The long-anticipated first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War dropped earlier today, and fans who caught the footage of the film shown at this year's San Diego Comic Con may have noticed that a few major moments were left out of today's teaser. Obviously, the first publicly released glimpse at Infinity War wasn't lacking in buzzworthy moments in the least. From the terrifying footage of Josh Brolin's Thanos to the teased battle sequences in New York, Edinburgh, and Wakanda, the official trailer had more than its share of awesomeness that will have the fan base buzzing for weeks to come.All things considered, the changes made to the SDCC trailer make sense. Reserving Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy for a rousing glimpse after the title card in the official release may not work when you're dealing with a live audience, since they're too busy screaming their lungs out to hear anything. Of course, the main reason for the changes probably has to do with unfinished special effects. Infinity War is nearly six months away from its release date, so a sizable portion of the film's CGI is still a work in progress. It's one thing showing off 75% completed VFX sequences to a room full of people that can only see it once, but releasing official footage that will be poured over in the online community for weeks on end is another matter entirely. You only get one chance to make a first impression.

All told, there's three or four huge moments from the SDCC glimpse that were left out of the cut that the world was treated to today. Nevertheless, both trailers do an excellent job of teasing a superhero movie that looks to be on a grander scale than anything audiences have ever seen before. Screen Rant is hopping aboard the MCU hype train as we take a look at Everything From The Avengers: Infinity War SDCC Footage Missing In The Trailer. We're talking about unreleased footage here, so expect some mild SPOILERS to follow.

Thor and the Guardians Intro

Custom image of Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War

Arguably the biggest difference between the SDCC footage and today's trailer are the contrasting opening moments. The official trailer leads in on a somber note with a touch of nostalgia, showing off shots of the Avengers with voiceover of Nick Fury's "there was an idea" monologue from the original 2012 team-up (Earth's Mightiest Heroes provide the voiceover this time around). The SDCC trailer goes in the complete opposite direction, kicking off with a trio of humorous scenes that see Thor meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time. The second sequence has since been changed in at least one major way, since the God of Thunder had two eyes in the Con footage, and as we learned in Thor: Ragnarok, that's...no longer the case. Insert pat on the back here.

The first and third Thor/Guardians sequences didn't make it into today's trailer at all, and only about half of the second scene made the cut. As we touched on the intro, this change was likely made because of the format in which the footage was being displayed. Marvel loves to cap off their official trailers with one last exclamation point after the title card, and since many fans may not have known that the Guardians of the Galaxy would be getting in on the Infinity War action, Star-Lord and the gang definitely fit the bill.

Grandmaster's ship crash

Poster for Thor Ragnarok showing the Grandmaster

The Grandmaster won't be thrilled with this one. At the conclusion of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor and his fellow Asgardians escape into space aboard a massive ship that belonged to the Sakaaran head honcho. Their freedom didn't last long, however, as the mid-credits scene revealed that they soon encounter an even larger vessel -- one belonging to Thanos himself. We see the aftermath of this encounter in both the opening scene of the SDCC trailer (where a floating-in-space Thor meets the Guardians of the Galaxy by crashing into the Milano's windshield) and in another shot that shows the Grandmaster's ship hurtling towards Earth.

Related: Thor Ragnarok Post-Credits Scenes Explained in Detail

It remains to be seen if Thor is hanging out in space because he hopped out to distract Thanos and co. so that his citizens could escape, or if the ship seen in the SDCC trailer is carrying a bunch of dead Asgardians. Either way, it wasn't a super necessary inclusion in today's trailer, so it was left on the cutting room floor.

Character shots and a family reunion

Today's footage was missing a handful of notable character shots that were seen in the SDCC trailer, including brief glimpses at Falcon and Nebula in action, as well as an odd shot of Vision behind bars, seemingly in captivity of some kind. Perhaps it's more of a protective custody situation, seeing as how Thanos will be after that Infinity Stone that Vision has in his head. Not that it will matter ” if Vision can't survive without that stone, he's super doomed.

Regardless, the big takeaway from the missing pickup shots is one that features a horrified-looking Gamora. Sure, most of the heroes look understandably terrified for the majority of the two trailers, but the accompanying voiceover in the SDCC footage gives this glimpse a major significance boost.

In both trailers, Thanos is heard delivering some seriously sinister dialogue, and œFun isn't something one considers when balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face" may be the baddest of the bunch. But while that quote plays over a few different shots in today's preview, it exclusively accompanies the Gamora scene in the SDCC trailer, strongly implying that he's speaking to his adoptive daughter in the scene. This exclusion from today's trailer centers around not wanting to give too much away this early in the promotional campaign -- namely, the Guardians' reveal at the end of the teaser.

Doctor Strange and Star-Lord hopping, skipping, and jumping

Just when you thought you had a good sense of the various small-scale team-ups we'll see in Infinity War, you recall that in the SDCC trailer, Star-Lord and Doctor Strange are seen pairing up to bring a little visual flair to the proceedings. Well, if you were lucky enough to see it, anyway. We get about 5 or 6 seconds of this dream team in action in the Con footage, in which Benedict Cumberbatch's Doc Strange creates a few disc constructs for Chris Pratt's Peter Quill to run across in mid-air, with the latter firing his signature blasters the whole way.

It's an effects-heavy sequence, so it makes sense that Infinity War's CGI team hasn't quite finished this one and therefore couldn't squeeze it into a montage for today's trailer. Plus, the Guardians' reveal was being saved for the very end, so showing off Star-Lord beforehand would have taken away from that.

Spider-Man Homecoming - Injured Peter

The death of Peter Parker?

Another one of the major exclusions from today's trailer may well be the final moments of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Well, sort of. In the SDCC footage, we see Tom Holland's Peter Parker tearfully apologizing to Tony Stark, and he's not looking so hot. We actually get parts of this sequence (sans Spidey) spread across several shots in today's trailer, namely in the opening seconds, where we see Tony in mourning while clutching a lifeless hand. On top of that, the official trailer and the SDCC trailer both show what looks to be the cause of the web-slinger's injuries: a brutal body slam by Thanos. Spider-Man may be rocking the Iron Spider suit that his mentor made for him back in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he still has zero chance going toe to toe with the Mad Titan.

This shot was likely omitted from today's preview because of how significant it will be in Infinity War. Truth be told, we're surprised it even made its way into the SDCC trailer. But it's important to keep in mind that this film will feature several infinity stones capable of undoing this tragedy. Even if the Russo Brothers elect to follow through on this horrifying tease (and that's a big if), there's no way they kill off Peter Parker for good here. Marvel didn't go through all that trouble getting the film rights to Spider-Man back just to kill him off this early on in his MCU adventures. Fear not, fan boys and girls: the wall-crawler will bounce back at some point.

A tight squeeze for the God of Thunder

We're going back to back with major character death teases, as Thor finds himself in an even more hopeless situation than Spider-Man in the very next shot featured in the SDCC trailer. Peter looks super banged up, sure, but the newly crowned King of Asgard is literally seen getting his dome crushed by the massive hand of Thanos. We don't see any Oberyn Martell-like head popping, but we'd be surprised if Thor were able to walk away from this encounter with anything less than a fractured skull.

Again, nifty little trinkets like the time and reality stones can undo the God of Thunder's death, should Marvel follow through on it. The same rationale behind the exclusion of Spidey's death tease in today's trailer applies to this intense moment as well.

Thanos going full Mad Titan by RIPPING APART THE DAMN MOON

The fourth and final major glimpse featured in the Comic Con footage but not in today's trailer is arguably the most epic moment of all. The official trailer released earlier today ends with a massive showdown between the heroes of Earth and Thanos' army of minions on the plains of Wakanda, and it's pretty remarkable. Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that these visual effects are looking so solid in November, nearly six months before Infinity War hits theaters. There's no denying the scene's awesomeness, and the scale of the battle is off the charts, but let's face it: this sort of thing has been done on the big screen before.

What most definitely has not been done before is a villain ripping off chunks of the moon and heaving them at characters we know and love. It's absolutely insane, and it could well go down as one of the most bonkers action sequences ever put to film when all is said and done. The thing is, there's no way all is said and done on the CGI of this scene. And like we said earlier, you can get away with partially completed SFX in a trailer seen once by a couple hundred people, but not in an official release that millions will be watching on repeat for the next few weeks.

Plus, that scene is almost certainly being set up as one of the film's high points. Do we really want that revealed a half year away from release?

Next: The Characters Missing From Avengers Infinity War's Trailer

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters 17,000 years from now; the wait will be eternal and you'll probably die before it releases. Check that, it premieres on May 4th, 2018.

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