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MCU fans fear ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ may replace William Hurt’s cameo with another Marvel star

‘Endgame’ is set to return to theaters on September 25 as ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’

‘Endgame’s’ funeral scene was always meant to be a one-time thing. It’s a quiet moment at the tail end of the film, long after Thanos has been erased and the Avengers have begun their long mourning. Familiar faces file past to pay respects to Tony Stark and, among them, is a man who the audience has had to learn to tolerate over the years: Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. For a character that was introduced as a government agent obsessed with controlling the Hulk, his funeral appearance was perhaps the closest he ever came to showing a semblance of humanity. It also marked the last time William Hurt, who had played the role since 2008’s ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ would ever play the character on screen.

Hurt passed away in 2022, and Marvel did not attempt to hire a new Ross until the very last minute. When they did, they went all out: Harrison Ford was cast in the role that would eventually transform into the Red Hulk for ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’ It was a strange but understandable choice that most fans accepted as a fitting way to carry on the character's legacy.

Now, this swap has become the latest topic of discussion within the Marvel fandom. It began with a single post from a fan asking if the studio had taken advantage of ‘Endgame’s’ return to theaters by editing out one of Hurt’s few appearances in the film in favor of Ford instead. “I have a feeling we might see a scene like this in Avengers: Endgame Encore. After William Hurt passed away, Harrison Ford took over the role of Thunderbolt Ross. They may have even reshot Ross’s scene in Endgame with Ford,” the fan wrote in a post that has since gone viral.

In the comments section, fans have expressed mixed views on whether they would even want the swap. “Given how famously blunt Harrison Ford is about his Marvel tenure, trying to drag him back to a soundstage just to reshoot a 3-second background cameo for a 7-year-old movie sounds impossible,” one fan wrote. Others focused less on logistics and more on principle, saying, “That would come across as disrespectful. Harrison Ford is a legend, but that was William Hurt’s character first.” Another fan sounded more conflicted and wrote, “Hope not because that would b sad...but I get your point.” A sharper take drew a clear line between recasting choices, as a netizen wrote, “No! That's disrespectful to Hurt, it’s different for recastings due to creative differences not when an actor of his caliber passes away. Fans will understand.” One more comment framed the stakes in broader terms: “It’s his legacy, that shouldn’t be erased regardless of what happened. It’s the same as wanting Pixar to remake Toy Story 1 with today’s technology.”

Notably, ‘Endgame’ is set to return to theaters on September 25 as ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore,’ having been stretched to 185 minutes (four minutes longer than the original 2019 release) to include new material that will connect it to ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’ Marvel has not revealed what the four extra minutes will entail, and for now, Ford’s inclusion in the film is simply a theory based on a fan’s idea and a runtime that no one can quite explain.