Marvel Reportedly Erases ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Actor From New Theatrical Version
Marvel may be changing one of its biggest movies years after audiences first saw it.
Avengers: Endgame originally arrived in theaters in 2019, closing out the Infinity Saga and briefly becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. Now, Marvel Studios is preparing to bring the blockbuster back to cinemas in an altered form.
The new version, titled Avengers: Endgame Encore, will open September 25. Its return comes shortly before Avengers: Doomsday arrives in December, with Marvel using one of its most successful films to set the stage for its next major crossover.
Marvel has already confirmed that Endgame Encore will run four minutes longer than the original film. However, a new report suggests the added footage may not be the only difference audiences notice.
Emma Fuhrmann Could Be Removed From ‘Endgame’
Marvel fan sites, including Cosmic Book News, claim Marvel has reshot scenes involving Cassie Lang, potentially replacing Emma Fuhrmann with Kathryn Newton in the new theatrical version.
Fuhrmann played the older Cassie in Avengers: Endgame, appearing when Scott Lang returns home after escaping the Quantum Realm.
Scott, played by Paul Rudd, expects to find the daughter he left behind. Instead, he discovers that five years have passed and Cassie has grown into a teenager while he was gone.
It was Fuhrmann’s only appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Abby Ryder Fortson had previously played the younger Cassie in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. When Marvel began developing the third Ant-Man movie, however, the studio changed actors again.
Kathryn Newton took over as Cassie for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023.
Fuhrmann later made clear that she had not known beforehand that Marvel intended to replace her.
“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.”
Just wanted to come on here & say that I see all your kind messages❤️ 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. /1
— Emma Fuhrmann (@EmmaFuhrmann) December 15, 2020
Until now, Fuhrmann’s version of Cassie has remained part of Endgame, while Newton has portrayed the character in subsequent MCU projects.
If the new report is accurate, that distinction may disappear with Endgame Encore.
Marvel has not officially announced that Fuhrmann’s footage has been replaced or that Newton filmed new material recreating Cassie’s existing scenes.
Kathryn Newton Is Part of Marvel’s Next Avengers Movie
The reported change comes as Newton prepares to return as Cassie Lang in Avengers: Doomsday.
Her involvement was revealed in April through a video featuring a miniature director’s chair bearing Cassie’s name alongside the Doomsday logo.
That gives Newton a role in Marvel’s next major Avengers installment three years after Quantumania established her as the MCU’s current Cassie Lang.
Changing Endgame would therefore make Newton’s version of the character stretch further back into the franchise.
Hollywood studios have previously made comparable alterations when rereleasing older movies.
Lucasfilm famously changed the original Star Wars trilogy multiple times after its initial theatrical run.
For the 2004 release of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Ian McDiarmid replaced the original depiction of Emperor Palpatine, bringing the scene in line with the actor who later became closely associated with the character.
That release also changed Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
Hayden Christensen replaced Sebastian Shaw as Anakin Skywalker’s Force ghost during the movie’s closing celebration, connecting the original trilogy more directly with the then-recent prequel films.
Marvel could now be making its own version of that kind of retrospective continuity change.
Unlike the Star Wars examples, however, the rumored alteration concerns a movie released only seven years ago and an actor who publicly addressed being replaced shortly after her sole MCU appearance.
For now, Fuhrmann remains Cassie Lang in the widely available 2019 cut of Avengers: Endgame.
Whether that remains true in Marvel’s new theatrical version should become clear when Avengers: Endgame Encore opens September 25.
