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Despite their release months ago, it's still hard to believe what Marvel Studios pulled off with Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. The Russo Brothers expertly balanced the massive cast of characters, moving each Avengers' story forward, while also putting special attention on the OG members of the team. Writer Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were tasked with writing the behemoth blockbusters, which went through plenty of drafts and variations. One of which included the survival of a beloved dusted character.
Thanos ultimately won the day with Avengers: Infinity War, assembling the Infinity Stones from across the MCU and snapping his fingers. Fans watched in horrors as countless characters turned to dust, including Elizabeth Olsen's grieving Scarlet Witch. But a previous version of Endgame saw Wanda surviving, and even a brief appearance by Vision's corpse. As Markus recently told CinemaBlend in an exclusive interview:
We had a moment where [Scarlet Witch] looked at his body in a drawer, and it was mainly just maudlin. It was also frankly from a draft where she hadn’t been blipped. Because we had a draft where she survived and was a character in Endgame. The problem was she’d gotten so much mileage and story in the first movie that she didn’t really have anything that equaled that in the second. So it was a step down.
Plot twist. It looks like Scarlet Witch could have been apart of Endgame and its iconic time heist. But since her character was given so much story in Infinity War, she ultimately ended up dusted.
Stephen McFeely's comments come from his recent conversation with CinemaBlend's Adam Holmes. The story for the last two Avengers movies changed rapidly throughout its development, writing and editing process. While the finished products were well-crafted adventures through the MCU, it was still made by real people, who had to make choices on the fly, including Scarlet Witch's fate.
Related: Paul Bettany’s Big Scene With Scarlet Witch In Infinity War Wasn’t Easy To Film
Avengers: Infinity War was always going to end with Thanos' snap, which would see half of all life turned to dust. But which characters survived this apocalyptic event changed a bit. The original Avengers were always going to make it through, but the other characters changed quite a bit. Scarlet Witch briefly would have made it into the follow-up movie, but she ultimately perished over the body of her dead lover.
While Wanda didn't have much screen time in Avengers: Endgame, her story still moved forward. Scarlet Witch was present in the epic final battle, even engaging Thanos in solo combat, and nearly killing the Mad Titan. She was also featured in the all-female moment, and got to mourn Vision during Tony's lakeside funeral.
Wanda's story will continue into Phase Four, notable in her upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision and through a role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I should be interesting to see how those projects were influenced by the comics, which you can get your hands on here. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next binge watch.
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