Avengers Endgame: Encore's New Ending And Post-Credits Scenes Explained
by Ryan Scott · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Spoilers for "Avengers Endgame: Encore" to follow.
One of the biggest movies of all time is back for an encore. In 2019, "Avengers: Endgame" took the Marvel Cinematic Universe to its record-shattering peak. It was a cultural moment unmatched by anything the MCU had achieved before ... or has matched since. Still, Marvel Studios will try to one-up itself with this year's "Avengers: Doomsday."
"Avengers Endgame: Encore" is now playing in theaters and is all about building hype for "Doomsday." Indeed, according to directors Joe and Anthony Russo (aka. the Russo Brothers), "Endgame: Encore" is the one truly required viewing before "Doomsday." As such, the Russos and Marvel have attached some brand new credits scenes to the movie, in addition to an extended ending that helps tee up the ball for what's to come.
"There's certainly a pivotal moment in that film at the end, where the moment has a different meaning," Anthony Russo said at a Q&A following a screening of "Encore" (via GamesRadar). "You know, we sort of play one beat past where Steve Rogers' story ended with Peggy Carter, and in that moment, that's where 'Doomsday' is born."
Sure enough, we can confirm that's an accurate statement, now that we've seen the "Encore" version of "Endgame" for ourselves. Hence, we're going to break down the ending and the credits scenes to better understand what they mean and how they set up the impending arrival of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. Let's get into it.
Steve and Peggy's happy ending in Avengers: Endgame is interrupted by Loki
The final scene in "Avengers: Endgame" is, dare I say, legendary. After Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) returned the Infinity Stones to their respective places on the timeline, he decided to stay in the past and live his life with his beloved Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). The last thing we see is them dancing in the past.
In the "Encore" version, however, everything plays out the same, but there's a new tag on the happy ending. Steve and Peggy's dance is interrupted by a knock at the door. It's none other than Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who's wearing his Time Variance Authority getup from the "Loki" TV series. For those who didn't watch it, the show picks up after Loki made his getaway with the Tesseract in "Endgame" and sees him wind up at the TVA. By the end, he's singlehandedly keeping the multiverse from falling apart as the overseer of time. He's come a long way.
Peggy answers the door while Steve hides and asks Loki, "Can I help you?" To which he replies, "No, but I can help you, both of you." He knows Steve is there and, as Anthony Russo stated, this is where "Doomsday" is born.
The scene ends at that point, so it's totally unclear why Loki is there or how he's going to help. Hiddleston being back for "Avengers: Doomsday" after "Loki" Season 2 already raises some questions, but it seems that Steve may have messed with the timeline in a not-so-great way by living his life in the past. How, exactly, does that connect to Doctor Doom? That remains to be seen. But Loki's job is to keep the multiverse stable. Evidently, Steve and Peggy's happiness came at a cost.
Bruce Banner gets a visit from Doctor Doom in the mid-credits scene
There were some major Marvel characters left out of the "Avengers: Doomsday" cast announcement last year, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk was one of them. It turns out, there was a good reason for that. Yes, Ruffalo is going to be in the movie, but how, precisely, he factors in was, from Marvel's point of view, worth keeping a secret. Until now, that is.
The mid-credits scene attached to "Encore" is focused purely on Banner. Its directly connects to Hulk's role in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which sees Banner have his first public Hulk-out in a decade. In the wake of that, the "Encore" scene in question reveals that Banner has locked himself in a bunker miles below the Earth's surface to monitor his physiology and ensure nobody else gets hurt. He's also been doing research down there and is in the middle of filming an update on his latest finding when he gets a surprise visit from none other than Doctor Doom.
From there, we hear Doom's voice and the Hulk comes out before everything wraps up. Doom, it seems, is collecting Banner for unknown reasons, but the last thing we see is a mysterious, glowing green marker in the concrete of Banner's lab, indicating that Doom has taken him somewhere. What does Doom want with Banner/Hulk? That remains unclear, although it helps paint a clearer picture.
"The credits scene for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" saw Doom coming to abduct Franklin Richards, the young son of Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal). So, basically, Doom is collecting exceptional beings, but to what end? At the very least, it's clear he needs several people to enact his plan, whatever that may be.
The TVA is tracking a multiversal incursion?
It's been said that Marvel Studios attached another scene to "Avengers Endgame: Encore," one that apparently leaked online ahead of its release. This scene was not included at the public screening I attended, so I cannot personally verify its authenticity. That said, Variety reported on the scene and broke it down, so we will discuss it here. Again, though, this scene wasn't viewed by /Film, so take all this with a grain of salt.
Per Variety, the scene "takes place in the Time Variance Authority with Mobius (Owen Wilson), Casey (Eugene Cordero), Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), and Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). They notice that two Earths are about to collide in an incursion and begin firing on each other. More alternate worlds start colliding and terminating, and it's revealed that the entire multiverse is collapsing."
This appears to be getting to the meat on the bones. The credits scene for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" dealt with potential incursions. What's more, over the course of the Multiverse Saga, it's been revealed that multiversal incursions happen when two separate universes/realities collide, resulting in the complete destruction of one or both of them. Evidently, there is an incursion overload going on in this scene, which could threaten the entire multiverse. This is the Multiverse Saga after all, and if Marvel wants to move away from the concept after "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars," literally destroying much of the multiverse would be one surefire way to go about it.
Again, how does Doctor Doom factor into this potential destruction of the multiverse? For now, we have far more questions than answers.
Iron Man is dead, Doctor Doom is born in the post-credits scene
Last, but certainly not least, there is a post-credits scene that helps bridge the gap between Robert Downey Jr.'s time as Iron Man and his upcoming role as Doctor Doom. The Oscar-winning actor is transitioning from playing the MCU's greatest hero to what appears to be its most menacing villain yet. A post-credits scene attached to "Avengers Endgame: Encore" helps tee up that ball.
The original release of "Avengers: Endgame" doesn't have an end-credits scene. What it does have, though, is a little audio cue as a tribute to "Iron Man." We hear very distinct hammering in a cave, which calls back to when Tony Stark built his first Iron Man suit, quite literally, in a cave with scraps. In the "Encore" release, we once again hear this familiar hammering, but it's no longer a heroic tribute. Rather, it offers up a sinister twist on the hammering sound.
The scene is brief, but we see little flashes of a mask being hammered out in a cave with primitive tools. However, it's not Iron Man's mask. Rather, it's Doctor Doom making his signature mask. This effectively means that what once stood as a tribute to RDJ's time as Iron Man is now bringing things full circle, instead now serving as the start of his time as Doctor Doom.
Does this mean that the MCU's Doom is a Tony Stark variant? Is it just some multiversal parallel that will see Tony Stark and Doctor Doom share a similar beginning to their respective journeys? We shall see, but this is, in many ways, the most significant change the Russo Brothers made to "Endgame" for its re-release.
"Avengers: Doomsday" hits theaters on December 18, 2026.