5 Superhero Movie Deleted Scenes That Need To Be Released

Sometimes, it isn't just what ends up on screen that gets people talking about a movie. In other cases, the material that got axed also becomes a massive topic of conversation. Some of this material is even among the most expensive deleted scenes of all time. How could big pricey set pieces that never saw the light of day not inspire discussions? Likewise, these deleted scenes generate conversation because they suggest that radically different versions of a movie were in consideration.

Often, audiences can see these deleted scenes (usually on physical media releases) and judge for themselves whether or not all the bruhaha around their removal was worth it. However, many deleted scenes never get released to the public, including some removed segments from major superhero movies. There's five particularly intriguing deleted scenes that absolutely demand to be seen by the wider moviegoing world. Some scenes fascinate because they could've solved major flaws with the superhero films they belonged to. Others present compelling eschewed cast members that deserve to have their work seen. 

There's a whole mess of reasons for why these superhero movie deleted scenes should no longer gather dust. Rather, they need to finally be unleashed so that audiences can decide for themselves if cutting these segments was the right call.

Shailene Woodley had nothing short of an astonishing 2014 in movie theaters. In March, she anchored the box office hit "Divergent," which launched a new franchise. A few months later, she anchored "The Fault in Our Stars," a sleeper hit that ushered in an age of young-adult novel adaptations focused on sickly and dying teens. Believe it or not, though, this seminal year could've been even bigger. Originally, Woodley was supposed to appear in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" as Mary Jane Watson, presumably setting her up as Peter Parker/Spider-Man's (Andrew Garfield) new girlfriend in a potential sequel.

Woodley shot scenes for the movie, with set photos even suggesting she would've shared a sequence with Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy. While "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" had (too many) new characters, Woodley's MJ wasn't one of them. The real reason Shailene Woodley got cut from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" came down to the film's creative team feeling, in post-production, that the feature had enough to juggle without throwing in a potential new love interest. Woodley was devastated by this development given how much she loved Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson, but understood the impetus behind her removal.

Years later, though, it'd be cool to see what this version of Mary Jane would've looked like. How would Woodley compare to Kirsten Dunst and Zendaya's takes on the character? C'mon Sony, let Woodley's performance see the light of day.

Famous superheroes cameoing in comic book movies that aren't strictly their's isn't an unusual concept nowadays. However, one proposed cameo in this vein for "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" was incredibly unusual and reflected the chaotic status the DC Extended Universe endured in its final years. Initially, Michael Keaton's Batman was slated to appear after presumably becoming the saga's de facto Batman after the events of "The Flash."  Further release date shuffling transpired, resulting in "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" temporarily slated to come out before "The Flash."

This necessitated Ben Affleck stepping in during reshoots to play Batman instead, since Keaton's presence would no longer make sense in the DCEU timeline. When this Aquaman adventure was further postponed to once again come out after "The Flash," this reshot cameo proved redundant. Things got so chaotic that even Jason Momoa didn't know which Batman would appear in "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." In the end, neither incarnation of the Dark Knight appeared, but the footage of both is lurking somewhere in a Warner Bros. vault.

It'd be interesting to see both iterations, if only for the surreal sight of seeing Momoa's Aquaman interacting with Keaton's Batman. Plus, the differences in dialogue and acting choices between each would accentuate the unique flourishes Keaton and Affleck brought to the role.

Gil Birmingham is a character actor whose presence in any film is welcome. He and Jeff Bridges have great chemistry in "Hell or High Water," for example, while his dry voice delivery in "Rango" informs some of that movie's funniest moments. TV viewers, meanwhile, know him for the Taylor Sheridan shows "Yellowstone" and "Marshals." Birmingham's esteemed career even almost intersected with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Long before his voice work in the alternate universe Marvel program "X-Men '97," Birmingham was quietly revealed to be part of the main "Eternals" cast with the reveal of its teaser poster.

For those wondering if his presence was a subtle Easter egg you missed in "Eternals," alas, no. Gil Birmingham didn't appear at all in "Eternals." By the time the second "Eternals" poster dropped in August 2021, Birmingham was absent and was similarly gone from the final film. There's been no word, either from Birmingham, Marvel Studios brass, or even leaked merchandise, on what role he would've played. Surely an actor of his stature, though, had something notable to do originally.

Releasing Birmingham's deleted scenes would be a welcome chance to see what plans this major tentpole had for the esteemed performer. If Marvel Studios ever did release those sequences, simultaneously releasing the cut "Eternals" material involving Becky Lynch and Jashaun St. John also wouldn't hurt.

In the finale of 2023's "The Flash," Kara Zor-El/Supergirl (Sasha Calle) is given the treatment her fans have always wanted to see: getting endlessly, violently killed by General Zod. In this time-travel/multiverse adventure, the climax revolves around dueling versions of Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) rewinding time to help save Supergirl. Instead, the audience witnesses her perishing again and again. That's the last moviegoers see of Calle's Supergirl, a bizarre farewell crystallizing this movie's waste of such a talented performer and solid Supergirl costume.

While Sasha Calle has openly shared that R-rated moments were cut from Supergirl's silo action scene in "The Flash," that's not the only Supergirl footage left on the cutting room floor. Initially, "The Flash" ended with Sasha Calle's Supergirl (alongside Michael Keaton's Batman) greeting Barry Allen on some courthouse steps. A tiny snippet of this sequence was used in "The Flash" marketing materials, but otherwise, this ending has been kept under lock and key at Warner Bros.

A fuller picture of Calle's Supergirl, though, deserves to be seen, especially given how badly "The Flash" concluded her appearance. Let audiences see Supergirl's original final scene, which must be an improvement over the final product. Anything would be.

The Serpent Society in "Captain America: Brave New World" were a hollow shell of their original incarnations in both the comics and the film's first cut. Initially, Rosa Salazar and Seth Rollins would've played Serpent Society members Diamondback and King Cobra, respectively, and were set to play adversaries to Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie). In the final cut, though, these actors were gone as were the bright colors associated with the team's comic book iteration. Giancarlo Esposito now played the group's leader, with the Serpent Society reimagined as a grounded tactical squad dressed in black military garbs.

"Brave New World" director Julius Onah has claimed that the initial Serpent Society was too outlandish and that the creative team opted to retool them into something more tangible during reshoots. That's an absolutely insane statement, though, given that this movie was adapting a group called the Serpent Society. If you're not going to realize them with the same aesthetic as the live-action "Speed Racer" movie, then what are we even doing here? 

Marvel Studios should at least mitigate some of these insulting choices by letting the original Serpent Society scenes from "Brave New World" slither out into the world. After all, Salazar's villain got a McDonalds toy, it's not like the existence of these foes is a secret. Now let's see what this original Serpent Society looked like as flesh-and-blood people.