One of the tricks of the trade in superhero movies is the plot twist.

Sure, there are the typical cliff-hangers that you have in serialized stories — just like in any comic book or soap opera. However, comic book universes are notoriously unpredictable, as anything can happen at any moment.

Part of this is due to the nature of comic book reality itself — in a universe where ordinary humans can gain remarkable powers and cosmic forces like extra-terrestrials and reality-bending gems exist, anything is truly possibly.

This means that spontaneous resurrections, galaxy-hopping travel, last minute magical saves, and new character introductions from out of nowhere are all fair game.

This gives superhero script writers tremendous flexibility to create surprises that truly shock their audiences.

However, some of the planned twists never quite make it into the finished movie.

Sometimes the writers simply change their minds, while other times the change has to do with the disagreements among the production team behind the scenes. The director and producers are always able to revise things at the last minute, and therefore changes can be made at the last second.

Some of these changes are for the worst, unfortunately. However, on the flip side, some of the movies are way better off without these canceled twists.

Here are the 10 Canceled Twists That Would've Hurt Superhero Movies (And 10 That Would've Saved Them).

Would've Saved: Superman's Black Suit- Justice League

The black suit came from the "Death of Superman" storyline when Superman temporarily wore it after he was resurrected.

While Zack Snyder originally intended to keep this costume, which was a fan-favorite, he ultimately decided to cut it out at the last minute.

Some fans also speculate that removing black suit was a reaction to the criticism that the tone of DC movies was getting too dark.

As costume designer Michael Wilkinson explained, "...as the tone of the film developed and we were in pre-production, the filmmakers felt that the classic red and blue suit seemed more appropriate to our story and our script."

"It seemed that a more positive, upbeat image of Superman was what was needed – the idea of hope and that the world could in fact be saved was important, so that's the direction that we went," he said.

Would've Hurt: Tony Stark Keeps His Identity Secret - Iron Man

At the end of Iron Man, Tony Stark revealed his secret identity to the public. The twist was a great fresh take on the character. However, it wasn't originally planned — the original ending had Tony Stark sticking to Agent Coulson's plans to keep his identity hidden.

Robert Downey Jr. ad-libbed the line and, surprisingly, the studio decided to keep it in the movie.

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, explained, "Tony Stark not reading off the card and not sticking with the fixed story? Him just blurting out 'I am Iron Man?' That seems very much in keeping with who that character is."

"It just hadn't been done in the comics before, but it was something very much in keeping with the comics character and what he could have done," he said.

Would've Saved: Bruce Banner Tries To End It All - The Incredible Hulk

Though we don't think that all of the material that was cut from The Incredible Hulk ended up hurting the final story, we do think that one of the deleted scenes should have definitely been kept in the theatrical cut.

In it, Edward Norton's Bruce Banner travels to the Arctic and tries to end his life by shooting himself with a pistol. However, the Hulk won't let him perish.

Before he can pull the trigger, he transforms into the Hulk and is unable to complete the task.

Though fans didn't get to see it in the theatre, it was included as a deleted scene in the Blu-Ray.

Also, the incident was referred to in The Avengers, where Ruffalo as Banner explained, "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth... and the other guy spit it out!"

Would've Hurt: Superman Pokes Around The Ruins Of Krypton - Superman Returns

Though Superman Returns wasn't well received by fans, it does have more than a few redeeming qualities.

However, if fans didn't like the finished product, it's likely that they would have hated one idea that was removed at the last minute.

In the original opening scenes, Kal-El is in a crystalline spaceship exploring the ruins of what used to be Krypton. He searches in vain for any signs of life and finds nothing but a burnt out graveyard of a planet.

The deleted scene is included as an extra in some releases of the movie.

Tonally, it does nothing for the story. In fact, it starts the movie off on a tragic note, so we're glad that it was later removed.

Krypton is over. Let's all move on.

Would've saved: Deadpool Takes The Life Of A Leader - Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2, true to form, was a delightful piece of violence and mayhem that was held together by a wicked sense of humor, just like the first movie.

In a post-credits scene, Deadpool receives the repaired time travel device from Cable and goes off on a little meta-adventure traveling through time.

During this, Deadpool destroys the dreadful non-canon version of himself from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, wipes out the real Ryan Reynolds before he can make Green Lantern, and saves Vanessa.

In one scene that was actually shot, he even takes down a young Hitler. If any superhero could get away with this joke it's Deadpool.

It's a unfortunate that it was left it out of the theatrical cut.

Would've Hurt: 70 Extra Minutes Of Edward Norton - The Incredible Hulk

Does anybody really want to see a 3-hour Hulk movie? No? The producers didn't think so either.

Edward Norton ended up in a notorious battle with the studios to keep over 70 extra minutes of character scenes in The Incredible Hulk.

In a movie that was already two hours long, this didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

Though we'll probably never know the exact details of everything that went wrong between Norton and Marvel, we do know that he was recast with Mark Ruffalo and won't be coming back to the Hulk franchise.

Would these scenes have helped? While adding a few minutes here or there might have helped to flesh out the drama a bit more, an additional 70 minutes is too much. for any movie

Would've Saved: Superman Accidentally Destroys The Phantom Zone - Superman II

The events of Superman II were originally scripted to happen in Superman: The Movie, but the resulting movie would have been over three hours long.

Richard Donner, the director, had Superman accidentally freeing the three Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone when he pushed one of the nuclear missiles that Lex Luthor launched into space.

It's a cleaner plot device than the one we got in the theatrical version, which involved a nuclear bomb in the Eiffel Tower.

Donner was let go midway through production, however, and many of his scenes never made the theatrical cut.

However, the footage exists, and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was finally released on home video, which includes many new scenes, including more with Marlon Brando.

Would've Hurt: New York Is Destroyed By Giant Alien Squid - Watchman

Watchmen, the graphic novel, was a groundbreaking story that deconstructed what it meant to be a superhero. Though many fans thought it was unfilmable, the movie version of Watchmen was critically acclaimed and has since stood the test of time as a compelling and unique superhero movie.

The movie was stunningly faithful to the source material, with many shots inspired by its panels.

However, there was one major change made to its ending.

In the original version, a giant inter-dimensional squid (that turns out to be manmade and created by Ozymandias) destroys much of New York, and the world bands together against this common enemy.

The filmed version had the same effect, but instead Ozymandias uses Doctor Manhattan's power to destroy New York, which makes it seem like Manhattan is to blame.

While other versions achieve the same end, the second one makes more sense.

Would've Saved: Whiplash Takes Pepper Potts Hostage - Iron Man 2

None of the recent Marvel movies have been flops, but out of all of them, Iron Man 2 is the one most maligned by fans and critics.

It's really not a bad movie in the greater scheme of things, but it seems to lack much of the high emotional stakes that really give Tony Stark's character a chance to shine.

In an earlier version of the movie, Whiplash takes Pepper Potts hostage and Iron Man has to save her.

Sure, it's a classic damsel-in-distress situation, but it would've given Whiplash a far better role in the film.

The scene would've added higher personal stakes for Tony Stark and would've given the movie a more emotional heft.

Instead, the ending that we got was somewhat anticlimactic, as Whiplash was defeated relatively easily with the help of Rhodes.

Would've Hurt: Quicksilver Survives - Avengers: Age Of Ultron

It's still pretty frustrating for Marvel fans that the entire Marvel comic book universe is still split by separate owners.

This means that, at least until now, the X-Men and related mutants will never meet the Avengers.

Though Marvel was able to negotiate with Sony so that the two shared Spider-Man, there are many other characters who may never join the MCU.

However, this can cause a lot of confusion, as both the MCU and the X-Men movies have their own versions of Quicksilver.

The Avengers version of Quicksilver has the same powers as the one we see in the X-Men, but he's not exactly a mutant and is otherwise completely different.

Though the MCU could've kept him around longer, it made sense to cut him rather than force comparisons between him and the X-Men version, who many fans believed was superior.

Would've Saved: The Story Focuses on Dark Phoenix Saga - X-Men: The Last Stand

When Brian Singer was still attached to the picture, one of the original pitches of X-Men: The Last Stand focused almost solely on the Dark Phoenix saga and didn't even go near "the cure" narrative.

The Dark Pheonix story arc was huge with comic fans, but the epic story became so watered down in the movie version that it was no longer recognizable.

Not only were most of the story elements of the Dark Phoenix glossed over, but the parts that it did cover seemed so mishandled.

In this version, Jean Grey destroys her boyfriend Scott Summers barely 20 minutes into the movie - and it happens off-camera.

Fans take some comfort that recent films have retconned the events of X-Men 3 so they never happened.

Would've Hurt: Ant-Man Appears Post Credits - Avengers: Infinity War

The end of Avengers: Infinity War is one of the saddest superhero movie endings of all time.

Though Ant-Man was mentioned, he was absent from the movie. However, there were originally ideas about him making an appearance in the post-credits scene, but this ultimately didn't happen.

According to Christopher Markus, "When you end it like that, there aren't too many extra places you can go. A lot of the time, Marvel's tags have pointed to the next movie coming or something like that."

"Well, the next movie coming is Ant-Man and the Wasp, which, by the nature of that franchise, is light-hearted. You don't wanna go, 'But meanwhile! Remember Paul Rudd? Still adorable!' Tonally everything was wrong," he said.

Would've Saved: Vanessa Doesn't Return - Deadpool 2

The post-credits scene in Deadpool 2 is worth the price of admission alone, with Deadpool gleefully traveling through time to undo "mistakes" from the past, like the weird mouthless version of him in that standalone Wolverine movie.

However, he also stops the assassin who originally shot Vanessa, thus saving her life.

Although it did make for a happy ending, it also negated everything that had happened before.

Can Deadpool really grow as a character if he never actually has to suffer?

It also brings up a huge criticism of comic book movies: nobody ever stays in their grave, and resurrections are normal.

If this is always the case, then it removes all of the drama of the movie. If no one ever perishes, how could they ever be in danger?

Would've Hurt: Adam Warlock Never Appears - Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Adam Warlock is sort of a cosmic messiah figure, as he's a mega-powered entity with spiritual overtones. Though huge Marvel comics fans know who he is, most movie fans are still new to the character.

He made a sort-of cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy, as we see a gold cocoon that he is apparently in.

Director James Gunn has remarked that "...I thought one of the main reasons to have the Sovereign in the movie was to give audiences the hint that Adam Warlock is coming."

"That was one of the reasons for them to exist. And I wrote that post-credits sequence in the first draft of the script," he said.

He later explained that, though Warlock won't be in Avengers 4, he will be returning in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - or at least we assume he will be, as James Gunn was recently cut from the movie.

Would've Saved: Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s Character Doesn't Make it - Kick-Ass 2

Christopher Mintz-Plasse returns to play the villain in Kick-Ass 2, this time adopting a much ruder moniker.

At the end of the movie, he battles Kick-Ass but loses the fight after he is seemingly devoured by a shark. However, a post-credits scene reveals that he actually survives, minus his arms and legs.

However, bringing characters back to life is a cliché and doesn't always do well with fans, as it's easy to get bored of the seemingly deceased villain's hand twitching at the very end of the credits.

In a movie franchise that prides itself on exploring a world where people actually dress up in costumes and attack each other with homemade weapons, it seems a cheat to use this plot device. In fact, the original version had his character passing away, which most fans would've prefered.

 Would've Hurt: Blade Turns Into Evil Vampire - Blade: Trinity

It was the surprise hit of Blade that showed that a superhero movie starring a second-tier character could be successful.

Though most fans didn't like the third film, they still wanted to see the character win in the end.

In the director's alternate cut of the ending, Blade is shipped off to the mortuary, as he has seemingly passed on.

He wakes suddenly, fatally injures a couple of FBI agents, and starts to go for a nurse's neck before the screen goes black. This scene implies he is no longer the Blade we know and love, as he's now evil.

Is this the way fans wanted to see Blade go out? Maybe some did, but most fans prefered to leave  the character on a high note.

Would've Saved: Wolverine Is Captured By Stryker - X-Men: Days of future past

X-Men: Days of Future Past was a huge treat for X-Men fans, as it weaved the worlds of X-Men: First Class and the other X-Men movies together in a gripping story.

In it, we see Wolverine desperately traveling in time from the distant future to stop Mystique from assassinating scientist Dr. Oliver Trask.

The movie ends with past-Wolverine being fished out the water by a young William Stryker. However, Stryker's eyes flash, revealing that he is actually Mystique.

However, the original scene was going to involve the real William Stryder capturing Wolverine, but it was agreed that this ending was too depressing, so the scene was changed so that Mystique appeared instead.

Would've Hurt: Grandpa Quill Still Waits For Peter - Guardians of the Galaxy

In one of the post-credits scenes originally planned (and shot) for Guardians of the Galaxy, Grandpa Quinn emotionally gazes at a photo of Peter Quill as a child and still harbors hope that he will return.

According to James Gunn, "...it was a pretty sad moment. It was Grandpa Quill and he has this photograph of Meredith and Peter as a little boy and he looks up at the stars and we go up to the stars and it was really sweet."

"It means that he must have seen Quill getting abducted at the end of that day and is still waiting for him to return but it was freaking sad so we took it out," said Gunn.

This was for the best, as it's not the scene that most fans want to see while listening to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" at the end of the movie.

Would've Saved: Rogue Regains Her Powers And Goes Back To School - X-Men: The Last Stand

We're not saying this would have saved X-Men: The Last Stand, but it definitely would have made it a little better for fans.

Part of the reason why fans disliked the movie was due to the whole "cure" storyline that took away the powers of some of our favorite mutants.

Poor Mystique is one of the first to go, and Magneto heart-breakingly abandons her as soon as she's "cured."

Rogue then decides to voluntarily get cured of her powers so that she can have a normal life and be closer to her boyfriend.

However, there was an alternative ending that sees Rogue return to Professor X's school.

There, she admits that she couldn't take the cure and that her powers are a part of the real her.

This ending would've shown Rogue's growth over the three movies, as she slowly comes to accept her powers.

Would've Hurt: Deadpool Interacts With Chris Evans As The Human Torch - Deadpool 2

Many younger fans aren't aware that Chris Evans played another superhero before Captain America - The Human Torch in The Fantastic Four. 

The Fantastic Four was never very successful as a movie franchise, though it did spawn one sequel and one attempted reboot.

Some fans would argue that it was Evans who was the highlight of The Fantastic Four, as he played the character with a lot of confidence and bravado.

Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick thought it would be fun to include The Human Torch in their movie.

Originally, the time-traveling Deadpool was set to meet this version of The Human Torch and poke fun at him, but it never made it past the writer's room.

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Can you think of any other last minute changes that hurt or saved superhero movies? Let us know in the comments!