'Avengers: Infinity War' Soul Stone Scene Was Almost a LOT Darker

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is typically filled with lighthearted films barring a few exceptions, but the movies are never dark, per se. But that all changed with Avengers: Infinity War, which featured multiple hero deaths and half of all life from the galaxy being wiped out with the snap of a finger.

The movie was almost much darker in one particular scene, according to a report from SlashFilm where they spoke with the visual effects team at Digital Domain. In their report, they learned that the scene in the Soul Stone after Thanos' fateful snap would have shown the Mad Titan walking in a river of blood as a metaphor for his victims in the movie.

This would have changed the tone of that scene completely, as it isn't very apparent that his goal had been achieved until we cut back out to Wakanda and the bodies start to turn to dust. Instead, we get a somber and emotional reunion between Thanos and a young Gamora, where we see the genocidal villain express remorse for killing his daughter.

Actor Josh Brolin spoke about why he was drawn to playing the Mad Titan in a previous featurette for Marvel Studios, believing that his goals aren't as black and white as Earth's Mightiest Heroes might believe.

"Thanos is a very complex character," Brolin said. "What he's doing, from his point of view, is a very positive thing."

"We wanted to tell a story about a character with a really complex and empathetic interior life," co-director Anthony Russo added. "There's not a lot of actors who can give you both of those things. Josh Brolin brings a reality to the character."

"I think Thanos is a marvel," Joe Russo said previously to IndieWire. "It really reflects every level of nuance in Josh Brolin's performance. You're watching Josh as a giant, purple alien, and you're seeing all of his movement, all of his facial expressions, on the most subtle level. I don't know that we've seen that level of photo-real performance capture before. Maybe in the Apes films, but this is really groundbreaking."

"Even though he's despicable on so many levels, there's a part of Thanos that is very empathetic," said Anthony. "He has a very complex inner life, and he's not all bad. Josh is a performer who's capable of delivering that kind of complexity, where you have that level of violence in him, but at the same time you have that level of sensitivity."

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital HD.

[h/t Heroic Hollywood]