Avengers: Endgame Writers Had a Weird, Alternative Idea of How the Time Stone Would Be Retrieved

One of the most pivotal scenes in all of Avengers: Endgame arrives right in the middle of the Time Heist, as Bruce Banner goes back to 2012 to get the Time Stone from the Sanctum Sanctorum. Instead of finding Doctor Strange, Hulk runs into The Ancient One, who explains how the Infinity Stones connect to the current reality. While this scene turned out to be incredibly important to Endgame as a whole, it almost looked very different.

With a movie that runs more than three hours, and is tied to as many previous films as Avengers: Endgame, it makes sense that the script would be labored over for quite a while. It's entirely likely that just about every scene in the final draft was changed and rewritten at some point throughout the writing process, but the scene regarding the Time Stone was perhaps the one that was altered the most.

During an interview with Canada.com, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely revealed that the quest to retrieve the Time Stone was initially meant to be a wild romp through the magical halls of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"At one point, we had a different way of getting to the Time Stone which involved some characters breaking into (Doctor Strange's) Sanctum Sanctorum and being pursued by all the weird stuff that happens to be trapped inside there," said Markus. "It was totally off story and unnecessary and it got cut, but it was fun to write."

As we've seen in Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok, the Sanctum Sanctorum can be a bit of a playground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The halls and rooms of the building are filled with magical abilities and mystical creatures, keeping anyone who enters guessing as they turn every corner. There's no doubt it would've been fun to send a character like Bruce Banner or Scott Lang through the maze of the Sanctorum, but it wouldn't have had the same effect as the conversation with The Ancient One.

Would you have liked to see the Sanctum heist scene in Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments!