The Marvel Cinematic Universe is officially back into a normal rhythm as it prepares for the imminent release of Phase 4 coming as early as Thanksgiving weekend. Even so, there are still plenty of opportunities to take a look back at the past twelve years through the eyes of those who made the MCU what it is today.
All summer long through the shutdown, Marvel’s top names have been very active on social media sharing their favorite images and videos from many different Infinity Saga movies, whether they made it into the final cut or not. Another of these images has just been shared by one of Marvel’s top visual artists, giving a look into an alternate take of one of last year's most monumental moments.
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In a new post on Instagram, Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding shared a rough piece of key frame art centered around an alternate cut of the Vormir scene from Avengers: Endgame. The scene shows Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton having to fight Thanos and his army as he arrives for the Soul Stone, which was filmed, but never made it into the movie.
Meinerding’s full post and caption can be seen below:
"This is a keyframe rough of Black Widow and Hawkeye on Vormir and Thanos arrives. This moment was not in the movie, but sometimes we’re asked to try and paint something up to help the filmmakers visualize and evaluate the moment."
This scene was a turning point in Avengers: Endgame as Natasha gave her life to obtain the orange gem, but the scene was played out quite differently in the final cut. Instead of holding off aliens and being involved in a big action scene, it turned into an emotional battle between two dear friends who were both willing to sacrifice themselves to bring half the universe back to life.
Scenes like this usually go through a handful of different versions before any final decisions are made on what ends up in the final cut of the movie. Killing one of the original six heroes was obviously a big choice, especially in a film that was already such a huge culmination for the MCU, and it turned out to be one of the biggest emotional hits of the entire franchise when it debuted in theaters in 2019.
Thankfully, both characters are far from done in the MCU. Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow has completed filming and will arrive in theaters in May 2021, while Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye series is getting set to go into production before the end of this year in preparation for a 2022 release on Disney+.
