The Russo Brothers Say Skipping ‘Endgame Encore’ Could Leave You Lost in ‘Doomsday’

Marvel’s slow rollout toward ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ has already included trailers, cast reveals, and a brand-new premium theatrical format, but the studio’s latest move is arguably its boldest yet. Rather than treating September’s ‘Avengers: Endgame: Encore’ as a simple nostalgia play, directors Joe and Anthony Russo are positioning it as something audiences genuinely can’t skip.

That framing puts real weight on a re-release many fans initially assumed was just a victory lap ahead of December’s big event. With ‘Doomsday’ marking the first mainline Avengers film since 2019’s ‘Endgame,’ the Russos appear determined to use Encore as more than a refresher, treating it instead as an essential piece of the story leading into their next chapter.

Speaking with Fandango, Joe Russo made that expectation explicit. “It’s gonna connect the story of the two movies,” he said. “There’s a natural progression from Endgame into Doomsday, which is also inclusive of all of the other stories that have been playing out. I think it’s required viewing for following the story in Doomsday.”

Anthony Russo backed up that framing with an even more pointed comment about how far the story has shifted since 2019. “If you saw Endgame when it was originally released, you couldn’t see this coming,” he said, according to GamesRadar’s coverage of the same Fandango interview. That comment reinforces the idea that Encore’s new footage isn’t just filling in narrative gaps, but actively resetting how audiences should read the ending of ‘Endgame’ itself heading into ‘Doomsday.’

That distinction matters given what’s actually different about this re-release. Encore isn’t simply the unaltered 2019 cut playing in theaters again; it’s been newly color-graded and runs 185 minutes, four minutes longer than the original’s 181-minute theatrical version. That additional footage is exclusive to IMAX and Disney’s newly introduced Infinity Vision-certified screens, meaning standard theatrical showings will skip the new material entirely.

This isn’t the first time the Russos have framed their upcoming Avengers films as deeply interconnected with everything that’s come before. Since taking the stage at San Diego Comic-Con to officially announce ‘Doomsday’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars,’ the directing duo has repeatedly described their approach as building toward “the biggest story that Marvel comics ever told,” treating both films as a singular, tightly connected event rather than two standalone releases.

That approach also reflects the pressure surrounding their return. Since ‘Endgame’ redefined what a franchise conclusion could look like commercially and critically, Marvel has struggled to recapture that same sense of event filmmaking with several releases in between. Leaning on Encore as connective tissue gives the Russos a way to remind audiences exactly what raised the stakes so high the first time, right before asking them to raise those stakes again.

With Encore hitting IMAX and Infinity Vision screens starting September 25, and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ following on December 18, the Russos’ comments suggest skipping the re-release could genuinely leave some viewers without full context for what’s coming. Whether that’s a marketing tactic dressed up as narrative necessity or a legitimately important piece of the puzzle, fans hoping to follow every thread heading into ‘Doomsday’ now have one more reason to seek out a certified premium screening next month.

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