Avengers: Endgame & Infinity War Almost Had TWO Giant Monster Fights

It seems the writers of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame were really, really keen on getting huge set-pieces involving slithering monsters in their movies. And to think, in the end we got neither.

As part of the celebration of the anniversaries of both film's releases, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely shared some more insight into the scenes that we almost got to see and revealed more specifics on the "massive eel monster" sequence that was cut from Endgame.

The writers revealed that there had been consideration and a draft that included the Stone-hunting team of Widow, Hawkeye, War Machine and Nebula all arriving on the planet when it was still under water. Morag is actually an oceanic planet, which was flooded thanks to a global warming catastrophe. But every 300 years, the floods wane and the temple built to guard the Orb is uncovered.

There really was only one opportunity to get the Orb.

Anyway, that sequence would have included a sea monster - a "massive sea eel" as otherwise classified by Anthony Russo elsewhere - and a major action sequence, but no emotional resonance. But then who needs that when there's a big old eel?!

And this wasn't even the first time a giant monster battle on another planet was planned for an Avengers movie. Because it was also almost part of Infinity War - only in place of an eel was a giant snake. Or several in fact.

Thanks to the artwork revealed in Avengers: Endgame – The Art of the Movie, we got a look at an abandoned sequence from Infinity War which saw Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot head out on their side missionto find Stormbreaker. In the early drafts, Stormbreaker already existed and was a legendary weapon that Thor needed to go and find, rather than it being forged specially for him by Eitri.

The sequence would have seen them head to the realm of Jormungand where they'd find the skeleton of The World Serpent, killed by Thor's ancestors and with Stormbreaker buried in its skull.

“This was going to be the introduction of Stormbreaker. It was forged way back when, and one of Thor’s ancestors had wielded it to destroy the World Serpent… We wanted to create something that was interesting and different but still feel like you could tell that it’s buried in something. There was also an idea of how after they got Stormbreaker, as they were escaping, the children of the World Serpents would attack them, and they would have to fight their way out.”

So a nightmarish scene showing the three would-be Avengers fighting off multiple giant snake babies? It sounds like a BLAST. Ultimately, both it and the eel sequence seem to have been cut for running time, sadly. Amazing to think both could be climactic set-pieces in their own films.

The producer saddled with costing the projects probably sighed a relief at the easing on their effects budget though...