Avengers: Endgame Encore's second-unit director revealed the first official, behind-the-scenes look at one of the film's post-credits scenes tied to Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel Studios' re-release strategy for Avengers: Endgame Encore includes helping audiences prepare for Doomsday's story by slightly altering the film's ending and adding three post-credits scenes to tease the larger Multiverse plot. Endgame Encore's mid-credits scene, set after the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, directly featured Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, who "collected" Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner for a key reason tied to his evil plans for the Multiverse.
Avengers: Endgame Encore second-unit director Anthony Leonardi shared on Instagram the first behind-the-scenes photos of Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner filming the mid-credits scenes of the re-release, giving fans the best look yet at the returning original Avenger before he was collected by Doctor Doom.
Leonardi celebrated the filming milestone while also including snapshots of other crew members, Matthew Haggerty (second assistant director of Infinity War and Endgame) and cinematographer Christophe Collette.
"Go check out 'Avengers: Endgame Encore'!! Such a blast to be part of this! #2ndunitdirector"
The fact that the Avengers: Endgame Encore's Hulk-sized post-credits scene was seemingly recently filmed is significant, considering that it shows that Marvel Studios is actively incorporating elements from Spider-Man: Brand New Day into Avengers: Doomsday rather than treating Bruce Banner as a leftover cliffhanger waiting to be resolved in, presumably, Avengers: Secret Wars.
Many fans pointed out that the Hulk-centric post-credits scene felt more like one appropriate for Spider-Man: Brand New Day than for Avengers: Endgame Encore. Still, the inclusion in Encore underscores the importance of this new connective issue involving Hulk's significance in Doom's plans, confirming that Hulk is in play and that Doom already has him at his disposal for the looming battle against the Avengers, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four in Avengers: Doomsday (set for release on December 18).
Mark Ruffalo's beard is a small yet important detail that marks how much time has passed since Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The original Avenger has been underground long enough to grow it out, settle into isolation, and start treating the bunker as a lab instead of a holding cell. The footage also confirms that the interaction between Doom and Banner happens on January 12, 2029, meaning that Doomsday occurs that year in the MCU timeline.
Why Doctor Doom Wants Hulk Has a Deeper Meaning
It is interesting that Doctor Doom's wording when interacting with Hulk in the Avengers: Endgame Encore's post-credits scene is "collect" rather than "recruit," strongly indicating that the Avenger is on the MCU villain's list, and that his campaign involves gathering individuals who matter to his plan for a collapsing Multiverse.
It's worth noting that Avengers: Endgame showed Banner capable of wearing the Infinity Gauntlet with all six Infinity Stones and surviving the experience. The fact that the gamma inside him lets him channel universe-scale energy makes the Hulk a viable candidate for a living conduit for stolen cosmic power that could be used as Battleworld's power source (read more about The Direct's theory about Doom's plans for Hulk here).
Another interesting theory lies in Bruce Banner's intelligence. While Doctor Doom already has a genius-level intellect, Doom may want someone smart whom he can control on the side to successfully fulfill his evil plans for the Multiverse. Banner, alongside Tony Stark, helped design the Time Heist and its time-travel aspect, and his intelligence, tied to that genius and complicated plan, could be key to Doom's Multiversal endgame.
Removing Hulk from the board could also be part of Doom's plan because it works to his advantage that the "strongest Avenger" is gone from the get-go, making it easier for him to fend off the heroes.
