Two Marvel Studios Legends episodes that sparked fan complaints and were removed from Disney+ have now been readded to the streaming service.
Throughout Phase 4, new MCU projects were typically preceded by Legends episodes which recapped key details and events.
Based on the 17 movies, series, and specials that former the latest chapter of Marvel storytelling, 26 of these five to ten-minute recaps were released.
Generally, these have been ignored by the majority of the fandom, but leading up to a recent Marvel project, two new Legends episodes spawned a viral controversy for spoiling a major twist reveal in advance.
Now that Phase 4 has concluded and Phase 5 is just about to begin with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the two episodes in question have been restored.
Two Spoilery MCU Episodes Restored to Disney+
Marvel Studios has finally re-added The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special-themed episodes of its Legends recap series to Disney+. The two shorts explored the MCU history of Mantis and Drax ahead of their starring role in Marvel Studios' second Special Presentation.
The cause for their removal began when the two episodes dropped on the streamer two days prior to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, spoiling a key reveal from the Special Presentation, leading to them being quickly taken down from the service just days later.
Unfortunately, the "Mantis" episode included a deleted scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where Mantis and Drax discuss her being Peter Quill's sister.
It was believed that Disney+ included the deleted scene to set up The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special's big reveal, which proved to be true.
The Legends episodes notably appear to have returned to Disney+ unchanged, with the spoilery scene still closely highlighted in the last minute of the "Mantis" episode of the two.
Disney+ has been meddling with a number of Marvel Studios' properties as of late, recently having removed several episodes of the documentary series Marvel Studios: Assembled, only to re-add each installment as its own individual special.
How Will Marvel Handle Legends Episodes in Phase 5?
Given that this reveal wasn't only key to the Special Presentation but likely Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it's shocking that this accidental spoiler even fell through the cracks at Marvel Studios at all - given the Hollywood powerhouse's famous spoiler security.
The only explanation is that the Vol. 2 scene had been released many years ago at the time of the movie. Perhaps, when throwing together the recap, the editor was simply unaware that this scene and reveal were absent from the actual release, technically placing it outside of MCU canon until the Holiday Special came along.
While it's unfortunate that a number of fans had this emotional beat of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special spoiled ahead of time, it was great to see how quickly Disney+ responded in removing the episodes and only just now restored them once most audiences have had time to view the special.
This isn't the first time a Marvel Studios property has been edited to avoid a spoiler, with a small change in the She-Hulk finale helping viewers to enjoy the episode just a little bit more.
It will be interesting to see how these Marvel Studios Legends episodes are handled ahead of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and throughout the rest of Phase 5. The studio will undoubtedly be more cautious than ever to ensure no spoilers like this are accidentally revealed in the future.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and the "Mantis" and "Drax" episodes of Marvel Studios Legends are available to stream on Disney+.
