AVENGERS: ENDGAME ENCORE Changes the Film’s Look and One of Tony Stark’s Key Lines
Marvel Studios isn’t simply putting Avengers: Endgame back on the big screen and calling it a day. The upcoming Avengers: Endgame Encore theatrical release appears to feature some noticeable changes to the 2019 blockbuster, including revamped color grading, altered dialogue from Tony Stark, additional footage, and a special preview of Avengers: Doomsday.
The re-release arrives in theaters Friday, September 25, with Infinity Vision and IMAX screenings featuring exclusive bonus material tied to Avengers: Doomsday. While that alone gives MCU fans a reason to revisit the film, the recently released trailer suggests Marvel has also gone back and made changes to the movie itself.
One of the biggest differences is the color grading. Comparisons between footage from the Avengers: Endgame Encore trailer and the version currently available on Disney+ show considerably stronger contrast and richer colors.
Thanos, in particular, appears much more purple during the massive final battle, bringing his appearance closer to the character's classic comic book look.
That could be a welcome upgrade for fans who weren't crazy about the original film's visual palette. Joe Russo and Anthony Russo leaned heavily into muted browns and grays with Endgame, and the climactic showdown could look especially muddy once the glow from the portals disappeared.
The Russo Brothers have previously defended the muted colors used in Captain America: Civil War, explaining that the visual approach reflected the moral ambiguity of that story.
Whatever the reasoning behind Endgame's look, giving it more color, contrast, and definition could make the spectacle play a lot better on a giant theater screen.
Marvel appears to have made another curious adjustment, and this one involves Tony Stark. In the original Avengers: Endgame, Robert Downey Jr. delivers the line: “When you mess with time, it tends to mess back.”
The Avengers: Endgame Encore version changes it to: “When you mess with time, time tends to mess back.”
It's a tiny alteration, but the added emphasis on "time" has naturally caught the attention of Marvel fans. With Avengers: Doomsday expected to deal with temporal consequences, incursions, and the MCU's increasingly complicated multiverse problems, it's easy to see why people are wondering if Marvel changed the dialogue to create a stronger connection to what comes next.
That becomes even more interesting considering Avengers: Endgame Encore is being paired with an exclusive look at Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel clearly wants audiences thinking about the future of the Avengers while revisiting one of the MCU's biggest movies.
There is one important caveat here. Disney hasn't released an official list detailing every change made to Avengers: Endgame Encore, and some visual differences seen in the trailer could potentially come from compression, mastering, or other factors involved in preparing promotional footage. We'll have to see the movie in theaters before knowing exactly how extensive the changes are.
Fans also shouldn't go into this expecting some radically expanded cut of Endgame. The Encore release reportedly adds roughly four minutes of footage, with Infinity Vision and IMAX presentations including a custom introduction and special end tag.
Still, Marvel tinkering with Avengers: Endgame six years after its original release is pretty interesting, especially when one of those changes involves dialogue about time coming back to bite you.
With Avengers: Doomsday looming over the MCU, that particular revision is going to have fans paying very close attention.
Avengers: Endgame Encore hits theaters September 25.