Avengers Endgame Encore's New Ending Reveals Dr. Doom Kidnapping Bruce Banner and the Multiverse Collapsing

Avengers Endgame Encore has a brand new ending along with three new post credit scenes, and after months of speculation I feel a little vindicated. The new footage gives us Loki paying a visit to Steve Rogers, Mobius returning to watch the multiverse start to collapse, Bruce Banner getting taken by Dr. Doom, and a clanking sound over the credits that I called more than a year ago. There is also something in this footage I think a lot of people are missing, which I get to at the end.

Loki Interrupts Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter's Dance in the New Ending

The original film ends with Steve and Peggy dancing in the past. In this new version, that dance gets interrupted by a knock at the door. Peggy answers and asks, "Can I help you?" A voice replies, "No, but I can help you." Loki steps inside and says "Both of you," looking toward Steve, who is hiding behind a wall.

I have heard some people say Steve is hiding because he is already nervous about the ramifications of coming to the past with Peggy. Honestly, I think he is just trying to stay out of sight because he is basically a celebrity. He is Captain America, the hero who sacrificed himself and is supposed to be dead at the bottom of the ocean, so he cannot risk someone recognizing him and asking why he is there.

I loved the look on Steve's face once he realizes it is Loki. He recognizes the voice first, then Loki says "Both of you," confirming he knows Steve is there too. Steve comes around the corner with a look of confusion mixed with a bit of defensiveness, which makes sense given these two have not shared a scene together since the first Avengers movie.

Dr. Doom Kidnaps Bruce Banner From His Underground Lab

We see Bruce Banner living two miles beneath the Earth's surface, saying there is no one getting in or out. This is in response to him hulking out in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and we hear him say he is experimenting with gamma suppression. I had theorized that Bruce being sent to what was called a psychiatric ward in that film was actually cover for some agency locking up the Hulk to run tests on him, and that Doom might be the one to break him out and offer him a peaceful life in his new kingdom, maybe even the Hulk village seen in leaked Secret Wars concept art.

But this scene suggests Banner is not simply recruited, he is taken. He has secluded himself because he is mortified by what happened in Brand New Day. Then the screens start to glitch, the lights flash, and green magic runes appear on the ground, similar to what we saw in Doom's throne room in the Doomsday trailer. Doom arrives and says, "Mr. Banner, I have come to collect you," not even bothering to call him Doctor Banner. Bruce asks who he is and what he wants, and we begin to hear his voice shift into the Hulk's.

I am working on a separate piece for Screen Crush going deeper into what Doom actually wants with Hulk, but the short version is I think it is either that Doom hopes Banner's intelligence can help with whatever his big plan is, similar to how he appears to be recruiting Reed Richards, possibly needing help cracking a code for a multiversal plan given that Bruce worked on the time machine with Tony. The other option is that Doom does not want Bruce at all, he wants the Hulk as a weapon, especially since it already looks like Doctor Strange and other heroes may be on Team Doom in this film.

Mobius Returns to Witness the Multiverse Collapsing at the TVA

This might be my favorite of the new scenes just because I am so excited to see Mobius back. I love Owen Wilson and the nonchalant, just another morning nature of the scene as he walks in and learns two worlds are colliding. He is not flippant about it, but he is not panicking either, because handling exactly this kind of thing is what the TVA does.

Then things escalate fast, as the two colliding worlds start shooting missiles at one another. One of those worlds being observed is the Fox X-Men universe, universe 10005. We then hear the number of universes dropping out of existence climb into the thousands, reaching 3,000 exactly, and the same music that played as Thanos was about to snap at the end of the original Endgame before Tony took the stones begins to swell as OB says the multiverse is collapsing.

I think it is safe to say this scene, and really all of these new scenes, are pulled directly from Avengers Doomsday. I love that the TVA is being folded into that movie, and that Mobius and OB are part of it. I am usually the person saying a show should never be required viewing for a movie, and I still do not think Loki should be required viewing for Doomsday, but I am glad those of us who watched it get to appreciate this even more. We also spot a character from Deadpool and Wolverine in the background, and on the wall Loki's picture reads not employee of the month, but employee of all time.

Working Out When Loki's Visit to Steve Actually Happens

I want to be clear about the timeline here. I think the TVA scene with the collapsing multiverse takes place after Loki has taken the throne, after the events of Loki season 2. But I think Loki visiting Steve and offering to move him to another universe happens before Loki takes that throne. That lines up with a rumor that had been circulating for a while, that a pre-season-2-ending Loki is the one who visits Steve.

At first I wondered if that rumor was just people assuming it because Loki is shown in his TVA attire, and I thought maybe he could still be sitting on the throne and just projecting himself across the timestream to talk to Steve. But now that we know Steve is going to live in that past universe for another ten years before being recruited by the Fantastic Four and Doom, I lean toward this being Loki before he takes his seat at the end of time.

In the TVA scene we hear the character who serves as the TVA's digital assistant say, "Stay in your own universe," and from the leaks, rumor has it that Loki is the one who moves Steve from one universe to another rather than staying in his own. That could make Loki partially at fault here as he tries to do things a better way than the being who previously ruled the TVA did. I think Loki is discovering that former ruler was right about how hard it is to maintain order when you allow that much free will, and that a lot of what Loki and the TVA do is kick the can down the road. That temporary fix might cause bigger problems later, which is what I think the assistant's warning is hinting at.

As for why all the universes suddenly start collapsing, I will get into that more in my Screen Crush piece, but I think it is Doom attacking the multiverse. That could be exactly what Reed Richards is reacting to in the trailer when he asks, "Did you do this, Victor?"

The Post Credits Clanking Sound Ties Tony Stark's Mask to Doom's

This is the scene I called more than a year ago, before we even knew an Avengers Endgame Encore was happening. As the credits end and the Marvel Studios logo appears, we hear the same clanking sound from the first Iron Man film, when Tony is hammering at his Mark 1 mask in the cave. I had always thought it would be great if that sound was retroactively turned into a setup for Doom, a tease that Robert Downey Jr. was coming back, just not as Iron Man.

Now we get shots that look nearly identical to those from the first Iron Man, with a mask that resembles the Mark 1, before a brief frame reveals Dr. Doom implying he is the one doing the hammering. My biggest question was why, if he is making the mask, is he already wearing one in the next shot? My guess is he is crafting the Victor Von Doom mask seen on the Victor Von Doom hot toy while wearing what I call his "angry eyes" mask from the Doctor Doom hot toy, since we already know Doom has two different costumes and masks in Doomsday.

I have pointed out before that the nicer Victor Von Doom mask kind of resembles an Iron Man mask, so maybe Doom is prepping his plan to look less menacing so he can earn the trust of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, and crafting a new mask is one of his first steps. If we ever get backstory showing how his face got scarred, I would love a scene of him making his mask in his lab that mirrors Tony making his, because I think these two characters are multiversally connected, meaning similar patterns can show up in their lives even though they have lived very different ones.

I also want to push back on anyone who said there was not going to be a connection drawn between Tony and Doom. I think this clanking, mask making scene is the Russos and Marvel confirming exactly that connection.

How do you think Doom's plan for Bruce Banner and that new mask will play out in Avengers Doomsday?