Avengers: Endgame Encore just confirmed the exact timeline placement of Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios' blockbuster epic premiering December 18. Encore is the rerelease of the 2019 Infinity Saga capper, padded with extra footage that ties directly into Doomsday. It hit theaters September 25, but select regions got early access, and naturally, details have surfaced, including one that pins down precisely when Doomsday takes place.
Avengers: Endgame Encore contains three new post-credits scenes, one of which features Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner. In it, he records a vlog from an underground containment facility, where he's experimenting on gamma technology in an attempt to formulate a gamma suppression serum.
This takes place after the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in which Sadie Sink's Jean Grey messed with his mind as part of her bid to infiltrate the Department of Damage Control's headquarters. Her actions unleashed the Savage Hulk, a persona Banner had seemingly kept suppressed since Avengers: Infinity War.
Hulk went on a rampage, leaving destruction in his wake after engaging Spider-Man in an intense battle, and only calmed down when Peter reached through to Banner, tumbling from the top of the DODC building and returning to human form.
The Avenger was carted off in an ambulance, and a news report announced he'd been sent to a psychiatric facility. Brand New Day's events unfold between September and October 2028.
In the Encore footage, a timestamp on Banner's recording shows he made it on January 12, 2029. The most intriguing part comes seconds in, as he discusses his findings.
The lights and computer screens suddenly begin to flicker, and the recording starts glitching. He turns and sees a figure that doesn't fully appear in frame. "Who are you?" he asks.
The ominous presence simply replies, "Mr Banner, I'm here to collect you." The voice is none other than Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. A Hulk roar follows, the camera falls to the ground, and strange Latverian symbols can be seen etched into the floor.
The scene plays out roughly three months after Brand New Day and likely comes from either the opening or closing stretch of Doomsday. Previously, all we knew was that the film takes place sometime after Thunderbolts*, which unfolds in 2027 before making a 14-month time jump in its post-credits scene, footage confirmed to come straight from Doomsday.
That puts the crossover's events somewhere between late 2028 and 2029. The Encore footage now confirms definitively that the bulk of the film takes place in 2029.
Why Is Doctor Doom Interested in Hulk?
Doctor Doom's arrival to "collect" Bruce Banner is a twist fans didn't see coming. He's likely interested in Banner for several good reasons. Banner is one of the MCU's sharpest scientific minds, with rare knowledge of gamma radiation, cellular change, and power suppression.
The Hulk, meanwhile, is a living embodiment of destruction. Those are two extremely valuable gifts housed in one body, and Doom could use both.
It also gives the eerie sense that the Latverian is building something catastrophic. In The Fantastic Four: First Steps' post-credits scene, he took an interest in Reed and Sue Richards' son, Franklin, who possesses the Power Cosmic, one of the most formidable forces in the Marvel universe.
Doom could be collecting powerful beings to fuel a machine for whatever agenda he has against the Multiverse, and Banner looks essential to that plan. His scientific mind alone probably isn't the draw, since Doom is every bit his intellectual superior. More likely, he wants to harness the Hulk's gamma power itself.
That would fall right in line with the character. In the comics, Doom loves building destructive devices, and he once constructed his own Cosmic Cube, an artifact that reshapes reality.
In Secret Wars, the storyline this movie draws inspiration from, Doom gains immense power from the Beyonders but can't contain it alone, so he uses Molecule Man as a battery of sorts to wield it effectively, paving his path to becoming God Emperor Doom. With no Molecule Man or Beyonders in the MCU, Doomsday could replicate that dynamic through different characters, and the Hulk could be right at the center of it.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
