Avengers: Endgame
Marvel Studios/Disney

Now that ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is officially the highest-grossing movie of all time, it can safely head to home video for its victory lap.  The epic arrives on digital next week, and in physical format in mid-August, and as a tease, one of the deleted scenes has been released for you to enjoy.  Actually, enjoy probably isn’t the right word for it.

This clip follows perhaps the most emotional gut-punch in the film, the death of Tony Stark, who gave his life to snap the Infinity Gauntlet one last time to erase Thanos and his time-tossed army.  Pepper gives him one last kiss, which is seen in the theatrical cut, but after that, the various heroes, some of whom have never even met Stark, take to their knees in tribute.

This short scene also fills in a huge gap that has led to way too much chatter online, but I’ll get to that.  First, check out the heartbreaking clip below, courtesy of USA Today:

What do you think?  Would the film have worked better with this scene?  It doesn’t add anything significant, but it’s a nice tribute.  However, keep in mind that there is another entire funeral scene with the heroes in their civilian attire afterward, not to mention characters that weren’t present for Tony’s death like his daughter Morgan, Happy Hogan, and Harley Keener.  Maybe the Russo Bros thought the battlefield tribute was made redundant by the formal funeral scene.

Marvel Studios/Disney

The one gap this scene fills in that probably should have been edited into the final film is the appearance by the time-tossed Gamora.  Fans have been speculating (and grilling the Russos and others) as to her fate.  Since she was from a time when she was still in Thanos’ service, was she deleted when Tony snapped the Gauntlet?  This shows that she wasn’t and still exists.

Personally, I didn’t need this spelled out.  What would have been the point of bringing her back and spending so much time with her in ‘Endgame’ if she was just going to be erased?  Showing Star-Lord gazing at her image later was enough to indicate that she was still around and that he’d try to find her in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3’.  But there you have it– proof.

You can rewatch this scene and all sorts of other goodies when ‘Avengers: Endgame’ arrives on digital on July 30 and Blu-Ray, 4K HD and DVD on August 13.