Avengers Extras to Include 30 Minutes of Deleted Scenes
The Avengers hasn’t officially premiered yet — save for a few early screenings — but director Joss Whedon is already discussing some of the extras we can expect with the eventual DVD and Blu-ray release. As he revealed in previous interviews, Whedon ended up filming quite a few scenes, with his first cut weighing in at a hefty 3 hours in length. Back in March, Whedon revealed that he managed to cut that time down to 2 hours and 15 minutes. Admittedly, it would be a bit of a pipe dream to expect all forty five minutes of deleted footage to be included as extras, but in a recent interview with Collider, Whedon stated his intent to include at least half an hour worth. By industry standards, that’s a whole hell of a lot.
I realize with so many characters involved, fans would want to ensure every character sees their fair share of screen time, but longer doesn’t necessarily mean better. Joss has written his fair share of comic arcs over the years, and if there’s anyone I would entrust with a film of this magnitude, he’d probably make my shortlist. Fans who’ve attended the early screenings and critics alike seem to approve of his final cut, so perhaps removing the excess footage ultimately improved the film. Either way, we’ll get to see most of it at some point. The Avengers hits theaters May 4th.