Early this morning, audiences around the world were treated to one of the most anticipated trailers in recent memory: the debut look at Joe and Anthony Russo's The Avengers: Infinity War. It features the first ever publically-released footage from the upcoming blockbuster, and has generated incredible buzz for a film already carrying a lot of heat. Excitement is at a real high -- but anyone who attended D23 Expo or San Diego Comic-Con this summer can tell you that there is even more to get excited about that hasn't been widely shown yet.
Back in July, Marvel Studios showcased a special Avengers: Infinity War reel at both of the aforementioned conventions, and while it and the trailer do have many common scenes, there are some moments that were kept out of the official release. These bits may wind up in future bits of marketing in the coming months, but below and on the next few pages we've highlighted 11 key moments from the convention footage that aren't in the new trailer.
The Guardians rescue Thor
While the official trailer for Avengers: Infinity War begins with the shot of a red planet and a devastated Tony Stark, the footage that was shown this past summer opened very differently. Suggesting some seriously violent happenings between the end of Thor: Ragnarok and The Avengers: Infinity War, the D23/SDCC material opened with Thor floating out in space and crashing into the windshield of the Milano -- much to the surprise of the Guardians of the Galaxy sitting inside. We do see a bit of this intro at the very end of the new trailer, as the God of Thunder's, "Who the hell are you guys?" comes shortly after Mantis wakes him up -- but there is a lot more to the interaction that hasn't been widely shared just yet.
Thor discovers something very wrong
Thor has a rather violent reaction when he's awoken by the Guardians of the Galaxy, but the footage shown at this summer's conventions suggested that peace is made quickly between them. Based on the context provided, it seems that the Guardians are able to calm the Asgardian king down, and together they travel to an agreed upon destination. Unfortunately, what they find at said destination isn't at all what they expected. In material not shown in the trailer, Thor and Rocket look through portholes of the Milano at a vista we cannot see, leading the former to say, "Something is very wrong" (you kind of get a taste of it with that early shot of Thor in a spaceship). We have no idea what they were looking at, or why it is wrong, but we'll just have to wait a bit longer for the answer apparently.
Scarlet Witch dodges a fiery blast
Scarlet Witch gets her fair share of moments in the official trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, but there was one standout scene featuring the character in the D23/San Diego Comic-Con footage that wasn't ultimately included in the first bit of widely released material. While there wasn't any context provided, the movie apparently features an action sequence in a cityscape where the Sokovian hero finds herself in peril. Under attack, she stands in front of a burning tanker truck, and then bends backwards to avoid a blast that winds up causing aforementioned truck to explode. We currently do not know who is shooting at Scarlet Witch, or why, and sadly the trailer didn't give us any more clues.
The circular ship comes crashing down
The Avengers: Infinity War trailer serves as a nice showcase for the strange, circular ship that has parked itself floating above New York City (notably first noticed by Peter Parker via his Spider Sense). However, the footage that was shown at San Diego Comic-Con and the D23 Expo featured it doing a lot more. Rather than just hanging in the air, the whole thing was shown crashing down -- and it wasn't clear if it was because of it being destroyed or being piloted. Either way, one thing that we've definitely learned from all of the footage from the movie that we've seen so far is that the circular ship is seriously bad news.
What Tony sees as The Avengers' one advantage against Thanos
In case you haven't realized it yet, Thanos poses a rather serious threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only is he naturally incredibly powerful, but his mission in The Avengers: Infinity War is to assemble a device that will give him the powers of a god. Because of this, the movie's titular team is truly at a serious disadvantage when it comes to directly squaring off against him. There is, however, one edge that Tony Stark feels that his team has against the Mad Titan. As he explains in the convention footage, "We have one advantage: he's coming to us. So that's what we'll use." One can only imagine at this point how that will wind up factoring into Iron Man's larger plans for the war.
Thor getting his head squeezed
While Thanos' ultimate goal is to attain the powers of a god by assembling the Infinity Gauntlet, it's important to note that the guy is still crazy powerful even without it. There is definitely evidence of this in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, with the giant alien laying Iron Man out with a single punch, but the convention material went a step beyond that. Specifically, there's a moment where Thanos actually full-on palms Thor's head as though it were a basketball, causing the Asgardian to scream out in pain. If the intergalactic tyrant can do that to the second strongest Avenger, one can only imagine what he could do to the rest of them.
Nebula draws her sword
As we noted in another feature today, Nebula is one of the notable Marvel Cinematic Universe characters who didn't get any clips included in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer. This is certainly not only because of the movie's Earth-centric action, but also because she parted ways with the Guardians of the Galaxy in this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That being said, we do know that she will be showing up in the movie, as confirmed by the D23 Expo/San Diego Comic-Con material. While she was only featured briefly, Nebula did make an appearance in the reel, drawing a sword in preparation for battle.
Spider-Man apologizing to Tony
As has been discussed here, there seem to be many devastating moments featured in The Avengers: Infinity War -- but arguably the most devastating material from the D23 Expo/Comic-Con footage was not cut into the debut trailer. While not very long, the clip featured an unmasked Spider-Man sitting on a battlefield with Tony Stark saying simple, "I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry." It is made very clear that these two have suffered some kind of awful loss, and whether or not it is actually Peter's fault, his guilt seems to be very real. It would not be surprising at all if we saw this scene show up in a future trailer, because it's excellent.
Star-Lord running on Doctor Strange's discs
Fans will probably have to wait until the second trailer for Avengers: Infinity War to see more intermingling between the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy -- but sadly that means that general audiences will have to wait extra time to see one of the best moments from the convention footage. During a battle sequence, Doctor Strange and Star-Lord find themselves teaming up as a pair, and utilizing their skills cooperatively, with the former generating a set of floating platforms, and the latter using them to get leverage on the enemy and fire his twin blasters. It's the exact kind of cool character team-up moment that we hope to see a ton of in Avengers: Infinity War, and hopefully it won't be too long until you see this one.
Gamora in The Collector's museum
Thanos' pursuit of all the Infinity Stones is guaranteed to bring him to some very explicit locations -- one of which is the museum owned and operated by The Collector. The post-credits scene in Thor: The Dark World revealed it as the location of the Aether a.k.a. the red Reality Stone, and either Thanos or one of his minions will have to go there to pick it up. We don't get to see anything related to this play out in the new trailer, but audiences at San Diego Comic-Con and/or the D23 Expo did. Specifically, there was a shot of Gamora walking around the museum, which didn't exactly look like it was in top shape (even compared to the state it was in after the Power Stone blast it experienced in Guardians of the Galaxy). It was a quick moment, but has us very excited to return to Knowhere.
Thanos throws a planet/moon
If you read any coverage of the D23 Expo or San Diego Comic-Con Avengers: Infinity War footage this summer, then you certainly know about this moment. Featured at the end of the reel, the audiences at the two events witnessed Thanos using the power of just two Infinity Stones to literally pull a planet/moon out of the sky -- instantly transforming it into a hail storm of giant meteors raining to the ground. It was a true showstopper moment and an unbelievable site to behold. Sadly, it was kept out of the first official trailer for the film, but at the very least you'll all get to see it when the Marvel blockbuster hits theaters on May 4, 2018.
