'Avengers: Endgame': A Look At The Most Well-Known Deleted Scenes, And How They Would Have Affected The MCU

This month marks two years since the MCU spectacle Avengers: Endgame hit theatres. The film was the culmination of nearly ten years worth of storylines, bringing a satisfying close to the first three phases of the MCU, while also setting up plenty of new stories to ensure the MCU continues well into the future.

Even with the film's three-hour runtime, quite a bit was left on the cutting room floor. While some of these cut scenes were unneeded moments or quick throwaway gags, some have earned a place in fans hearts, and others may have added extra meaning to parts of the film, or even affected the way things would have unfolded in future films or shows. Let's take a look at a few of these scenes.

Bombs On Board

This scene, set during the portion of the movie in which the Avengers are deciding which time period they should collect each of the stones from, features Steve and Rhodey discussing the Tesseract. The discussion quickly circles back to Cap's decision to crash the plane carrying the Tesseract into the Arctic in Captain America: The First Avenger. Rhodey questions why Steve had to crash the plane, to which Steve explains that it was heading towards New York, with bombs onboard. Rhodey accepts this, but then asks why Steve did not simply jump out of the plane before it crashed.

For the most part, the scene is just a bit of fun. However, with the animated What If? series already confirmed for a second season, the possibility of Cap escaping the crash could be a fun scenario to explore in the future.

The Battle On Vormir

Everyone is well aware of Natasha Romanoff's heartbreaking death on Vormir, sacrificing herself so that Clint Barton can obtain the Soul Stone. However, an alternate version of the scene exists.

As in the final film, best friends Clint and Natasha disagree over which of them will make the sacrifice, but before the fight gets too heated, Thanos's army arrives, having uncovered the Time Heist plan after capturing future Nebula. The pair halt their argument as they decide how to tackle the incoming army, but during the ensuing fight, Natasha races to Vormir's cliff, taking quite a few shots from Thanos's forces as she goes, and also managing to save Clint from death. To Clint's horror, the injured Black Widow hurls herself over the cliff just as Thanos himself arrives, ensuring Clint obtains the Soul Stone before the Mad Titan can stop them.

As far as the story is concerned, this scene doesn't change much, as Natasha is still the one to make the sacrifice. However, some fans prefer the alternate sequence, viewing it as a more dramatic, heroic death for the Black Widow.

Battle Plans

This very rough scene, taking place during the final battle, provides an alternate lead-in to what some fans have affectionately dubbed the 'Gauntlet Relay' sequence.

During the final battle, some of the Avengers gather in a trench, trying to develop a plan of action for how to get the Nano-Gauntlet and Infinity Stones to safety. The scene also features an alternate take on Tony and Peter's reunion.

Again, the scene doesn't change much plot wise, and watched in it's incomplete state, feels quite cluttered and clunky. Still, fans have come to enjoy the scene for some of the character interactions and reunions that were missing from the final film.

Doctor Strange and The Scarlet Witch work together

While Disney Plus's first MCU TV series, WandaVision, was airing, a rarely seen behind the scenes shot from Endgame emerged, featuring Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch working together. No actual footage of the scene exists, and there doesn't appear to have been any CGI work completed, so it is unknown what exactly the two magic users would have been dealing with. However, it would have been interesting to see the two interact, especially considering the fact that they will be sharing the screen in the upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

There are a few reasons the scene could have been cut, one being that their simply wasn't enough time. However, some believe the scene may have been cut to keep Doctor Strange relatively unaware of Wanda's existence. Had he witnessed Wanda's potential during Endgame, he may have stepped in as a mentor before the events of WandaVision could occur.

Tony In The Afterlife

After Thanos snaps his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War, he is briefly transported to another world, where he sees Gamora, the daughter he recently murdered, as a child. Endgame originally included a similar scene after Iron Man's snap, except unlike Thanos, Tony experiences a vision of his own daughter, Morgan, as an adult, played by Katherine Langford. The scene was meant to provide a mirror image of Thanos's goals compared with those of Iron Man and the Avengers. While Thanos' vision showed him what his actions had taken from Gamora, her innocence and her future, Tony sees a more positive vision of what he has given Morgan, with his sacrifice creating a better future for her.

While the scene was included in test screenings, some viewers were confused by the scene, while others believed it ruined the flow of the film and dampened the emotional impact of Tony Stark's death, resulting in the scene being cut from the final theatrical release. However, the removal of the scene resulted in some confusion from fans, as Katherine Langford's casting had been widely reported, with some believing that she would be playing Kate Bishop, the second Hawkeye.

Bishop will make her debut in Phase Four's Hawkeye series, played by Hailee Steinfeld.

The Avengers Take A Knee

In this scene, following Tony Stark's death, each of the surviving Avengers kneel respectfully in honour of his sacrifice. Given the familiar score, the scene would likely have segued directly into Tony's funeral scene.

The scene was mostly cut for time, with the filmmakers believing that Tony was suitably honoured at the funeral. However, fans have come to love the scene for respecting the character and his legacy.

The Post-Credits Scene

Avengers: Endgame is well-known for being the only MCU film not to include a bonus scene during or after the credits. However, it has reccently been revealed that originally, the movie was supposed to include a post credits sequence, revealing Vision's corpse within S.W.O.R.D headquarters. Endgame concept art exists of Wanda standing beside Vision's body. Originally assumed to have been from an earlier version of the film where Wanda survived the Blip, some fans now believe the art was inspired by this scrapped credits scene.

This scene would, of course, have tied into the events of WandaVision. The reason for it having been cut is most likely related to the fact that the show would only have been in early development at the time, and having Vision's location already known would have taken away some of the show's big reveals.

Scenes are cut from films for a lot of reasons, good, bad, and complicated. At least nowadays, fans often still get a chance to see them.