Moana 2’s post-credits scene basically brings in Thanos for Moana 3

I don’t know who had “Disney’s musical sequel Moana 2 mainly reveals a Thanos on the finish” on their 2024 bingo card, nevertheless it definitely wasn’t me. The tease isn’t 100% literal (in today of infinite multiverse crossovers, we do should specify that) nevertheless it’s surprisingly shut. After the large musical finale, after the compulsory comfortable ending, Moana 2 pulls an outdated MCU trick, full with imagery that certain appears acquainted from The Avengers and different MCU films.

[Ed. note: Some Moana 2 spoilers ahead.]

Does Moana 2 have a post-credits scene?

No, there’s nothing on the very finish of the credit, however Moana 2 does have a mid-credits scene that goes full MCU. After a replay of the soundtrack keystone “Past,” a scene performs that shifts the main focus away from this movie’s story to, in principle, construct anticipation for a seamless franchise.

The large villain of the film is Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i), the god of storms, who sunk the paranormal island of Motufetū beneath the ocean in an assault on the folks of the Pacific Islands. Nalo isn’t seen at any level through the film correct — his face is hinted at in storms and seen in dramatic creative representations, however he’s by no means bodily current, and the heroes by no means encounter him in particular person. The mid-credits scene introduces him as only a massive, mad dude sitting up within the clouds, steaming about how Moana simply undid his massive scheme.

He’s there to confront Matangi (Awhimai Fraser, the voice of Elsa within the Māori version of Frozen), the seemingly threatening however really apparently useful bat-woman who sings Moana 2’s fiery banger “Get Misplaced.” Nalo has found out that Matangi helped Moana and her mates work out easy methods to navigate to Motufetū, and he’s livid at what he sees as a betrayal. He chains Matangi with lightning shackles, menacing her with a traditional villain line: “This isn’t over… No, we’re simply getting began!”

Oh, after which Tamatoa the crab exhibits up.

The Jemaine Clement-voiced crab, who sings the David Bowie-inflected quantity “Shiny” within the unique Moana, isn’t shiny anymore. His shell, beforehand lined in gold and jewels, is now lined with barnacles and bones. He tries to promote Nalo on his new track, “Funky Crab Legs,” a goofy little a cappella ditty about having 10 legs. Nalo is just too aggravated for singing, and he casually tosses a blast of lightning at Tamatoa, destroying his new goth coating and making him pull again into his shell.

Tamatoa’s presence is generally a short gag, nevertheless it does serve one goal — establishing the dimensions of Matangi and Nalo on this scene. Tamatoa is a big monster on a human scale, simply able to devouring Maui or Moana in a single chew. However he’s simply the scale of a small crab in comparison with Nalo and Matangi. (By the way, Tamatoa is canonically a coconut crab, and those things are huge on the invertebrate scale — however up in opposition to these two supernatural figures, he seems to be extra like a fiddler crab or something equally tiny.)

Moana 2 famously started out as a Disney Plus TV series that was ultimately pivoted right into a theatrical launch, and to some extent, that exhibits within the plotting: The film introduces numerous quirky new characters who are supposed to drive totally different sorts of comedy and totally different sorts of plots, together with crankly, aged farm grasp Kele (David Fane), hyperactive younger engineer Loto (Rose Matafeo), myth-obsessed lorekeeper Moni (Hualālai Chung), and Moana’s demanding little sister Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda).

Writers Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller attempt to give every of those new characters a goal within the story and a second to shine, however they’re nonetheless fairly superfluous to the motion more often than not. They really feel like a setup for a sequence that’s nonetheless ready to occur.

Equally, Nalo by no means really displaying up in particular person throughout the primary motion of Moana 2, whereas promising he’s about to get severe — that implies both a direct sequel, or like Disney continues to be planning an episodic TV sequence, the place Nalo may flip up with a brand new plot in opposition to Moana and her newfound Pacific Islander coalition each week. His motives as described in Moana 2 are fairly threadbare and fundamental: “People are too highly effective, I’m jealous, and I’m going to make use of my storm powers to separate them up,” a lot as in Plato’s Symposium or Stephen Trask’s musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. A sequence or sequel would have numerous room to make him extra of a personality and develop on what he needs and why.

However on condition that Moana 2 was already breaking box-office records before its release, it appears possible that Disney would a minimum of think about one other Moana film earlier than a Moana TV sequence, particularly if that early box-office surge bears out. Both approach, Moana 2’s mid-credits scene clearly and brazenly teases extra Moana adventures to come back in some type.

And in that approach, the mid-credits scene appears like a standard-issue MCU tease, a “prepare for the following film” promise designed to depart the viewers hanging. Nalo spending the complete film off display after which displaying up on the finish — particularly sitting on a throne, in an summary godly realm — feels a lot like the assorted Thanos credits-scene teasers, beginning with The Avengers, the place he similarly calls a recalcitrant minion on the carpet for failing him, and main as much as Avengers: Age of Ultron, the place he will get his massive purple butt off his throne and promises to take matters into his own hands.

Whereas we’re ready for Nalo to comply with go well with in a brand new Moana film or TV present, although, we will anticipate Disney’s live-action remake of Moana, at the moment filming in Hawaii and scheduled to hit theaters on July 10, 2026.