To what extent can studios get away with putting clips in trailers that don't end up in the final movie? When trailers are made by the marketing team, sometimes the movie isn't even completely finished. Studios will often scrape together a teaser trailer from what they have filmed already for events such as San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC).
Marvel is no exception to the odd scene from the trailers being taken out of their final cuts, and in the case of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, there were certainly more than a few. Let's take a look at ten great MCU trailer scenes that were notably absent from the final cut.
Doctor Strange: Stephen Learns About The Mirror Dimension
Once Doctor Stephen Strange made it to Kamar-Taj to learn from The Ancient One, he is stunned by the fact that magic is real and she's a master at it. One of the many things she can do is the ability to summon the Mirror Dimension, where the sorcerer's magic has no consequences on the real world.
In the trailer, Strange is forced to step back into the Mirror Dimension while his mentor teaches him about the multiverse. This scene is actually an alternate version of how the Ancient One reveals the Mirror Dimension to Stephen, making its excision not that big of a deal. It's still an interesting alternative, nonetheless.
Thor: Ragnarok - Hela Vs. Valkyrie
When The Revengers assembled on the Rainbow Bridge to fight Hela, there is a quick shot in the trailer where Hela, while fighting Valkyrie, is spinning around at an incredible rate while launching swords in all directions. Valkyrie manages to fend them off before the shot cuts to the next clip, but fans can obviously tell that she survives.
Hela and Valkyrie do clash in the film, but this attack is nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but the way the final fight on the bridge was shown in the trailers differs heavily from the final cut, especially in regards to Thor's missing eye.
Avengers: Age of Ultron - The Woman In The Cave
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, fans will remember Thor's vision when he submerged himself in the cave pool. In the trailer, a woman can be seen standing in front of the pool who fans assumed was a potential Wakandan.
In the final cut, though, there was no woman in the cave. Even after seeing the movie, some fans still wonder what her significance in the movie would have been, as this scene is by far her only appearance. While talking to CinemaBlend, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed she had no significance at all.
Avengers: Age of Ultron - Ultron's Lava Bath
In Age of Ultron, Ultron goes through three forms: his initial form in the broken Iron Man armor, his second form which is more of a menacing fully formed look, and his final Vibranium form in the third act. he transition between each of his evolutions was fairly quick. Fans never saw his second form being made, and his second form was instantly destroyed by his third form with the infamous quote "What doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger."
In the trailer, there is a shot of Ultron dripping in what appears to be either lava or molten metal, which can be assumed to be the forging process of either his second or third. This moment would have been fun to see, but it seems that it was ultimately sacrificed for run time's sake.
Avengers: Endgame - Thor Wields Stormbreaker
One of the easily missed shots from the Endgame trailers was of Thor holding an active Stormbreaker. More importantly, Thor's retained his Infinity War look instead of he actually looked in Endgame.
This scene never made it into the final cut, as fans saw a very different Thor in Endgame. This scene could have either been just some leftover test footage or something cut from the prologue where Thanos was killed after Thor went for the head, but viewers will never know.
Spider-Man: Homecoming - Iron Man & Spider-Man Fly
Fans were left amazed after the final shot in the original Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer showcased Iron Man flying alongside Peter Parker, who was swinging through New York in full webslinger garb. Sadly, this moment never made it to the final version of the movie. Additionally, Spider-Man spends half of the movie in his handmade costume rather than the refined Stark version shown in this clip.
In fact, there were no action scenes featuring both Spider-Man and Iron Man fighting alongside each other. That moment was saved for Infinity War. At the very least, fans got to see them both standoff against Thanos, let's focus on that instead.
Captain America: The First Avenger - Steve Grows In The Chamber
Once Steve Rogers has been chosen to take the super-soldier serum and is in Dr. Erskine's lab with Howard Stark, a scene in the trailer shows Steve Rogers visually growing inside the chamber when the serum is infused with his body.
No doubt this scene was taken out to make post-serum Steve's reveal more surprising, but it shows how small yet significant some of the changes made in editing are.
Thor: Ragnarok - Hela Meets Odin In New York
In the original Thor: Ragnarok trailers, Hela and Thor first meet in an alleyway in New York as opposed to a Norwegian cliff side. In this deleted scene, Odin is free of Loki's spell and speaks with Hela before she kills him in front of Thor and Loki.
While the only thing this scene added was a small interaction between Odin and Hela in a noticeably different location, it would have been fun to see some sort of interaction. Nevertheless, Odin's death scene in the final cut was powerful and Taika Waititi certainly made a good choice.
Avengers: Infinity War - Thor Summons The Lightning In Nidavellir
Thor was a huge player in Avengers: Infinity War between the film opening on the Asgardian rescue vessel, his trip to Nidavellir and almost killing Thanos in the final few moments, and it's on Nidavellir that the deleted scene takes place.
In the film, Thor manages to keep the forge heated for a bit but crashlands unconscious, only revived (offscreen, at that) when Groot helps complete Stormbreaker. The trailer showed this scene differently, where Thor triumphantly holds a completed Stormbreaker above his head, with Rocket and Groot watching in amazement. This version of the scene would have been a nice call-back to Thor's revival in the original Thor movie.
Avengers: Infinity War - Avengers Assembled In Wakanda
Arguably the most noticed trailer moment to ever be absent from a Marvel movie (and in movie history, for that matter) was the heroic shot of Captain America, Bucky, Hulk, and Black Panther, amongst others, running through the Wakandan forest in the battle against Thanos and the Outriders.
After not seeing it in Infinity War, fans speculated that this shot was going to be in Endgame either as a flashback or an alternate timeline. Now that fans have seen Endgame and it was nowhere to be seen, some think this scene was made to hide the fact that Hulk never appears in Infinity War. Still, they could have left this epic run with everyone else in it and just removed Hulk, right?