All the Infinity War storylines dropped before the final draft – digitalspy.com

Note: This article contains some spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.

With the recent announcement of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four, fans of the supersized superhero franchise are excitedly looking at what comes next.

Both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were box-office behemoths and have been heralded as some of the best superhero movies of all time, but what if things had been different? As the dust still settles on Endgame, it’s time to look back and see how Infinity War nearly had its own Multiverse of possibilities.

With this in mind, here are all the ways Avengers: Infinity War could’ve been different.

Cap’s your lot

As one of the OG Avengers, it makes sense that the star-spangled Steve Rogers was going to play a huge part in Infinity War. After going on his ‘clandestine’ missions with Black Widow and Falcon following Captain America: Civil War, Cap was back in action relatively early on in the story.

Seeing a returning Rogers step from the shadows to help Scarlet Witch and Vision take on the Black Order whacked one hell of a punch, but what if fans had had to wait a full two hours before seeing Chris Evans’ bearded mug?

In one draft, Captain America only appeared at the climactic Battle of Wakanda, leaping in to stop Corvus Glaive from killing Vision. Co-writer Christopher Markus confirmed on the movie’s commentary: “It was not satisfying,” while Stephen McFeely joked: “He was VERY underground.”

A ‘Strange’ segue

Markus and McFeely wanted to keep the trippy elements of Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange for the Sorcerer Supreme’s Infinity War arc. During the Avengers’ Titan assault on Thanos, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange was originally going to send the purple brute hurling through the astral plane.

It was something the writers dubbed “Doctor Strange’s Mystery Tour”, and to be honest, it sounds pretty magical. While zooming through the gruesome history of his crimes, Thanos was going to end up kneeling before the Living Tribunal and being judged guilty.

Comic book fans will know how the Living Tribunal is one of Marvel’s most powerful characters, so at least the MCU acknowledges its existence. As for the mystery Tour, Markus explained at this year’s Comic-Con: “We were also in the middle of a very highly paced fight, and to stop it to have an LSD trip was fun, but kind of sucked the air out of the punching.”

What the duck?

Even though Howard the Duck had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Avengers: Endgame, he was originally supposed to flap onto screens in Infinity War.

With their work on Community, directors the Russo Brothers have become masters of sprinkling Greendale Community College alumni throughout their MCU entries. Ken Jeong eventually popped up in Endgame, but speaking to Fandom, the Russos confirmed he nearly had a scene alongside the maligned mallard in Infinity War.

Jeong, Howard the Duck and even Cosmo the Spacedog were going to be enjoying a poker game before being interrupted by Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, looking for information on Thanos. The Russos said it was a favourite scene of theirs, but they couldn’t find a way to make it work.

A Hulk-sized intelligence

The surprise arrival of Professor Hulk in Avengers: Endgame might have been spoiled by the various concept art leaks, but that didn’t stop the brainy Emerald Giant quickly becoming a fan-favourite addition of the expanded Avengers roster.

Originally scheduled for a last-minute arrival in Infinity War, Banner and Hulk were going to strike a deal during the Battle of Wakanda. Professor Hulk was supposed to tear out of the Hulkbuster armour and KO Cull Obsidian.

Speaking on the Endgame commentary, McFeely said: “It was pretty clear that the movie could not handle this weird success. The movie needed to just stay in its succession of losses in the third act, which meant some hustling on the part of VFX late in the game.”

Ah, so that’s why Mark Ruffalo’s head looks a little out of place during Infinity War‘s final act!

Heyyy Ms Carter

Joining the convoluted MCU in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter wasn’t exactly well received by fans. There was an equally frosty reception to Sharon and Cap locking lips in Captain America: Civil War, which may have added to her axing from Infinity War.

Although Carter was slated to appear in the movie, the writers told Yahoo there was a change of heart. According to Markus and McFeely, there were “first drafts where Steve was living with Sharon Carter and it wasn’t going very well”.

Kevin Feige reportedly stepped in and nixed the idea. Sharon is still MIA – not that it really matters now the Decimation has been reversed and Cap is living his best life with Great Aunt Peg.

Falcon gets his wings

Easily one Infinity War’s best team-ups involved the scene-stealing meeting of Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. The dynamic of Downey, Holland and Cumberbatch simply worked, but there was once a time the wall-crawling hero wasn’t going to end up in space.

Speaking to Yahoo, Markus revealed why Peter Parker replaced Falcon for a trip to the cosmos: “We weren’t getting as much emotion as we could if we brought them back to people who know them.”

Even though Anthony Mackie is set to have an expanded role as the ‘new’ Captain America, it’s hard to imagine the side character taking on Spidey’s role on Titan. Just imagine a movie without that legendary “Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good” moment. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

The Thanos diaries

As the Mad Titan’s plan to eradicate half the galaxy unfolded, the movie gave a bit of insight into why he was so set on balancing the universe. Apart from a visit to Young Gamora and a brief flashback to the horrors of Thanos’ Titan homeworld, though, there wasn’t much back story on why he was such an “intergalactic sociopath”.

Joe Russo confirmed (via Collider) that an early 250-page draft featured Thanos as narrator to the whole sordid story. Although the Russos quickly trimmed the fat from the treatment, Joe said the narration gave them “insight into who he was as a character” and helped shape the final version of Thanos.

Thor Blimey

It’s safe to say that Chris Hemsworth’s Thor has had a bit of a tough time lately. After the devastating opening of Infinity War cost the God of Thunder both Heimdall and Loki, Thor then failed to “aim for the head”. His Infinity War arc was one that brilliantly put him on the path of Endgame’s Lebowski Thor, but it all could have been very different.

Thor’s Infinity War storyline reportedly came out of panic when his original role “sucked rocks”. Speaking to Comic Book at SDCC, Markus and McFeely said they realised Thor wasn’t right for their final vision for Infinity War. Discussing one moment when he was supposed to battle a giant serpent, they said it was “much too adventure-related and very much insufficiently character based”.

Thankfully, Thor spent most of the runtime alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy as the ‘strongest Avenger’, buddying up with Rocket and Groot, and being part of Peter Dinklage’s memorable arc on Nidavellir.

Snap to it

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After the jaw-dropping final moments of Avengers: Infinity War, it’s hard to imagine the Russo Brothers rounding off the superhero ensemble without the Decimation (or the Blip, depending where you come from).

Speaking to Empire, McFeely explained how the sheer amount of storytelling that needed to be done in Infinity War nearly pushed the Decimation into Avengers: Endgame. “We had so much story in those early drafts of Infinity War that, if anything, we thought we maybe shouldn’t do the Snap until the end of act one of Endgame,” he said.

It would have been a brave move but also undoubtedly split the sequel into two distinct halves. Instead, Thanos’ big snap set the scene for the epic Endgame and also gave fans that agonising one-year wait.

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