Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit theaters this summer and completely wiped the floor with every MCU movie that has been released since Avengers: Endgame. In fact, Brand New Day managed to single-handedly call the pervasive idea of ‘superhero fatigue’ into question after a decade of discourse, and—an even bigger hurdle—it did what had seemed to be impossible and outpaced Endgame at the domestic box office (but is still several hundred million behind globally). And yet, there is no question in my mind that it did not even come close to topping Endgame in terms of impact, fanfare, craft, and storytelling.

Endgame is legitimately a perfect movie. No, I don’t love every single narrative choice it made; I’m still sour about Natasha Romanoff’s death and the implications of killing off the only female original Avenger, and I think Steve Rogers deciding to stay in the past, disrupting the life Peggy Carter herself told him she had loved and abandoning Bucky, was entirely at odds with his characterization. But I can recognize that controversial character choices do not a terrible movie make, and by every other standard I can call to mind, Endgame absolutely blew me away.

That only made it all the more disconcerting that Avengers: Endgame Encore was not only going to be a theatrical re-release, which makes sense ahead of Avengers: Doomsday, but also would alter parts of the movie. Had this been the addition of Endgame deleted scenes we already knew about, such as the scene in which Tony Stark talks to an older version of his daughter, Morgan, before his death, that would have been one thing. From very early on, though, it was clear that wasn’t the case. Endgame Encore is meant to bridge the gap between Endgame and Doomsday by taking moments that should have happened naturally and cramming them into the movie’s mid and post credits, with little regard for organic connective tissue. Unfortunately, that went as poorly as I’d suspected it would.

Avengers: Endgame Encore Undermines The MCU’s Best Movie

The decision to risk making Endgame worse for the chance to make Doomsday work is a bewildering one. “Don’t mess with success” isn’t exactly a movie industry mantra, but that’s because it’s rare for a franchise to make a choice like this one—for good reason. Sitting in the theater and experiencing the swell of emotions and heroic moments that existed with the original cut of Endgame only to have a range of scattershot extras tossed in at the very end was the poorest of sharp left turns.

In fact, that drop-off was all the worse because every part of Endgame up to its conclusion remained untouched, only for these added scenes to be jammed in right at the very end and feel completely disjointed. Without giving too much away, for example, one added mid-credits scene jumped significantly further into the future, after Brand New Day in the MCU timeline, which makes zero sense. It isn’t even that character’s first appearance between Endgame and Brand New Day, so chronologically, it was completely illogical. But it suited Doomsday, I suppose.

Particularly devastating is that Endgame Encore swoops in to undermine the very conclusions that made Endgame so profound. Again, I’m no fan of Steve’s ending in the original cut—he spends the movie underscoring that there’s no way to go back and change things, only to…go back and change things—but seeing that (quite literally) disrupted was significantly worse. And while Endgame is a true ensemble piece, and there are many notable arcs in the movie, Cap’s has always felt like one of the most important.

From seeing him finally lift Mjölnir, which is easily one of the best moments in the movie and, frankly, in the entire MCU, to watching him limp forward alone in front of Thanos and his army (before we hear Sam Wilson say, “On your left,” which I have yet to experience without tearing up), Endgame was Steve Rogers’ ultimate curtain call. The powers that be have taken that away so that his return in Doomsday can make some semblance of sense and get wayward fans to flock to theaters.

It isn’t just Steve’s story that is undercut by Encore, either. After all, there are four added scenes, not counting two charming extras that kick off the movie—and, actually, the potential fractures from those additions impact shows and movies far beyond just Endgame. Loki, in particular, feels on the chopping block, meaning that the Endgame Encore and Doomsday combo could take out the MCU’s best movie and best show all in one fell swoop.

In the end, I’m left with a resounding, “Why?” The return of everyone who was lost hits just as hard every single time. Seeing Chadwick Boseman again was gut-wrenchingly beautiful. Watching this team of heroes, whom I had loved for almost a decade on Endgame’s first go around, come together and defy the odds again and again and again had me sitting in the theater even now wondering if Endgame is my favorite movie of all time. And then, to make a struggling franchise’s next installment a little bit easier to get off the ground, the magic of the ending was snuffed out.

Release Date

September 25, 2026

Runtime

185 Minutes