Fans began to speculate about alternate endings, additional post-credit scenes, or even altered digital effects similar to what George Lucas did with the re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy. Now that Avengers: Endgame Encore has finally hit theatres, we have four additional scenes, each lasting around a minute, which have been inserted into the tail-end of the original film. Even though these scenes are brief, each one carries vital information which directly impacts the plot of Avengers: Doomsday. Here is every new scene and what exactly they tell us about the upcoming film!
Loki Interrupts Cap’s Dance with Peggy
Everyone loved the original ending to Avengers: Endgame, which makes this change a bit controversial. The camera slowly moves into this picturesque 1940s-era home, where we see Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) as they share an adorable dance while staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. The scene typically ends with the couple sharing a kiss, but this time the camera lingers, and there is a mysterious knock at the door. Steve and Peggy exchange confused glances with one another before Peggy goes to answer the door. Steve remains hidden, unable to see the strange visitor, but close enough to defend Peggy if anything were to go wrong. Peggy asks, "Can I help you?" and a very familiar voice says, "No... but I can help you." Loki (Tom Hiddleston), in his full TVA attire, walks into the house and immediately looks to the corner which Steve is hiding behind. Steve, recognizing the voice, steps out and stares at Loki with complete shock in his eyes. This is the new official ending to Endgame, and, love it or hate it, it definitely adds some suspense to an otherwise happy conclusion.
We can immediately connect this ending to a clip from one of the Doomsday trailers, which shows Loki handing his TVA identification card to someone. The lighting and costume design are exactly the same; you can even see Steve’s wedding ring on the hand that is holding the card. This scene lends further credibility to two previously unconfirmed theories. Firstly, Steve has clearly established a life for himself in the past, something we already knew from the original Endgame ending. However, the new footage, combined with previous trailers, suggests that Steve's life with Peggy may be far more significant to the upcoming film than we originally thought. Enough time has passed for Steve to officially get married and have a child, as shown in previous trailers. This drastically raises the stakes for Steve if he were to return to the action because he has so much more to lose now.
This scene also suggests that Steve’s presence in the past is potentially causing some multiversal backlash, which could be exactly what Loki, as a member of the TVA, is there to remedy. In Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark famously remarks, "You mess with time, it tends to mess back." Steve’s attempts to live happily in the '40s/'50s could have caused rippling disasters across various timelines, and Loki may be attempting to manage the situation peacefully before it escalates beyond repair. However, a later post-credit scene implies that the multiversal damage has already been done, and a solution might require far more drastic measures...
This might explain Dr. Doom’s exact motivation in Doomsday. In a previous trailer, Doom describes the Avengers as people who have lived "stolen lives". Doom could attribute all of this multiversal destruction to the Avengers’ time travel adventures, and now he may be on a quest to not only fix the multiverse but also destroy the Avengers in the process.
Bruce Banner in a Bunker
The rest of these scenes take place during or after the credits, but this one is particularly unique because it directly follows up on a plotline from a different film. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is briefly mind-controlled by Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), which causes him to lash out and destroy a major chunk of the Damage Control building. There do not appear to be any deaths, but Hulk nearly kills Spider-Man, and Banner seemingly loses years of progress in controlling the beast inside.
Clearly, Banner is taking this incident very seriously, because the new post-credit scene opens up with him describing the impenetrable military compound he has secluded himself in. Banner is speaking directly into a camcorder and explains that he is two miles underground so that no one will be able to get in or get out. Banner is interrupted by the lights flickering, and the camera itself begins to glitch as we see a strange green light growing off-screen. The camera cuts in and out as Banner turns towards the light to ask, "Who are you?" Dr. Doom responds, "Mr. Banner, I am here to collect you." There is a brief struggle where we can hear the Hulk roar, but then he is seemingly teleported somewhere, and all that remains is a glowing green rune on the ground.
Whether Doom is interested in Banner, Hulk, or a combination of the two, he's adding a major powerhouse to his roster. It is unclear if Doom’s intent is to mind-control the Hulk, but we know he is capable of manipulating several gigantic Sentinels at a time, so he is clearly a fan of recruiting powerful enforcers. This "collection" adds to another theory about Dr. Doom’s Coven of Latverian Witches. Several photos have been officially released of these four masked figures, who will serve a similar role to Thanos’s Black Order. However, since each member of this Coven has a distinct face covering, fans have begun to speculate that these witches will be previously-introduced Marvel characters. The main suspects are Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, who each have comic precedent for working with Dr. Doom. Whoever this Coven may be, the fact that Doom recruited Hulk makes it far more believable that this group might actually be made up of former heroes.
War Between Planets
This next post-credit scene is probably the longest out of the bunch and also adds the most context for Avengers: Doomsday. We open with the TVA, and it seems to be working a little differently than when we first saw it in "Loki". Miss Minutes is giving an announcement over the intercom, explaining that the TVA focuses on preventing unauthorized travel between universes and timelines. There is a comedic beat showing a framed picture of Loki with the label "Employee of All Time", which references how he saved the Multiverse. It seems that Loki is still sitting on his throne at the end of time, but it is unclear how exactly he visited Steve Rogers if that is the case.
Mobius (Owen Wilson) casually walks in but is quickly alerted to a distress signal on the monitor. Apparently, the (FOX-era) X-Men’s Earth is about to collide with another Earth, and both civilizations are launching nuclear weapons to destroy each other before the collision. This type of event is called an Incursion, and it causes Mobius to immediately drop his blasé attitude. Mobius frantically tries to figure out a solution to the situation, but before he can even think, several more distress signals begin to sound. First, it is 3, then 20, then hundreds, then thousands of Incursions happening all at once. The TVA is now on red alert because thousands of Earths are about to smash into each other, and many of them are deploying their most powerful weapons as a last-ditch effort to survive.
This comes directly from Jonathan Hickman’s "Avengers" run prior to "Secret Wars", which makes perfect sense since Doomsday is also preceding Secret Wars. This could also explain why the X-Mansion is in shambles in previous trailers, because it seems like this Earth has been through at least one Incursion and managed to survive. Does this mean that the Avengers and X-Men will be forced to destroy each other's respective planets? Or did the Avengers specifically travel to the X-Men’s Earth because they saw how valiantly they were fighting? At the very least, we can surmise that these two films will likely lead to the end of the Marvel Multiverse as we know it, and we will probably lose some beloved characters along the way.
Doom Making His Mask
At the very end of the Avengers: Endgame credits, you can hear the iconic clanging from the very first Iron Man film when Tony is constructing his first Iron Man suit. The clanging is nostalgic and served as a perfect tribute to the beginning of the MCU. However, Avengers: Endgame Encore made one minor change to this sequence. You hear the exact same clanging, and you get minor glimpses of someone hammering. At the very end, you get a brief glimpse of what the person was crafting, and it is revealed to be Dr. Doom’s mask.
This strongly suggests that Dr. Doom and Iron Man’s origins will be intertwined in some way. This has been a hotly debated subject since Robert Downey Jr. was cast because some people argued that Doom had to be a variant of Tony Stark, while others claimed that the RDJ casting was simply a ploy to boost ticket sales. The Russos initially claimed that Dr. Doom would explicitly be Victor Von Doom, which dissuaded some of the variant theories. However, it is clear that this allusion to Iron Man’s legacy while showing the Doom mask is some sort of hint towards a shared origin.
In the comics, the characters share a fair amount of similarities, and Doom actually takes the mantle of Iron Man for a short while. It seems more plausible now than ever that the implied connection between Dr. Doom and Iron Man might be the biggest twist of the entire film. Perhaps Doom is aware of Iron Man's heroism and purposefully travelled to the Avengers’ Earth to gain their trust. It just seems hard to believe that Dr. Doom and Iron Man would share the same actor without there being any major plot relevance to that decision. Whatever the connection may be, Dr. Doom is clearly intended to be hated by the audience because he is literally stealing one of Iron Man’s most iconic moments and twisting its legacy by replacing Tony's heroic creation with his own villainous mask.
Avengers: Doomsday is nearly two months away, and our excitement is only building. Whether or not you liked these changes to Avengers: Endgame, it is hard to dispute the fact that they build some major anticipation for what may happen next. There are so many possibilities and theories, but the truth is, we won’t know anything for sure until we sit in that theatre on December 18 for a once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience!
