Joe Russo said that the film, which will return to theaters on September 25 under the title Avengers Endgame: Encore with new footage, needs to be watched again to understand Avengers: Doomsday, which will be released on December 18. Russo called on audiences to go to theaters, stating that the stories of the two films are connected.
Anthony Russo, meanwhile, said that viewers who watched Endgame when it was first released could not have predicted that such a sequel would be coming. The 185-minute new version includes approximately 4 minutes of additional footage and a video about Doomsday.
Why it matters
The re-release means more than simply bringing a film that has already been seen back to theaters; it also means reestablishing the narrative connection between the two productions for audiences. The Russo brothers’ statements suggest that assessing Endgame independently of the subsequent film could lead to some connections being overlooked. This is particularly relevant to viewers who have seen the first film before but want to follow its relationship with the new production in detail. While the additional footage and the video about Doomsday make the re-release more than a repeat of the existing cut, they leave open the question of how much this new material will explain the relationship between the two stories. In this way, the screening offers an opportunity both to recall the previous film and to assess the narrative framework of the subsequent one.