What Those New Scenes in "Avengers: Endgame - Encore" Tell Us About "Doomsday"

Full spoilers follow for Avengers: Endgame - Encore's new footage!

Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters for its re-release Encore edition and the smash hit continue to impress seven years after its initial release. In its first weekend, the film brought in another $86 million worldwide, and it's highly likely it will surpass Avatar by the end of its run to once more become the biggest movie of all-time at the global box office.

Seeing Avengers: Endgame in a theater again with a crowd is a blast; a reminder of just how well done the film is and how its emotional beats resonate through every high and low the Avengers go through. But of course, the Encore version also has some brand new material included as well, in the form of several new scenes that set up the events of December's Avengers: Doomsday.

All of these scenes are presented during the closing credits, not changing the narrative of Endgame itself... With one arguable exception I'll discuss below.

So let's dive into these scenes, what happens in them, and what they might mean for Doomsday, accompanied by some quotes from Endgame and Doomsday directors Anthony and Joe Russo that the brothers provided Empire regarding these new scenes.

Scene 1 - Loki Knocky

What Happens:

The first new addition is the only one that appears before the closing credits begin.

Avengers: Endgame plays out in its entirety as it always has, up through its very last moment, when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has traveled back in time and is seen dancing with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). As always, Steve leans in for a kiss, except this time... there's a knock on the door interrupting them! While Steve hides out of sight, clearly not wanting anyone from Peggy's time to know he's there, Peggy opens the door where she finds none other than Loki (Tom Hiddleston), in his TVA outfit. Loki tells her "I can help you. Both of you," revealing he's well aware of Steve's presence, who comes out of hiding at the sound of his voice.

What it Could Mean:

It's certainly possible Loki is about to whisk Steve and Peggy off on a new adventure right then and there that leads into Doomsday's main events, but that seems doubtful if you look back at all of the Doomsday ads so far. Most importantly, the very first teaser for the film -- the one that revealed Chris Evans was in the movie at all -- showed Steve Rogers at the home he and Peggy share, holding what presumably is their own baby. If Steve and Peggy are going to continue to have a happy life together, at least for a few years, which will include a child, it's unlikely Loki's arrival at the end of the Endgame dance is what immediately sends them into crisis mode. But perhaps Loki is there to explain why Steve's longterm presence would usually be an issue for the TVA and some way to circumvent that? The Russos have hinted that Steve's decision to change history in the manner he did may be an inciting indecent for Doomsday. Maybe Loki, attempting to help his former enemy find a peaceful life, ended up being an inadvertent accomplice to that as well?

The other big question this scene raises is about when exactly it's occurring for Loki. Loki's wearing his TVA jacket when he approaches Steve and Peggy, but the end of the Loki series found the former God of Mischief become the God of Stories, leaving behind everyone he knew to help protect the multiverse from afar. So does the scene with Steve and Peggy take place before that, somewhere in the middle of the Loki series? Or does Loki resume his old TVA job eventually? Intriguingly, speaking about Loki, Anthony Russo told Empire, "One of the delights of Doomsday is, you're going to get a new incarnation of that character."

Regardless, all of this of course will change our perception of what Steve and Peggy's time together was and where it ended up. The Russos acknowledged that, when making Endgame, they thought they were ending Steve's story in a more definitive way, with Anthony telling Empire, "It was many years later before the idea – this idea, that we actually committed to – came up, on how to move past that [dance scene] moment. A big motivation for releasing Avengers: Endgame Encore is the idea that, now we're looking back at that movie thinking about going forward, instead of not thinking about going forward."

This has made the Steve/Peggy/Loki scene the most polarizing for fans, with some being upset of how it alters (or, for some, outright "ruins") the ending of Endgame. Personally, I don't think it's that extreme, in that I'm okay with finding out Steve had more harrowing adventures following his decision to go back in time with Peggy. But I do think it would have been highly preferable to have the Loki scene added as a mid-credit scene, rather than seeing it so literally added on to the original ending, since it does change the energy so much on what is a sweet, emotional capper to a terrific film.

It'll be interesting to see if the Encore version of Endgame is made available, in its entirety, at home, but if it does, hopefully it never outright replaces the original version on the digital side. Because it would be a shame to not be able to watch Peggy and Steve have that happy moment together on its own any longer.

Scene 2 - Hulky Doomy

What Happens:

Months after the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a scruffy, bearded Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) records his latest video from a bunker deep beneath Earth's surface. Bruce talks about how he's there for everyone else's safety, in the wake of fully losing control as the savage Hulk for the first time in over a decade, during Brand New Day.

As Bruce discusses some promising experiments he's been conducting with his old buddy, good ol' Gamma radiation, there is suddenly interference on the video, followed by loud noises as an unseen presence is able to manifest inside the bunker and confronts Bruce. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is heard from offscreen telling Bruce "Mr. Banner, I’ve come to collect you."

Flashes of green light erupt, as Bruce vanishes along with Doom, with green, magical symbols left on the ground in their wake.

What it Could Mean:

Tony Stark once boasted "We have a Hulk," and now it seems Doctor Doom wants in on that action as well. Whatever Doom is looking to accomplish, he clearly needs help doing it, and help doesn't get more powerful than Hulk, assuming Doom is able to control him. Of course, Bruce Banner is no slouch on the scientific genius side of things as well, so perhaps Doom has need of him in that arena instead... or has need of him in that arena as well. It could be both, after all.

So is Doom going around collecting others besides Bruce? It sure seems that way, given we saw him come for Franklin Richards at the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Joy Russo would only coyly tell Empire, "Look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner. So, that's what we'll say about that."

The Russos didn't even want to say yet if we can at least now assume Mark Ruffalo is in Avengers: Doomsday, with Joe remarking "I think [what] we could say is, [Banner] is certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom. We will not confirm nor deny his appearance in Doomsday."

But it would be weird if he didn't pop up in that film at all now, right??

Scene 3 - TVA Trouble

What Happens:

Inside the TVA headquarters, Mobius (Owen Wilson) joins other familiar faces like Ouroboros, AKA O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) and Casey (Eugene Cordero), who inform him of an incursion, as two different worlds are colliding together. Mobius at first doesn't seem that concerned about this as a one-off occurrence the TVA sees happen from time to time (or timeline to timeline?). But things get more notable as they realize the two worlds are actually firing upon each other, seemingly desperate to be the world left standing. And then suddenly, alerts go off about more and more incursions happening simultaneously as more worlds begin to collide, jumping up rapidly to 3000.

Declares O.B. "The multiverse is collapsing!"

What it Could Mean:

The multiverse is collapsing! This one is pretty clear cut, as we get the reality-endangering crisis that we'd previously heard is at the center of Doomsday and will bring three familiar realities (the central MCU, the Fantastic Four's world, and world of the old 20th Century Fox X-Men movies) into conflict, with Doom's role in it all still remaining murky.

As Joe Russo tells Empire, "It’s the most profound thing that's ever happened to the MCU. It is the perceived end of times. Everything the TVA was set up to do is to protect the timelines from collapsing, and now they're in a catastrophic collapse." Added Anthony, "It is the unifying principle of combining the X-Men universe, the Avengers universe, the Fantastic Four universe. That is at the heart of the collision of these universes."

The footage also begins with Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) noting how important it is to stay in your timeline, which once more suggests Steve Rogers might have caused some big problems.

The TVA scene also naturally makes one wonder if we will actually see any of these TVA characters in the jam-packed Avengers: Doomsday. The events of Loki and all it revealed about the multiverse loom large over Doomsday, so it feels likely they could pop up at least briefly, but regardless, it's nice to spend even this one new scene with these guys again... And hey, we even saw Ralph (James Dryden), who was introduced in the TVA sequences in Deadpool & Wolverine!

Scene 4: To the Victor Goes the Mask

What Happens:

In its original release, there were no mid or end credit scenes for Avengers: Endgame at all, but there was one little audio Easter egg. As the closing credits concluded, the sound of metal being hammered into shape could be heard, in a callback to Tony Stark building his first suit of armor in the original Iron Man.

In Endgame - Encore, this hammering noise continues longer over a black screen and then suddenly we get very quick flashes of a man making armor, except this time it's Victor Von Doom, as we see the Doom mask being forged.

What it Could Mean: This isn't really even a "scene," given how quick it is, more just a setting the scene. But obviously it's playing into the fact that Robert Downey Jr., who used to play Iron Man, is now playing Doctor Doom, and the idea of these two armored powerhouses as distorted mirror images to one another. Joe Russo tells Empire, "There is certainly a symmetry at play here. There is an interesting examination of good and evil at play. And I think that that scene at the end, obviously it's intended to be almost identical. It's because there's a duality being explored."

When you look back at the almost certainly specific choice of there being 3000 worlds colliding in the TVA scene -- as in "I love you 3000" -- it definitely feels like there's a lot of leaning into the "Move over, Tony, Victor is here" vibes of Avengers: Doomsday.

We'll find out just how different but the same Doom is compared to Tony when Avengers: Doomsday opens on December 18th.