Joss Whedon on Why Hulk's Best Scene Was Cut from AGE OF ULTRON
Apparently, the Hulk was supposed to have one of the best scenes in the Marvel cinematic universe as a whole in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unfortunately, it never made it into the final version of the story.
I love how the Hulk was portrayed in this film. He had some spectacular, badass scenes. I especially liked the relationship that he had with Black Widow. It’s hard to imagine anything more awesome than what we saw of him on the big screen.
In an interview with Birth. Movies. Death. the director talked about the scene, and they called it “THE fist-pumping moment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” When asked why the scene didn’t make it from the script onto the big screen, he said,
“I don’t talk about it specifically because I said to Marvel, ‘You can use this in another movie! Hold on to that!’”
As for why that scene didn’t make into Age of Ultron he said,
"Sometimes what seems like a moment turns out to be a move. That turned out to be a move.
“It’s a great gag, but I couldn’t justify it. We were building a lot of the final battle around it, and it was killing us. Even when we were shooting. We had to stutter-step everything else, and eventually in post I convinced them we need to jettison this concept. I knew I could write a conclusion for Bruce and Natasha that I thought would be much better storytelling, and would be a real moment.”
It’s a comfort to know that one day we may see the scene in question play out in the MCU. The fact that it is the “fist-pumping” moment in the entire cinematic universe says something, so hopefully Marvel has a place for it later on. Maybe in Infinity War?
Whedon's willingness to cut it out of the film tells us how much discipline he has when developing these stories and making sure that they flow right. He could have easily forced the scene in there but decided to stay with the integrity of the story. That gives me even more respect for this filmmaker, and I hope the other filmmakers working with the Marvel universe follow his example.
Whedon did have some battles with Marvel over things that he wanted to include Age of Ultron, but it doesn't sound like this was one of them. I also don't think this has to do anything with the Hulk turning Grey, which was the original plan when he was under the spell of Scarlet Witch.