Three movies in three days… it’s been a while since I’ve done anything like this (reminds me of the movie marathon days when I’d watch two movies in one day in August just before the beginning of the new school year [sigh]). 😎 Speaking of revisiting the past… I had to see this new “encore” version of the last Avengers movie, Endgame, which, back in the day, I also saw with a crowded theater of cheering fans. Yeah.

Oh the world and especially the world of movie viewing has certainly changed since 2019 (Damn COVID!). Granted I went to one of my local Regal Theaters in the middle of a school day, so pretty much guaranteed to be a small crowd, but I haven’t seen a big crowd for any “block buster” movie except for the 2023 Barbie-Armageddon “event.”1 So I enjoyed this rewatching (in 3D!) with two or three complete strangers in a room small enough so that I could hear them laugh at the appropriate places in the film. As someone who lives alone, I still value going to a theater for the shared experience. 

Now Marvel promised 4-minutes of additional material that will help connect this story with the upcoming Avengers Doomsday movie (which opens on December 18th, the same day as Dune Part III. Are they hoping for another Barbenheimer event?). I had heard rumors that the extra 4-minutes were in the form of mid- and post-credit scenes, which the original cut of Endgame famously did not have. Looking for the extra footage did keep me on my toes, looking for anything during the body of the movie that I might not have recognized before. Alas, the rumors proved true and the extra footage was in an extended ending scene and two or three mid- and end-credits moments. It also appears that not every showing will have the same scenes. At the viewing I attended there was the extended end scene and two mid-credit scenes and a slight extension to the hammer sound that was in the original 2019 theater version. My viewing was missing one of the mid-credit scenes, which was one of the longer scenes. I won’t spoil the scenes here, but there are plenty of YouTube videos out there sharing the info. 

Some YouTubers questioned whether it was worth sitting through a whole movie for these teaser scenes. Yeah, I get that some folks have very busy lives but also feel like they need to have access to every and all media memes and trends, but don’t want to have to be bothered to sit through a whole movie just for a couple snippets of story information. Whatever. I guess my question is, why are you watching these movies to begin with? Is it so that you can maintain your status in your friend group and not be left out of some random conversation, should someone bring up the demise of the Marvel SuperHero movie franchise(s) and their next attempt at recapturing the culture zeitgeist? Little wonder that movie attendance has dropped off since the glory days of 2019. 

I used to go to the movies because my work-a-day life was so cluttered with the demands of working with endless armies with kids, many of whom were lost in their own lives and just didn’t want to do anything to improve their situation and saw their interactions with me and each other as interruptions of the time they wanted to spend playing with their devices. I needed a break from that to see other humans work together, even when they didn’t like each other, to try to overcome impossible odds because it was the right thing to do, right up to sacrificing themselves to see the deed done. Now I go because I like to revisit these characters and stories and like to be among others who share in the same passion, but in their own ways. It’s also a nice 15- or 20-minute walk from my condo. So, maybe make the world a better place by getting off our butts and meeting together in darkened rooms with other strangers and fans and get in a good walk in the process. It wouldn’t hurt. Enjoy.

[Movie viewed at Regal Fox Tower on 2026-09-24]

Sources:

Tags: 2026 movies, marvel, movie fan, movie reflection, video Fridays:

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FOOTNOTES:
  1. Premieres and events at Cinema 21 have been the definite exception. Hell, they can show a black & white 1954 sci-fi classic at 11AM on a Saturday morning and draw a large theater crowd (Them!).[↩]