Seeing as how Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were filmed back-to-back, it should come as no surprise that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and directors Joe and Anthony Russo decided to play surgeon on the two films, excising sequences from one and transplanting them in another. After all, considering both movies boasted a rather lengthy runtime, the creative team had to ensure that things felt properly paced from start to finish, which might explain why some segments originally intended for Infinity War were relegated for its sequel.
While Disney occasionally peels back the curtain to give fans a look at what’s going on behind-the-scenes, oftentimes, tidbits regarding production choices are gleaned from interviews with some of the creative staff that work on a given film. However, it looks like recently released (not to mention pricey) Infinity Saga Collector’s Edition boxset has shed some light on a clip that never got its chance to shine on the big screen.
As you can see above, this deleted scene from Infinity War takes place during the Battle of Wakanda, which ended when Thanos got his hands on the Mind Stone and proceeded to wipe out half of the universe’s life forms in a single snap. In the theatrical release, Bruce Banner was forced to don the Hulkbuster armor (seeing as how he couldn’t coax his alter ego out), but in this deleted scene, Natasha and Falcon come across Professor Hulk, who (canonically) makes his first appearance in Avengers: Endgame.Â
Interestingly, it looks like Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (both of whom wrote Infinity War and its follow-up), weren’t too pleased when this scene got axed from release.
“We screamed bloody murder when it was decided, and we helped decide it, but mostly we were the last ones in the room to acquiesce, was changing the smart Hulk transformation at the end of Infinity War,” McFeely said. “Because it was designed for him to pop out of the [Hulkbuster armor] as smart Hulk, and we’re just going, ‘No you can’t… We can’t undo that. Because the whole first act of Endgame–”
“We’d already shot it,” Markus explained.
“Yeah we’d already shot it. How are we going to explain it and all this stuff?” McFeely said. “It was much better for the movie if it didn’t happen, because it’s part of this whole somber end of act three. But that was the biggest thing where Chris and I were like, ‘They’re screwing it up!'”
“I completely understand why it got cut and I think it works, actually, better without it,” Markus concluded.
Personally, we don’t mind that Professor Hulk made his debut in Endgame, but we’re curious, what are your thoughts? Would you’ve preferred to have seen Banner’s new form in Avengers: Infinity War, or were you happy with how things turned out? Let us know in the comments below!
