Avengers: Endgame may have been released in 2019, but we’re still learning new things about it today, in 2026. Avengers: Doomsday will be the event film that ends the Marvel movie multiverse as we’ve known it, since films like Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), and Spider-Man (2002) made superheroes blockbuster stars. Recently, Marvel Studios dropped Avengers: Endgame Encore, a re-release cut with a few new moments to re-engage wayward fans and set up the events of Doomsday.
However, Marvel Studios also made some technical upgrades to Endgame for the Encore re-release, and one of the biggest ones that fans noticed was a significant upgrade to the color grading. The original print of Endgame had a very washed-out and low-contrast color grading; Encore featured a major boost to the color saturation and contrast of the film.
Thanks to the change in color grading, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans are noticing things in Avengers: Endgame that they never noticed before. That includes a moment that is both unusually gruesome for an MCU film and a testament to just how tough Captain America really is.
The finale of Avengers: Endgame is now one of the most iconic moments in cinema. Thanos’s surprise attack on the Avengers’ compound leaves most of the team on the back foot; Thanos steps in and thrashes Cap, Iron Man, and Thor, and for a moment, it looks like the Mad Titan and his horde will conquer Earth. However, Captain America stands back up to fight, strapping his broken shield onto his arm to secure it.
However, with the color grading changes to Avengers: Endgame Encore, we now see that Cap was doing more than just securing his weapon for the final stand:
Avengers: Endgame pic.twitter.com/f2UZ8IHmwi
As you can (now) see, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) took some significant battle damage during his duel with Thanos. Apparently, the Mad Titan also cut into Cap’s arm while cutting his shield to pieces – so deep that you can see a massive, bloody gash running dangerously close to Cap’s arterial vein. So, we now know that Captain America wasn’t just strapping his shield to secure it for battle: he was also trying to tourniquet his wound and stop any further blood loss. Classic WWII battlefield tactics.
It’s a shame that it took seven years for so many fans to notice all this: those details really do make the stakes for The Battle of Earth much higher and more dangerous for the heroes, since even Captain America is getting sliced up and bleeding. It also better prepares you for an outcome like Tony Stark’s death, and makes it more understandable why Steve used the first opportunity after the battle to alter time and take a life for himself with Peggy Carter.
Did you see all of Captain America’s battle damage in the original Avengers: Endgame film print? Let us know in the comments! Avengers: Doomsday will be in theaters on December 18th.
