The Avengers movies have always had their money shots i.e. shots featuring all the Avengers together in a single frame encircled by stylistic camera maneuvers. Avengers: Infinity War was said to have one such shot as well, until we saw the movie and realized the said shot wasn’t in in entirely. Now, directors Joe and Anthony Russo finally revealed in a podcast that the scene featuring all Avengers charging towards Thanos and his army in Wakanda was filmed exclusively for the trailers. Speaking to Happy Sad Confused, Anthony Russo mentioned.
That shot… was never in the movie, in the version that you saw… It was never even created for the movie in that version, it was literally created in that version for the trailer.
In retrospect, it really isn’t much of a surprise to see that this shot didn’t make it in the movie. The Russo brothers were very secretive about keeping the movie’s key plot elements a secret, going to such lengths as writing fake scripts and scenes to prevent spoilers from leaking. The directors were also well aware of the level of scrutiny film trailers are subject to these days, with frame-by-frame analysis conducted and stills captured for each individual shot. To that end, they went about creating certain shots exclusively for the trailer, several of which were in the movie’s first teaser.
The brothers resorted to misdirect to throw the audiences off from the Hulk’s true role in the movie by having him partake in the Battle of Wakanda through the trailers. On what influenced their decision of keeping things a secret then, it was no surprise when Joe Russo essentially echoed the aforementioned sentiments.
You have to be very smart about how you cast a trailer, ’cause an audience can watch a trailer and basically tell you what’s gonna happen in the film. At our disposal are lots of different shots that aren’t in the movie, that we can manipulate through CG, to tell a story that we want to tell … specifically for the purpose of the trailer, and not for the film.
Among the many scenes that weren’t in the trailer were of Bruce Banner in Wakanda smiling supposedly at Black Widow who smiles back in return, the Hulkbuster leaping on to Wakandan soil, Thanos’ line of correlating fun with balancing the universe and of course, the money shot which the directors just confirmed as being a trailer exclusive.
What other shots did you miss from trailer to movie? Do you think the Russo Brothers did the right thing by misdirecting audiences or would you rather have had all of the stuff in the trailer in the final movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters now and has already made over $1 billion worldwide.
