Quite possibly the biggest spoiler we could have for Avengers: Endgame is in this post, so DO NOT CLICK if you haven’t seen it.
First, some spoiler space.
Did you know that Star Trek: Voyager’s final episode was also called “Endgame”?
It was not as good.
As if you didn’t weep enough when Tony sacrificed himself at the end of Avengers: Endgame, a newly unearthed deleted scene will literally suck all of the tears right out of your face. That sentence was distressing, but you should prepare to feel distressed.
On Friday, USA Today released the deleted scene in question, which shows all of the Avengers gathered on the battlefield following Tony’s death. Hawkeye kneels out of respect, and then so does Black Panther and Captain Marvel, followed by all of his teammates in silent tribute. (The only one who doesn’t is…well, take a look.)
https://twitter.com/usatodaylife/status/1154787642736893953
So, with this scene so primed to get fans bawling, why did the Russo bros take it out of the final cut? Apparently, it’s because a better, more moving scene already serves that purpose.
“It’s a beautiful scene with moving performances, but we filmed it prior to Tony Stark’s funeral,” the Russo bros told USA Today via email. “The funeral scene ultimately became a more resonant and emotional reflection on Tony’s death for us.”
sad indeed, but Hollywood can bring anything back to life![.](//s04.flagcounter.com/mini/Jkzv/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_FFFFFF/flags_0/" width="1"/>)
But they can’t restore a soul.
Watched this without sound as I am at work, but even then it was powerful.
OK.
No lie.
Going to need a moment.
Kato
Sad to see that they were affraid to be connected to the “take a knee” movement.
I think this is a better scene than the funeral. The timing and individual characterization of the act of kneeling is gorgeous. Clint is more collapsing than kneeling. It’s T’Challa who shifts the moment into more of a ritual kneel, which totally makes sense, and the characters move into copying him in a carefully observed progression of greater or lesser comfort with ritual behavior. (Scott is sincere but totally out of his cultural depth; Steve isn’t 100% on board with veneratio rather than just plain grief.)
And we get an actual resolving Gamora shot.
Perfect. I wonder if earlier poster was on to something about fear of “take a knee”.
Aaawww that is so sad :/
They should have left it in. The funeral scene isn’t more moving. It’s grief without tears.
It almost seems spontaneous too, acting-wise. T’Challa does it after he glances back at Clint.
I, too, wish they had left it in (though I liked the funeral scene, too, I would have liked to get them both). As said by others, it’s just so powerful and moving. Argh. I thought I was finally getting over it, but apparently not.
I can see why they didn’t include it. It wouldn’t have meshed with the film. It doesn’t make much sense, for many of those characters, to do that.
I have to agree with @11 Magnus.
I am glad they left it out, as I don’t think it fit the flow of the movie.
Great scene.
Still angry that there was no commemoration of the Black Widow’s sacrifice in the movie, but.
Nope. Glad they cut it. The whole of this Stark worship never rang true to me.
Stark needed an Irish wake, not the sappy crap we got in the movie.
Natasha is the one who should’ve gotten all this because she is the one who kept the home fires burning the whole time.
Not trying to start a flame war, merely my opinion.
They should have kept this and given the funeral to Natasha
Have you guys actually seen the scene or are you taking about the description of it? I don’t see any video on USA Today’s page, just a description of the scene.
They were right to cut it. It’s too melodramatic. It pushes the battle-sequence too far over the top, heading toward camp. Also, Tony Stark’s character was not that saint like to get that ‘bend the knee reverence’. Lot’s of people had a lot of mixed emotions about him and this scene just doesn’t seem to fit his character. Besides his character’s story was never about winning over the whole team, his was always about personal redemption. The funeral works far better to share the right emotional resonance with the audience. Plus we just finished a whole bunch of giant battlefield-wide all the Avengers emotional gut-punches throughout the entire battle. Adding one more at this point without a respite for the audience is likely one too many.
YMMV
OF course they cut this scene. It would have cost them too much money with the racists in America who would have been shrieking like demons about “kneeling”. No it wasn’t about that. So? Those nut jobs are too stupid to care.
Tony Stark was an annoying asshole who talked too much. My biggest reaction to his death was “maybe now he’ll finally shut up”.
The last thing Stark needs is an even more drawn out and melodramatic mourning scene.
@6, first off, being afraid to be connected with, and not wanting to diminish something’s validity, are vastly different things, if that was even a consideration. Mostly, the scene doesn’t flow right and the cut to the funeral was a better choice IMHO.
Still wish the funeral wasn’t just another Tony-Centric thing, as it would have been much more fitting for Natasha and Vision’s sacrifices. Hell, they could have put three wreathes into the lake with something specific in the middle for Nat and Vis’ too. could still have lingered on Tony’s, but with a proper send off for them as well. Wanda’s comments to Clint were nice though.
@20. Bert: ” Mostly, the scene doesn’t flow right and the cut to the funeral was a better choice IMHO.”
I literally don’t get what this means. It’s a battlefield moment that fells more genuine as a fatigued response than the stagy shot of everyone left in each MCU group spread out across the lawn, but separated in cliques.
You did say “in my opinion,” but some are ignoring the real feeling in the deleted scene, esp. that it starts with Hawkeye who’s already lost his closest friend.
Yes, but Hawkeye never got along that well with Tony. I can see him honoring Tony’s sacrifice and reacting to the loss of a teammate, but not having the same level of grief as when Nat died.
I also personally found the funeral scene and the panning shot less stagy than the battlefield kneeling scene.
I think the scene is just a little too cheesy/melodramatic, and the flow of the movie works better without it.
@22. lady: Hawkeye also hated the taunting he got from Peitro and considered shooting him in the back during Ultron. There was a (funny) deleted scene where Clint covers his mouth and nose to make sure he’s dead. But he grieved nevertheless.
If you’re thinking Civil War, Tony and Steve had some irreconcilable differences, which here didn’t stop Cap from an exhausted sink to his knee.
@19, Stark will never shut up as long as the Marvel movies continue on Earth. RDJ may be gone, but Stark’s legacy will live on. Remember, even dead he’s the hero…
Honestly, I get that I’m in the minority here, but I found it cheesy and overdone and I’m glad they cut it – all I could think about was Mulan and Return of the King. I found the funeral scene to be much more moving. (And yesssss about Natasha and Vision getting a short shrift…).
That said, I wonder if all the adoration/focus on Iron Man isn’t in some ways a meta-statement as – even though it’s not technically the first one – Iron Man is pretty much what kickstarted the whole MCU.
It is a bit meta, but at the same time, it’s also in-universe, because he was the first modern hero in the MCU.