The movies of The Avengers were almost very different thanks to a select handful of deleted scenes. Since the release of 2012’s The Avengers, the crossover film series has been by far the most impactful installments to the lore of the MCU’s timeline. This means that many potential scenes that ultimately didn’t make the final cut of the films nearly had a massive impact on the overarching story.

There are several ways the deleted scenes of the Avengers quadrilogy could’ve sent the larger narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a very different direction. For one, certain isolated character moments nearly gave greater context to individual heroes and villains, leaving the audience wanting for critical character development. In other cases, dramatic changes to the overall cosmology and world building of the universe were only avoided because key sequences from the four Avengers films were left on the cutting room floor.

10

Tony Meeting Morgan In Soul World

Avengers: Endgame

One of the most poignant moments in Avengers: Endgame follows the death of Tony Stark, in which his widow, Pepper, and his surviving daughter, Morgan, watch a hologram-recorded will. Stark ends the message by repeated the words of his beloved daughter — “I love you 3,000.” However, Tony very nearly got the chance to say this to his daughter himself, right up until the moment of his death.

In the deleted scene, following his use of the Infinity Stones to destroy Thanos’ army, Tony was to be transported into Soul World much in the same way Thanos was after his sacrifice of Gamora. In this esoteric plane, Tony encounters an older version of his daughter, and the two have a brief conversation. Not only does this poetically mirror Thanos selfish murder of his daughter with Tony’s selfless sacrifice for his own, but it has far-reaching implications for the afterlife of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

9

Tony Forgives Bucky

Avengers: Endgame

Essentially the main character of the Avengers movies and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole for much of its lifespan, it’s no wonder that the majority of the franchise’s deleted scenes revolve around Tony Stark. In another instance from Avengers: Endgame that didn’t make it into the theatrical release of the film, Doctor Strange ends up conjuring the mirror dimension, briefly trapping Thanos’ army within and giving the heroes vital time to breathe and strategize. During this time, Tony and Bucky end up having a heart-to-heart.

Bucky was essentially at the center of the emotional rift between Iron Man and Captain America that led to the Avengers’ internal conflict in Captain America: Civil War. This makes it all the more heartening to learn that in the five years since Thanos erased half of all existence, Tony found it within himself to forgive the former Winter Soldier for the murder of his parents, recognizing his innocence in his old mind-controlled actions. It’s a shame this crucial bit of character development didn’t make it into the final product.

8

Thor’s Pool Scene Was Almost Much Different

Avengers: Age of Ultron

It’s hard to remember that prior to the drastic change in character that arose from Taika Waititi’s comedy-driven Thor, the God of Thunder was once a very straight-laced, dramatic fantasy character embedded within the MCU. Avengers: Age of Ultron almost reminded audiences of this with an extended version of Thor’s pool scene that didn’t survive the editing process. Just as in the final release, Thor and Erik Selvig journey to the magical Water of Sight to glean insights of the future.

In the official cut of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor simply bathes in the water and gains a terrifying vision of the Infinity War to come. Originally, Thor instead gets possessed by a Norn, a Nordic race of prophetic beings that serve as Asgardians’ augurs of the future. It would’ve been far more interesting to see the Norns officially represented in the MCU, as well as making Erik Selvig a more relevant character by being the one to ask the being direct questions.

7

Hulk And Banner Have A Face-To-Face Conversation

Avengers: Endgame

Part of the difficulty of Bruce Banner and The Hulk’s shared body is their inability to directly communicate with one another. The two personalities seemingly aren’t able to easily interact, and this becomes a huge problem when Hulk refuses to manifest in the wake of his humiliating defeat against Thanos. This problem is eventually solved with the formation of “Smart Hulk” in Avengers: Endgame, but the film almost gave a much more direct conclusion to Hulk’s MCU storyline.

In the planned scene that never made it to filming, Hulk was to enter the Soul World’s Way Station much like Thanos did upon snapping. The scene would’ve shown Hulk and Banner separated, but in the same plane of existence at the same time, finally able to reconcile their differences once and for all. A comment from Avengers: Endgame writer Christopher Markus does seem to imply that the scene is still canon to the MCU, but seeing it happen in earnest would’ve been a great close to Hulk’s rushed arc.

6

Hulk Bursts Out Of The Hulkbuster Suit

Avengers: Infinity War

The issues between Bruce Banner and Hulk go back much further than Professor Hulk’s introduction in Avengers: Endgame, with the final battle of the previous film forcing Banner to pilot the Hulkbuster Armor in order to contribute meaningfully. Just as in the final release of Avengers: Endgame, Banner nearly gets overwhelmed by Obsidian Cull, the alien brute of Thanos’ Black Order. Even in this dire circumstance, Hulk doesn’t materialize, forcing Banner to think on his feet and send Cull rocketing through the sky and into Wakanda’s hard-light barrier.

However, this almost wasn’t the case, and a deleted scene from the film would’ve had Hulk rip his way out of the Hulkbuster Armor after transforming. This scene would’ve essentially served as the birth of Professor Hulk, and even had merchandise made of it, with one action figure set promising Hulk bursting through a plastic Hulkbuster replica. This scene could’ve been one of Hulk’s most pivotal MCU scenes, but unfortunately, the final transformation into Professor Hulk had to happen off-screen in the time skip.

5

Maria Hill Criticizes Nick Fury’s New York Response

The Avengers

In a unique case for the typical editing choices of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the opening scene for The Avengers was almost told anachronistically. Rather than opening with the activation of the Tesseract, the film almost began with an interrogation of Maria Hill led by the World Security Council, set after the hectic events of the Battle of New York. Maria begins to explain the situation to the shadowy council, sending shots Nick Fury’s way in a bold accusation of his incompetence.

Maria isn’t entirely wrong here, pointing out the ways in which the conflict could’ve been avoided had Nick Fury made better decisions. Unfortunately, this earnest criticism of the shady Nick Fury as a leader never gets much room to shine in the entirety of the MCU, not to mention the bold editing choice. Should this scene had made it in, perhaps the series would’ve been more willing to take bigger narrative risks in later entries.

4

Rocket Raccoon Laughs At The Chitauri

Avengers: Endgame

Seeing members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, particularly Rocket Raccoon, finally interact with the MCU heroes of Earth was one of the most rewarding elements of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. In the latter, the Earth’s mightiest heroes narrowly avoided a patronizing talking-to courtesy of one certain gun-toting lower mammal voiced by Bradley Cooper. The verbal abuse happens in the meeting held between Rocket and a handful of the Avengers.

When they bring up the Battle of New York, Rocket laughs at the Avenger’s ignorance of the fact that blowing up the Chitauri warriors’ mothership would simply disable their entire army. Diminishing the Avengers’ struggle with the Chitauri by calling them the “suckiest army in the galaxy“, Rocket’s comments aren’t taken to kindly by Tony Stark, who sneaks up behind Rocket and shaves a strip of fur off of him in retalitaiton. Beyond the comedic banter, it would’ve been nice to have this scene to give more context to the Avengers’ original enemies.

3

Endgame Nearly Namedropped An Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Character

Avengers: Endgame

The MCU raised eyebrows in the last few years with the addition of Echo, which officially canonized the Netflix Defenders series in to the franchise alongside Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin. One more niche Marvel TV series that never got the same love is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was confirmed to only exist as an alternate universe side-story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, an undeveloped concept for Avengers: Endgame very nearly changed that.

Concept art for some of the Avengers’ planning documents regarding the Time Heist for the Infinity Stones makes reference to Whitehall, a character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. A loyal agent of Hydra and occultist, Whitehall was responsible for the location of powerful artifacts for the villainous organization to exploit. His inclusion in Avengers: Endgame could’ve set the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a very different path with the soft-confirmation of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as canon.

2

Age Of Ultron Almost Foreshadowed Quicksilver’s Death

Avengers: Age of Ultron

If there’s one character in the MCU who got precious little characterization before being killed off in the MCU, it’s Quicksilver. A deleted scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron nearly gave him some much-needed personality, showing him handing out stolen goods to Sokovian citizens in the same church him and Wanda meet Ultron’s Vibranium body. Wanda chides her brother for stealing, even reminding him he can be shot despite his speed powers, when the two are interrupted by the appearance of Ultron.

This scene explains why Pietro and Wanda were in a church when they first met Ultron, but more importantly, expands on the twins’ motivations. Scarlet Witch seems to be more pro-establishment than her brother, being uncomfortable with his stealing, whereas Quicksilver criticizes her for not killing Tony Stark when she had the chance. Above all else, the conversation explains why Quicksilver was able to be killed, which would’ve made his death a little less confusing when it does happen.

1

Thanos Confronts Gamora Over Their Past

Avengers: Infinity War

Of all the deleted scenes from Avengers movies, Thanos and Gamora’s extended conversation in Avengers: Infinity War might just be the most heart-wrenching. Before setting out for Vormir, Thanos has a conversation with Gamora in which he uses the stones to show her an old memory of “happier” times, in which Gamora acted as his messenger and fierce warrior. Gamora denies Thanos’ claims that she was happy under him, and the scene ultimately ends with Gamora finding Nebula suspended in a horrific state of torture, just as in the final scene.

There’s so much information about Thanos and Gamora’s relationship this scene conveys. It shows just what lengths Gamora was willing to go for his cause back in the day, subjugating entire planets, and reveals the fact that Thanos claims to have let her “escape” him voluntarily. For so many reasons, this is one of the most impactful deleted scenes of The Avengers‘ films.