“Avengers: Endgame” brought a 22-film story of the Avengers and Marvel Cinematic Universe to a turning point, culminating with the end of the villain Thanos ... or so we thought.
What’s going on: A deleted scene from “Avengers: Endgame” could offer a way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to bring back Thanos in the future, assuming the deleted scene remains canon.
- The deleted scene shows Hulk and the Ancient One talking in New York in 2012. In the movie, Hulk receives the Time Stone from the Ancient One after she teaches Hulk about the results of messing with the timeline.
The scene: Here’s how the scene goes down, according to We Got This Covered:
“The unused footage is taken from the exchange between Hulk and the Ancient One in 2012 New York. In an apparent contradiction of developments from 2016’s “Doctor Strange,” Tilda Swinton’s character explains that she’s been able to see into the future beyond the moment of her death, and is even able to clarify exactly how the snap will work.
“As it turns out, the people who turned to dust at the end of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ weren’t so much killed as they were willed out of existence, and while death is final, the snap is not. This key distinction explains how Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could resurrect the dusted victims in ‘Endgame’ but were unable to bring back Black Widow or anyone else who died a regular death.”
What it means: The scene proves that Thanos could still be alive. The Snap isn’t final. So his death at the end of “Endgame” — the result of Iron Man snapping his fingers while wearing the Infinity Gauntlet — means he could still return.