Avengers: Endgame Encore was released in theaters last weekend and invited audiences to go relive the 2019 final battle against Thanos alongside some completely new scenes laying the groundwork for Avengers: Doomsday in December. Little did some fans know, however, that the only way to get the full experience was to pay for the IMAX or Infinity Vision screen viewings.
“I just got back from a regular showing of endgame encore (2D screening) and I’m really frustrated that I didn’t get to see all the new footage,” Reddit user Tyler_the_hourman wrote over the weekend (via IGN). “It was completely unknown to me (and the others in my showing) that we wouldn’t get the full cut with all the new footage. I know it’s technically my fault for seeing it in a regular showing, but I never once saw any sort of disclaimer that you have to see it in the IMAX version to get all the clips. I’m just so annoyed, I know I got what I ‘paid for’ but it still feels so scummy.”
Another viewer in the thread was equally surprised. “I’m also frustrated,” they wrote. “We just left and I was really confused. I just took my entire family and my 11 year old was really looking forward to it. I feel like I just got scammed. The premise of “gatekeeping extra scenes” on a 7 year old movie is wild to me. Especially since it’s supposed to get all of us extra hyped for Doomsday. I’m not hyped. I’m pissed off. I had no idea about this. Even if I did, I go to movies based around my schedule not ‘Infinity-vision’ showings.”
Avengers: Endgame Encore has four extra scenes. One is of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, another shows Bruce Banner meeting Doctor Doom, there’s a brief look at the forging of the Doom mask, and a Time Variance Authority (TVA) scene featuring some cameos from the Loki TV series on Disney+. It’s that last one that only people who paid extra for the IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings (Disney’s knockoff of IMAX to compete with Dune 3 later this year).
The only way you’d have known that some of the new teasers were exclusive is if you read the August 25 press release from Disney. “An additional sneak peek at the film will also be available to audiences who see “Avengers Endgame: Encore” on IMAX and Infinity Vision-certified screens,” it explained. As Reddit poster Tyler_the_hourman explained, not everyone is super dialed in to all of the minutia around the MCU, partly in an effort to avoid spoilers. Also Avengers: Endgame came out seven years ago. Gating anything behind an additional paywall, not to mention a brief tie-in scene for Doomsday that’s as much a commercial as anything else, seems, in the words of some fans, especially “scummy.”