one at the very end.)

** ''Film/TheAvengersAgeOfUltron'': Thanos saying, "Fine, I'll do it myself!" as he takes the Infinity Gauntlet.

[[folder: Films - Western Animation]]
* Throughout ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', Po has to deal with the knowledge that he is TheLastOfHisKind, as a genocidal warlord murdered the rest of his species. The Stinger reveals that there are still other pandas out there, living in a hidden village, setting up the plot for ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3''.
[[/folder]]

* If you missed the stinger in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' you'd wonder what the smeg was happening when Captain Sparrow shoots Jack, and he's later shot out of a 6-pounder as a screeching fireball, but later seen not dead.

* ''Anime/FullMetalAlchemist'' has a few, the most notable being Greeling attacking King Bradley[[spoiler: /Wrath]] in his home. Again, this is picked up the following episode, but if you missed TheStinger then it comes out of nowhere.

* AllThereInTheStinger: One of the most well-known (and confusing) examples in anime, in which the final episode's Stinger suggests that perhaps [[spoiler:Lelouch may be NotQuiteDead. There are WordOfGod statements which only serve to reiterate that he was killed, but they do not address whether he ''is'' truly and finally dead.]]

* One of the most well-known (and confusing) examples in anime is ''Manga/CodeGeass'', in which the final episode's Stinger claims that Lelouch is NotQuiteDead. According to WordOfGod, however, he ''is'' dead, making this a subversion; the English dub made this more apparent by removing the stinger altogether.

** ''Film/{{Thor}}'' Loki, who seemingly fell to his death fighting Thor, appear in the post credits scene (unseen by either Fury or Dr. Erik Selvig and also possessing the latter) to show that he was still alive and planning for something which comes to fruition in the Avengers.

%%[[folder:Live Action TV]]
%%[[/folder]]

** (I forget what Thor's is)

This is most often seen in TV shows, since their credits sequences are much shorter and audiences are more willing to watch through the whole thing. Often, just to be on the safe side, the ContinuityAnnouncer will tell the audience to keep watching through the credits to make sure they don't miss it. Sometimes, you can tell there's a stinger coming because [[SpoiledByTheFormat the credits start rolling earlier than usual]], or roll while the action's still going.

[[AC:{{Anime}} And {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}} - Animated]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]

[[AC:{{Web Animation}}]]

* The Stinger of ''[[WebAnimation/NazoUnleashed Sonic: Nazo Unleashed]]'' shows Dr. Eggman finding one of Nazo's bracelets and laughing evilly to himself. This was initially a subversion, as Chakra-X stated that he didn't want to follow up on it, but in February 2016 a sequel was announced in which Dr. Eggman has resurrected Nazo, meaning The Stinger now plays this trope straight as skipping it will leave you wondering how Dr. Eggman got hold of Nazo's genetic material.