This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame Encore.
It was only seven years ago when Avengers: Endgame released, bringing a satisfying and worthwhile conclusion to 10+ years of storytelling and to the Infinity Saga overall. Despite it not being an anniversary for the film, it finds itself back in cinemas under its new name, Avengers: Endgame Encore. While it’s fun to rewatch these grand event movies in the cinema as they were intended to be viewed, was it really worth rereleasing Endgame just to bridge the gap between The Multiverse Saga and provide extra context for Avengers: Doomsday?
It’s safe to say that for the past year, Marvel Studios has been putting out movies and shows of actual quality. Avengers: Endgame Encore still manages to be a nice reminder of what we used to have before their plans started going all over the place. It’s obvious why this rerelease exists, and it’s simply because Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), as this final big bad for The Multiverse Saga, has completely come out of nowhere. The original plans were for Kang the Conqueror to be the big bad that we follow. It was originally going well with the character making his first appearances in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Loki Seasons 1 and 2. This all fell through when Kang’s actor found himself in serious legal trouble, which led to his firing and the character’s storyline being completely scrapped instead of being recast, which would’ve been the simpler solution.
Before getting into more detail on Avengers: Endgame Encore, let’s talk about that original movie quickly. This is a film that I’ve rewatched countless times since it was first released and on Disney+ at home. It wasn’t a movie that I was eager to watch, considering its first two acts have horrendous pacing and are normally a struggle to push through when rewatching in the comfort of your own home. Endgame is a film that suffers from scenes with large amounts of silence so that the audience can react to the cool moments taking place, aka Captain America (Chris Evans) picking up Mjolnir for the first time. The third act of Endgame is rewarding after getting through those first two acts, which are setup and execution, but it’s extremely noticeable how slow the first half of the movie is compared to its second half. That being said, Endgame is still a film that closed off 10 years of storytelling while sticking the landing. It still ends up being a movie that is more effective on the audience if they’ve seen what’s come before compared to if they just jump in with this film. It’ll be the true test to see if Avengers: Doomsday has this same effect.
Now, onto the reason why most people have gone to watch Avengers: Endgame Encore, the additional scenes that have been included. The first one comes as a surprise, as it’s included before the film ends. Usually, the movie would end at Steve and Peggy’s (Hayley Atwell) dance, but this time, it continues with a knock at the door. As Peggy goes to answer the door, Steve hides, which is an interesting detail. He was never supposed to stay in the past, and it has never raised a question that it would be an issue having Steve Rogers walking around when he’s supposed to be presumed dead at this current point in time and not rescued until 2011.
At the door is Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in his TVA uniform, who says that he can help them, knowing about Steve (considering he’s the God of Stories and in control of the multiverse). With this being the new ending to the film, it provides a direct connection to Avengers: Doomsday and the direction we can expect that story to head in. Personally, this new ending is miles better than the original dancing ending we were left off with, as it didn’t feel satisfactory.
We then get the mid-credit scene, which involves Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) post Spider-Man: Brand New Day, where Bruce has isolated himself in an underground bunker where he’s trying to create a gamma suppression serum after his recent incident. He’s then interrupted by Doctor Doom, who appears off-screen and says, “I have come to collect you.” As the screens glitch out and we hear Hulk roar, the camera falls onto the floor, showing a glowing, scorching green mark that was left behind. The reason why Doom needs Bruce Banner, or should we say Hulk, is unknown, but his ulterior motive is likely to be the crux of Avengers: Doomsday and is providing more context than we’ve gotten from any previous trailer.
There’s one final actual mid-credits scene, which takes place within the TVA. This includes the return of characters such as Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), who begin to notice that incursions are happening and rapidly increasing at a rate that they can’t control. In this scene, we see numerous Earths involved. The first of many is Earth-10005, which is the X-Men universe we’ll be visiting in Doomsday. It’s shown that they’re defending themselves as missiles are seen being shot across both Earths as a means to survive. This provides confirmation that they likely see the Avengers’ appearance as a threat. Alongside Earth-1127, which is destroyed in their battle against Earth-10005, three other universers are also confirmed to be destroyed. Eric Bana’s Hulk universe (Earth-400083), Fant4stic universe (Earth-15886), and Captain Carter’s What If? universe (Earth-82111) have all found themselves under the brutality of Incursions, which will seemingly be the threat of 616’s in Doomsday.
The final addition is not another post-credit scene, and admittedly, it’s quite haunting. The original Endgame release didn’t include any post-credit scenes and instead ended on the sound of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) forging his first suit. Those sounds can still be heard, but instead they’re met with flashes of Doom forging his mask. It’s the first time that a link has been made with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Victor Von Doom.
The Russo Brothers have included all of this to help with the bridging over to Doomsday. We find out that Steve and Peggy have some involvement with Loki. Doctor Doom has kidnapped Bruce Banner and has an interest in his Hulk persona. The TVA has discovered that the multiverse is collapsing, and most importantly, Doctor Doom is coming.
There’s no denying that all of these extra scenes provide some likely needed context to help better understand the threat we’ll be facing in Avengers: Doomsday when it releases in just a little under three months, but overall, Avengers: Endgame Encore is not worth the price of admission alone for scenes that could’ve been released as promo for marketing online or in cinema like earlier this year with the Doomsday countdown trailers.
If you’re a massive fan of Avengers: Endgame, you’re likely to find some enjoyment with the rewatch. If you’re solely in it just for the new Doomsday adjacent scenes, then I’d just wait a little longer for Doomsday to release in cinema, where they’ll likely go through all this context again.
