11 Movie Scenes Only Shot For The Trailer
9. Guardians Of The Galaxy
In the first act of Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord, Gamora, Groot, and Rocket are arrested by the Nova Corps on Xander. After they get their mugshots, the quartet are brought to The Kyln, where they team up with Drax.
Not only is the lineup sequence entertaining, it was the perfect opportunity to dole out exposition on each Guardians, without coming across as forced. The scene is so concise at breaking down our ensemble, it was implemented into the movie's teaser.
There was just one major problem - the team haven't met Drax by the time they are arrested, so it wouldn't make sense for him to appear in the line-up. Because it would look out of place if every Guardian except Drax was introduced in the promotions, director, James Gunn, had to do something drastic. To get around this, Gunn shot a scene of Drax in the line-up with the others, having no intention of using it for the final cut.
Several other elements from the trailer were changed in this scene (Groot's arms growing back, Thanos being name-dropped, etc.) but Drax's absence is the most obvious.