10 More Disturbing Scenes Cut From Comic Book Movies
2. Thanos Decimated Xandar To Get First Stone During A Destructive Opening 45-Minutes - Infinity War
As Avengers: Infinity War gets underway, viewers are dropped right into the middle of the aftermath of Thanos' assault on the Asgardians' ship.
Before snapping Loki's neck and whooping both Thor and Hulk's asses in space, though, the 'Mad Titan' had actually already gotten his hands on the Power Stone, seizing this Infinity Stone from Xandar by force.
And while this no doubt chilling moment of destruction didn't ultimately make it into the finished first chapter of this Infinity Saga-ending pair of Avengers pictures, there were actually original plans to showcase Thanos' destruction of Xandar in the film.
Co-writer Christopher Markus and director Joe Russo would both confirm that a version of the decimation of the planet was written for the film. However, the fact this moment eventually served the same purpose as the moment on Knowhere did later in the movie meant things would have ended up feeling a bit repetitive.
So, the team "decided to cut it from the script. And...start in the middle of the story."
According to Thanos creator Jim Starlin (at 9:35 in the video above), though, the crew apparently got as far as shooting an entire "45 minutes" of the films' big bad getting the stone on Xandar.
They simply didn't want to spend the money on the effects or for Infinity War to be as long as Avengers: Endgame, so this frightening display of power was left to our imaginations instead.