Watch Hulk and Black Widow Reunite in Avengers: Infinity War Deleted Scene

A never-before-seen deleted scene from Avengers: Infinity War included on Marvel Studios' Infinity Saga Collector's Edition box set shows ex-lovers Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) meet in Wakanda after Banner convinces his angry alter-ego Hulk to re-emerge following his earlier defeat at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin). The scene belongs to an alternate version of Infinity War that originally ended with Hulk bursting free from the Hulkbuster armor piloted by Banner, who fails to convince Hulk to combat Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary) in the finished cut of Infinity War released to theaters.

Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely previously explained they "certainly tried to" address the unresolved Natasha-Bruce romance after Hulk left Earth in Avengers: Age of Ultron — ultimately ending up on the planet Sakaar, where he reunited with "work friend" Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in Thor: Ragnarok — but it was decided to largely ignore the fizzled-out relationship aside from an awkward mini-reunion in Infinity War.

"In Infinity War we have [unused] scenes… wrote 'em, shot 'em… of them sort of hashing that out," McFeely told the Empire Podcast. "'You've been gone, I've moved on' — that kind of stuff. It became very clear that if a scene was not on the 'A plot', it could not survive Infinity War. That thing has to be on rails just to get to the finish line... You couldn't wrap up loose threads just because you wanted to."

Added Markus, "He was Smart Hulk in [Endgame] and it did seem a little odd, in the midst of everyone's mourning and his change to a 2000-pound genius, to go, 'And they're dating!'"

McFeely then said the writers felt it would "be more elegant not to address that." Smart Hulk is later left devastated after Natasha sacrifices herself to unlock the Soul Stone, one of six Infinity Stones needed to reverse Thanos' snap that erased half of all life in the universe.

When explaining why this version of Hulk did not appear until Endgame — despite early Infinity War marketing materials famously showing Hulk racing into action alongside Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and other superheroes in Wakanda — the writers said the arrival of Hulk minutes before Earth's mightiest heroes suffered their greatest defeat failed to gel with the rest of Infinity War.

"There was a time when Banner became Smart Hulk in the first movie. It was a lot of fun, but it came at the wrong moment. It was an up, right when everyone else was down," Markus told the New York Times. Added McFeely, "His arc was designed like, I'm not getting along with the Hulk, the Hulk won't come out. And then they compromise and become Smart Hulk."