The limited rerelease of Avengers: Endgame, subtitled Endgame – Encore, has brought new footage to theaters, potentially offering clues about the direction of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Leaked footage, now confirmed as legitimate, reportedly includes a new ending with Loki visiting Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, as well as post-credits scenes that connect to the next Avengers film. These additions have fueled speculation that Doctor Doom may be forming his own team of heroes in Doomsday, drawing heavily from Jonathan Hickman's run on New Avengers.
This comic run featured the Illuminati—a secret council of Marvel's most intelligent heroes including Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Panther, Namor, Doctor Strange, Beast, and Black Bolt—who worked to prevent multiversal Incursions, a phenomenon where two realities collide and destroy each other. The New Avengers storyline was characterized by its tragic tone, as the heroes faced the inescapable collapse of the multiverse, even resorting to destroying other Earths to delay the inevitable. Ultimately, this arc led to "Time Runs Out," where Doctor Doom intervened, stealing power from the Beyonders to create Battleworld from the remnants of shattered universes and remaking himself as God Emperor Doom.
The trailers for Avengers: Doomsday and the new scenes from Endgame – Encore suggest that the MCU is adapting this storyline, focusing on the Illuminati's struggle against multiversal collapse. While Doctor Doom is widely expected to be the main antagonist, the title Doomsday itself could imply more than one meaning, possibly referring to the end times caused by the Incursions. The Encore rerelease reportedly includes a scene where the TVA observes numerous Incursions, with the character Ouroboros stating, "the multiverse is collapsing."
One theory posits that Doom might not be the cause of the Incursions but rather attempting to save what remains of the multiverse. The Encore footage allegedly shows one endangered world as Earth-10005, the reality of the Fox X-Men. This aligns with a shot in the Doomsday trailer featuring Patrick Stewart's Professor X witnessing a planet falling from the sky, suggesting the X-Men's universe may be doomed. The scene where Doom activates Sentinels against the heroes could be an early encounter before the full gravity of the situation is understood.
Further supporting the idea of Doom assembling a team is a scene depicting him kidnapping Bruce Banner. In the comics, Banner eventually joined the Illuminati. The theory suggests Doom may be interested in Banner's intellect rather than his Hulk persona, potentially making him the first recruit in Doom's version of the Illuminati. This raises questions about whether characters like Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards will be forced to ally with Doom, and if Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch might return as part of this new faction, possibly connected to the Latverian Witches seen in costume designs.
The narrative of Doomsday might not center on heroes uniting against Doom, but rather on their division over how to handle the Incursion threat. This could explain apparent conflicts seen in trailers, such as Shang-Chi fighting Gambit or Invisible Woman battling Namor. The new details from Endgame – Encore have certainly generated anticipation for Doomsday's release in December.