During their Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con a few weeks ago,
Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely discussed quite a few previously unrevealed details about their original plans for the film - one of which involved Thanos travelling back in time to wipe out Earth's Mightiest Heroes and collect a rather gruesome trophy!
The scene was never actually filmed, but it sounds like it did get closer to being included in the movie than we realized.
While chatting to
Empire, Kevin Feige said he thinks there "might be a piece of concept art somewhere with it," before going into a lot more detail on how the sequence would have played out.
"One of the ideas was, when they finish the time heist, they returned to a world [in 2023] that Thanos had already conquered, that involved all of that, the throne made of bones and skulls and had him tossing, like a bowling ball, Captain America's severed skull head, still in the cowl, to Captain America. And it was pretty cool, but the logic to get there defeated us."
As cool as this sounds, it's hardly surprising that the scene was abandoned. Marvel has gone to some pretty dark places in the past, but the severed head of a superhero might have been pushing it a bit! Still, with any look that concept art will show up some day.
You'll find more details on the scene below along with some of the other ideas that never made the cut.
Avengers: Endgame arrives on Blu-ray on August 13.
Simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Smart Hulk Almost Featured In Infinity War
We'll start with a couple of
Infinity War tidbits.
As many suspected, The Hulk was set to return during the final battle, but it would have been the "Smart Hulk" we were first introduced to in
Endgame.
Apparently, the original idea was to have the Green Goliath burst out of the Hulkbuster armor (that explains the toy) to do battle with Cull Obsidian. Markus reveals that the sequence was abandoned because it didn't gel with the rest of the third act.
The Midgard Serpent
In
Infinity War, Thor calls on Eitri the Dwarf to help him create Stormbreaker, but the writers' original concept would have featured an appearance from the Midgard Serpent.
Admitting that the idea for the storyline "sucked," McFeely explains that The God of Thunder would have had to do battle with the giant creature in order to obtain the powerful axe.
Jane Foster
It sounds like Jane Foster almost had a much bigger role in
Endgame, but plans may well have changed when they couldn't convince Natalie Portman to reprise the role.
The writers outlined what sounds like a very funny scene in which Rocket has to convince Jane to allow him to remove the Aether from her body.
The Living Tribunal
Yes, The Living Tribunal almost appeared in
Avengers: Endgame.
Thanos and Doctor Strange were originally going to have a rematch during the final battle, and the Sorcerer Supreme would have zapped The Mad Titan's mind into the mindscape, presenting with all his various crimes before having him judged guilty by the Tribunal.
Markus reveals that the sequence never made the cut because they felt it might be too confusing for general audiences.
Stark's Final Words
Kevin Feige and The Russos touched on this before, but during the panel Markus and McFeely revealed that they wrote multiple final words for Iron Man to leave us with before succumbing to his injuries, but Robert Downy Jr. wasn't having any of it.
Apparently, the actor felt strongly that it would hit much harder emotionally if a character like Tony Stark was silent for once just before he died.
Gamora
Yes, Gamora is still alive.
Believed by some to have been "snapped away" at the end of the film when Stark vanquished Thanos' forces, the writers confirm that she survived and most likely went on the run.
There's a very good chance he story will be explored in
GOTG Vol. 3.
Pizza Party
One "terrible idea" that was considered for the final act would have seen the dusted heroes from
Infinity War "blip" back into existence in the Avengers: Compound.
Spider-Man would have been the first to return, and he'd have convinced the others to have a pizza party before the final battle kicked off.
Yeah... probably best this didn't make the cut!
America's Ass Head
Finally, we have what would have been the darkest moment in The MCU by far.
According to Markus and McFeely, they toyed with the idea of having Thanos travel to Earth before going forward in time to attack The Avengers. The Mad Titan would have massacred every member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and took Captain America's head into the future with him before throwing at the feet of Steve Rogers.
The sequence was abandoned because it was deemed too bleak and they didn't want to traumatize children.