Marvel is revisiting one of the biggest movies in its history.
More than seven years after Avengers: Endgame became a defining moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio is preparing to send the blockbuster back to theaters with a new version carrying several minutes of additional material.
Officially titled Avengers: Endgame Encore, the rerelease arrives September 25, giving Marvel Studios another opportunity to bring audiences back to the MCU before Avengers: Doomsday reaches theaters in December.
The updated cut is officially four minutes longer than the 2019 release. But according to a new rumor, Marvel may have made another, considerably more unusual alteration to the film — one involving a member of the original cast.
Report Claims Marvel Has Reworked Cassie Lang Scenes
Marvel fan sites, including Cosmic Book News, report that scenes featuring Cassie Lang have been reshot for Avengers: Endgame Encore, potentially removing Emma Fuhrmann from the movie and replacing her with Kathryn Newton.
Fuhrmann played the teenage Cassie in the original version of Endgame. Her brief but memorable appearance comes after Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, returns from the Quantum Realm following Thanos' snap and discovers that five years have passed.
Cassie had previously been played by Abby Ryder Fortson as a child in Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).
Fuhrmann became the character's third on-screen incarnation in Endgame, but her time in the MCU ultimately proved short.
When Cassie returned as a major character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Marvel had recast the role with Kathryn Newton, who had already appeared in projects including Big Little Lies, Freaky, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu.
Fuhrmann later indicated that she had not expected to lose the role.
In 2020, after Newton's casting became public, she wrote on X: “Thank you for all your support. It has meant the world to me. I was as sad as you all were to hear the news Thursday. I can only hope that this means there is something else for me in the future of the MCU. I will always be grateful to have been a part of the MCU & the biggest movie of all time. Being an actress is still my #1 passion & I look forward to what the future holds.”
Now, the reported alteration to Endgame would effectively take Marvel's recasting one step further.
Rather than simply allowing Fuhrmann and Newton's performances to exist in different MCU movies, Marvel is reportedly inserting Newton into the earlier film, retrospectively making her the teenage Cassie who reunites with Scott.
Marvel Studios has not officially confirmed that any Cassie Lang scenes have been changed.
Kathryn Newton Is Already Returning for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’
The rumored replacement would come shortly before Newton returns to the MCU in Avengers: Doomsday.
Her involvement in the upcoming Avengers sequel was announced in April with a video showing a miniature director's chair carrying Cassie Lang's name alongside the film's logo.
That makes the timing of the reported Endgame alteration particularly notable.
Marvel is using Avengers: Endgame Encore as a bridge toward Doomsday, with the rerelease arriving less than three months before the new film. Updating Cassie's appearance would give the character a consistent actor heading into the next major Avengers crossover.
There is precedent for Hollywood studios making similar changes years after a film's original release.
Lucasfilm famously altered several Star Wars movies as George Lucas continued revising the original trilogy.
For the 2004 release of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Ian McDiarmid was inserted as Emperor Palpatine, replacing the earlier performance after McDiarmid had become firmly associated with the character through subsequent films.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) received another conspicuous revision.
Sebastian Shaw's appearance as Anakin Skywalker's Force ghost at the end of the movie was replaced with Hayden Christensen, connecting the closing scene more directly to the actor who portrayed Anakin in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Marvel would therefore not be breaking entirely new ground by changing an established movie to account for later casting.
Still, replacing an actor in Avengers: Endgame would be a particularly significant example given the movie's relatively recent release and Fuhrmann's public comments about learning she had been recast.
For now, the alleged Cassie Lang replacement remains unconfirmed.
Audiences will learn exactly how much Marvel has changed when Avengers: Endgame Encore reaches theaters on September 25, ahead of Kathryn Newton's confirmed return as Cassie in Avengers: Doomsday.
Are you excited for Avengers: Endgame Encore?
