MCU Abbreviated Cut - Phase One

The Challenge:

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!

Some Love and Defense for "The Incredible Hulk"

It's an unfortunate truth, one that you can't really deny when you think about it: The Incredible Hulk feels like the "adopted stepchild" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

(Note: If you happen to be an adopted stepchild, your family loves you!)

There's nothing inherently wrong with the film. It's a good flick, and the Hulk came to life in a believable way. So why is it often left out of our minds when we think of CA: TFA, Thor, and the Iron Man Trilogy surrounding the Avengers?

I think there are a few main reasons. Some are more obvious than others, so let's get into those.

1. Ed Norton was recast

This is the most obvious reason that it feels so removed from The Avengers. Other movies have had characters recast, but this movie had the star of the film recast. And, to top it off, they completely changed how they animated the Hulk as well. So not only did Bruce Banner look completely different, the Hulk was completely different as well.

(Sidenote: I was originally upset when I heard they were changing the method of animating the Hulk. I liked TIH version and thought, "why fix what's not broken?" When I saw the Avengers, I accepted it because it looked so good. But it wasn't until re-watching TIH after seeing The Avengers that I realized that TIH looks silly in hindsight compared to The Avengers version.)

2. No supporting Hulk characters appear in The Avengers

From the Iron Man films, you've got Stark, Potts, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson.

From Thor, you've got Thor, Loki, Coulson, and Selvig. Jane Foster appears in a photo and is mentioned.

Captain America didn't have any of his supporting cast, but that was because he's supposed to feel out of place, and obviously the 70 years would kill a lot of them. Even so, there was a deleted scene where he is going through files of his old acquaintances and sees that Peggy Carter is still alive.

Still, without any of his cast back, you've still got the Stark connection. Cap knew Howard and Tony is Howard's son, so Stark and Cap sort of already have this odd relationship established, and Stark is comparing him to how Howard described him.

Aside from cast, you've got the Tesseract playing a major role in The Avengers, after being introduced and focused on in CA:TFA.

With the Hulk, however, no supporting cast is seen or mentioned. General Ross isn't around. Betty Ross isn't acknowledged (if you include Cap's deleted scene, she is the only love interest left out). Samuel Sterns/The Leader and Dr. Leonard Samson/Doc Samson are both left behind and get no more development. Rick Jones, who was teased in TIH has yet to be seen on screen.

Now, if you're trying to find a fault with this argument, you will say that Stark appeared in TIH in the last scene, and he was teased throughout the film with his sonic cannons, and SHIELD was teased throughout as well, and the super soldier serum was a direct reference to Captain America, but those things didn't have any great focus, and were so small and unnoticed by so many that it's just not enough.

Fun Fact: The university that Betty Ross works at featured in TIH, Culver University, is the same university that Jane Foster comes from in Thor. Most people miss that connection.

3. The 2003 Hulk film

When The Incredible Hulk came out in 2008, it was officially a "reboot" of the 2003 film. However, the studios recognized that many people had already seen the 2003 film, so they didn't feel the need to re-tell the origin (aside from a brief montage at the beginning of the film). They started a few years into his life as the Hulk. This made it feel more like an unofficial sequel than a reboot, even though Marvel tried distancing itself from the previous movie.

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe developed, and many people mentioned The Incredible Hulk as one of the first films, lots of questions were asked like "wasn't there another Hulk movie before that?" which led into explaining about reboots, studios, blah blah blah. Point is, people still mentally connect the 2008 film with the 2003 film because many of the characters are the same. Bruce Banner/Hulk, Betty Ross, General Ross, the vague concept of "the military." It feels much more connected to that than The Avengers.

4.The Bill Bixby TV Series

In contrast of trying to distance itself from the 2003 film, the 2008 film embraces the old TV series from the 70s like a long lost son, and tries to reach out to viewers of that generation by referencing the show throughout the whole movie. I didn't watch much of the show, but even I caught plenty of them.

Bill Bixby's post-humous cameo, Lou Ferrigno's appearance and voicing of Hulk (also similar to the 2003 film), the musical theme of the show playing as part of the score, the use of the name "David Banner," the machine/experiment that caused the initial transformation, the green eyes signaling the start of the transformation. This movie tries so hard to connect back to the old TV shows, and the other movies in the MCU don't put nearly as much effort into doing the same for this movie.

5. The lack of a sequel

Iron Man just completed his trilogy. Thor has a sequel coming out later this year. Captain America will have his sequel next year, and Black Widow will be accompanying him, in her third film of the franchise.

After that, Guardians of the Galaxy starts the wave of new heroes and characters coming to the universe. That is, of course, aside from the TV show that starts this fall.

Then, in 2015, we get the Avengers sequel, and the Ant-Man starts Phase 3.

Where's the Hulk in all of this? He's got no sequel on the way, and the new TV show that was being planned for him has gone nowhere. It's assumed that he'll return for Avengers 2, but the focus has definitely been taken off of him and is raining down on the other heroes.

In Conclusion

The Incredible Hulk may not tie in as nicely to The Avengers as the rest of the MCU films do, but it's still a really good movie. You believe Banner's genius, you get to see him fight Abomination, you get a funny Stan Lee cameo, and its just fun to watch. I hate Liv Tyler's performance, Doc Samson is a complete wasted, and Sterns gets cheated out of becoming the Leader, but overall its a really good movie. And if you haven't seen it yet, or haven't seen it since The Avengers, give it a chance.

And don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

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