This ‘The Avengers’ Deleted Scene Showed Captain America Learning About the 21st Century
In 2012’s The Avengers, Chris Evans’ hero Steve Rogers first appears in a gym, angrily beating down a punching bag. The moment lacks depth and context. But that’s because a prior scene showing Captain America learning about the 21st century was deleted from the Marvel movie.
‘The Avengers’ brings Captain America into the modern world
Steve Rogers was introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe via 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. The film follows his journey as a World War II superhero and the Arctic crash that preserves his body for 70 years. The final scene features Rogers waking up in the 21st century, where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) reveals how he brought him back.
In his first scene in The Avengers, Captain America is in a gym, punching a bag as he recollects pivotal moments from his past. When Nick Fury asks him why he doesn’t go out and enjoy his new life, a frustrated Rogers reveals his disappointment with what the world “lost” while he was under.
A deleted scene from provides important context
Captain America’s first scene in The Avengers doesn’t reveal the reason behind his initial bitterness toward Fury and his eventual anger toward Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). But a previous scene, which was deleted from the film, may provide more context.
The deleted scene begins with Rogers sitting alone in his apartment watching a montage of his war efforts. He then opens case files containing information about his old acquaintances and learns that most of them are deceased. This is also the moment he discovers that his love, Agent Peggy Carter, is still alive, retired, and living in the UK.
Rogers is then seen walking down a busy New York City street where vendors are selling cell phones alongside other displays of modern technology. He sits down at a cafe to sketch when a waitress tells him about the wifi.
Cap doesn’t know what she’s talking about and asks if she’s referring to wireless radio. Stan Lee, who is eating at the next table, leans over and suggests the hero get the waitress’ number.
The deleted scene provides context about Captain America’s bitterness in ‘The Avengers’
The Avengers deleted scene fills in a few of the gaps in Captain America’s story. For starters, it features the moment he finds out that Peggy is alive, and how he contemplates getting in touch with her. And as he sits in a dark apartment, it shows how isolated and weighed down he feels by his losses.
The scene also reveals how the man out of time feels about the 21st century. He notes that he fought to win World War II, but shares his frustration with how things have turned out. And he seems overwhelmed by the chaotic alien world that he’s been dropped into.
The Avengers deleted scene also provides some rationale behind Captain America’s decision to go back in time in The Avengers: Endgame. It is clear that he feels displaced in the modern world. And so it makes sense that he returned to live in the timeline where he felt he belonged.
