What The Ironheart Post-Credits Scene Means For Marvel's Future

Contains spoilers for the "Ironheart" season finale — "The Past is the Past"

Looper's review of "Ironheart" praised the show's ample drama, and the finale offers some major portents for the titular heroine's future. She seemingly makes a deal with Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen), whom fans have assumed would appear in the show in some capacity for a while. Mephisto's machinations remain shrouded in mystery, but Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is apparently okay with that as long as she can bring her friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) back from the dead. Riri's plot ends there, but you'll want to stick around once the credits roll, because there's one more scene that tees up more magical adventures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A mid-credits scene shows Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) sporting a hoodie rather than his signature hood. He visits Zelma Stanton (Regan Aliyah) after hearing she's quite the magic user. After she transforms some candy, he mentions looking for some "supreme-like help." That sounds like he's looking for a certain Sorcerer Supreme, i.e. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), to aid him now that he's lost the Hood Mephisto gave him, but for now, Zelma will have to do. Parker asks if anyone with more experience can show him "stuff in the back." This suggests Zelma and her mother Madeleine (Cree Summer) may have a few magical surprises elsewhere in the store. 

The scene feels intentionally vague, like perhaps Marvel doesn't know how to utilize Parker and Zelma in future MCU projects quite yet. But it feels like it's setting up a Parker-Zelma team-up, perhaps if "Ironheart" ever gets a Season 2.

Marvel has a lot of balls in the air right now. It's quickly approaching the end of the Multiverse Saga, with "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" coming out in 2026 and 2027, respectively. Those casts will undoubtedly be stacked already without adding Parker and Zelma to the mix, and that pair likely won't pop up in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" or "Daredevil: Born Again" Season 2. It's entirely possible this is yet another Marvel post-credits scene that goes nowhere, but there's one project the two maybe could show up in. But it's a very big maybe.

While it's not confirmed yet, rumors suggest "Doctor Strange 3" will appear on the MCU's schedule between "Doomsday" and "Secret Wars." It could establish some pieces of the Multiverse before getting into "Secret Wars," such as the idea of incursions destroying multiple realities. Clea (Charlize Theron) picks up Strange in the post-credits scene to "Multiverse of Madness" to deal with an incursion, so it makes the most sense to occur between those two event films.

It's unclear what Zelma has "in the back" that Parker wants, but it could very well deal with the Multiverse (or at least make Parker enough of a threat to get on Strange's radar). This could put the two on a collision course with Strange despite having very different relationships to him in the comics. Zelma becomes his apprentice, and Parker tries to murder Strange while under the influence of Dormammu during the "Dark Reign" arc. It's definitely a long shot for these two to appear in any Marvel project ever again, but wilder things have happened.