We’ve already seen the alternate opening/closing framing device for Avengers Assemble, but Joss Whedon was much more ruthless when it came to snipping out scenes and entire subplots from the movie. Now, with the arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One, we get a look at some other bits and pieces that never made it to the final cut. Including, Hiddlestoners will be happy to see, some extra Loki. Let’s kick off with one of the longer subplots sliced out, a mini-narrative with Ashley Johnson’s unnamed waitress and Enver Gjokai’s young cop. Bear in mind that all the scenes have basic animation and rough effects.
Next up is the Loki material, mostly an extension of one of his chats with Alexis Denisof (yes, that’s really him under all those prosthetics)’s The Other about the merits of ruling or destroying humanity.
Then we have some smaller elements – Chris Evans’ Captain America saving a family from one of the nasty Chitauri and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow hiding from a raging Hulk earlier in the movie.
Finally, to finish things up, a look at how the Shawarma scene was put together, and would’ve stayed a secret were it not for Robert Downey Jr’s big gob at the movie's LA press junket.
Moving back in Avengers history, we also have the deleted, original ending for** Iron Man 2**, in which Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash makes the fight a little more personal for Tony by threatening Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow)’s life. It’s an interesting peek at how the film came to be what it is, and you can see why director Jon Favreau decided to go another way with the big finale.
The Phase One box set is out now.