Avengers's Lost Gem Deleted Scene That Could Have Made Steve Even Better
The 2012 blockbuster Avengers changed the movie industry as we know it, bringing together a connected franchise in an unprecedented way.
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe think of it as a nearly perfect movie, but one deleted scene could have upped the emotional stakes.
In the four years preceding Avengers, we slowly meet each member of the group. The first few scenes of Avengers reintroduce them individually before ultimately bringing them together for the final battle.
When we first meet Steve Rogers – aka Captain America – he's all business. Director Nick Fury, who is the brains behind the Avengers' team-up, reminds the World Security Council that war isn't won with sentiment; "It's won with soldiers."
The scene cuts to the ultimate soldier in Rogers hitting a punching bag as we hear the effects of PTSD ringing through his ears.
It's a nice way to reintroduce Cap, showing him off as the perfect soldier that Fury needs to win the war against Loki. But there was a deleted scene that would have been far more sentimental.
The scene features Rogers watching a 1940s newsreel going through the adventures of Captain America during World War II.
He peruses S.H.I.E.L.D. files of his friends and fellow soldiers of the era, the ones he'd lost in time. We recognize all of the characters from Captain America: The First Avengers, released just a year before.
After somberly collecting himself, he heads to a diner. He smiles at a pretty waitress – the same woman he saves in the climax.
An older man says, "Ask for her number, you moron." It was Stan Lee in his inevitable cameo.
The introduction works well to remind the audience how out of place Steve is in modern times. He's alone, confused, and decades removed from everyone he's ever cared about.
The deleted scene brings The First Avenger and Avengers together fluidly, something the final release lacked. However, it might have felt out of place in Avengers.
The movie was meant to be a massive ensemble film, not focusing on one character too much. If we delve too deeply into Steve's psyche and his place in 2012, he would have become the main character.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ended up perfectly explaining Steve's out-of-place mentality in a movie dedicated to him. It allowed the character to be fully explored in his way, rather than trying to fit another plot point into Avengers, a movie already filled to the brim with storylines.