The MCU’s Biggest Avengers: Endgame Retcon Hurts The Infinity Saga, But Marvel Did It For A Reason
Since 2019, Kevin Erdmann has been one of Screen Rant's Senior Staff Writers, covering all kinds of Superhero and Star Wars media with Easter egg breakdowns, theory pieces, breaking news, and more. A huge Star Wars & MCU fan, Kevin also loves Batman (because he's Batman), but could talk for hours about why Nightwing is DC's greatest hero.
With 8 years of total experience covering entertainment and pop culture, Kevin has gotten the chance to interview top creatives and talent, and has also attended major media events like Disney's D23 convention.
Majoring in Cinema Studies with a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife, adorable dog, and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.
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Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame Encore
Avengers: Endgame is the epic culmination of just over a decade's worth of storytelling with Marvel Studios' Infinity Saga, bringing together characters and narratives developed since 2008's Iron Man. However, the latest theatrical re-release of the 2019 movie somewhat diminishes its legacy in a few key ways (while arguably still being necessary).
Now in theaters, Avengers: Endgame Encore features four brand-new post-credits scenes. While two of them directly connect to the events of Endgame itself and Avengers: Doomsday releasing at the end of the year, the other two purely set up Doomsday. That said, one of the post-credit scenes in particular has been hotly debated for how it changes Endgame's original ending.
Overall, the changes and new footage added to Avengers: Endgame have a clear purpose, though the cost seems to be harming the Infinity Saga in favor of supporting the Multiverse Saga.
Avengers: Endgame Encore's Post-Credits Hurt The Infinity Saga's Ending
Ultimately, adding material and new footage to a movie that serves as the definitive ending of an entire saga of interconnected films was always going to be divisive. Likewise, the new scenes that have been added certainly undercut the finality of Endgame as it was originally released. Core founding Avengers gave their lives. Thanos was defeated for good. The universe had been restored after five years of pain and loss. Steve Rogers finally got his happy ending, choosing to stay in the past and be with Peggy Carter, the love of his life.
Now, Avengers: Endgame Encore doesn't end with Steve and Peggy finally getting their dance. Instead, there's now a knock at the door with the TVA's Loki offering his help, teeing up Rogers' confirmed return in Doomsday. Likewise, we also get a scene set after Spider-Man: Brand New Day with Doctor Doom taking Bruce Banner's Hulk, referencing events that happened years after Endgame.
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01
The Avengers first assembled in Marvel Comics in 1963. In the original comic, the team formed to battle a villain who had been manipulated by his adopted brother. Which villain brought the original Avengers together?
✓ Correct! In Avengers #1 (September 1963), Loki manipulated the Hulk into going on a rampage, which led Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp to band together. They defeated Loki and decided to form a permanent team — the Avengers were born.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Loki. In the original 1963 comic, Loki tricked the Hulk into a rampage, which brought together Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. Ultron came later, Thanos is a cosmic threat, and Kang is a time-traveling villain.
02
In the MCU, Tony Stark famously declared “I am Iron Man” at a press conference, breaking the superhero tradition of secret identities. In which year’s MCU film did Tony Stark first appear as Iron Man?
✓ Correct! Iron Man (2008) launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. The film’s post-credits scene with Nick Fury teased the Avengers Initiative, kicking off the most successful film franchise in history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is 2008. Iron Man premiered on May 2, 2008, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. It was the first film in the MCU and set the stage for everything that followed.
03
Thanos, the Mad Titan, sought to collect all six Infinity Stones to achieve his genocidal goal. In Avengers: Infinity War, he succeeded in his plan. What did Thanos do with the completed Infinity Gauntlet?
✓ Correct! With a single snap of his fingers, Thanos wiped out half of all living creatures in the universe. Known as “The Blip,” this devastating act erased trillions of lives and set the stage for the Avengers’ desperate time heist in Endgame to undo the damage.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is that Thanos snapped away half of all life in the universe. His twisted philosophy of “balance” drove him to commit universal genocide with a single snap, making it one of the most shocking moments in cinema history.
04
In Avengers: Endgame, Captain America proved worthy of wielding Thor’s enchanted hammer during the final battle against Thanos. What is the name of Thor’s hammer?
✓ Correct! Mjolnir, forged in the heart of a dying star, bears the inscription “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” Captain America wielding it in Endgame was one of the most celebrated moments in MCU history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Mjolnir. Stormbreaker is the axe Thor forged in Infinity War, Gungnir is Odin’s spear, and Jarnbjorn is an axe Thor used in the comics before Mjolnir. Mjolnir is the iconic enchanted hammer.
05
Black Widow, born Natasha Romanoff, is one of the founding MCU Avengers. Before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., she was trained as an assassin in a secret Soviet program. What is the name of this program?
✓ Correct! The Red Room was a covert Soviet training facility that turned young girls into elite spies and assassins known as Black Widows. Natasha was subjected to brutal conditioning and sterilization. Her escape and defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. was explored in the 2021 Black Widow film.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is The Red Room. HYDRA is a separate evil organization, the Winter Soldier Program created Bucky Barnes, and Department X is from the comics. The Red Room is the infamous Soviet program that forged Natasha into Black Widow.
06
The Hulk was created when Dr. Bruce Banner was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during a weapons test. What type of radiation transformed Banner into the Hulk?
✓ Correct! Dr. Bruce Banner was caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he designed, absorbing a massive dose of gamma radiation. This transformed him into the Hulk — a being of near-limitless strength whose power increases with his rage. Gamma radiation remains central to the Hulk’s mythology.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Gamma Radiation. Cosmic Rays gave the Fantastic Four their powers, Pym Particles are Ant-Man’s shrinking technology, and Terrigen Mist activates Inhuman abilities. Gamma radiation is what created the Incredible Hulk.
07
In the MCU, after Steve Rogers retired as Captain America, he passed his shield to a new hero to carry on the legacy. Who became the new Captain America?
✓ Correct! At the end of Avengers: Endgame, an elderly Steve Rogers chose Sam Wilson — the Falcon — to carry on the Captain America legacy. Sam’s journey to embrace the shield was explored in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, and he fully took up the mantle as Captain America.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Sam Wilson. While Bucky Barnes was Captain America in the comics, Steve chose Sam in the MCU. John Walker was temporarily given the shield by the government, and Isaiah Bradley was a forgotten super soldier from the past.
08
Ultron is an artificial intelligence who becomes one of the Avengers’ deadliest enemies. In the MCU’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which Avenger inadvertently created Ultron?
✓ Correct! Tony Stark created the Ultron program as a global peacekeeping AI, using technology from Loki’s scepter (which contained the Mind Stone). The AI became sentient and immediately decided humanity needed to be eradicated. In the comics, Hank Pym created Ultron, but the MCU shifted this to Stark.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Tony Stark. While Hank Pym created Ultron in the comics, the MCU changed this to Tony Stark. Bruce Banner assisted but it was Tony’s initiative. Vision was actually created from Ultron’s technology, not the other way around.
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There's also a sequence in the TVA confirming the imminent collapse of the multiverse, a scene that only fully makes sense if you've seen projects in the subsequent Multiverse Saga like Loki and/or Deadpool & Wolverine. Lastly, the sound of hammering at the very end of Endgame's credits, originally implied to be the sound of Iron Man forging his helmet in 2008's Iron Man is revealed to be Doctor Doom forging his own mask instead.
All things considered, adding these new scenes to tease Doomsday does inevitably change that feeling of finality in Endgame, and some of those bridges to Doomsday are more organic than others. Additionally, the Doctor Doom scene at the very end has become particularly divisive amongst the MCU fandom.
Doctor Doom's Mask May Be Encore's Most Controversial Change
Personally, I believe the reveal at the very end of Avengers: Endgame Encore with Doctor Doom forging his mask isn't all that problematic. I see it as a genuinely cool transition for Robert Downey Jr. as we say goodbye to the hero he personified for 11 years before saying hello to the major villain he's about to bring to life in the MCU.
At the same time, I can also understand the arguments being made online that changing the moment cuts the feelings of legacy and finality of simply hearing the hammer back in 2019, with the intended implication that it was calling back to Tony Stark's origins in the very first MCU movie. Now, it's explicitly looking ahead to Doctor Doom and the threat he's set to pose in Avengers: Doomsday.
That being said, I remember talking about this potential change back when RDJ was first announced as Doctor Doom at San Diego Comic-Con 2024: "New mask, same task." I know I wasn't the only one, and it does seem likely that Marvel Studios and the Russo Brothers similarly thought that it would be poetic to connect RDJ's two characters even before Doomsday's release. As cool as it is, I do recognize that it does take away from Endgame feeling like the true end of an era in the MCU.
Why This Additional Footage Before Avengers: Doomsday Still Feels Necessary
As much as these changes arguably weaken Avengers: Endgame as a conclusion, it's not very hard to see why Marvel Studios would want to make and add these new scenes in the first place. Firstly, it's a draw to get tickets for the re-release, but also a means of making up for lost time and missteps on the way to Doomsday (and Avengers: Secret Wars).
By comparison, the MCU's Multiverse Saga has had a pretty complicated development and journey thanks to a global pandemic, issues with central core actors, writer and actor strikes, mandates from Disney that resulted in quantity over quality, and the major pivot that was moving from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty to Doomsday. By all accounts, Doomsday and Secret Wars simply haven't had the same length of runway that Infinity War and Endgame had.
Overall, Doomsday is being tasked with bringing together a much more fragmented MCU with a saga that hasn't been nearly as interconnected or cohesive as the last one. Keeping that in mind, the four post-credits that have now been released just a few months before Doomsday are incredibly useful, giving Marvel Studios that much more room to set up the future and build toward its next big epic. After all, we've only really been feeling the momentum toward Doomsday in the last year or so with the MCU films released in 2025 and this year with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Endgame Encore.
Likewise, we already know that much of Doomsday's story and its consequences will be the result of the events in Endgame, making the addition of new context to this latest re-release pretty valuable as well, further creating the impression that Avengers: Doomsday was the next planned event in Endgame's wake (even if it originally wasn't). All in all, it was probably worth sacrificing some of Endgame's original finality in Marvel Studios' mind. Thanks to Endgame Encore, Avengers: Doomsday now has an even stronger connection to the MCU and its past (which was desperately needed).
Avengers: Endgame Encore is now playing in theaters. Avengers: Doomsday releases December 18th from Marvel Studios.
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Avengers: Endgame Encore
- Release Date
- September 25, 2026
- Runtime
- 185 Minutes
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Avengers: Doomsday
- Release Date
- December 18, 2026
- Runtime
- 165 Minutes
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Victor von Doom
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Thor
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Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / Invisible Woman
Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth Avengers film and kicks off Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A stacked cast of heroes both new and old to the MCU — including members of the X-Men — will face off against Victor von Doom, revealed at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024 to be played by a returning Robert Downey Jr.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.