Thor: The Dark World hits theaters tonight, and included at the end of the sequel are two after-credits scenes that lead us into Marvel’s next movies.

It’s not exactly a spoiler to say that there are a couple after-credits scenes at the end of Thor: The Dark World, as it has become commonplace for Marvel to lead audiences into their following films by adding scenes at the end of their latest movies.

Having said that, if you’d like to enjoy the after-credits scenes for Thor: The Dark World when you see them this weekend, we suggest not reading any further.

Thor: The Dark World is getting fairly positive reviews, with comedy being mentioned more than ever. While we’re a bit concerned that Marvel are overdoing the comedy just a bit, most of their target audience will love the Thor sequel.

Following the film, there are two after-credits scenes, well technically there is a mid-credits scene and then a post-credits scene, which make up the two additional scenes.

The mid-credits scene at the end of Thor: The Dark World features Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and Volstagg going to a lair of sorts for the immortal known as The Collector, who we reported is being played by Benicio Del Toro. Thor’s friends bring the Aether that Malekith attempted to use to destroy the universe with to The Collector.

When The Collector asks them why they’re giving it to him, they explain that with the Tesseract locked tightly away in Odin’s vault, it wouldn’t be the brightest idea to keep two of the Infinity Stones in one place. When they leave, The Collector says “one down, five to go.”

He, of course, is referring to the fact that he has five more Infinity Stones to collect for Thanos.

This scene is extremely important to Marvel’s future, as with The Avengers‘ mid-credits scene, we saw that they plan on using the villain Thanos in the storyline at some point. Most likely culminating in the third Avengers film.

Marvel is revealing to the audience that the Aether and the Tesseract are Infinity Stones (Gems), which means they plan on completing the set of six gems – creating the Infinity Gauntlet which Thanos wears and uses to essentially kill the majority of Marvel’s heroes.

We’ll also be seeing more of The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy and possibly Thanos as well. It’s interesting that Marvel is putting so much time in between these stones as they will be a massive part of their universe and may very well bring us into Marvel’s third phase.

In the post-credits scene in Thor: The Dark World, it continues telling the story from the end of the film. Thor explains to his father (who Loki is pretending to be) that he will be leaving their home of Asgard so that he can live with Jane and defend Earth from any future enemies.

We also see Jane once again alone on Earth, that is until Thor suddenly appears and lays an impressive kiss on her, fulfilling his earlier promise. As this scene ends we see one of the Frost Giants, which most likely got transported to Earth during the final battle between Thor and Malekith, and it’s chasing some birds.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see this Frost Giant become a way for Marvel to connect Thor’s sequel with their popular TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is actually an unassuming and intelligent way to interlink the two mediums. Marvel is making a strong attempt to conquer TV, as well recently revealing their attempts to adapt their material into Netflix shows as well.

The post-credits scene seems less important to the overall story that Marvel is intending to play out. Although we needed Thor back on Earth for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, it seems like it was simply created to get Thor back to Earth, and not to link the film to a future storyline like the mid-credits scene did with the Infinity Gauntlet and Thanos.

This also gets Thor away from outer space, where Guardians of the Galaxy will be taking place and gives us an idea of why he wouldn’t be available to help them as he’s living with Jane and protecting Earth from any aliens or future enemies.

If you get a chance to check out Thor: The Dark World this weekend, be sure to let us know what you think about the two after-credits scenes featured at the end of the film. We’ll be interested to see how they link future Marvel films together.