The 'Avengers' directors say your pre-'Doomsday' MCU homework is just one movie

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but Marvel’s latest promise about their films being a bit less like revision sessions and a bit more like actual entertainment has just crumbled—quite predictably, if you ask me. Just when studio boss Kevin Feige was reportedly warning everyone that keeping up with the MCU was beginning to feel awfully like coursework (‘homework’ chat apparently did the rounds at Marvel HQ last year), the whole thing has now spun off in the opposite direction. Enter the Avengers: Endgame Encore situation—because you really thought you’d seen the back of required viewing, didn’t you?

Avengers: Endgame Encore is four minutes longer than the 2019 release.

Countdowns and “Required” Marvel

Let’s get the lay of the land: Avengers: Doomsday is out this December, and between now and then, Disney has put out a 15-title ‘Countdown to Doomsday’ watchlist. That sounds manageable—stretch it over a couple of weekends and you’re sorted, supposedly. But here’s the twist: one of those films—Avengers: Endgame—is heading back into UK cinemas late September, except it’s not the same version from 2019. It’s got fresh footage tacked on, and the directors are suddenly making it very clear that this one actually is mandatory if you don’t want to be lost come Doomsday. Subtle, it is not.

The Russo brothers (Joe and Anthony), who helmed the original Endgame, didn’t beat around the bush in their ticket-sale push this month—Joe Russo told Fandango that the re-release is ‘required viewing’ if you want the full Doomsday story. He described it as a natural next step between the big finale we got before and this December’s new megamash. For his part, Anthony Russo played coy with what’s actually changed, teasing that nobody who saw Endgame in 2019 ‘couldn’t see this coming’—cheeky, but also true, since Marvel’s been desperate to nudge us back into seats with something new ever since the last round of re-releases fizzled.

New Footage, New Strategy

Right, the stats: Avengers: Endgame Encore clocks in at 185 minutes, which is four minutes longer than what we all sat through four years ago. The extra material? Not some dusty deleted scenes—Marvel confirmed at CinemaCon that it was shot specifically during Doomsday’s own production schedule. No one’s seen the new stuff just yet, but the marketing is playing up its significance, especially with a minted trailer and a post-credits ‘end tag’ stunt for IMAX and the fancy ‘Infinity Vision’ cinemas. It all looks like September is being treated as a warm-up before the next big December event.

• Endgame Encore features four new minutes shot during Doomsday filming—not leftovers from 2019.
• Presales are through the roof, already outpacing the record set by Titanic 3D re-release, at least if the numbers from Global Box Office are to be believed.
• The re-release is essentially Marvel’s chance to take over Avatar’s all-time box office crown, with Endgame only about $124 million shy of knocking Cameron off the perch.
• For those actually counting, the last time a re-release made this sort of money was Star Wars back in ’97 ($138 million in the US alone)—so yes, this isn’t impossible for Endgame Encore.

As for what those new four minutes contain, you’d be forgiven for thinking they won’t change your life. The safe bet right now is that it’s a return to 2019’s Time Heist sequence, this time revisited from Doctor Doom’s point of view. That lines up with the fact that Robert Downey Jr. now plays Victor von Doom and Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers, glimpsed in the Doomsday teasers dusting off his kit. Whether all of this explains a huge chunk of plot, or is just an excuse to wedge in more ticket sales, is anyone’s guess—though the business logic probably took precedence in the boardroom.

Encore opens in the UK and worldwide on 25 September. Doomsday lands 18 December. Supposedly, the ‘no-homework’ Marvel era starts after that, but no one’s putting money on it here.