Infinity War Writers Elaborate On Deleted Scene Of Thanos Attacking Xandar

Weighing in at two hours and 40 minutes, Avengers: Infinity War was a multi-layered Marvel epic – fitting, really, as it involved bringing together most, if not all the major characters from the entire MCU. But it turns out Infinity War was almost a little bit longer.

Now that the event movie is available to buy digitally (Blu-Ray and DVD hits on August 14th), a series of bonus features have cropped up online, including an extended blooper reel and an HD version of Spidey’s heart-rending death. There’s also the director’s commentary from Joe and Anthony Russo, who spend time outlining the parallels between Cap and Thor before answering the million-dollar question: is Hulk truly afraid of Thanos?

Another tidbit to be pulled from Infinity War‘s digital release involves the deleted scene of Thanos raiding Xandar in search of the Power Stone, which was left under the protection of the Nova Corps during the finale of Guardians of the Galaxy. Turns out that invasion never made the final cut, as co-writer Christopher Markus explains:

We wrote a version of Thanos attacking Xandar and it had a similar purpose in the script to what Knowhere does now. It was a place where Thanos and Gamora encountered each other but the fact of the matter is you know exactly what… If Thanos went to Xandar to get that stone, you know what happened. It was a big battle and he got it.

There was also the very real concern that Thanos’ intergalactic quest would begin to feel very repetitive – plunder Infinity Stone, kill any nearby enemies, rinse and repeat – leading Stephen McFeely to make the conscious decision to leave Xandar off-screen.

…and make every Stone collection an emotional moment. Sometimes its because there’s a person who is either wearing one or has one in his head and sometimes it’s because of who Thanos encounters there, what you have to get it, who you have to sacrifice. Scenes need to do more than one thing and every Stone collection scene is going to be plot based but we also wanted it to be deeply character based.

It certainly makes sense in the grand scheme of things, as Avengers: Infinity War is largely structured around Thanos and his quest to acquire all six stones. Spoilers: he wins, which has teed up a truly nail-biting finale in the form of Avengers 4.