When I hit the night show of Avengers: Endgame Encore, it was with trepidation. On one hand, I knew scenes had been added to connect and reset the timeline in anticipation of Avengers: Doomsday. I just didn’t know when and where. However, I was also excited to see the movie again. No matter how you look at it, Endgame was a massive moment in the MCU, and honestly, it still hit.
I was a Marvel comic nerd as a teenager. So, when the MCU got it right with character quirks and villain details at the beginning, it was amazing to watch. Every movie felt like an homage to my teenage self. Similarly, the farewells they wrote in Endgame felt right. It felt deserved. Stark got to complete his character arc. Steve got to choose himself for once. So when we learned they were returning, I too asked why.
3 hours into my rewatch, though, when Loki interrupted Rogers’ happy ending, I got it. It wasn’t just the residual buzz from him saying, “Avengers Assemble.” It was that the Russos correctly identified an opportunity in the world they crafted. After the chaos of the last phase, the Russos found an unexplored story opportunity to reset the world without breaking the canon or making Doomsday a blind twist. As a storyteller and fan, I appreciate that.
The plot opportunity is what makes Endgame worth the rewatch
Many fans were thrown when the Russos told Fandango that Encore was required viewing for Doomsday. Having rewatched the movie, I see what he means. It’s not just the added scenes but the impact of seeing it in context. The oft-forgotten details in the original movie are what explain what he meant when he said, “That’s where Doomsday is born.”
Originally, Steve chose his happy ending after many conversations about grief and loss. However, we already knew Peggy had a different life. Add that to the plot point where the Sorcerer Supreme told Banner about how one seemingly small change can create a branch in the multiverse, and suddenly, boom. Obviously, Rogers’ choice created a new branch.
In the first additional scene, TVA Loki knocks on Roger’s door as he and Peggy dance together and tells them, “I can help you, both of you.” Anthony Russo, in an interview with Empire Online, described it as “the idea of just going one moment past that perfect ending, and thinking about how radically that moment can change by just taking one step past it.”
Roger’s choice now seems to be part of a multiversal chain reaction. It fits in the story. Add this to everything we know of the TVA, of how these branches have caused incursions before, and you see the potential of this plot thread. Then there is the other post-credits scene, one which unfortunately wasn’t part of the version I rewatched.
According to Deadline, it is a sequence at the TVA where Owen Wilson’s Mobius, Ke Huy Quan’s Ouroboros, and Casey from Deadpool and Wolverine see an incursion event going out of control. This, according to the Russos, is “the most profound thing that’s ever happened to the MCU. It is the perceived end of times.” This is where Steve’s branch becomes one additional pathway for Doomsday.
Joe Russo told Empire, rightfully, that this hasn’t really been done before. Reaching back to find a new beginning, which is only possible because the MCU “is a fluid universe.” What we end up with is a start and a story branch with a lot of potential leading into Doomsday.
It can bypass the parts of the MCU that went wrong and contain the more chaotic elements into a cohesive storyline. That, from any angle, is impressive. Joe Russo referred to one of my favourite movies, Rashomon, and told Empire that it was all about, “How do you look at this from a different point of view? How do you bring a different point of view to it?”
Rogers, however, was the cost. He spent his entire life sacrificing his happiness for the world. First, he lost the life he could have had with Peggy and Bucky. When he woke up decades later, all he did was fight. It was a constant theme that he couldn’t live because he was needed. He fought Hydra, fought Ultron, lost, and then won against Thanos. He watched friends disappear. Then he watched Tony sacrifice himself.
We now know that his choice to go back to Peggy and live for himself didn’t lead to a normal life. I think it’s sad, but I also think it fits their characters. This is Captain America and Agent Peggy Carter. Of course, their choices would have consequences, but more than that, Rogers will always get back up and fight for everyone. I just hope he won’t have to sacrifice again.
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