Why Was The Emotional Scene Of Superheroes Kneeling To Fallen Tony Stark Deleted From Avengers: Endgame?

Avengers: Endgame cut a emotional scene from the movie, find out why!

Avengers: Endgame was a roller coaster ride, as Infinity War left us with dread and a hollow feeling as the dusting came completely out of the left field. Thor stabbed Thanos through the chest, and it seemed like he was going to kill Thanos as he promised on the Asgardian ship. But that didn’t happen; the snap happened and the heroic moment for Thor, turned into a triumphant moment for Thanos.

Then in Endgame we got the same thing as the Avengers made their way to an uninhabited planet and Thor chopped Thanos’ head off, that moment came 19 minutes and three seconds within Endgames’ first act, and it was a roller coaster ride. First, it was the chopped head of Thanos rolling on the floor, which made us happy, and then there was the empty feeling of success as the movie switched to five years later.

The reason the movie was a roller coaster ride was because the film was a culmination of 11 years of MCU. They needed to hit every character beat, they needed to give every character an arc, and an end, some characters needed to find themselves, some needed to hold on to the past, some were just lost in the chaos, some never found their way back, and some were just in peace with themselves. Natasha was a killer before she met 'Barton' who helped her become a good person, and now we see Nat trying to get Barton, who is just killing criminals. Throughout the whole 11 years saga two characters were never in sync and always at war with each other, and they are 'Banner' and Hulk but in Endgame they found a way to work together as Professor Hulk and on the other side of the spectrum was the arrogant and charming prince of Asgard who went from a dashing, powerful hero to a fat depressed drunk.

The movie didn’t let up till the end as Thor almost dying to Captain lifting the hammer, from Captain standing against a whole army to Falcon saying, “On your left.” To the final showdown between Thanos and Iron Man, as the fight raged on Thanos takes control of the gauntlet and says, “I am inevitable,” but there are no stones on the gauntlet, then the scene cuts to Iron Man who stole all the gems and now is going to use them. Tony says, “and I am Iron Man,” it was a triumphant moment as anyone who saw the movie in the theatre will tell you. But as soon as the scene ends, we see the price Tony paid to kill the army of Thanos, his life. As he lays there dying, 'Peter' comes up and tells Tony they’ve won and they did it, he is crying because he sees there is no saving Tony. Then, 'Pepper' approaches and checks his vitals then kisses him and tells Tony they will ok, and Tony lets go.

It was a heavy scene and one which made people hyperventilate and cry uncontrollably but as it turns out that wasn’t the end of the scene. As Pepper kisses Tony’s cheek, we cut to the barn where Tony’s funeral was being held in the theatrical cut, but now we can see in a recently released deleted footage there was more to the scene. In the deleted scene we can see the Avengers surrounding Tony at the site of his death, it is only sinking in the leader of the Avengers is no more and Barton gets on his knees to pay his respects. As the camera pans we see all the Avengers taking a knee, we can also see Gamora for a brief moment, but this is a new Gamora, so she doesn’t carry any emotions towards the Guardians or the Avengers, so she slips away. Then we see Doctor Strange, as you can see in his eyes, he knew this was coming, and he is broken about it as he takes a knee. We get a wide shot of all the new and OG Avengers kneeling, and the scene ends.

Watch: The emotional deleted scene from Avengers: Endgame

The extra minute of scene would’ve been great in the theatrical release or even the re-release, but that was not the case as we got a shortened version of the scene during the theatrical release. So, why was the scene cut from the movie when it would’ve carried even more emotional punch for the fans?

The obvious answer is time, the final movie clocked in at more than three hours, and frankly, no one would mind another three hours with the Avengers, but they needed to tighten the run time a little so some needed to be left on the cutting room floor. The optimist in all of us is telling us time constraint was the reason for the cutting of the scene, but the cynic in us is telling a very different story. The cynic part is telling us the PC nature of the scene, is what resulted in it from not making out of the editor’s room. We just saw a whole female superhero squad battle an alien army, and then you are going to show the same powerful women kneeling in front of a man? You know as well as we do, there would’ve been someone on twitter who would complain of women kneeling even if it is to pay respect.

Also Read: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness: Top 5 Facts About The New Villain 'Nightmare'

Maybe it was not the case, and the real reason for the way the scene ended was because they still needed to put in a funeral, a sequence where Steve goes back in time to put back the stones and then the passing of the shield along with a fitting end to Captain. Let’s hope it was the case for dropping the scene, which would’ve been awesome to see on the big screen, but we just need to be happy watching it at home in Blu-ray, not the same thing, but still awesome none-the-less.