In
Avengers: Endgame, The Hulk travels to the Sanctum Sanctorum in 2012 and meets The Ancient One. After a lengthy conversation, she gives him the Time Stone to take back to his own time, but an earlier version of the Marvel Studios movie would have featured a heist in the Sanctum!
During a recent interview to promote the Blu-ray release of
Avengers: Endgame, co-writer Christopher Markus shed some light on that sequence and explained why it was ultimately scrapped.
"At one point, we had a different way of getting to the Time Stone which involved some characters breaking into (Doctor Strange’s) Sanctum Sanctorum and being pursued by all the weird stuff that happens to be trapped inside there," the writer explains.
"It was totally off story and unnecessary and it got cut, but it was fun to write."
That sounds like it had the potential to be awesome, and seeing members of The Avengers dealing with all manner of mystical threats while trying to steal the Time Stone would have been great fun. However, it's easy to see why it was cut, as this could have led to a lot of overly complicated explanations as to why the stone is there (and not in Kamar-Taj) and why Doctor Strange isn't guarding it.
Those scenes with The Ancient One were also expanded with reshoots to further explain time-travel.
Hit the "View List" button to check out some
rarely seen stills from Avengers: Endgame!
Captain America, with Mjolnir in hand, stands ready for the fight of his life against Thanos here. If
Avengers: Endgame really does mark Chris Evans' final MCU appearance, he went out on a high.
"And I...Am...Iron Man!" This was a jaw-dropping moment in the movie, and this gorgeous image shows the impact wielding the powerful Infinity Stones is having on the very human Tony Stark.
Bro Thor bids farewell to Valkyrie during this scene in the movie and heads off into outer space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. However,
Thor: Love and Thunder will bring him back to Earth!
Steve Rogers faces his past self in this sequence and comes face to face with America's Ass in the process. Cap's past self thought he was facing Loki, and ended up being bested after a Bucky mention.
Marvel Studios' Trinity stands tall here as the last line of defence against the Mad Titan. An earlier version of the movie would have seen Thanos arrive with Captain America's decapitated head.
Despite thinking that he had once again bested Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Thanos was shocked to find that he had been outsmarted by Tony Stark and was wearing a Gauntlet minus the Stones.
Thor wields both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker here but is seemingly once again failing to aim for the head! However, he's powering up and attempting to put an end to the villain yet again in this shot.
One of the most jaw-dropping shots in the entire movie, Captain America watches on as Captain Marvel returns to Earth and brings Thanos' ship crashing to the ground after blowing through it.
Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter share a last dance in this shot from the movie's final scene, and, well, if you didn't have a tear in your eye here, we don't know what to say! What a perfect ending.
Tony Stark looks at the remain of his helmet here after that fateful battle with Thanos on Titan, and gets ready to record what he thought would be his final message to his fiancee, Pepper Potts.
Steve Rogers is going to be missed in the MCU, but there's someone ready to take his place: Sam Wilson. At the end of
Avengers: Endgame, he was given the shield and named the new Cap.
Hawkeye says goodbye to Natasha here in what had to be one of this movie's most shocking moments. Despite Black Widow's demise, the character will return in a solo adventure set in 2017.
The Hulk uses the Infinity Gauntlet to bring everyone back from the dead, but badly injures himself in the process. How this will impact the character moving forward now remains to be seen.
There are some glorious shots from the final battle, but the highlight has to be Steve Rogers standing alone against the Mad Titan and his entire army. That's Captain America through and through.