As Avengers: Endgame gears up for its home video release, Marvel is building hype by churning out behind the scenes featurettes and deleted scenes that fill in a few of the movie’s blanks. In fact, the latest excised clip answers one of the largest questions Endgame left open-ended: what happened to Gamora?
We’ve already covered the larger meaning behind the scene, which finds Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, et. al taking a knee in honor of Tony Stark, who made the ultimate sacrifice to stop a time-traveling Thanos. Yet, it’s the quick glimpse of the 2014 version of Gamora that has the Internet in an uproar.
See, Tony was able to stop the past version of the Mad Titan by utilizing the power of the six Infinity Stones, “snapping” away the villain and his army and killing himself in the process. Considering a 2014 version of Gamora, who at the time had still not met the Guardians of the Galaxy, was among his horde, it was unknown if she was dusted, too, or survived thanks to a mid-battle change of heart. Since the time-appropriate take on the character was killed by her father in last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, a displaced version of her past self is likely the only way we’ll get to see her in the future of the MCU.
Now, due to this clip, we know that the earlier incarnation of Zoe Saldana’s alien assassin managed to survive, but didn’t stick around long enough to mourn her fallen ally. As with most deleted scenes though, the canonicity of the situation is up in the air, and we still don’t know if she’ll return in a future Marvel Studios movie. According to Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo, it’ll be up for writer-director James Gunn to decide in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. This may be one of the reasons why the scene was cut in the first place, as not to force Gunn’s hand into writing a story he’s not interested in telling.
However, since Gamora’s fate is looming on most fans’ minds (and the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame teased her possible return), it would be silly to write off any future appearances in the MCU. Odds are we’ll learn for certain what happened to the daughter of Thanos when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 starts production sometime next year.