Very rarely does the film we see in theatres represent the original ideas of the screenwriters. Big budget movies typically undergo countless rewrites from myriad screenwriters and alterations to match the director’s vision. Avengers: Infinity War is no different, in fact, the original script for the movie was vastly different than we actually got to see. When Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely first tackled the script in May of 2015 they were obviously looking to keep it pretty closely lined up with the Infinity Gauntlet arc from the comics, save for Thanos trying to get get a date with lady death (seriously).
Now that film is out, and we are less than a year away from Avengers 4, Markus and McFeely are starting to share some of their original ideas for the movie, some of which would have drastically changed the MCU. Here are some of the highlights the pair originally wanted to Include.
Thanos Focused
While the final cut certainly featured a significant amount of screen time for Thanos, Marvel allegedly shot an additional thirty minutes of footage of him. These additional scenes would have provided more context for the Mad Titan, focusing more on his backstory, making Infinity War more of Thanos origin story. Since the footage was shot, there is some hope we may eventually see it in some form a Director’s cut.
Thanos Goes Nuts
Thanos’ history wasn’t the only part of his story left on the cutting room floor. Avengers: Infinity War came very close to adding more context and layers to his quest for the Infinity Stones. The idea was to show audiences more of the carnage and impact his desire to acquire the stones. A particular highlight would have been the attack on Xandar where the Power Stone was. Early script revisions have Gamora watching the carnage and was later cut due to the directors thinking it was repetitive.
The Snappening that Almost Wasn’t
The ending of Avengers: Infinity War made the movie. It finally gave us real consequences, ramifications that will echo throughout the MCU for years to come. In the early drafts of the script, the snap was saved for Avengers 4. The original script ended with Thanos obtaining all the Stones, and the suspense of what he would do with them was supposed to be left for the next film. This would have drastically changed the film, the eventual outcome of the snap would have been the same, but leaving audiences hanging with the consequences for a year was the right move.
Hulk Got to Smash
Hulk was the most disappointing part of Avengers: Infinity War. I get they were trying to set up an internal struggle and most likely set the stage for Professor Hulk in Avengers 4 but I would have loved to see some old school Hulk smashing. In fact, we almost got exactly that. Early scripts had Hulk, during the fight with Cull Obsidian, break out of the Hulkbuster armor and do it thing.
Reading early script notes is looking at an alternative history. Avengers: Infinity War as it was is pretty close to perfect, but it’s hard to wonder what if? Would have liked to see any of these make their way into the final film?
