10 Deleted Scenes That Would Have Completely Changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe
As Disney continues its box-office domination with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the world of heroes and villains gets bigger by the day. Starting with Iron Man in 2008, the MCU currently has 20 movies under its belt (and counting).
Away from what fans actually got to see in cinemas, there's a whole host of deleted scenes and cut parts that could have changed the way everyone views the world's highest-grossing franchise. If you're ready, let's take a look at 10 deleted scenes that would have completely changed the MCU.
1. Aaron Phones Miles – Spider-Man: Homecoming
Marvel fans know that Donald Glover campaigned for years to play fan-favourite alternative Spider-Man, Miles Morales. Glover didn't get his wish in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he did get to play Miles' uncle, Aaron Davis.
While Aaron's comic-book history as the villainous Prowler and uncle to the future Spider-Man was only alluded to, one of the movie's deleted scenes really hammered home the family connection.
After being webbed to the boot of a car, the low-level thug picked up his phone and spoke to "Miles", apologising that he won't be able to make it. So there you have it, Miles Morales is (kind of) officially part of MCU canon.
2. The Mandarin Lives – Ant-Man
Iron Man 3's Mandarin twist goes down in history as one of the MCU's big blunders, with many feeling the reveal that Ben Kingsley was playing a washed-up actor pretending to be the Mandarin was a disservice to the iconic Iron Man villain.
Despite the Mandarin twist being retconned with the All Hail the King one-shot, there hasn't been a sign of the Ten Rings' big bad since. If Peyton Reed's Ant-Man had its way in 2015, there would have been a major nod to the Mandarin and the Ten Rings still pulling the strings behind the scenes.
When Corey Stoll's Darren Cross was showing off Hank Pym's shrinking technology, one of the potential buyers had a supersized Ten Rings tattoo on his neck.
3. Black Widow's back story – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Everyone knows that Natasha Romanoff is one of the deadliest members of the Avengers and it's been up to Scarlett Johansson to fly the flag for gender equality since the early days of the MCU.
Despite audiences already getting to grips with Black Widow's impressive skills, her back story has only been hinted at since her arrival in Iron Man 2. A deleted scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier shed more light on Black Widow's past when Alexander Pierce mentioned "Budapest, Osaka, and the Children's War".
Romanoff's shady mission to Budapest has been mentioned in passing, but the likes of Osaka and the Children's War could be perfect fodder for the Black Widow solo movie if heading down the prequel route.
4. Bucky's Shield – Captain America: Civil War
As it looks increasingly likely that Chris Evans will bow out as Steve Rogers after Avengers 4, all eyes are on who will be the 'new' Captain America. The most popular choice is to follow the comics and see Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes step up to the plate.
The Civil War arc from the comics saw Rogers 'die' and Bucky take over as Captain America. Captain America: Civil War was supposed to neatly put those pieces in place when Barnes hurled Cap's shield at War Machine and quipped, "I gotta get me one of those".
Sadly, it looks like someone else will be picking up that Vibranium shield next because Bucky took on the mantle of White Wolf for Infinity War.
5. Move Over S.H.I.E.L.D., hello S.W.O.R.D. – Thor
An alternate ending for Kenneth Branagh's Thor was an early hint at a much bigger MCU. It's common knowledge that S.H.I.E.L.D. deals with threats on Earth, but its intergalactic equivalent is S.W.O.R.D. – the Sentient World Observation and Response Department.
The deleted scene featured Erik Selvig creating a wormhole to find the God of Thunder. He then told Jane Foster and Darcy that they should coordinate the data between S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. to find out more.
Considering Phase 4 of the franchise is set to focus on cosmic entities like the Eternals and Captain Marvel, S.W.O.R.D. would be a well-timed arrival.
6. Hulk Finds Captain America – The Incredible Hulk
Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk is undoubtedly the black sheep of the family and was largely paved over to make room for Mark Ruffalo in 2012's The Avengers. That being said, the second entry in the MCU tried to introduce audiences to Chris Evans' Captain America before his own solo movie.
The movie's alternate opening took Edward Norton's Bruce Banner to the Arctic Circle as the Green Meanie reared his head. When Hulk walked away, the camera zoomed in to reveal the frozen body of one Steve Rogers.
Captain America: The First Avenger changed the story of Cap's defrosting from the ice, but it's reassuring to think that Kevin Feige was working on an interconnected universe so early on.
7. Tony Stark and Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H. – Iron Man 2
Laurence Fishburne's Bill Foster was a welcome addition to Ant-Man and the Wasp as the scorned colleague of Hank Pym. While audiences never got to see Foster go supersized in a Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H flashback, Jon Favreau tried to explore their work in Iron Man 2.
An extended scene relating to the Stark Expo had Tony look into the S.H.I.E.L.D. files about Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H., and Project E.X.O.D.U.S.' shady dealings.
Project Pegasus was where scientists like Dr. Selvig monitored the Tesseract, Goliath was Foster and Pym's experiments, and as it stands, no one knows what project Exodus was/is supposed to mean.
8. Peter Quill flirts with Ti Asha Ra – Guardians of the Galaxy
Peter Quill flirting with the opposite sex is nothing out of the ordinary, but the importance of Ti Asha Ra being cut from Guardians of the Galaxy is related to her species. Comic-book aficionados will know that Ti Asha Ra is a blue-skinned Korbinite. (As opposed to Corbynite. VERY different.)
The deleted scene included Quill chatting to Ti Asha on Xandar, and with Korbinites still failing to make it into the MCU, it's a pretty big deal considering the most famous one is Beta Ray Bill.
In the comics, Ti Asha Ra is also the girlfriend of Beta Ray Bill – the fan-favourite character famously cut from Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok. Most people hope that Beta Ray Bill can find a part in the presumed Thor 4/Ragnarok 2 if the God of Thunder survives Avengers 4.
9. The Triskelion wreckage – Spider-Man: Homecoming
The casting of Cagney & Lacey's Tyne Daly in Spider-Man: Homecoming led to wild speculation she could be playing a gender-swapped JJ Jameson. Instead, it turned out Daly was Anne Marie Hoag, the head of Damage Control cleanup crew.
The cut scene included Peter Parker on his school bus and driving past the wreckage of the Triskelion. As well as sparking a debate over the pros and cons of heroes like Captain America, it proves Damage Control was intended to have a bigger part in Homecoming.
Hoag and her team of government officials could return further down the line, but considering there is also a cancelled Damage Control TV show, don't count on it.
10. Quicksilver lives – Avengers: Age of Ultron
Joss Whedon once planned on completely changing the fate of a major character with the jaw-dropping reveal that Quicksilver survived the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Speaking to the Empire Podcast, Whedon revealed that he'd shot an alternative ending where Pietro Maximoff's gunshot wounds weren't fatal and he stood by his sister's side. Another scene that was actually filmed featured Quicksilver simply waking up and saying, "Ah, I didn't really die from these 47 bullet wounds!"
There are already rumours that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was spotted behind the scenes of Avengers 4, so who knows if Whedon's plans will come into play for the Infinity War sequel.
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