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Exclusive: ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ Blu-ray deleted scene reveals an entirely different opening

"Marvel's The Avengers" was the biggest movie of the summer, bringing in over $617 million dollars domestically. But no matter how many times you might have seen it in the theater, there is still more to the movie you didn't see.

When "The Avengers" hits Blu-ray and DVD on September 25, it will come packed with deleted scenes that were filmed but not included in the final release. That includes this alternate opening of the movie, presented here exclusively on Yahoo! Movies.

The unused opening is very different that what you saw in the theaters both structurally and tonally. The final version opens in space, with the leader of the Chitauri (the alien bad guys) explaining the power of the Tesseract, the powerful cube that sets the whole story in motion. From there, the story progresses linearly, with Loki appearing in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and stealing the cube.

In this alternate version, the movie would have begun with the aftermath of the alien invasion. You see New York City in ruins, with emergency crews helping the injured and Captain America standing by mournfully. Then it introduces Agent Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders. She's being interrogated by the World Security Council about the events that lead up to the battle in NYC. She says, "You want to know what went wrong? How this horror, this catastrophe could have been averted?"

Cobie Smulders
Cobie Smulders

In the finished film, her character is first seen at the side of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But here, Agent Hill is critical of Fury's leadership. She has apparently been submitting reports that were critical of Fury to the Council. She calls Fury "reckless," saying, "We're at war, and he thinks about super heroes!" When asked about the Avengers, Hill responds, "Who would bring those people together, and not expect what happened?" Then she flashes back to The Hulk, screaming.

It's definitely a darker beginning to the film, focusing on the human impact of the events more than the galactic scale. But it also starts off the movie with an unfamiliar character, and not any of the well-known heroes the audience already knew. It might be that starting at the end of the story before circling around to the beginning was too confusing for viewers.

Writer/director Joss Whedon did say that his original edit of the film was over three hours long, which was cut down to two hours twenty-three minutes for the theatrical version. He told MTV that in his original cut, "I spent some time with some of the ancillary characters because I thought we needed more of a human perspective." But after re-examining the film, he said, "As it turned out people really just did want to see the Avengers."

You can see more deleted scenes when "Marvel's The Avengers" hits shelves on DVD, Blu-ray, and 3D Blu-ray versions on September 25. Shawarma not included.

Watch more Blu-ray clips from 'Marvel's The Avengers':

Deleted Scene: Which One Is It? Clip: Cap's Plan

Clip: Working Together Clip: New Threat