Marvel Studios is sending Avengers: Endgame back to theaters, and it is not just a nostalgia screening. Avengers Endgame: Encore opens September 25, 2026, with roughly four minutes of never-before-seen footage shot during production on Avengers: Doomsday, plus an exclusive preview of Doomsday itself. Tickets are already on sale. Here is what is different about this cut, which screens get the extra material, and how it lines up with Marvel’s December release.
What Is Actually New in Encore
The original 2019 release ran 181 minutes. Encore runs 185, which puts the new material at about four minutes. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and directors Joe and Anthony Russo confirmed at CinemaCon 2026 that the added footage was filmed during Doomsday production rather than pulled from 2019 deleted scenes, which is a meaningful distinction: this is new work made to bridge two films, not vault material.
Fans comparing the first trailer against the 2019 film have also flagged that certain shots appear to have been altered between versions. Marvel has not detailed those changes.
The re-release package includes:
- Roughly four minutes of never-before-seen footage
- A custom introduction
- An exclusive look at Avengers: Doomsday
- A special end tag exclusive to IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings
IMAX and Infinity Vision Get More
Encore is playing in IMAX and in Infinity Vision, a new certification for Premium Large Format theaters that guarantees a specific presentation standard covering screen size, image brightness, and sound quality. It is Marvel’s answer to the wildly uneven PLF landscape, where a premium ticket has meant very different things depending on the chain.
The practical difference for viewers: audiences on IMAX or Infinity Vision certified screens get an additional sneak peek at Avengers: Doomsday beyond the preview included in standard presentations. If you are choosing a format, that is the deciding factor.
Why Marvel Is Doing This Now
Endgame closed the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, picking up after Infinity War as the Avengers make a final stand against Thanos. It also broke records on the way out, opening to $1.2 billion worldwide, still the biggest opening weekend ever recorded.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars behind it. A theatrical re-release three months ahead of Doomsday does three things at once: it puts the Infinity Saga finale back in front of a mass audience, it plants new connective footage in the version people will rewatch, and it delivers a Doomsday preview to the exact crowd most likely to buy an opening-weekend ticket. It is a marketing move, but it is an unusually generous one.
Encore is the rare re-release with a reason to exist beyond an anniversary. Four minutes of newly shot footage, a Doomsday preview, and a format tier that actually promises something specific make it worth a theater trip rather than a rewatch at home. Tickets are on sale now for September 25, and Avengers: Doomsday follows on December 18.
Are you going back for Encore, or holding out for Doomsday in December? Stake your claim in the NerdBlocks forum.
