Thanks to its Encore re-release, Avengers: Endgame is once again the biggest movie ever at $2.955 billion. And you know it’s happened because James—sorry, Jim Cameron went and celebrated the film for beating his own, 2009’s Avatar.
We’ve seen this kind of celebratory art before amongst the biggest movies ever, including more recently with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Along with continuing that trend, this brings the back-and-forth between Endgame and Avatar full circle after they previously went head-to-head in 2019 and 2021. Comments on his various channels have drawn lines between the two films, but Cameron’s just glad people are seeing movies in theaters again, and that Encore helped further that agenda. That’s sweet.
— James Cameron (@JimCameron) October 16, 2026
As for the art itself…it’s something, huh? If you ever wanted to see Iron Man embraced by the Na’vi, Cameron has granted your wish. (Given Avatar’s optics and similar scenes in other media, the framing and “You are one of the people” underneath is a choice.) Out of curiosity, we reached out to Disney about who drew or created the art above—previous congrats have seen directors and studios commission artists who autographed their work, though it’s not always been the case with the recent shifits (or the general tug-of-war between Avengers: Endgame and Cameron’s movies).
With this battle now put to bed, the only question is how long it’ll last. After all, Avatar will be 20 years old in a few years, likely prompting its third time returning to the big screen. Before that, it’s anyone’s game; maybe Brand New Day keeps getting popular after its own re-release, or Avengers: Doomsday could shock everyone and pull big dethroning numbers. Either way, the Encore will come to an end eventually.
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