A deleted scene from Avengers: Endgame might prove that a popular theory about the villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) has been true all along.
The clip, which is available to view on streaming service Disney+, is an alternate version of a conversation between Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) featured in the film.
Swinton’s character can be seen telling Hulk that removing an Infinity Stone creates a new timeline. But she then goes on to reveal something that was omitted from the film – that she’s used the Time Stone to see beyond her very own death.
It’s here where she drops the huge revelation that Thanos’s destructive finger-snap, which wiped out half of all existence, didn’t actually kill a single person.
She explains that, rather than kill people, Thanos willed them out of existence, which made their resurrection possible.
While this conveniently explains why Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow – who died trying to bring everyone back – couldn’t be resurrected, it also reveals what could be a future issue for the heroes, namely that Thanos is still alive.
Avengers: Endgame ended with Tony Stark snapping his fingers and wiping out Thanos and his army, much in the same way that Thanos wiped out half of the Avengers.
If all those who were willed out of existence can return in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then Thanos certainly can.
Exactly how the series’s writers could bring him back is a mystery, but perhaps there’ll be another villain looking to enlist the services of the Mad Titan for their future plans.
Either way, it’s probably nice for Marvel bosses to know that they can bring back Thanos should they ever want to.
New reports are predicting that X-Men character Wolverine will appear in the MCU as early as Phase 5, with one recent source stating he could cameo in Black Panther 2.
Avengers: Endgame is available to stream on both Disney+ and NOW TV. Fid our ranking of every character – from worst to best – here.
