Create an "abbreviated" cut of the Marvel Cinematic universe, keeping all the best moments but watchable in a single sitting - or at least a weekend. Cut up chronology any way you like, but limit the time to 3 hours for each Phase and/or year of television.
My main process for shaving down the runtime is to cut a lot of villain "buildup" moments because, let's face it, it usually doesn't go anywhere, because most of the villains in the MCU are one-and-done. Following that, cutting any abandoned plot point that doesn't go anywhere saves a lot of time (Iron Man 2 has a lot of those because of the lack of continuation into Iron Man 3). Finally, any extensive buildup for characters or drawn out foreshadowing can be left out, because for this cut, we can assume it's fans watching, not a GA who doesn't know who characters are.
So here we go, draft one of my Phase 1 cut - let me know how you would do it!
Captain America: The First Avenger
I'm going to cut out a lot of "skinny Steve" moments because we know he becomes Captain America, so a lot of that is, for this cut, a waste of time. But I want to keep in a little so that we see that Cap spirit even without the body.
I would open in the theater scene, with Cap telling the bully to show respect. Include the alley fight and Bucky's entrance. Then cut all the way to the Stark Expo where Steve decides to enlist again. We don't need to hear about all the other times, just starting here will do. Include the talk with Bucky while Erskine overhears, and Erskine's offer to Steve. From there, we go to boot camp where we only spend a fraction of the time. Again, we know he's going to do it. But we include the introduction of Col. Philips and, more importantly, Peggy Carter. Cut out a lot of the "Steve's a weakling" shots, but include Philips talking to Erskine and my personal favorite moment of the film, the dummy grenade. Keeping the flagpole gag in too will help build the relationship with Peggy and the fact that Steve thinks differently than other men.
Pretty soon I would cut to the operation because, again, we know that's where it's going. So we have the operation, the death of Erskine, and the Heinz Kruger chase and fight. Show Skull with Zola containing the cube, but we don't need to see Skull obtaining it. Cut out the "chorus girl" subplot and go straight to Rogers rescuing the POWs. Maybe a brief snippet of the stage days to explain the costume, but we don't need to see a lot of that. After rescuing the soldiers, show Stark equipping Rogers for future combat, and the Howling Commandos montage, going right into the death of Bucky and the final assault on the Skull and the plane crash. No ending scene in modern times yet
Most of the cuts are from the first two-thirds of the film.
Agent Carter
From the series, show some footage (very trimly cut) of her working with the Howling Commandos, discovering the Red Room, rescuing Fenhoff, fighting Dottie, Fenhoff killing Dooley, and being put in prison with Zola.
The series is actually pretty self-contained, so we don't need a lot of it. More Howard Stark would be nice and certainly some of Jarvis, but the series shouldn't contribute too much to this cut. The short, however, would be nice to include, because that's already very trim, and aside from character points shows as much as clips from the show would.
Ant-Man
As a bonus, we could include the Pym-Carter-Stark exchange from Ant-Man's opening, and the scene of Ant-Man and Wasp in action.
Iron Man
Open with the opening shot of the convoy, but when it explodes, skip the whole casino scene. Cut right to the cave, waking up and speaking with Yinsen, and the "deal" made with Raza's second-in-command. I would cut out most stuff with Raza himself, because he's not actually that important. Skip right to Stark explaining the plan to Yinsen and them starting the breakout. Keep the Yinsen death speech of course and then Stark getting the Hell out of Dodge.
Back in the US, skip the press conference and Stane buildup, and testing of individual suit components (maybe keep a little for the comedy) and focus right on the test flight, and Mark III design. Keep the Stane reveal at the party, the scene with Pepper after Tony's first mission (Are those bullet holes?) and the Iron Monger reveal with Coulson and Pepper, leading to the final fight. No stinger yet.
The Incredible Hulk
The opening montage is gold - keep that in. Cut the subplot with Mr. Blue until it actually becomes important, but show Banner's homemade lab. Show the blood spill in the factory (Stan's first cameo in this cut) immediately followed by the attack by Ross et al. Cut to Betty finding Bruce at Stan's and meeting Sterns, along with Blonsky becoming abomination. Forget most of the helicopter shots and cut right to the Harlem fight. No Stark cameo yet.
Iron Man 2
Cut the opening Stark Expo nonsense. Cut the entire palladium poisoning and not-"demon in a bottle" subplot, and the new element, because none of those plot points are continued in Iron Man 3 (thanks, Shane). Even the Howard Stark subplot can go. Stark's first scene should be in the ring with Happy, introducing Romanoff and showing Pepper becoming CEO. Forget Whiplash's first fight - forget everything at the Grand Prix. Again, this is all about the Howard Stark subplot that Shane Black completely ignored, so it can go. Whiplash's first moment should be Justin Hammer breaking him out of prison, and him and Hammer meeting should be Hammer's first appearance.
Cut Stark meet with Fury at the donut shop and save the "Rushman" as Black Widow reveal for her scene with Happy. Show an argument between Rhodes and Stark ("they're gonna take your suits!") but skip the party. Just show Rhodes taking the suit and getting it weaponized. Cut to Hammer taking the stage at the Stark Expo (we don't need to see Vanko working on the drones much), and the whole fight between the Hammer Drones, Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man, and War Machine, and of course keep Black Widow's best scene in the movie, with Happy in the background.
Finally we get to
The Stingers
First show the scene with Fury in Stark's house. I know this isn't technically correct chronology but it fits nicer. Then show the donut shop scene from Iron Man 2, cut to avoid plot points from that film (poisoning), but revealing Romanoff as Black Widow to Tony. Include the "Southwest Region" line from Fury to lead into A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer, and finally show The Consultant complete with the ending scene from The Incredible Hulk.
Thor
Cut out a lot of crap with Foster, Selvig, and especially Darcy. Focus on Thor.
Show the flashback of the battle against Jotunheim, but cut the coronation scene before the weapons vault. We need the weapons vault fight to lead to Thor leaving with Loki, Sif, and the Warrior's Three. Most of the battle on Jotunheim can stay, including Odin's interference and the subsequent banishment of Thor.
Cut to the "Excalibur" scene and the talk at the diner (we don't need to see Thor get hit, tazed, injected, and hit again), where Thor learns Mjolnir's whereabouts. Skip Jane's back-and-forth and cut to her driving Thor there (sorry, no "I need a horse!). Thor breaks in, keep Coulson, Hawkeye, and Selvig. After he fails, skip the interrogation, skip Loki's scene, cut to Selvig getting him out. From there, cut right to the Warrior's Three arrival (don't need to see Thor and Selvig act like fratboys), the arrival of the Destroyer, and the battle between the five of them. Thor returns to Asgard (cut out as much Jane as possible) and destroys the Bifrost. Then cut straight to the cube (no Heimdall, we don't need to see Jane and Darcy again), being shown to Selvig, and Loki's influence.
The Avengers
Cut out a lot of buildup. We've had five movies, four shorts, and a TV show of buildup. Cut all that filler. Show Loki attacking project PEGASUS to introduce Hill and show Hawkeye being taken. After that, show the scene from Captain America: The First Avenger where Cap wakes up and Fury makes contact. Then cut to Germany, where Cap and Widow attack Loki, and Stark comes in (Cap meets Stark). Keep some of the forest fight, but not too much because we know they aren't going to be enemies. At this point (not the same time as the film), have Coulson call Widow to recruit Banner. Show Fury imprisoning Loki, and Loki's speech to Widow. Keep some of the "Phase 2" banter but not much. Jump quickly to Loki escaping, Coulson dying, and almost immediately to them heading the Manhattan. Keep most of the fight, Thanos, and Shawarma.
Agents of SHIELD
Item 47 doesn't lead anywhere, because we haven't seen those again. If you include it, trim it. The more important coda to Phase 1 is the Pilot of Agents of SHIELD, showing Coulson back from the dead and the beginning of his adventure.
Can that all fit into 3 hours? I have no idea, and I probably won't find out anytime soon. But what do you think of this cut? Was there anything you think should be left out? Anything you thought I should have included? Let me know what you think!
