Avengers: Endgame isn't an exactly a historical artifact. It was only released seven years ago. But Marvel Studios has seen fit to treat it a special theatrical re‑release next month with a whole four minutes of extra footage and updated presentation formats for IMAX and Infinity Vision under the name Avengers: Endgame Encore.
The aim, it seems, is to create a direct narrative bridge to the December release of Avengers: Doomsday. But the extra footage and a subtle dialogue tweak won't be the biggest changes that fans notice. The entire movie appears to look very different because of altered colour grading, and the new aesthetic is dividing opinion.
Is Marvel recognising that it got it wrong in 2019? Or is it more a case that the fashion has changed since the washed-out look of the original release?
I'm pretty sure that Marvel Studios always knew that log video – the flat low-contrast straight-from-camera footage used to preserve detail – is intended to be colour graded, but Avengers Endgame was released at a time when there was a tendency for filmmakers to intentionally lean towards that washed-out log look.
It's an aesthetic that's since crept into social media now that more consumer cameras and phone can shoot log. Blacks look grey and colours lack pop. There have been different opinions about why it became popular, from people thinking that it looks more premium, to theories that colourists had simply become so used to staring at log footage that it started to look 'right'.
Whatever the reason, it seems that Marvel's finally rediscovered the saturation slider on DaVinci Resolve. At least, the Avengers: Endgame Encore trailer (above) suggests that the muted browns and grays of the 2019 release have been replaced with more vibrant tones.
‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME ENCORE’ has a different color grading than ‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’(📸: @MarvelSpoiler) pic.twitter.com/X9TBxKIumiAugust 25, 2026
But fans are divided over the results. For some, this is how the movie should always have looked. Thanos appears more purple, closer to his comic book design, and the final battle's richer saturation should address long‑standing complaints about the original’s “muddy” look.
Some even argue the original cut now looks “embarrassing” by comparison.
It's the "difference between fighting in a concrete basement versus fighting on an actual fiery battlefield," one fan reckons. "Thanos went from a bruised, shadowy eggplant to an actual high-definition galactic menace," someone else writes on X.
There's also speculation that the change has been made to align the MCU’s visual language with upcoming projects, most imminently Avengers: Doomsday.
The color grading has been tweaked in Avengers Encore compared to endgame’s original releasefrom r/marvelstudios
However, critics question whether altering the original landmark film undermines its historical integrity and the Russo Brothers' original creative vision.
"People's tastes have been completely ruined by oversaturated TikTok edits. There's no way ya'll seriously think this looks better?," one person writes on X.
It's the Toy Story colour grading controversy all over again, but without the technical hurdle of the digital scanning process in the middle. Let me know in the comments which version you prefer, but I think I'd take the Encore look for Marvel's universe.
Avengers: Endgame Encore will be released on 25 September. Avengers: Doomsday will follow on 18 December.
