By Caela Kushner
On Friday, September 25th, Avengers: Endgame, the second highest-grossing film of all time, returned to theaters. During its opening weekend, Endgame added another 86 million dollars to its sales. The encore showed the film with a brighter color grade and four post-credit scenes that set up the next Marvel installment, Avengers: Doomsday. To see all four extra scenes, fans must watch the film in Infinity Vision instead of a standard theater. The average cost of an Infinity Vision ticket is $22, so Marvel fans were faced with the choice to spend money on a movie ticket to see a few extra scenes or watch the film for free at home. I chose the costly option.
To me, the $22 was well spent. Watching this movie in Infinity Vision was more than just sitting down in my seat; it was a full-body experience. The chairs moved with the action. When Peter Quill was dancing through the puddles on Morag, water was splashed at the audience. Fake snow shot out when Black Widow and Hawkeye arrived on Vormir. Mist and smoke billowed over the audience on multiple occasions. Infinity Vision brought this action-packed, emotional film to life in ways I’ve never experienced before. Seeing a movie that I hold dear in Marvel’s new format was worth all $22 I spent. Other than the new end-credits scenes, the footage is the same as it would be on Disney+, but the seats on the couch don’t feel the same as the turbulence of an Infinity Vision seat.
Despite how much I enjoyed the viewing experience, Endgame Encore should’ve never been released. The four end-credit scenes take place chronologically significantly after Endgame. If the MCU had done its job properly over the seven years since the film’s original release, Encore would’ve never reached theaters.
The 36 projects apart of the Multiverse Saga were supposed to build to the ultimate big bad of Kang the Conqueror. However, in 2023, Kang’s actor Johnathn Majors got arrested for assault and harassment. His contract was then terminated. Marvel executives were faced with a choice between recasting their current main villain or completely pivoting. They chose to introduce Doctor Doom and attempt to erase Kang’s existence. At this point, Kang was well established in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki. After Ant-Man, Kang was never acknowledged again. The MCU started building towards its replacement villain, Doctor Doom. The build-up has been almost entirely off-screen, with the character only appearing in the Fantastic Four mid-credit scene and the new Endgame Encore scenes. Ten live-action MCU films have been released since the announcement of MCU Doom, yet only one actually features the character. Doomsday has already made over $50 million in ticket presales; audiences are clearly excited to see a live-action Doctor Doom. However, this version of the character is still unknown.
The Encore was supposedly released to establish preliminary Doomsday knowledge. But Endgame takes place, in MCU time, five years before Doomsday. The end-credit scenes should’ve been included in current movies and shows, such as Spider-Man: Brand New Day–one of these scenes takes place directly following the events of this movie–, Thunderbolts, or Vision Quest. It was completely unnecessary to re-release a movie that came out seven years ago just to showcase scenes that have no relation to the content of the movie. These new Doomsday clips should’ve been incorporated into the current Marvel run or been opening scenes in Doomsday. Endgame Encore came out as a cash grab, and it worked. Thousands of fans, like myself, paid $22 just to watch four extra minutes of clips.
The whole Multiverse Saga felt largely disconnected. Most projects don’t connect and just introduce new superheroes. Marvel has a wide variety of lead characters from the last seven years, but instead of utilizing them to further the story, Marvel’s bringing old characters back. Steve Rogers retired at the end of Endgame; since then, there have been two new Captain Americas, Sam Wilson and John Walker. Both are expected to appear in Doomsday. One movie does not need three Captain Americas, yet Chris Evans will be reprising his role. Although Iron Man is technically dead, Robert Downey Jr. is returning. Marvel needs to let go of the past and embrace their new characters. Moon Knight, Eternals, Kate Bishop, Ms Marvel, Echo, Wonder Man, Ironheart, and many more were introduced in the Multiverse Saga and got significant character development, but it’s unclear if they’ll ever return. Marvel will never embrace this new era by continuing to hold on to Evans and Downey.
Avengers: Endgame should’ve stayed in the Marvel archives. If Marvel had effectively incorporated Doctor Doom into the current saga, there would be no need to sprinkle several discombobulated clips into a movie they don’t belong in. Yet, I spent my own money to see those clips. I fell into the cash grab of Avengers: Endgame Encore, and I don’t regret it.
