More Thanos backstory, a Captain Marvel scene, and multiple epic trailer shots are just some
of the things that got the chop from the final version of Avengers: Infinity War.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers, it's Jan here and it's time to talk deleted scenes and rejected
concepts that never made it into the magnificently ambitious third Avengers movie.
I've got an Infinity War giveaway running for all my subscribers, so hit the bell and
I'll have more details later.
And, obviously, spoilers ahead for the movie, so take care if you haven't seen it yet.
In Avengers: Infinity War, the grand villain Thanos takes centre stage in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, and boy does he make an impression!
Prior to this, we'd had just brief scenes of the Mad Titan in both Avengers post-credits
and short scenes with him in Guardians of the Galaxy, so it's a bit of a shame some
moments with the big purple guy that were teased in the trailers didn't make it into
the final film.
For instance, although Ebony Maw told the Black Order to 'let [Thanos] have his fun'
smashing the Hulk on the Asgardian ship, this next epic line from Thanos didn't make it
into the movie: "Fun isn't something one considers when balancing
the universe.
But this does put a smile on my face."
And this shot of Thanos coming in with an almighty punch during the Titan fight scenes
was also cut.
Plus, there was a more extensive backstory for the very big bad which we didn't get to
see because, after considering it, the Russos felt it 'wasn't necessary for the movie.'
Some fans might have liked a touch more background about Thanos's earlier life or younger years
on Titan.
Thanos did mention in the movie that he was labelled 'a mad man' for his suggestion about
fixing the planet's resources problem.
But we didn't get to learn about, for example, how he was also ostracised for being 'like
the Quasimodo of his time', as Josh Brolin called him, which might have made the audience
feel for him more.
Obviously, more backstory for the villain would have meant a longer runtime though.
And Marvel does also have a non-canon book "Thanos: Titan Consumed" which will reveal
more of his origins before the events of Infinity War.
The impressive shot of Thor standing tall after the creation of Stormbreaker with lightning
crackling around him, while Groot and Rocket look on, was also chopped from the final film.
And this shot in Nidavellir of the Asgardian god wearing his red cape didn't make it in
either.
I suspect both of these moments came just before Thor used Stormbreaker's Bifrost powers
for his grand entrance in Wakanda.
Although both those lightning and cape shots are really cool, I can understand why they
were cut as Thor's arrival in Wakanda becomes even more breath-taking when we go from having
seen him just about to be revived with his new weapon and then next time we see him he's
slamming down Stormbreaker taking out the Outriders that are overwhelming our heroes.
"Ready" And that line of Thor preparing himself to
restart the forges on Nidavellir also hit the cutting room floor.
And there are many scenes that were chopped out of the Wakanda parts of the film as well.
First of all, there was this scene of Bruce Banner standing next to the Hulkbuster arm,
talking to what looks like Black Widow there.
I wonder if this might have been a little private moment between them which addressed
the pair's previous relationship.
Banner and Romanoff were separated after the Hulk ended up on the Quinjet at the end of
Age of Ultron and she doesn't see him again until Team Cap visits the New Avengers facility
where they have an awkward little reunion in this film.
Then there was a shot cut of Black Widow, Bruce Banner and War Machine watching the
alien invaders descend on Wakanda.
And this moment with Cap trying out his new shield in T'Challa's palace was cut from the
final movie.
"Let's go."
Another Captain America and Black Panther deleted moment was this shot of the pair on
the Wakandan craft as they zoom out to face the Outriders.
We never saw this very cool shot of Hulkbuster jumping and landing.
Instead, there was a different shot in the movie where he jumps into the battlefield
which is filled with Outriders, plus of course there was also that amusing moment when Hulkbuster
runs and falls flat on his face.
And perhaps something many of us were hoping to see was that epic shot of Cap leading the
charge with all the heroes around him, plus the Wakandan army and a Hulked-out Banner.
Other than on the Asgardian ship we never saw the Hulk do battle because Banner failing
to coax out the jade giant was an interesting running theme in the movie, so this scene
here was presumably edited or shot solely for marketing purposes.
If you wanted to see the Hulk burst out of Hulkbuster, like this toy, you were out of
luck!
Now, we do see a nice reunion between Steve and Bucky in Wakanda, but it looks like there
were other Bucky scenes we didn't get to see.
According to Infinity War press set visits, after Steve and Bucky hug, Bucky says, "So,
little green men, huh?" to which Black Widow replies, "Not little, not green."
And then there was a bit of Falcon and Bucky interplay cut from the movie which would have
shown Sam Wilson jokily asking Bucky, "Are you gonna snap and kill someone if they say
bologna sandwich?", which is a comical call-back to the activation codes used to trigger The
Winter Soldier, something we last saw in Civil War.
Also during set visits, the Russo Brothers were asked who had the best costume in Infinity
War and they replied Captain Marvel, adding "Captain Marvel on set, is that official?
If it's not, it's official now."
As I mentioned in my full breakdown of the movie's post-credits scene, we did, of course,
get a tease for Captain Marvel via Nick Fury's pager, but it sounds like originally she was
going to be part of the film in some way, maybe making an actual appearance in the post-credits
scene, which perhaps might have ended on a shot of Brie Larson receiving Fury's message.
If you go back and rewatch the trailers for Infinity War, it's clear that a lot of the
shots in the movie were changed in the marketing material to avoid revealing spoilers.
We know that Thanos had five infinity stones when he finally arrived in Wakanda, but when
Cap went up against him only two were shown in the trailer.
Other modified shots include this awesome shot of Spidey swinging through Titan, which
in the final movie turned out to be a shot of Spidey with his Iron Spider legs plus he
was also carrying Mantis!
In this New York scene, in the movie, Tony's new nano-tech Iron Man suit was already wrapping
itself around him, but in the trailer we just see Tony with his normal clothes.
And in the first trailer, we saw an unarmed Cap fighting Outriders, whereas in the final
movie he had his new shields in these shots.
These edits to the marketing material are similar to how Thor's missing eye was handled
in the trailers for Thor: Ragnarok.
Interestingly, another way the Russo's tried to stop the plot leaking out was that they
actually gave fake scripts to a lot of the actors.
And it's possible that some of them didn't even know they were going to fade away at
the end of the film when they were shooting those scenes.
Other deleted scenes and alternate takes which the Russos have said may show up on the Blu-ray
came about because of the large amount of improv on set.
The directors were bringing together characters from movies with very distinct tones, and
often those characters were meeting each other for the first time, and so the filmmakers
spent extra time making sure they got the chemistry right in those scenes, allowing
the actors to improvise for several takes after doing an initial couple of takes from
the script.
For example, Thor's never heard of or met the Guardians when he lands on their ship.
"Eww.
Wipers, wipers!"
"Get it off!"
"How is this dude still alive?"
"He is not a dude.
You're a dude."
"This is a man."
"A handsome, muscular man."
"It's like his muscles are made of Katardi metal fibers."
And, given the humour we saw play out in that scene, I can imagine there's some funny alternate
or extended takes.
It was initially reported that the running time for Avengers: Infinity War was going
to be 156 minutes, but then a few weeks later it was officially announced that the final
runtime was 149 minutes, seven minutes less, bringing in the movie to just under two and
a half hours.
It seems like this could be a possible explanation for where some of these missing scenes went
as the filmmakers may have been editing out bits they felt brought the movie's pace down.
Another thing that never made it into the movie from the early drafts was an idea the
screenwriters came up with for a giant snake!
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, co-writer Christopher Markus said, "We were
sort of running on empty and we were like, "Snake?
Big snake?
Let's try big snake."
And then everyone went insane."
I imagine the writers might have been thinking of a character like the Asgardian Midgard
Serpent from the comics, which was hinted at briefly in Thor: Ragnarok.
"There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he
knows that I love snakes."
"So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and
he was like, 'Yeah, it's me!'
And he stabbed me.
"We were eight at the time."
The enormous snake didn't make it into the final draft though and it's probably for the
best given how packed Infinity War was already; also, depending on how its scenes played out
and the creature's design, it might have felt too visually similar to the Leviathans from
the first Avengers.
Now, do you wish any of these deleted scenes had been included in the movie?
And what do you think about fake scenes being shot?
Let me know in the comments and make sure you're subscribed for a chance to win a very
cool Infinity War Funko Pop!
Tap left to check out my deep-dive into the movie's ending and Avengers 4 and tap right
for the full playlist with easter eggs, post-credits breakdowns & cast interviews!
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers.