10 Biggest Takeaways Rewatching Avengers: Endgame's Re-Release in Theaters

Published Sep 25, 2026, 12:35 PM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

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It’s been 7 years since the MCU closed the book on the Infinity Saga with the exceptional Avengers: Endgame, but the extraordinary pull of the movie has been felt for pretty much that whole time. Purely as a cinematic event, Endgame - and of course, its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War - remains one of the finest spectacles ever put on screen, but it was such a narrative flashpoint that the MCU struggled to move past it for a long time.

Ironically, of course, Endgame was presented as a full stop on the first age of the MCU: it permanently retired half of the original Avengers line-up, dissolved the team as we knew it, and was consciously designed to herald a new era for Marvel’s flagship property. But then Phase 4 came along, and story after story was tied in some way to the fallout of Thanos’ snap. In the end, Avengers: Doomsday becoming its direct sequel was as inevitable as Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan proclaimed himself.

With Doomsday dealing directly with the fallout of the Time Heist and the resulting time heists, Doctor Doom has been recast almost like the Final Destination concept of Death, taking back the lives fate conspired to steal from their grim destiny. The unavoidable result of that is that Avengers: Endgame fundamentally changes: it’s no longer a definitive full stop, which is precisely why Avengers: Endgame Encore came with new footage.

But even without the 4 new scenes, Avengers: Endgame demands frequent rewatches. It is a colossal achievement in film-making, an immovable MCU pillar, and even as the years pass, there are still things to learn from it.

10 There Is No Way Rhodey's Skrull Twist Was Ever Planned

Watching James Rhodes in Endgame with the knowledge of Secret Invasion's retcon makes the Disney+ series’ big twist feel even more ridiculous. To recap: Rhodey was replaced by Skrull named Raava at some point around Captain America: Civil War, meaning everything he did in Endgame was the actions of an impostor. That includes being the first to comfort a dying Tony Stark, and grieving both in the moment and during Tony’s funeral. The idea that this was a shape-shifting alien all along doesn’t work in any way.

Even beyond Tony's death, Rhodey's dynamic with Nebula during the Time Heist is also one of the quiet highlights of the movie. Their bond over their necessary cybernetic enhancements and traumatic injuries relies on genuine experience and vulnerability. The Skrull twist robs a beautiful, touching scene of all of its authenticity: so, we’re supposed to believe that was just the alien cosplaying?

9 Smart Hulk Was a Mistake

As a character, Smart Hulk was a fun idea, and obviously one rooted in comics lore, but for the MCU, the decision to create a supposed balanced version of Bruce Banner’s two identities didn’t work as the Russos seemingly thought it would. Sure, it led to some nice enough comedic moments and the Nano-Gauntlet Snap, but it also robbed Banner of what makes him most interesting.

Having watched all of Hulk’s MCU appearances after Endgame, it’s very clear that no other creative wanted Smart Hulk around. Effectively, Marvel’s teams admitted Smart Hulk was a mistake. And it’s precisely because Banner and Hulk’s entire story is defined by conflict, and frankly, Smart Hulk being presented as “balance” was always a lie. It was still Banner at the wheel, he just got to benefit from the physical attributes of the Hulk identity, while Hulk’s separate being was still suppressed.

8 Thor's Arc Is Hugely Underrated

When Endgame first came out, a lot of discourse was dedicated to “Fat Thor,” or to give it a slightly less awful name, Thor’s mental breakdown over his failure to stop Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet that led to major physical decline. Lots of people were angry at the apparent betrayal of the character, but actually, rewatching it now, Thor’s regression into isolation and self-medication perfectly fits the rest of his arc, including in Endgame’s second half.

The younger Thor was a mix of hubris and testosterone, who almost single-handedly ended peace in the Nine Realms, and who’s idea of worthiness was tied to his physique and his role as a warrior. Yes, he overcame performance issues in Thor: Ragnarok, but ultimately, his very next battle led to two losses. No wonder his sense of self was challenged, and he spiraled. This wasn’t just a joke: it all played out with complexity and emotional depth, and his reunion with Frigga (and Mjolnir) was one of the best moments. Plus, his decision to hand the throne to Valkyrie paid off years of internal conflict that was only really underlined in Endgame.

7 Captain Marvel Should Have Been a Bigger Deal

She might have sat Infinity War out, but Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers makes a massive impression during her limited screen time in Endgame. First, she rescues Tony and Nebula, and then she returns to obliterate Thanos’ warship Sanctuary II during the climax, shifting the entire balance of the battle. She even eats a headbutt from Thanos. It's all chest-beating stuff.

On the back of that, Captain Marvel should have been at the knife-edge of the MCU’s second era, but instead, she went away for four years (via a cameo in Shang-Chi’s post-credits scene), and The Marvels relegated her to shared leading role. Her momentum was killed and the power she showed in Endgame became yet another case of Marvel being ashamed of their most impressive heroes.

6 The Time Travel Confidence is Hilarious Now

On reflection, the Avengers’ supreme confidence in explaining the mechanics of time travel in Endgame comes off as both condescending and hilariously misguided. Smart Hulk actively ridicules popular culture classics like Back to the Future and Terminator, lecturing Rhodey and Scott Lang on how changing the past cannot alter the present, but instead creates diverging alternate timelines. We get strict, supposedly immutable laws, and then the MCU went about dismantling them or at least undermining how the Avengers interpreted them.

Between the Time Variance Authority in Loki, Ms Marvel's time loop, the spell mechanics in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the multiverse chaos in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels, Marvel’s time travel rules became a tangled mess of competing logic. And with the reality of incursions and Doctor Doom’s impending arrival, watching Bruce Banner explain quantum mechanics with absolute authority is hilariously tragic.

5 I Still Really Wish That Ronin Was A Full Series

Clint Barton’s dark turn into the violent vigilante Ronin is a wonderful counterpoint to Endgame’s heartbreaking opening sequence, which remains the most ingenious way of showing the real toll of Thanos’ snap. After his emotional crisis, Hawkeye becomes a villain-slaying machine, complete with a cool new outfit and weapons, and we get to see him at full power against the Yakuza.

Obviously, there are moral concerns with his turn to darkness, and the fact that his vigilantism seems protected compared to Punisher’s one-man reign of terror, but even now, it feels like a missed opportunity that we didn’t get to see a full Ronin miniseries. Even after Endgame’s release, a flashback miniseries (set before the excellent Hawkeye) would have been gloriously good fun, and would have further explored the MCU’s fascination with the cost and spectrum of heroism.

4 Nebula's Storyline Is Genuinely Brilliant

Nebula is quietly one of the MVPs of Avengers: Endgame, and she never seems to get her due celebration. Not only does Endgame complete her redemptive arc, but she displays major growth as a character, helping nurture a dying Tony Stark in the opening (when she must have known his survival chances were near zero).

Karen Gillan is excellent throughout, both funny in her quirks and also surprisingly warm, and the flash of vulnerability in what Thanos made her when she talks to Rhodey is a great scene. If you ignore him being a Skrull. It’s still a shame that she wasn’t the one to deliver the killer blow to her abusive adoptive father, but meeting her earlier self does allow for some closure on her trauma at least. This might well be the best of Nebula in the entire MCU, and the fact that Gillan manages to navigate such a rich storyline surrounded by such scale, and never loses what makes Nebula such a compelling character already is very impressive.

3 There Will Never Be a Pop Like Captain America Catching Mjolnir

Even years later, with the element of surprise long gone, the climactic sequence where Steve Rogers lifts Mjolnir remains an unmatched cinematic moment. It’s the very definition of lightning in a bottle, and since Avengers: Endgame Encore’s release has seen videos of in-theater reactions to the scene, there’s a huge public record of just what it meant to the audiences in 2019. In fact, what it still means now.

The scene is a masterclass of dramatic crafting: first, Thanos beats Cap down, then tackles Thor, pinning him down and almost killing him with Stormbreaker, before cutting from the tense wider shot to a close-up of Mjolnir lifting off the ground. As the hammer hits Steve’s hand (after saving Thor), Cap takes an uncharacteristic moment to aura farm, before a beautiful comic-panel-like shot of him smashing Thanos under the chin with the hammer in slow motion. It’s precisely aimed at making you want to run through a wall, and it’s still one of the greatest moments in not only the MCU but all of comic book movie history.

The very fact that it is actually cooler than the incredible portals sequence - which takes a lot of beating - says everything. It is the crowning moment on Cap’s arc as a good, uncorruptable man, and Thor’s quiet “I knew it” is a glorious little note. And the nod back to Avengers: Age of Ultron's much-debated Mjolnir scene was well worth the wait.

2 Thanos Versus Steve, Tony, Thor Is Top Tier Action

Even beyond the Mjolnir moment, the surviving Avengers’ attempt to take down Thanos is a rip-roaring sequence that ranks high in the list of the MCU’s best action scenes. Before the portals open and the armies flood the battlefield, the MCU’s core trinity getting their own chance to fight the Mad Titan was an appropriate creative decision. It helps ground the battle and underline Thanos’ threat, even without the Infinity Stones, and watching it back, it feels like top-tier fighting.

It’s easily one of the most impressively choreographed battles in the entire franchise because of how Thanos is framed. He’s like a mythological monster, and we finally get the answer to what he’d be like as a threat without his cosmic weapon, and it serves as the perfect precursor to the tide turning and the portals opening because it appears Thanos has the upper hand.

Like the all-too-brief moment when Cap, Iron Man, and Thor first meet in The Avengers, you get a chance to see each of the heroes’ distinct combat styles and how they operate as a team. The stakes obviously speak for themselves, but against the sprawling battle sequence that follows, this smaller-scale battle might even be better.

1 It's No Wonder The MCU Never Recovered

Image via MovieStillsDB

Rewatching the re-release of Endgame in theaters in 2026, it’s hard to ignore a bittersweet realization: it set a benchmark so impossibly high that the franchise was almost destined to struggle in its wake. When Endgame ended, we were promised new life would be coming, and the Multiverse Saga was already on the way, but that challenge was always going to be daunting.

Viewed as a double feature alongside Avengers: Infinity War (as it really should be), Endgame represents part of a zenith of blockbuster storytelling that balanced a ridiculous number of character arcs, emotional catharsis, and unprecedented spectacle without ever collapsing under its own weight. It left seismic narrative shockwaves that defied the idea that it was ever an ending point, and made Phase 4’s obsession with raking over the rubble inevitable.

In establishing Endgame as a grand final chapter, Marvel created a void that they then spent years trying and failing to fill. The ghosts of Endgame persisted, with the world still recovering from what Thanos did for years (to be fair, this made a lot of sense), and the new, more original stories never quite grabbed the same attention. Part of that comes down to the curious realization that Endgame and Infinity War were so good as a double-pronged event that you can entirely forgive the fact that the build-up was never quite as convincing as the payoff. That opportunistic lie meant Phase 4’s lack of any definitive storyline (other than Endgame's fallout) stood out even more.

Ultimately, trying to move past the definitive exits of Iron Man and Captain America proved far more difficult than expected, largely because Endgame gave them such perfect endings. For years, rumors of their returns - despite Tony’s death - overshadowed legitimate announcements, and cynics unfavorably compared every attempt to replace them (even when that wasn’t actually the intention).

Thinking about this again, it’s easy to understand why Marvel Studios is so consciously seeking to recapture this level of event-level magic with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Let’s just hope they manage it.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is in theaters worldwide now.

Avengers: Endgame

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  Tony Stark / Iron Man

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  Steve Rogers / Captain America

Avengers: Endgame, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, concludes the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga. It follows the remaining Avengers as they attempt to reverse the destruction caused by Thanos.