Concept art for a deleted scene from Avengers: Infinity War would’ve connected the movie even more to the events of Captain America: Civil War. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline, Civil War takes place before Infinity War and serves to break up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes following an ideological (and personal) conflict between team members. Infinity War picks up with the Avengers split apart, which directors Joe and Anthony Russo once said is the reason the Avengers lose in that film when Thanos (Josh Brolin) finally enacts his plan to destroy half of all life.

One of the pivotal moments of Civil War comes when the two warring factions - one led by Captain America (Chris Evans), the other by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) - face off in a battle at an airport. Most of the heroes come through relatively unscathed, save for War Machine (Don Cheadle), who is accidentally shot out of the sky by a distracted Vision (Paul Bettany). The incident leaves Rhodey paralyzed, but he’s able to walk again thanks to special leg braces created by Tony. Rhodey is able to participate in some of the later battles against Thanos’ forces, but there were once plans to include him in another.

Concept artist Phil Saunders shared a design for a scene from Infinity War that never occurred. In the film, two members of the Black Order, Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) and Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) attack Vision and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) in Scotland in an attempt to take the Mind Stone from Vision. Backup arrives in the form of Cap, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), but according to Saunders, the fight almost included Rhodey and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in the Hulkbuster armor. Per Saunders, “Rhodey, still suffering PTSD from the crash in Civil War would have been piloting War Machine remotely,” which “would have given Rhodey a deeper story arc.” Check out his design below:

Saunders’ mention of PTSD is what makes this scene’s omission particularly disappointing. Between all the important plot points of Civil War and Infinity War, there was never a moment to really explore how Rhodey was coping with his severe injury aside from a short conversation with Tony at the end of Civil War. It would have been interesting to see how Rhodey confronted his trauma while dealing with another massive battle, and it’s a shame there wasn’t time to include it. Rhodey once was supposed to have a larger role in Infinity War, though it was trimmed down for the final cut.

With movies as big as Infinity War, initial plans are bound to get tossed aside. In the years following its release, several unused ideas and designs have been shared by the film’s creative team, like artwork depicting Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in Iron Man’s armor. While it’s unfortunate that every cool idea can’t make it into the film, it’s nice that there are still ways to share them with the world so people can see what might have been.

More: Infinity War Almost Had Doctor Strange In Iron Man Armor: How It Could Have Worked

Source: Phil Saunders/Instagram

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