With the staggering number of characters involved in Avengers: Infinity War, you’d be hard pressed to be left wanting for more – except maybe Hawkeye – but the Russo brothers have now revealed that one character fans have been dying to see the MCU was batted around for inclusion in the event movie before the idea was dropped.
The character in question’s Beta Ray Bill, the horse-faced Korbinite alien known for dressing like Thor and wielding his own version of Mjolnir in the comics. While answering fans’ questions at a Q&A in Hollywood last night, Joe and Anthony Russo admitted that they’d discussed dropping Bill into the mix several times but ultimately never found a place for him in the narrative.
As /Film’s Peter Sciretta reported:
Beta Ray Bill has been discussed many times by the Russo Brothers but they could never find a good fit for the story.
— /Film (@slashfilm) November 29, 2018
Kudos to the Russos for considering having Beta Ray Bill in their film, but honestly, we have to agree that there’s not a real place in the story for him. Mostly, Infinity War plays with characters we’re already familiar with and those that are introduced – like Peter Dinklage’s Eitri – have a clear purpose to the plot. We’re not really sure where Bill could have fit in, unless he was an alternate left-field choice for the guardian of the Soul Stone instead of Red Skull?
At least we know that Bill exists in the MCU, though. His likeness was captured on the side of the Grandmaster’s towers in Thor: Ragnarok, meaning he was a past winner of the Contest of the Champions. Kevin Feige previously explained that Bill once again almost appeared in a cameo in Taika Waititi’s threequel, but – just like in Avengers: Infinity War – he was cut because it was felt the tiny role did a disservice to the popular hero. One day he’ll make it though, one day.
