19 Deleted Scenes That Will Blow Superhero Fans Away

Your average megabudget superhero production shoots way more footage than we will ever see, and most of the unused footage ends up on the cutting room floor for a reason. Often, though, scenes are cut which may have added something to the movie in terms of plot; other scenes reveal things we didn't know about a character or are just plain funny. Here are 20 deleted scenes that any fan of the superhero genre will appreciate.

Many of Iron Man's early scenes serve the function of introducing us to Tony Stark's approach to life, such as when he hilariously coerces best pal James "Rhodey" Rhodes into getting drunk on sake while en route to a fateful weapons demonstration on his private plane. As shot, the scene was originally much longer—and perhaps told us a little more than we needed to know.

As a drunken conversation drags on between Stark and Rhodey, the latter suddenly becomes aware that the flight attendants have essentially transformed into strippers, and it's heavily implied that they're there for more than just dancing. Also, once the plane lands, we get a very odd—yet expertly shot—sequence of a military unit demonstrating marching maneuvers. The first sequence is amusing, the second simply atmospheric,  yet still interesting. Nevertheless, they would have absolutely killed the pacing of the movie had they remained.

There's a scene midway through The Avengers where Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) confesses that he attempted suicide in an effort to rid the world of the Hulk—"I put a bullet in my mouth," he says, "and the other guy spit it out." We never got to see this—but we almost did. 

Before the decision was made to present 2008's The Incredible Hulk as a "requel," i.e., a combination reboot/loose sequel to Ang Lee's 2003 film Hulk, nearly 70 minutes of footage was cut from the film, most of it rehashing the origin story that Lee's movie had already told. Included in this footage was an alternate opening in which Banner travels to the Arctic to kill himself in the exact fashion which he would later describe to his fellow Avengers. 

Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor was, to put it politely, the least-loved part of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Eisenberg's twitchy, idiosyncratic interpretation of the character was puzzling to fans, and he was given little motivation beyond hating Superman for reasons that aren't quite clear. There is, however, a deleted scene that just may have helped explain his destructive nature.

In the scene, titled "Communion" on the DVD and Blu-Ray extras, a military unit comes upon Luthor in the presence of a giant, demonic creature which appears to be creating or otherwise manipulating "Mother Boxes"—familiar to fans as devices which can access the Source, the single underlying energy of all that exists. Luthor appears deeply affected by the encounter with the being, whom fans speculated may be Steppenwolf—which appeared to be confirmed when the character showed up as the villain of Justice League with a very similar appearance. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming gave fans of the web-slinger plenty to be excited about, and many were utterly beside themselves when the character of Aaron Davis—who, in the comics, is the uncle of Miles Morales, a character who takes up the Spider-Man mantle after Peter Parker's death in an alternate universe—makes casual mention of a nephew who lives in the area. This implies heavily that the Miles Morales Spider-Man could indeed exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After getting his hand webbed to his car in a parking garage by Spidey, Davis tries to cajole a passerby into helping him out, then regretfully calls his nephew to cancel their plans—calling the youngster by his first name. It's easy to see how the short sequence doesn't quite fit anywhere in the film, but it would have been a gigantic thrill for fans of Miles.

Many fans feel Batman Forever to be a somewhat underrated entry in the original film series, with Val Kilmer making a perfectly serviceable Bruce Wayne. The first of two Joel Schumacher-directed entries (preceding the universally reviled Batman and Robin), Forever saw a distinct shift in tone, possessing a more comedic tone than Tim Burton's previous two films—which this cut scene illustrates nicely.

On his way to investigate a crime scene, the Dark Knight stumbles into a garishly colored barbershop (in Schumacher's Gotham, everything is garishly colored). A perfectly-timed (and ridiculous) one-liner from one of the stylists prompts mocking laughter from all of the staff and patrons, all of whom must be aware that this is a man who regularly beats the crap out of vicious criminals with his bare hands.

X-Men: First Class revitalized the X-franchise by telling a story set in the early days of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, the future Magneto, allowing for the recasting of several key characters and the introduction of ones we hadn't previously seen. In one memorable sequence, Xavier and Lehnsherr are scouring the globe in search of other mutants to counter the growing forces of the villainous Sebastian Shaw. During the scene in the strip club, where the pair are attempting to recruit Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), there are a few brief shots showing Xavier demonstrating his abilities for Angel in a manner that's hilarious for everybody but Lehnsherr. 

The airport brawl from Captain America: Civil War is one of the most impressive action sequences in the entire superhero genre, and its fifteen-plus minutes seem to be over in five thanks to incredibly brisk pacing and whip-crack editing. Among the shots dropped from the final cut, this is one that definitely had to go—as cool as it is, audiences might have had an issue with Rhodey (as War Machine) who seems to actually be trying to kill Captain America.

Cap avoids almost-certain death thanks to a little help from Bucky (of course). In the final cut, Rhodey becomes the only casualty of the brawl, rendered paralyzed after accidentally being shot down by the Vision; it's safe to say his fate would have carried a little less emotional impact if we'd just seen him try to murder one of the the most beloved characters in the MCU, and the title character of the film we're watching.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it's revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by Hydra, which has orchestrated a series of events that result in Steve Rogers becoming a wanted fugitive. Before Hydra is revealed, however, one of its highest-ranking men on the inside—the traitorous Jasper Sitwell—has a message for Maria Hill, one of Cap's closest allies, in this deleted clip.

The scene provided another awesome moment for Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez), one of few characters to appear in multiple MCU films, two DVD film shorts ("The Consultant" and "Item 47"), and several episodes of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Unfortunately, this instance of treacherous badassery didn't make the final cut.

Ant-Man's Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) may have continued the MCU's troubling trend of villains that are basically evil versions of the heroes, but Stoll brought a heaping dose of charisma and psychotic intensity to the role that made Cross a more memorable character than he perhaps had a right to be. This deleted scene would have given Cross more screen time in High-Powered Corporate Suit mode, but ultimately took the focus off of his single-minded obsession with the military applications for Hank Pym's shrinking tech—which is unfortunate, because it also contained a pretty cool Easter egg.

In the scene (accompanied by commentary from director Peyton Reed and star Paul Rudd), Cross shows his potential buyers shrunken landfills and shipping crates (and also, for some reason, some kind of bionic eye), demonstrating other potential applications for the technology. But of note is the tattoo on the neck of one of the buyers, which is not a '96 Olympics logo (as Rudd would have us believe), but the symbol of the terrorist organization Ten Rings—implying that Iron Man nemesis the Mandarin is actually out there and is not in fact just a bumbling British actor who is really good at accents.