Avengers: Infinity War cut a 45-minute sequence of Thanos destroying Xandar and stealing the first Infinity Stone, the Power Stone. Avengers: Infinity War was groundbreaking due to it seeing the coming together of several heroes from different MCU franchises to fight the Mad Titan. Josh Brolin's Thanos acted as the movie's protagonist, with Avengers: Infinity War following the villain as he traversed the MCU collecting Infinity Stones to eliminate half of the universe's population. Thanos getting the Power Stone from Xandar was not shown, and now it has become known that a 45-minute sequence of that event was cut from the movie.

Speaking with Near Mint Condition, Thanos' comic book creator Jim Starlin, who also came up with the story that inspired Avengers: Infinity War — "Infinity Gauntlet" — revealed that a 45-minute sequence of Thanos' decimation of Xandar, with the villain stealing the Power Stone, was cut from the film.

According to Starlin, a month before the movie premiered, he was told by Joe Russo, one of the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, that a 45-minute sequence of Thanos getting the Power Stone from Xandar had been cut from the beginning of the film. Starlin then shockingly revealed that the whole sequence had been shot. Check out the full quote below:

"But about a month before the movie came out, I got an email or something from Joe saying, 'the 45 minutes of Thanos that we had at the beginning of Infinity War, we had it cut.' There was a whole sequence of him getting the first gem and they had to cut that out. They shot it, but they never wanted to spend the money on the effects and they didn’t want the movie to be as long as the second one [Endgame] was. They didn’t realize it was going to be quite the hit it was."

Related: How Long Did Thanos Spend Searching For The Infinity Stones In The MCU?

Thanos’ Destruction Of Xandar Could Still Be Shown In The MCU

Thanos' destruction of Xandar not being shown in Avengers: Infinity War was odd, as it was the only time audiences did not get to see the villain collecting one of the Infinity Stones. While the moment being cut did not ultimately make the movie any worse, there is still interest to this day in the possibility of a future MCU project showing through flashbacks how Thanos was able to get the Power Stone and decimate Xandar.

Thanos being dead in the MCU does not affect the possibility of Marvel going back to that moment. In fact, there is already a perfect project to feature a version of Avengers: Infinity War's cut 45-minute sequence. While not officially announced by Marvel, a Nova series has been confirmed to be in development by The Hollywood Reporter. With Thanos decimating the Nova Corps on Xandar to get the Power Stone, Marvel's Nova series could show flashbacks to the chaotic event, as Richard Rider emerges as the massacre's sole survivor — which was originally a concept for Avengers: Infinity War.

Another possible project that could see flashbacks to the harrowing battle is Eternals 2. While the sequel to Chloé Zhao's Eternals has yet to be announced by Marvel, one of the original's post-credits scenes included the arrival of Harry Styles as Eros — Thanos' brother. With Eros likely set to appear in Eternals 2, it stands to reason that his relationship with Thanos would need to be explored. After all, Marvel would not waste the opportunity of using its most famous villain again. A reveal that Eros was actually in Xandar to witness the destruction would let audiences finally see a version of the cut sequence from Avengers: Infinity War.

Source: Near Mint Condition

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