Even the best-laid plans sometimes fall through. Making a movie is no simple process and things can go wrong at various stages of production. Having to drastically change the script, reshoot some scenes, or cut a big portion of the film is far from the ideal scenario, but rarely does everything go according to plan without hitting a snag or two along the way. Even the mighty Marvel has struggled with last-minute changes that sometimes had adverse effects on the final product. Other times, the changes, as sudden and unwanted as they may have been, actually worked out for the best, and the movie was all the better for undergoing a last-minute change.

Reading about all the possible scenarios and the versions that could have been really makes us wonder whether the movie we got was indeed the best version. Sometimes, an alternate cut of the film would be released and, indeed, it would turn out that the alternate version had more to offer. There's a reason DC fans are petitioning for the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League. The version that got a theatrical release didn't satisfy the fans and they want to see if there was a better version of the film that didn't make it to the big screen. Last-minute changes can make or break a movie, despite how small and insignificant they may seem at first glance. Today, we're taking a closer look at 10 Last-Minute Changes That Hurt Marvel Movies (And 10 That Saved Them).

20 SAVED: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY'S ORIGINAL ENDING SCRAPPED

Guardians of the Galaxy Ending

The lighthearted tone and humor are what set apart the first Guardians of the Galaxy film from anything that came before in the MCU. Though the first film did deliver a few emotional moments, it ultimately ended on a happy note.

Finishing the film with an improv dance-off between the heroes and the villain matched the tone the film set from the very beginning. However, James Gunn told Slashfilm that they had to change the ending because the original was too sad. In that scrapped ending, we’re shown old grandpa Quill with a picture of Meredith and Peter, looking up at the stars, as if he were waiting for Peter to return. It’s a sweet ending, but it’s also kind of a bummer, so we’re glad it got cut.

19 HURT: NO CLASSIC COSTUME FOR WOLVERINE IN X-MEN

X-Men Wolverine Costume

Wolverine has one of the most iconic costumes in all of comics, yet, his blue-yellow threads never made it into the movies. Obviously, we can’t be absolutely certain that such a vibrant costume would translate well on the big screen; however, The Wolverine’s deleted ending sure piqued our curiosity.

The alternate ending shows Yukio and Wolverine on a plane where she gives him a suitcase containing the classic costume, which looks gorgeous. In an interview with EW, Hugh Jackman explained that the scene was cut because they “just couldn’t find a way to do it [while] keeping with the tone of the film.” It's a pity they decided against this scene because it sure would have made The Wolverine a more memorable film.

18 SAVED: STORM/WOLVERINE CONNECTION OMITTED IN X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

X_Men Storm Wolverine

X-Men: Days of Future Past successfully adapted a legendary comic book storyline in a way that was to most fans’ and critics’ liking. However, a deleted scene could have possibly damaged the film’s generally favorable reviews.

The scene in question shows Wolverine and Storm in a passionate embrace just before he's sent back in time. Wolverine and Storm have dated in the comics, so this isn’t just something the movie made up on the go. However, since previous movies never quite went there, the scene would have felt a bit out of place, which is probably why it was cut. Though, in an interview for EW Halle Berry did say that Storm and Logan had a thing.

17 HURT: NO OSCORP TOWER IN THE AVENGERS

Avengers Oscorp Tower

Tom Holland’s Spidey stole our hearts when he made his first MCU appearance in Captain America: Civil War. Spider-Man’s MCU debut was all the more important because the rights to the character still belong to Sony. Luckily, Marvel and Sony were able to come to an agreement much to our delight.

Interestingly enough, when Marvel was making The Avengers, the two companies made a similar deal that would allow Oscrop Tower to make an appearance in The Avengers. According to IGN, the design for the tower didn’t arrive until after The Avengers’ digital Manhattan was rendered, so this little Easter egg sadly never made it into the film.

16 SAVED: NO SABRETOOTH IN LOGAN

Logan Sabretooth

Logan is a superhero film for the ages. It’s a masterpiece that has been cemented into movie history as one of the best superhero films of all time. It’s almost universally respected and loved by both the critics and the fans. We wonder, though, would Logan have been better or worse had Sabretooth been a part of it as was intended at some point?

Liev Schreiber was certainly one of the best parts of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but there was really no need to include Sabretooth in Logan. In any case, and probably for the best, according to Collider, Schreiber had scheduling conflicts with Ray Donovan and James Mangold ultimately decided to go in a different direction.

15 HURT: THE MALL SCENE CUT FROM X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

X-men Apocalypse

There’s no way a three-minute scene, which is basically a glorified fun-at-the-mall montage, could have saved X-Men: Apocalypse. That being said, not including said glorified fun-at-the-mall montage didn’t do Apocalypse any favors either.

The oh-so-incredibly-80s mall scene wouldn’t have solved all the issues the movie had, but it would have given us the chance to get to know these characters. The scene is pure joy to watch, but it also serves to develop the characters and their relationships. Had this scene been part of the film, we would have certainly cared more about what happened to the young X-Men. Unfortunately, according to Cinemablend, Bryan Singer thought the scene didn’t fit with the rest of the movie, and so, it ended up on the cutting room floor.

14 SAVED: ANT-MAN JOINS TEAM CAP IN CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Civil War Ant-Man

Before Marvel made a deal with Sony that allowed them to use Spider-Man in the MCU, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had written a very different story involving Tony Stark and Scott Lang. Had the deal with Sony fell through, Tony would have gone to San Francisco to recruit Ant-Man instead of going to Queens to enlist the help of young Peter Parker.

Markus and McFeely discussed this on Kevin Smith’s podcast Fatman on Batman, where they also said that they weren’t quite happy with the Tony/Scott scene and actually didn’t mind the extra work one bit. Spider-Man was one of Civil War’s greatest highlights and we're sure glad things worked out the way they did.

13 HURT: MORBIUS CUT FROM BLADE

Blade Morbius

Morbius, the Living Vampire is coming to the big screen soon, as he will be joining Sony’s Cinematic Universe. However, Morbius already came pretty close to making his live-action debut way back in 1998 in the New Line Cinema film Blade. According to writer David S. Goyer, Blade had an alternate ending that would have drastically changed the direction of the franchise.

In the DVD Commentary, Goyer confirmed that the alternate ending showed a figure on the rooftop wearing a coat and cloth over his face, which was supposedly Morbius. The ending would have set up Morbius as the villain in Blade II, but unfortunately, when director Stephen Norrington left the franchise, this direction was scrapped.

12 SAVED: QUICKSILVER REPLACES JUGGERNAUT IN X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

X-Men Days of Future Past Quicksilver

Evan Peters’ Quicksilver was a real scene-stealer in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The silver-haired mutant joined up with Wolverine and Professor X on the mission to break Magneto out of prison. This led to the movie's most memorable scene and one of the most iconic jailbreaking scenes in film history. However, Quicksilver wasn’t always part of the picture.

According to IGN, initially, writer Simon Kinberg had employed the help of Juggernaut. Whether Fox’s plans changed only after Marvel decided to use Quicksilver in Age of Ultron is debatable. In any case, we’re glad Quicksilver was part of Days of Future Past. We don't mind Juggernaut one bit, but that slow-motion scene alone is enough to make Quicksilver an irreplaceable part of the film.

11 HURT: LOKI CUT FORM AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Avengers Age of Ultron Loki

Avengers: Age of Ultron had plenty of characters to work with, however, we doubt anyone would have minded the God of Mischief making an appearance. In fact, the fan-favorite character just nearly missed the opportunity to be part of Joss Whedon’s film. Tom Hiddleston talked with Digital Spy and explained his deleted scene and why it was cut.

Loki was supposed to make an appearance in Thor’s dream sequence, but when that cut was shown to test audiences, they got the impression that Loki was controlling Ultron. So, Whedon decided to delete it in order to avoid confusion. All this goes to show is how big of an impact Hiddleston made as Loki and it’s a real shame his part was cut from the film.

10 SAVED: MARY JANE WATSON CUT FROM THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Mary Jane Watson

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a messy movie. Starting with three villains and the Sinister Six spin-off set-up, then the whole mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Peter’s parents, and, last but not least, Peter’s relationship with Gwen Stacy and her subsequent demise – let’s just say it was a lot to take in.

But, as messy as it was, it could have still been worse. Originally, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was also supposed to introduce Mary Jane Watson. Shailene Woodley even filmed a handful of scenes as MJ, but ultimately, Marc Webb decided to streamline the story. According to Den of Geek, Webb wanted to focus on Peter and Gwen's relationship, so Mary Jane needed to be cut from the film.

9 HURT: HAWKEYE CUT FROM CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Winter Soldier Hawkeye

From the creative team that would go on to bring us Avengers: Infinity War, came Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The action-packed, thought-provoking thriller kept us on the edge of our seats from start to finish. It’s hard to think of anything that could possibly improve such a fantastic film, but Hawkeye’s deleted scene sure makes us wonder what could have been.

The deleted sequence saw Hawkeye chasing Captain America, seemingly following S.H.I.E.L.D.’s orders. However, it turns out Hawkeye was trying to trick S.H.I.E.L.D. and actually help Cap. According to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the scene was very emotional, but ultimately got cut from the film partially because of Jeremy Renner’s schedule.

8 SAVED: TOBEY MAGUIRE RETURNS IN SPIDER-MAN 2

Spider-Man 2 Tobey Maguire

Spider-Man's success apparently went to Tobey Maguire's head and he decided to play hardball with Sony for Spider-Man 2. The actor reportedly wanted a more lucrative paycheck than the one he received for the first film and went as far as to embellish a back injury to pressure Sony into offering him more money. Unfortunately for Maguire, Sony called his bluff and let him go. The studio even met with Jake Gyllenhaal for the sequel.

According to Variety, when Sony decided to allow Maguire to return, they made him undergo a rigorous physical examination and demanded an apology. In the end, Maguire went on to star in two Spider-Man films and it’s a good thing he did.

7 HURT: MAKING DAREDEVIL PG-13

Daredevil

With the amazing Daredevil show currently running on Netflix, everyone’s all but forgotten about the lackluster 2003 film starring Ben Affleck as the Man Without Fear. While Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil origin story certainly had its share of problems, many have pointed out that the movie would have benefited to some degree from having an R-rating.

In an interview with CBR, Johnson said that he had originally shot the movie with an R-rating, but was contractually obligated to deliver a PG-13 film. This resulted in a lot of scenes ending up on the cutting room floor. The director’s R-rated cut was released on DVD and is considered a vast improvement over the theatrical version.

6 SAVED: MARK RUFFALO AS HULK IN THE AVENGERS

Mark Ruffalo's debut as Bruce Banner in Marvel's The Avengers

In July 2010, we were all shook when Uproxx published Marvel’s sudden announcement that Edward Norton, who had portrayed the Hulk in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, would not be reprising the role in the upcoming Avengers film. The ubiquitous creative differences were the reason for Norton parting ways with the MCU.

Fortunately, re-casting the role of Bruce Banner and bringing on Mark Ruffalo proved to be one of Marvel’s best casting decisions. When announcing Ruffalo at the San Diego Comic-Con, Robert Downey, Jr. declared that he approved this message. Ruffalo has been playing the big green guy for eight years now and there’s no one we’d rather see in his place.

5 HURT: DEFENDERS LEFT OUT OF AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Avengers Infinity War Defenders

If there’s one thing that kind of disappointed us about Avengers: Infinity War, it has to be the absence of Marvel’s TV heroes. Many fans had been silently hoping that Infinity War would be the movie to finally feature some TV characters, preferably The Defenders. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but, according to the Russo brothers, it wasn’t outside the realm of extreme possibility.

Talking to Variety, the Russos confirmed that they have discussed the idea of having The Defenders in Infinity War with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, but once they started working through the story, they realized they had their hands full with the characters they had already planned for the film.

4 SAVED: HUGH JACKMAN AS WOLVERINE IN X-MEN

During X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) releases his claws in the woods

Can you imagine a reality in which Hugh Jackman isn’t Wolverine? Because we sure can't, and honestly, we don’t even want to try. Yet, the role of the clawed mutant had initially gone to the Scottish actor Dougray Scott. However, once it became apparent that Scott wouldn’t be finished with Mission: Impossible 2 in time to play Wolverine, Fox had no choice but to re-cast the role.

In October 1999, Variety reported that with Bryan Singer’s X-Men already in production, Fox decided to bring on Hugh Jackman for the role of Wolverine. The re-cast worked for the best as Jackman went on to become the face of the X-Men franchise.

3 HURT: ROGUE CUT FROM X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

X-Men Days of Future Past Rogue Cut

When X-Men: Days of Future Past came out, it became the best movie in the X-Men franchise. However, the so-called “Rogue Cut proved to be an even better version of the film. The “Rogue Cut” was released on Blu-ray and it features a number of deleted scenes. Most importantly, it includes an alternate plotline that begins when Kitty Pryde is accidentally injured by Wolverine.

In order to keep Logan’s consciousness in the past, Rogue (who plays a much bigger role in this cut) has to step in and take Kitty’s powers. Since Rogue had previously been captured by the Sentinels, it is up to Magneto and Iceman to break her out. In the end, this storyline was cut in order to make the movie more streamlined.

2 SAVED: THANOS SNAP IN AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Avengers Infinity War Thanos Snap

Not with a fizzle, but with a snap. That is the way Avengers: Infinity War ends. However, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely told the New York Times that, initially, the infamous Thanos Snap wasn't supposed to take place until Part 2.

After some consideration, the writers decided to move the Snap to Infinity War because they wanted both parts to feel more like two separate movies and because the culmination of ten years of the MCU should be as big as it wanted to be. And it doesn’t get any bigger than obliterating half of the Universe with a Snap.

1 HURT: MAYA HANSEN NOT THE MAIN VILLAIN IN IRON MAN 3

Iron Man 3 Maya Hansen

The story of how and why Rebecca Hall’s role in Iron Man 3 got so dramatically changed is sad and frustrating. In an interview with Uproxx, Iron Man 3 director Shane Black said that in an early draft of the movie, Hall was set to play the main villain. However, Marvel corporate crunched some numbers and decided that a female villain wouldn’t sell enough toys.

No, we’re not kidding. The entire script had to be changed because of toy sales. Jeez, it really makes you wonder just how many Aldrich Killian toys Marvel sold. The good news is, Marvel has since changed its position as the main villains of Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp were female.