The power of the superhero movie is the ability to reach the widest audience possible but the largest grossing movie of all time nearly had an ‘R’ rating because of one particular scene…
Before Agent Phil Coulson visited TAHITI and returned to lead a team on Agents of SHIELD, he was as dead as a doornail following his brief battle with Loki during The Avengers in 2012.
The original version of the scene actually called for Loki’s scepter to plunge through Coulson’s back and pop out of his chest, causing quite the dramatic death for a popular character that had been featured in numerous Marvel movies up to that point.
“When we submitted The Avengers, the first couple cuts of it came back from the MPAA rated R. That happened twice,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a recent interview. “Whenever you impale somebody from their back and the blade comes out their chest, there are issues.”
The scene was eventually changed to the version that everyone saw in theaters in which Loki still kills Coulson, but it’s not nearly as graphic as originally intended by director Joss Whedon.
Here’s the version you saw in theaters but imagine a much different scene if Whedon and Marvel producers had their way:
