Released last Wednesday in cinemas, “Argylle”, an action film starring Henry Cavill, ends in a surprising way. An effect supported by the post-credits scene. But what does this tell us for the future? Explanations – SPOILERS WARNING
WARNING – The article below contains spoilers, as it discusses some of the main twists and turns of “Argylle”, particularly its astonishing post-credits scene. So please move on if you haven’t seen Matthew Vaughn’s film yet.
There are plenty of cool actors in Argylle, Matthew Vaughn’s new spy film. Action and twists too. And this until the last seconds, as far as the twists and turns are concerned. With an extra during the credits, which should raise a few questions… which we asked the director.
If we don’t have a precise answer, find out what he tells us. But first, let’s review the main twists and turns that lead to this ending.
Who is the real Agent Argylle?
Or rather “the real agent Argylle”. Because it is – oh surprise! – from Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) herself. Whose real name is Rachel Kyle. Or R. Kyle, to be pronounced in the English way.
Contrary to what she thought until now, the spy novels that she writes do not have an influence on the intelligence community: they recount events that have already happened, those that she experienced in a previous life, before an accident causes him to lose his memory.
The feature film thus begins as Chasing the Green Diamond before making a 180-degree turn, to become a rereading of Jason Bourne. Feminine and with more humor, but the same ambiguity regarding the heroine’s past and the camp in which she found herself.
So Henry Cavill and his crew cut don’t exist?
Yes and no. During almost the entire feature film, Agent Argylle played by the ex-Superman is only the hero imagined by Elly Conway/Rachel Kyle, according to her own memories buried in her subconscious.
At our microphone, Matthew Vaughn and Bryce Dallas Howard also recognize that the film talks about the way in which it influences what we create, but that is not the question.
Because the last scene reshuffles the cards. While presenting her new book, the novelist faces a reader who addresses her like this: “I don’t have any questions for you. But I imagine you have two or three for me.” A man who has the same features as the Agent Argylle of his imagination, the long neck replacing the crew cut.
To summarize, because it’s quite technical: Elly Conway/Rachel Kyle wrote spy novels based on the memories of her life in intelligence, and whose hero is called Argylle. Like a real secret agent that she didn’t know existed, who has the features of Henry Cavill.
And this post-credits scene then?
While several questions come to mind, an additional scene adds a few more: located twenty years before the events of Argylle (so in the early 2000s), it shows a young man called Aubrey Argylle, already a fan of with a long neck, going to a pub to enlist and begin his future life as a spy, receiving a pistol and a silencer.
Where things get complicated is that the pub is called… The King’s Man. Like Matthew Vaughn’s previous film, Kingsman prequel. The logo of the secret organization is even visible on the front, so that there is as little doubt as in this sequence where a whiskey is served under the Statesman brand, the American equivalent of Kingsman agents.
Should we deduce from this that we will soon be treated to a film which will be both a prequel to Argylle AND to Kingsman? “The good news is that you are asking the right question. And you will have the right answers in the future”Matthew Vaughn answers us when we question him.
I hope the next chapter will start from the post-credits scene, and you will see some winks, and crossovers
“There’s a whole logic to the madness we’re developing. The first book ‘Argylle’ just came out, and it’s great. I hope the next chapter starts from [la scène post-générique]and you will see some winks, and crossovers.”
Founder of the production company Marv Films in 2004, is Matthew Vaughn starting his own MCU? A Marv Cinematic Universe, where the superheroes would be replaced by the spies from his films, and where the members of Kingsman would exist in the world where Elly Conway wrote the Argylle novels?
Let’s hope that the answers will arrive quickly, just to know when and how all this will be organized and continued. And how two characters can have the traits of Samuel L. Jackson, villain of the first Kingsman who plays a secondary role here.
Comments by Matthew Vaughn collected by Maximilien Pierrette in London on January 22, 2024