With such a huge franchise as the MCU, it truly has to be a nightmare to create sufficient movie trailers. On the one hand, the editors have to be extremely careful to not give away too many spoilers for the fans who are always ready to fish them out, but they also have to create something that would get the audience hyped enough to go watch the movie in theaters. In fact, it’s almost ceremonious the way MCU movie trailers are examined for even the smallest crumbs of information. When, for instance, the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dropped earlier this year, each shot was dissected, leading to investigations about the Illuminati, potential cameos, and even Zombie Wanda.
Another MCU custom is the way in which trailers often intentionally mislead fans. This is where the editors truly shine, giving us exciting footage while also keeping us in the dark. Indeed, as any MCU fan can attest, there have been many moments throughout the franchise during which the trailer promised one thing, but the movie showed us another. Here’s a look at 8 major moments in the MCU that were edited out of their respective movie trailers.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Black Panther – Killmonger On The Throne
Marvel Studios
Disney has been trying to replicate Killmonger’s villainy ever since Black Panther released in 2018. Although each villain in the MCU has had a proper background story to ‘justify’ their wrongdoings, Killmonger is one of the few that you somehow end up feeling for and possibly even siding with. The trailer for the highly anticipated movie had to set up the arch enemy, but as expected, they omitted some important parts to keep us on our toes. As we saw someone’s silhouette confidently walking towards the throne, we naturally assumed it to be T’Challa. Only after watching the movie did we realize that it was actually Killmonger taking over Wakanda and becoming the new king.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Doctor Strange – Mirror Dimension
Introducing a new character into the MCU back in 2016 was indeed a major event. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, impatiently waiting to watch Doctor Strange on the big screens. Imagine how pressured the editors must have felt to create the perfect tool to draw the audiences in, while simultaneously not revealing too much of the storyline. Although it wouldn’t be a major spoiler, in the trailer, Strange was actually shown being thrown into the Mirror Dimension upon his first meeting with The Ancient One. In reality, Strange had to work really hard in the movie to earn the opportunity of being introduced to it.
6 Ant-Man – Yellowjacket Instead Of Falcon
Ant-Man was yet another new superhero that we couldn’t wait to see on the big screens back in 2015. The trailer smoothly set up Scott Lang as a laid-back, hilarious guy who just happened to become a superhero. The teasers did a great job of showing both the humor and the action arriving in one package to us. But, in typical Marvel fashion, they edited one of the trailer scenes to avoid spoiling Falcon’s cameo. Falcon was first introduced in Captain America: Winter Soldier. While the trailer showed us Ant-Man fighting Yellowjacket on the roof, the scene turned out to have Falcon instead. When Scott decided to steal something from the Avengers’ compounds, Falcon detected his presence and tried stopping him, since they didn’t know each other back then.
5 Spider-Man: Far From Home – Mysterio
Marvel Studios / Sony
Considering how Spider-Man: Far From Home was a direct follow-up of the commercially successful Endgame, everyone was hyped to see how Peter was going to deal with Tony’s death. When the trailer came out, it was more than obvious that Peter’s grief was going to be an important part of the movie, but we also got introduced to a new character: Mysterio. The trailer was edited in a way to make us think that Mysterio was a new superhero from another dimension who came to Earth to help Peter deal with a new threat. But, if you’ve watched the movie, you already know that Mysterio turned out to not only be the antagonist, but was very much from the main MCU timeline as well (a former Stark Industries employee, no less).
4 Avengers: Infinity War – Thanos’ Infinity Stones
The expectations for Avengers: Infinity War were incredibly high. What else to expect from all the superheroes coming together to fight the bad guys to save half of the universe? Every single detail in the movie was important as ever for the overall storyline. To put together pieces of the film to not spoil anything for the general audience, but to also highlight some of the scenes, had to be the biggest hassle ever for any editor. We see Captain America in the trailer almost pulling the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos’ hand while some of the Infinity Stones are still missing from it. We all know that, in the movie, it was a life and death situation, given that, in this scene, Thanos had already collected all the Infinity Stones, minus the Time Stone.
3 Captain America: Civil War – Removing Spider-Man
Call it just another Avengers movie or by its actual title Captain America: Civil War, everyone was pumped to watch the two opposing sides clash. Per usual, people were looking for every possible clue in the released trailer, even though they knew that if the MCU wanted to hide something, you bet they would. This time, they went as far as moving War Machine more to the left side so that they would avoid spoiling Spider-Man’s first ever appearance in the MCU. Therefore, when Tom Holland actually showed up in the movie, everyone would fall off their seats.
2 Thor: Ragnarok – Thor’s Eyes
Thor: Ragnarok, directed by the legendary Taika Waititi, remains a major commercial success and fans favorite to this day. The color, aesthetics, characters’ arcs, and the storyline are all perfectly aligned with each other. But, as with every MCU movie, there were slight differences between the trailer and the actual movie. One of the major ones concerned Thor’s eyes. Thor’s sister Hela jabs his eye out in the movie to depict his vulnerability, but in the trailer we see Thor with both of his eyes intact. It’s understandable that they would want to leave it hidden.
1 Spider-Man: No Way Home — Spider-Man Team-Up
Sony Pictures
Last, but not least, it’s time for perhaps the top major moment that has ever gotten edited out of an MCU trailer. When the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home came out, the hype was already pretty much over the roof due to the return of many beloved villains from all the Spider-Men franchise. The tension was immense given how everyone naturally expected to see all the Spider-Men in the movie, but was at the same time hesitant to set their hopes high. Especially since Andrew Garfield vehemently denied his involvement throughout the months leading up to the film’s release. Well, the movie did not disappoint. Although the trailer kept us in the dark, the movie did indeed give us all the Spider-Men teaming up against the franchise’ antagonists. The biggest clue: while the Spider-Men were edited out, Lizard was seen being punched by a seemingly invisible force.
