12 Missing Trailer Scenes From Superhero Movies That Would Have Been Awesome

Movie trailers are a very delicate art form, especially in the ever-popular and increasingly scrutinized genre of superhero movies. Audiences are meant to be drawn in and teased but nowadays, trailers are being dissected frame by frame. Yet, since these trailers aren’t telling the whole story, some of their most memorable moments don’t even make it into the final cut.

The people who make these trailers often have little to do with the movies themselves. Therefore, it’s a surprisingly frequent occurrence for some of the most eye-catching trailer moments to mysteriously vanish from the final movie. The realization that the epic quip from the end of the trailer didn’t make the film is only a momentary sting, but the exclusion of some of these scenes can sometimes speak to something a far greater missing element from the film.

Punchy dialogue, action shots and hilarious jokes are all known to be routinely cut from trailers. But any time we see a character we recognize from the comics come to life for the first time in a trailer, it’s hard to reconcile with the film when those moments don’t even make it onto the finished product.

Often, these awesome trailer moments were cut for a good reason. Still, even without knowing the context, it’s always worth wondering ‘what could have been’ when faced with some unseen moments of trailer glory...

The Scene: Some additional dialogue from The Mandarin as he utters “Mr. Stark, today... is the first day... of what's left of your life" and "do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death?" (1:10 and 1:40)

Why It Would Have Been Awesome: Before the largely-maligned twist, Ben Kingsley’s turn as The Mandarin was pitch-perfect. His videos were terrifying and his rhetoric made him come across like a very real terrorist.

Never had a threat felt more real to an MCU hero, but it wasn’t just the threat of death that was notable, it was the thinking behind it. The trailer made it out like The Mandarin was having a larger, philosophical game with Iron Man, when in reality, he was just speaking generally to the American people. A more personal conflict would undoubtably have been an interesting avenue to explore, especially since the trailers suggested it.

A few more menacing lines of dialogue wouldn’t have saved The Mandarin from being Trevor Slattery, but it might have prolonged his stay just a bit, and cemented his initial legacy even further.