Which scenes will end up on the cutting room floor is anyone’s bet during a movie’s production, but some of the confirmed ones make me wish the final films included them. For the sake of a clean viewing experience, directors will often leave out major chunks of footage from their films. However, there are benefits to deliberate pacing and runtimes, because many confusing movie moments are frequently explained by scenes that were eventually deleted. This is understandable, but omitting essential scenes is a misstep that should be avoided.

Now, some scenes that’d ruin movies have been deleted, and watching them now makes sense why the choice was made to leave them out. For example, this may be an unpopular opinion to have about such a famous movie, but I believe Snyder’s cut of Justice League isn’t significantly better. While it provides some context with backstories, it didn’t need to be 4 hours long. However, some deleted scenes from movies deserve to be left in just because they’re legendary and contribute to the entertainment factor.

10

Ethan Hunt flies a chopper into a bus

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

The sixth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise is arguably its best since its opening offering, and had one of the best trailers ever. It’s beautifully paced, teasing a new villain, introducing the high stakes, and giving us glimpses of some of the daring stunts Cruise will perform in it as usual. However, one of the most unbelievable scenes from the trailer is not in the movie.

As Tom Cruise pilots a chopper, he flies it over a road as he tries to gain control, but soon enough, a bus comes driving down the same road. The two vehicles supposedly collide in less than a second, but the trailer cuts the scene there. Apparently, it was not a fake moment to get viewers hyped, as Cruise and the crew did in fact shoot that scene. However, director Christopher McQuarrie thought there would be too many action sequences and decided to cut it from the movie. It’d have been very cool to see the stunt.

9

The Avengers Take a Knee for Tony Stark

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

While the Avengers movie franchise bounced back after a disappointing second film, Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Avengers: Infinity War, the franchise’s most successful film followed that. It became the highest-grossing movie at the time of its release, and it contains one of the most iconic moments in the entire MCU. Avengers: Endgame sets up an exciting final showdown with every known Avenger and two huge armies backing them up against Thanos and his forces.

Robert Downey Jr.’s improvised line from the first Iron Man movie that started the MCU also closes his character’s arc in Avengers: Endgame. His iconic “And I am Iron Man” line will live forever in my heart. Now, while we did get to see the awkward funeral scene which many actors didn’t know was for Tony, there is a deleted scene that shows the Avengers taking a knee after Tony’s sacrifice. It is the ultimate show of respect for the man who went from “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” to a martyr and should’ve been included in the final cut.

8

Aragorn Fights Sauron’s Physical Form

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

It is famously one of the longest fantasy action movies in Hollywood history, so suggesting that there should have been more footage included could seem self-indulgent. But after watching Aragorn get terrified by the vision Sauron shows him of Arwen dying when he touches the Palantir, it’d have been satisfying to see him go toe to toe against the dark lord. It belongs among all the extra scenes added to the Lord of the Rings extended editions.

I can understand why Peter Jackson would choose to delete the scene of Aragorn fighting Sauron’s human form – the dark lord is more menacing and terrifying when he’s an all-seeing presence, but I can’t stop imagining how cool it would be to see that in the movie. Sauron’s physical form has been shown earlier in the first part of the trilogy, and watching Aragorn fearlessly tackle him after his rousing speech would further cement his strength of will.

7

Bill Fights Michael Jai White’s Character

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

While it’s unfortunately not uncommon for famous actors’ film roles to be cut out entirely from movies, this cut scene from Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a true loss from the theatrical cut. Michael Jai White is one of the finest martial artists to perform in Hollywood. Tarantino had requested his presence for just one scene, and he acquiesced, leading to the scene being sH๏τ, and eventually included on the DVD, which I’m grateful for.

One of the most intriguing action movie villains of all time, the тιтular Bill is never seen, but just heard in one scene in the first of the two Kill Bill movies. But, even after he appears, we don’t get enough of him in action. A flashback scene was filmed by Tarantino to show off Bill’s prowess. Michael Jai White is there to avenge the murder of his master by Bill, and after beating his lackeys very easily, Bill fights White’s character. The brilliantly choreographed fight establishes Bill’s legitimacy beyond legend, and should have been included in the film.

6

Wolverine Gets The Comic-Accurate Costume

The Wolverine (2013)

I’m still on the fence about which between The Wolverine and X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the second-worst movie in Fox’s X-Men franchise behind The New Mutants. ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool’s depiction and the incoherent writing make the latter hard to sit through, but The Wolverine isn’t any better. It’s clear that James Mangold wants a darker mood for The Wolverine, to be consistent with the franchise, which got darker with every movie until First Class.

It’s impossible to watch a muscular man with claws between his knuckles fighting a giant robot and not find it somewhat funky. Much like the franchise up until that point, though, Mangold doesn’t commit to the comic books either. To make matters worse, he cuts the one allusion to the comic-accurate Wolverine costume that was supposed to originally be included in the ending of the movie. While Fox’s X-Men movies are dear to me, the frequent cowardice they showed in designing color-drained costumes always makes me mad at them, and I’m glad ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 3 pays off the wolverine suit tease.

5

Luke Skywalker Finishes Making His New Lightsaber

Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

While the original trilogy of Star Wars is nearly perfect in its storytelling, some of the Star Wars deleted scenes should have been included because they add even more depth to some of the characters. Of these, my favorite is perhaps the deleted scene from the final part of the trilogy, where Luke Skywalker can be seen finishing the construction of his new lightsaber.

The iconic green lightsaber that Luke wields in the movie is one of my favorite artifacts from the entire franchise. The fact that Darth Vader is trying to get him to join the Dark Side while he does this, makes the scene even more compelling. He hears his father’s pleas while sitting in a dark cave, turns around, flips on the green lightsaber and walks out into the light. His intentional choice to not stray from the path and remain committed to the light side is thematically depicted in the visuals, and I wish the scene hadn’t ended up on the cutting room floor.

4

Peeves the Poltergeist

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

The Harry Potter movie franchise is famous for diverging from the books they’re based on. My personal favorite deleted scene, which I’ll always be bitter about, is Petunia Dursley’s missing story in Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part I. It adds a layer to the Dursleys and humanizes the characters we are made to hate throughout the franchise. However, the scene that feels more legendary was cut from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

The ghosts in Harry Potter are fascinating characters with unique quirks and intriguing backstories. The movies divert a lot from the source, either in service of the darker tone in the later movies, or in service of justifiable runtimes. So, it makes sense that every unique aspect didn’t make it into the films, but it hurts even more to learn that Rik Mayall actually played Peeves the Poltergeist and was then cut out of the movie. As the most flamboyant ghost in the stories, he’s an ideal comic relief character, and I wish his scenes had been included in the movie.

3

J. Jonah Jameson Wears the Spidey Suit

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies,, feel like comic book movies that aren’t ashamed of their origins. Actual costumes, full-blown gimmicky action sequences, an honest depiction of heroism, and vibrant color-grading – scenes often feel like comic-book panels come to life. Raimi’s movies are faithful to the character too, with many Spider-Man scenes taken straight from Marvel comics. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker feels more like Tony Stark Jr. than Peter Parker, at least when he was first introduced. His movies do differ in some ways though, especially in not making Spider-man as much of a wisecracker during his fight scenes.

Possibly for his commitment to the source material, Raimi did cut one of my favorite Marvel scenes from the second movie. After J. Jonah Jameson gets the Spider-Man suit that Peter threw away when the garbage man comes to sell it at the Bugle, he tries it on. Employees hilariously roll their eyes at his antics as he climbs onto his table in the suit, but has his face uncovered, still smoking his cigar. It shows that Jameson’s curious about life on this side of the costume, and as a comic-relief moment during an emotionally turbulent arc, it’s iconic.

2

Dragneto

X-Men: First Class (2011)

While Fox’s X-Men movies barely have any explicit LGBTQIA+ representation, they have a strong queer subtext, like the scene where Iceman “comes out” to his parents as a mutant. The recent “woke” controversy surrounding X-Men ’97 proves how oblivious viewers can be to even the kind of heavy subtext in the older movies. It’s also no surprise that Fox, which was relying on X-Men: First Class to revive people’s interest in the franchise after two back-to-back flops, cut the most explicitly queer scene from the movie.

When Erik and Charles are visiting mutants through visions using the Cerebro machine, they find Angel, who was living as a Sєx worker. Charles conjures up the scene of a private room to get her to open up about her powers. As a demonstration of his powers, he makes Erik appear in drag. While Angel laughs, it’s not laughter at Erik, but rather a giggle at the expressive way Charles chooses to show off his power. Moreover, Charles tells Erik, “You’ve never looked more beautiful, darling.” It’s funny, Sєxy, and unapologetically queer, and I wish it was canon.

1

Borat Asks About Cheese

Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career out of calling America out for its racist, Sєxist, and capitalist politics and way of life. So, it’s not surprising that he’d use a mockumentary format for Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. It’s the most effective way to explore the problematic ideals upheld by American society and ingrained in the American dream.

While a lot of it is unscripted, there’s one scene that’s mostly just slapstick comedy which I would have loved to see in the movie itself. In a supermarket, Borat goes through a shelf of cheese item-by-item, asking an employee what each thing is, and he patiently surrenders and keeps repeating the word cheese for 4 entire minutes. It’s exactly the kind of unhinged antic that makes Borat Borat, and agrees with the prank-show vibe of the movie.