This weekend sees the rerelease of The Avengers: Endgame, the climax of Marvel Studios “Infinity Saga” cycle of films. Now that their “Multiverse Saga” is heading towards its big two-part finale starting with The Avengers: Doomsday this December, Marvel Studios has grafted onto the film a few new end credit scenes that serve to set up some story points for the upcoming film and to hopefully whet our appetites. Note that two of these scenes follow after this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and the two seasons of the Disney+ series Loki, while the extended ending from the original cut of Endgame may confirm certain rumors about Doomsday that have been floating around for the last several months. Needless to say, spoilers ahead.
Steve And Peggy Final Scene
The final scene of Avengers: Endgame starts off as we have scene it before – Steve and Peggy dancing in their home in the past to Kitty Kallen singing “It’s Been A Long, Long Time”, loving their life together. But this time, just as they go to kiss, they are interrupted by a knock at the door. Steve reflexively moves to hide around a corner – remember, he isn’t supposed to be alive at this time and him coming back in time is a secret – while Peggy goes to answer the door.
“Can I help you?” she asks to the stranger knocking.
Steve’s (and our) view of the person is obscured, but they answer with a familiar voice. “No, but I can help both of you.”
The Stranger steps through the front door as Steve rounds the corner from hiding and we see that it is – Loki.
Setting aside the notion that this extension can been seen as ruining the film’s happy ending for the sake of setting up a sequel, this scene does seem to confirm the Doomsday rumors that Loki moves Steve and Peggy (and their child), from the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe films’ Earth to Earth-828, home of the most recent film iteration of the Fantastic Four. This also seems to confirm the speculation that it is Steve on the Fantastic Four ship that is detected in the Thunderbolts end-credit scene.
Bruce Banner Mid-Credit Scene
The scene opens with Bruce Banner video blogging that he has been on “self-containment” in a military complex some two miles underground. He states that he has recently had his first uncontrolled Hulk-out event in over ten years as seen the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. (No surprise that the media was lied to about whose custody Banner was being sent to at the end of that film.) Pointing out that the bunker he is in is escape-proof (“The Hulk is not getting out of here and no one is getting in.”), he vlogs that he has been working on a new experimental gamma-radiation suppression serum, to keep him from unintentionally changing into the Hulk like he had in Brand New Day. He has found the results “promising.”
But as he is explaining this, the video picture at first glitches slightly, and then the lights go out. In the darkness, Bruce calls out “Who are you?” A voice, presumably Dr. Doom’s, replies “Dr. Banner, I am here to collect you.” Sounds of a struggle and a brief roar from the Hulk are heard before the camera falls to the ground revealing a glowing symbol on the floor.
Out of all the added material, this scene feels to be the most open-ended. It does not feed into any of the main currently-rumored spoilers circulating. The one thing the scene does confirm via the glowing runes on the floor is that Doom will be using both science and magic in Doomsday, much like he does in the comics. Thanks to some costumes that Marvel displayed at San Diego Comic Con this past summer, we know that Doom has in his employ some “Latverian witches,” but this marks the first time of actual confirmation he personally will be using magic as well.
Time Variance Authority Mod-Credits Scene
The final, end credits scene takes us back to the Time Variance Authority, last seen in Deadpool And Wolverine. In a voice over, the TVA’s mascot Miss Minutes gives us an update on the organization’s mission. Instead of just monitoring the various timelines, it has been expanded to keeping those separated and preventing people from traveling between them.
Mobius enters the main control room as things seem to be reaching a crisis point. TVA Agents Casey and OB are already there. Casey reports that the timelines for Earth-10005 (the Fox X-Men universe) and Earth-1127 (previously unseen) are about to collide. Mobius is concerned as this wasn’t in any of the scouting reports that should normally be monitoring for those sort of thing.
Casey reports that missiles have been fired between the two Earth, with OB positing that they must each be trying to destroy the other to ensure their own universe’s survival. Other agents in the control room begin to report of other Earths colliding. A readout shows Earth-400083 (the Eric Bana Hulk movie universe) as “Terminated” and Earth-15886 (the home of the 2015 Fantastic Four movie) and Earth-82111 (the universe from the various What If…? animated series that featured Captain Carter) as “Destroyed.”
As Mobius look of worry grows, OB states ominously, “The Multiverse is collapsing.”
Even for the casual fans who might not know the Earth designation of the various Marvel properties outside of the main MCU, this scene does spell out the cosmic disaster that will be heading towards the Avengers in Doomsday. Seeing Earth-10005 and Earth-1127 attempting to destroy each other to insure their own survival shows not just the stakes involved for all, but the horrendous moral choices that must be made. Of course, if you know that Earth-10005 is the home to the characters from the Fox X-Men films – some of whom we have already seen in the The Marvels post-credit scene three years ago – we probably have a good idea of where these characters are emotionally.
End Credits Hammering
In the original iteration of The Avengers: Endgame, the end credits conclude with the sound of metal being hammered. It is a call back to the MCU’s first film Iron Man, and Tony Stark creating his armor while a captive of the terrorist organization the Ten Rings. Here, the clanging is interspersed with quick shots of Dr. Doom’s mask being forged, repurposing the ending as a look forward rather than a look back.
The Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters on December 18.
