Endgame re-release scene: is it Loki setting up Doomsday?

My theory about the brand new post-credit scene for the Avengers: Endgame re-release was that it would be Loki-centric. I thought Loki would show up where Endgame leaves Steve Rogers and Peggy, and that this would set up Avengers: Doomsday perfectly.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) starred Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. We knew that Doomsday would pick up right where Endgame left off, with scenes and locations from the ending of Endgame revisited. Then came the news that Endgame would be re-released before Doomsday with brand new scenes setting up the new film.

How the Endgame re-release could fold in Avengers: Doomsday scenes

Reports also said Doomsday would revisit scenes from Endgame. So the question became how those scenes would be incorporated into Doomsday, and how Doomsday material would be incorporated into the new cut of Endgame.

There were many possibilities. Could Doomsday open with Tony's funeral and show conversations we didn't get to see? Could we see Steve tell Bucky his plan to stay in the past before he returned the Stones? Could we get more lines from Old Man Steve Rogers warning of challenges to come, as someone who had already lived through Doomsday and Secret Wars? Those were all solid options. But I thought the answer had been hiding in plain sight.

Loki's Tesseract escape is the Endgame loose end

In Avengers: Endgame, Loki escapes with the Tesseract. We never hear that escape addressed. We also never see what the consequences of that new timeline look like, with the Avengers having altered the flow of time and not being able to undo it.

Those of us who saw the Loki series know what happened. Loki was immediately picked up by the TVA, and that splintered timeline was pruned. But Endgame itself never addressed it. Doomsday was being designed as a film you could see right after Endgame without having seen any of the Disney Plus shows, or even the films released in between.

So addressing the Loki thread in the Endgame re-release, and in Doomsday, made perfect sense to me. It could be a fluid post-credit scene that doesn't feel like a retcon. It would feel like it was supposed to be there, because the original cut ignored it. I also thought it could explain the Loki series, everything with Kang, and serve as what the Russos called a "critical piece" for setting up Doomsday.

A question about Loki saving Steve Rogers and Peggy from the TVA

Phil asked whether the new Endgame scene would be Loki saving Steve Rogers and Peggy from being pruned by the TVA, since he expected that scene in Doomsday. He also pointed to what looked like Peggy at the TVA in Loki season 1.

I wasn't sure that background moment would come into play. But I agreed the added scene would be Loki-centric.

The rumored Fantastic Four: First Steps scene with Chris Evans

Rumor had it that a post-credit scene was planned for The Fantastic Four: First Steps featuring Chris Evans back as Steve Rogers. This was a legit report, but Marvel went with the scene teasing Doom with Franklin instead.

Here's what we knew about the post-credit scenes setting up Doomsday, such as the Thunderbolts and First Steps scenes. Both were pulled straight from Avengers: Doomsday. They were Russo Brothers-directed scenes shot on the Doomsday set that are in the film. The same was true of the rumored Steve Rogers scene.

The rumored Doomsday plot: Loki moves Steve and Peggy to universe 828

The rumor was that in Doomsday, we learn Steve created a branched, unsanctioned timeline destined to be pruned when he went back to live a life with Peggy. Loki steps in to save him. After convincing Steve he's not the villain Steve thought, and eventually gaining his trust, Loki offers to move Steve, Peggy and their son to a different universe where they can live without causing multiversal trouble: universe 828, the Fantastic Four universe.

The Chris Evans part, and Steve being in that universe, was the rumored First Steps scene. The Loki part came out a little later as a potential leak of a Doomsday scene. I thought it was in all likelihood a scene we would see in Doomsday, and that it would be added to the Endgame re-release too.

How the Loki scene could follow Steve and Peggy's dance

Endgame's final shot is Steve and Peggy in the past, in their branch timeline, dancing before we cut to credits. I thought this could pan out one of two ways. We get the credits and then a post-credit scene, or the dance continues with the shot extended.

We hear a knock at the door, and it's Loki. Steve is defensive at first, thinking Loki could be there to hurt him and his family. Loki explains he's not there to fight. He's there to help, and to save Steve's family as well as all of existence.

I didn't think Steve would still have Mjolnir, since he'd already returned the Stones and was supposed to return the hammer too. But if he did, Loki picking up Mjolnir could be what convinces Steve to hear him out.

Loki explains the TVA and Kang to Steve Rogers

In the re-release, we would have last seen Loki escaping with the Tesseract. I imagined a well-crafted, concise expositional scene, perhaps with a cut where Steve gets the full story offscreen and we see only a recap at the end, with Steve asking follow-up questions over a cup of tea.

I thought Loki would explain how he was apprehended by the Time Variance Authority. I also think Deadpool and Wolverine, a rated R movie that made $1.3 billion, did much of the work introducing the TVA to people who skipped Loki.

We would learn that Loki met the man at the end of time controlling their destinies, keeping Steve from a life of peace with Peggy and kids, and keeping Loki from a life as a non-villain. I thought Loki would say that man, Kang, is no longer in charge, but that threats to the multiverse still exist, which is why he needs to move Steve's family to another universe.

A bridge into the rumored Doomsday incursion opening

The scene would work as a post-credit stinger or a direct continuation of the dance. I thought it would also be a great way to open Doomsday and bridge the two films.

We had heard rumors that Doomsday opens with an incursion between the X-Men universe and the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man universe. I assumed that after that brutal scene, we would get the title card, then pick up with Steve and Peggy dancing and Loki arriving to warn of the chaos brewing across the multiverse, chaos we'd just glimpsed in that incursion.

Steve Rogers as the audience's way back into Marvel

I thought this would be a brilliant approach, because we could view things through Steve, who has been absent since Endgame. He could serve as an audience proxy for people who haven't kept up.

When Steve learns about Loki, meets the Fantastic Four, meets the New Avengers and hears about the beef brewing between Sam and Bucky, exposition bringing him up to speed won't feel out of place. Fans who followed every project would know Steve needs to learn what happened. Those who haven't seen many Marvel movies since Endgame could attach themselves to Steve and get all the information needed to see Doomsday as a direct Endgame sequel through its lead.

I thought this was being handled brilliantly. My feeling was that if you've seen every Marvel thing ever, you'd love Doomsday, and if you haven't seen a Marvel movie since Endgame, you'd love it too.