On September 25, 2026, Marvel Studios brought Avengers: Endgame back to theaters across the globe with a re-release titled Avengers: Endgame Encore. The re-release featured up to 4 credits sequences (depending on where fans selected to view the film) and was described by Marvel Studios as “must see” footage before seeing Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026, as the additional scenes in Endgame: Encore were to serve as bridge from Endgame to Doomsday.
The 3rd additional scene is a callback to the original version of Avengers: Doomsday … with a twist.
In that original version, at the end of the credits, a clinging of metal can be heard that is a callback to the birth of the MCU and a tribute to Robert Downey’s Tony Stark. The same sound from that film can be heard in the 3rd scene of Encore, only this time, it is Doctor Doom that is forging what is sure to be an iconic mask!
Since RDJ was cast as Doctor Doom a couple of years ago, fans have debated what will and what won’t be Iron Man’s connection to Doctor Doom.
The theory of Doctor Doom being a Tony Stark Variant has been shot down repeatedly by Marvel Studios. Everyone that has been asked insisted that it is simply two different characters portrayed by one different actor (like Gemma Chan, for example, who portrayed Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel before portraying Sersi in Eternals.
Is it the truth? Or is it a lie akin to when everyone that was asked repeatedly insisted that neither Tobey Maguire nor Andrew Garfield would appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home? And we all know how that turned! out!
Personally, out of all the theories that I’ve read and heard, the one that I like the most is the idea that Tony Stark was actually a Victor Von Doom Variant all along and that he was adopted by Howard and Maria Stark and raised to emerge as a hero in an intriguing case of nurture vs nature. Tony Stark being a Victor Von Doom Variant all along could explain some of the lower points of his MCU arc, such as his unabashed contempt for Steve Rogers, his endorsement of his Avengers colleagues to be imprisoned, his general warmongering and mean spirit towards those he perceives as beneath him, and of course, his creation of ULTRON. While this would be crazy retcon with a solid chance of backfiring on Marvel Studios, it could also be so crazy that it just might work!
In the meantime, I loved the parallel that was teased between Iron Man and Doctor Doom, which could simply be a meta deal that is foreshadowing a new beginning for the MCU, or it could be a tease for the eventual reveal that Iron Man and Doctor Doom have a lot more in common than people think.
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