Following an unprecedented run at the ticket booth – to the tune of $2 billion-plus worldwide – Avengers: Infinity War is gearing up for a similarly epoch-making home release, but unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be without Thanos’ backstory.
Contrary to Collider’s report yesterday – which denoted that 30 minutes of additional footage revolving around the Mad Titan and his origin will be featured on the forthcoming Blu-ray release – the likelihood that we’ll be getting an extended version of Avengers: Infinity War isn’t looking too good. And the film’s VFX supervisor, Matt Aitken, might’ve just hammered home the final nail in the coffin.
During a sit-down with Screen Rant in May of this year, Aitken was asked about his work on the Titan scenes. While he admitted that “there had been a longer sequence, it ultimately ended up being boiled down.”
“Originally there had early on been a longer sequence that we were going to be involved in that was a longer flashback to the original Titan, which explained in more depth Thanos’ motivations and what’s driving him, but they ended up boiling it down to [what’s in the movie]… It’s essentially telling the same message but in a more concise format, with this more handful of shots.”
Seemingly corroborating Aitken’s remark, earlier today, Jeremy Conrad of MCU Cosmic found that a foreign listing for the Avengers: Infinity War home video release detailing three deleted scenes – Hunt for the Mind Stone, Happy Has a Perspective, and The Guardians Find Their Groove – totaled about six-and-half-minutes in length.
So, although an entire half-hour dedicated to Thanos and his tragic origin would’ve undoubtedly enhanced the struggle to exterminate half of all life in the universe, it’ll never see the light of day. The reason? Well, it simply doesn’t exist.
Regardless, I’m guessing those heartbroken by the fact their physical copy of Avengers: Infinity War won’t showcase too much additional footage will still be picking it up when it drops in mid-August. Not soon enough? Well, you’re in luck, as it’ll be available digitally at the end of the month.