One of the more confusing and disconnected scenes in Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron occurred when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) took a dip in a cave spring in order to make sense of the Asgardian's apocalyptic visions. There are quite a few reasons this full scene didn't make the final cut - creative differences, test audiences, and run-time to name a few - but we'll save that discussion for after the video. Things will make much more sense once you watch Hemsworth splash around shirtless in the water, possessed by a mysterious figure; or you can just enjoy the shirtless splashing.
This extended scene is the most recent of the deleted scenes that will be appearing on Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is out now on 3D Digital and Digital HD and will be available on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital SD, and VOD October 2.
Watch the new Thor-centric deleted scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron below:
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) explores the future in this deleted scene from Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," out now on 3D Digital and Digital HD and on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital SD, and VOD October 2!
Okay, so for many of you, that scene probably fills in quite a few gaps that the feature version of Avengers: Age of Ultron did not. Before we do a little analysis, let's revisit the reason this scene was cut to begin with. Back in May, THR reported that Whedon and Marvel's higher-ups were having some difficulties behind the scenes, which specifically included the Scarlet Witch-induced dream sequences, the time spent in hiding at the farm, and the above chunk of the Asgardian's screentime:
"The dreams were not an executive favorite either — the dreams, the farmhouse, these were things I fought to keep," Whedon said. "With the cave, it really turned into: They pointed a gun at the farm's head and said, 'Give us the cave, or we'll take out the farm' — in a civilized way. I respect these guys, they're artists, but that's when it got really, really unpleasant."
Regardless of whether or not the decisions made by studio brass made any sense, now we've got a better sense of what the full scene was meant to be. Whedon commented on it on the Empire Podcast:
“There was a 195-minute cut of this movie. [As concerns the Thor / Erik subplot], the original scene was that Thor went to speak to the Norn and how it would work was that he’d go in the pool and the Norn possess him, basically, and Erik Selvig asks all the questions, and the Norn, speaking through Thor, give the answers. So Chris [Hemsworth] got to do something different, and he really threw himself into it, and he did a beautiful job, but it wasn’t well regarded by the test audiences and I feel it’s probably largely because it was a rough cut with no effects, but also because it’s something that in a Thor movie would work brilliantly, but in this movie is just a little too left of centre.”
Whedon drops the term "Norn" like it's a household word, when in fact it's probably only known by Marvel comics fans and scholars of Norse mythology. In both of those areas of study, the Norn are essentially "The Fates", three goddesses who are entwined with destiny and overseers of fate. As far as Thor is concerned, they'll likely make another appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, since the comics saw them play a big part in the great battle promised in the title. I'm glad we got to see this scene in its entirety because not only does it clarify some of Avengers: Age of Ultron plot points, it introduces a major player (and major reason) for the events of the third Thor film, due out in theaters November 3, 2017.
Should this scene have stayed intact for the Avengers sequel? Sound off in the comments!
