Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame is set to return to the big screen on September 25 (the re-release will be titled Avengers: Endgame Encore), and we recently learned that the re-release will include new footage to tie the Infinity Saga finale directly into Avengers: Doomsday.
@Cryptic4KQual has now shared some new details, and he believes Encore will be 7 minutes longer than the original theatrical version.
"I hear the Avengers: Endgame Encore will have a new intro, new bonus scenes, and the ending sequence will lead directly into Avengers: Doomsday. Take with a grain of salt, but I'm also hearing it will be 7 minutes longer than the original."
What this new post-credits scene will entail remains to be seen, but it's definitely starting to seem like Doomsday will serve more as a direct follow-up to the events of Endgame than the first part of a Multiverse Saga finale.
Endgame opened to an incredible $1.2 billion worldwide back in 2019, and held the record for the highest-grossing movie of all time ($2.799 billion) until the re-release of James Cameron's Avatar reclaimed the spot.
While speaking at the Sands Film Festival in April, co-director of both movies, Joe Russo, described the re-release as a "critical companion story" and a "setup for what you’re gonna watch in December when you see Avengers: Doomsday."
"It’s critically important to re-release the movie, and, in fact, we’ll be re-releasing the film with footage that is set in the Doomsday story that we have added to Avengers: Endgame."
"It’s an opportunity to create a bridge from Endgame to Doomsday in a very unique way, and because the movie was so successful, we have an opportunity to re-release it," he added. "You don’t always get the chance to re-release because it costs money, so the fact that we can enhance the story of Doomsday by bridging it to Endgame and these characters that we worked with for years that we love so much, and continue their story: It’s a really unique opportunity."
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.