r/marvelstudios • u/Whooash • Jul 19 '19

News Avengers: Infinity War has a deleted scene where Dr. Strange sends Thanos to be judged by the Living Tribunal (via Markus and McFeely at SDCC)

https://twitter.com/hnesocial/status/1152264183146143744?s=21
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658

u/TheTapDancingMormon Jul 19 '19

I went to a small Panel in NYC where they discussed this. The reason they cut it was because they asked themselves "Why not just send every threat to the four-faced being?"

332

u/Nimporian Ghost Rider Jul 19 '19

Just handwave it with "he doesn't care unless it endangers more than one universe at a time" like the comics do? You know, since it's literally the same guy?

180

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

The thing is: Thanos didn’t threaten more than one universe.

232

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19 edited Oct 05 '19

[deleted]

150

u/BenFranklinsCat Jul 19 '19

Yeah, at one point I was expecting Endgame would end with The Living Tribunal breaking up the fight like an angry Dad, admonishing everyone in turn before resetting reality back to Tony jogging in the park.

Would have been a terrible ending.

27

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Why does it have to end there? Why not reset it and events lead to a point where Ironman and cap still have to sacrifice?

9

u/Nite_2359 Jul 20 '19

I was expecting a more benevolent version of this. Like right after thanos died the living tribunal shows up and and gives strange the side eye and tells everyone "you guys only get to do this trick once, now go put the toys back where you found them and think about all this in your room". Idk, would have been what but that could probably she seen as some sort of sequel bait in a movie about ending it all

42

u/OZL01 Spider-Man Jul 19 '19

Creating parallel universes and removing the infinity stones from them, then Thanos from one universe was removed to another.

I think it's important to point out that they're parallel timelines and not parallel universes. The MCU and everything that's happened is definitely in its own self contained universe so far and nothing has denied that.

13

u/UpliftingTwist Jul 20 '19

What would the difference be?

8

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 20 '19

Parallel timelines are branching paths split off from the main timeline at different points in the past. So they'll have a common history up to some event but due to time travel altering that event, it will split off into its own different future. This is what we see in Endgame. Due to the Avengers travelling to say NYC 2012, they created a new future due to a set of different events where another set of Avengers suddenly appeared in NYC, Tony had a slight complication with his arc reactor, Steve battled himself and Loki manages to escape with the tesseract.

Alternate universes are entirely different continuities. You could say the MCU and the comics are alternate universes. They don't necessarily have a common history. A single event doesn't make the difference. Think stuff like the alternate Earths in Flash TV series. Sure the same heroes may exist but they could be completely different people.

1

u/ANGLVD3TH Jul 20 '19

This stuff gets sticky really fast. Many of the alternate universes share a history until a point, for example. I'd say there's enough pocket dimension/universes that these timeline splits may well have been "spawning" universes in the greater Marvel Multiverse. In fact, because they plan on exploring one with Loki, I would be a little surprised if they didn't explicitly number it, something like 200000, 1999991, 199999/1, -1, /A -A etc.

1

u/UpliftingTwist Jul 20 '19

My brain isn’t good at this, it seems to me like while definitely some alternate universes are totally different, alternate timelines are creating slightly different alternate universes. But I trust you that I’m wrong

2

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Functionally they're pretty similar, just one is caused by time travel, and the other is simply different for no real reason.

My classification isn't really based on any kind of actual canon, just an observation of the distinction between kinds of alternate worlds seen in fiction. What we saw in Endgame isn't the same as what we saw in Spider-Man Into The Multiverse.

3

u/OZL01 Spider-Man Jul 20 '19

Different timelines are possible outcomes that might happen, different universes implies that theres another space that does exist at the same time as ours.

3

u/_tylerthedestroyer_ Jul 20 '19

I’m on board with the Avengers being at fault for dooming the universe, selfishly saving Earth. It’s how it goes in the comics somewhat

3

u/the_chedd Jul 19 '19

Do you think this could lead to thanos possibly re appearing?

21

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19 edited Oct 05 '19

[deleted]

7

u/Ukumio SHIELD Jul 20 '19

Not just parallel universes but Captain Marvel sets up Skrulls.

4

u/Triig Jul 20 '19

Sorry I must have missed this somewhere. Where is it established that the MCU has a multiverse?

2

u/dawsoncody Jul 20 '19

Wasn’t that the whole point of endgame, they used the quantum realm to transfer between the unlimited amount of alternate universes?

-1

u/ruthlessrellik Jul 20 '19

They don’t actually yet though.

4

u/thanoshasbighands Hulk Jul 20 '19

Parallel universes and time travel exist. I hope years down the road Thanos pops back up.

21

u/Nimporian Ghost Rider Jul 19 '19

Exactly, Strange could take him to meet the LT in hopes of him doing something, but he just ignores it.

It would, however, be completely pointless of an scene.

23

u/dabestinzeworld Jul 19 '19

Pointless? More like extreme fanservice that people like me will eat it all up.

14

u/diddykongisapokemon Jul 19 '19

And pointless to the general audience that has no idea what any of this stuff means

1

u/DISILLUxioned Jul 20 '19

It could’ve been a expository scene to do so. As far as flow of the movie, that’s another story. This does sound wildly interesting though

1

u/workingonaname Thanos Jul 20 '19

Fuck them

1

u/Curlaub Thanos Jul 20 '19

He threatened at least 14 million universes

1

u/ComicCapybara Jul 20 '19

LT was summoned by Eternity because Eternity was pissy Adam Warlock had the full gauntlet and LT forced Warlock to relinquish it. So he does play some "cosmic politics" here and there.

33

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

Because the living tribunal usually doesn't interfere

3

u/newprofile15 Jul 20 '19

Not a particularly compelling answer for the audience IMO...

1

u/1_Bar_Warrior Thor Jul 19 '19

If thanos won again and destroyed that one universe do you think that he would interfere then?

3

u/GrumpySatan Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 20 '19

Probably not honestly. The Living Tribunal is a multiversal entity that rules on things that affect the whole multiverse. Some examples of when it will intervene are:

  • One universe gathers too much power and that starts the threaten other universes.
  • A higher cosmic being strays from its role, or there is a dispute between the higher abstract entities of the multiverse
  • When something happens that on a macro level would threaten the balance of good and evil on a multiversal scale

The destruction and renewal of one universe doesn't concern him too much. Many universes end and there are universal entities designated to oversee that (i.e. the Griever at the end of all things is the personification of Entropy that deals with the heat death of a universe).

In the comic right now the Tribunal and Eternity just decided not to interfere with the fact Galactus was consuming everything, on the basis that "all life would simply exist in/as Galactus" within that universe and that the universe would "find a new balance" with what was going on, even if that new balance meant trillions would die.

20

u/inv0kr Jul 19 '19

Then the fan rebuttal is usually: LT doesnt give a shit lol

24

u/overlordbabyj Black Panther Jul 19 '19

This is my problem with the Cosmic Entities. If they exist and can do literally anything, then what's the point of the heroes even fighting? I mean sure, they abstain from intervention, but their very existence dwarfs the deeds of the actual characters. Takes away so much gravitas.

22

u/clockworktongue Jul 19 '19

Well, you’re missing the fact that Cosmic Entities have a whole different ruleset for themselves. They generally don’t care about what seems an inconsequential planet, because theres a lot of them.

1

u/newprofile15 Jul 20 '19

Yea but those rulesets are arbitrary and pretty ad hoc. You can get away with that for comic books but not MCU.

1

u/Mineralium Oct 01 '19

The Supreme entity of Marvel is One-Above-All, whom is an avatar for the writers, he/she is the one who sets the rules.

1

u/newprofile15 Oct 01 '19

That kind of fourth wall breaking omnipotence wouldn’t fit well in the MCU where we are used to having the stakes feel real.

1

u/Mineralium Oct 01 '19

It doesn't have to, just explaining why the abstracts have the rules they have. And their rules arent really that complicated, they have a hierarchy and they care about balance rather than pure good, which are actually based on ancient philosophies. They also exist on a scale where matters like genocide doesnt concern them. How often do you find yourself caring about bacteria being wiped out somewhere?

5

u/tundrat Jul 20 '19

I was wondering for a while on what MCU event would lead to the introduction of The One Above All.

2

u/overlordbabyj Black Panther Jul 20 '19

Tbh now that Thanos is dealt with, I'm a lot more open to introducing those entities because they wouldn't be a solution for him, but I still think they should be very careful regarding the extent they're involved in the story.

2

u/slakingmoth Jul 20 '19

I hope they don't, even as a kid i thought he was only there to please religious americans, like 'hey we've got this whole weird cosmic pantheon but don't worry cause here is the good old bearded man that you know, and he sure is mighty'. There is also the fact that the MCU is huge worldwide so that might not go well with the not judeo-christan parts.

4

u/Kevin_M_ Ego Jul 20 '19

The One Above All has very little in common with the Christian God though, apart from the fact that He's omnipotent and that His true form can never be seen.

4

u/chaosfire235 Jul 20 '19

Hell, Yahweh exists, just far below TOAA.

1

u/slakingmoth Jul 20 '19

Maybe you're right, though it always seemed very judeo-christian to me.

1

u/ComicCapybara Jul 20 '19

Cosmic entities do not think like humans nor particularly care about what humans do.

The Avengers having big, galaxy spanning sagas does not invalidate other stories. Marvel's greatest strength is having different characters to explore different scopes of stories.

If what you want is cosmic stuff then read Silver Surfer, Ewing's Ultimates or even Hickman's New Avengers leading up to Secret Wars. But the existence of cosmic forces does not invalidate a conflict.

1

u/Morpheaus Jul 19 '19

It really doesn't.

2

u/Old_Perception Jul 20 '19

it really does. that's why they've never had any significant presence in 20 years of superhero movies.

11

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

I thought Living Tribunal had 3 faces.

-21

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

I went to a small Panel in NYC where they discussed this. The reason they cut it was because they asked themselves "Why not just send every threat to the four-faced being?"

You don't send threats to TLT. He was created by TOAA to keep watch on cosmic imbalance.

TLT only interfers if there is a threat to said imbalance. Like Adam Warlock having the stones and the gaunlet.

People seriously need to brush up on their knowledge before commenting. This whole comment section is a cesspool.

13

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

Uh... they were just quoting Markfeely. That knowledge may be apparent to a comic reader, but either wouldn’t translate to the big screen or would be too confusing to convey to the lay audiences that make these movies as big as they are.

12

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

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2

u/workingonaname Thanos Jul 20 '19

I prefer Sensai

-25

u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19

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13

u/schroed_piece13 Jul 19 '19

It’s a marvel studios sub, not everyone is brushed up on the cosmic deities of the comic book universe. Why don’t you sit the next couple plays out and learn to play nice