"Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos, inarguably the most iconic antagonist in the MCU so far, elevated the character to a level seldom seen with other villains on the big screen. The threat he presented to the Avengers was terrifying and very real, and the apocalypse he brought with the snap of his fingers shook the franchise to its core. Avengers: Infinity War immediately dialed the threat up to eleven with his ambush and genocide of the surviving Asgardians that Thor rescued aboard a ship from Hela's onslaught of their home world. At that point, Thanos already has the Power Stone set into his gauntlet, which he uses to torture Thor until his brother Loki gives up the tessaract. However, we never saw how Thanos initially obtained that stone, and we can only assume that he decimated the world of Xandar to retrieve it. However, per a report from CBR, there apparently was a nearly 45-minute sequence cut from the film that showed exactly how it happened.
It's hard to argue that the first scene of Avengers: Infinity War was a perfectly chilling way to start the beginning of the end via the wrath of Thanos, the Mad Titan. Even the fact that we never saw on-screen how he acquired the Power Stone, which was last seen on Xandar after the Guardians of the Galaxy stopped Ronan from getting it, didn't seem to bother audiences much as he clearly showed how monumental of a threat he was to not only Thor and the people of Earth, but the universe as a whole. Nonetheless, that plot hole did exist, and in an interview with Near Mint Condition on Youtube, Thanos co-creator Jim Starlin revealed that there was actually an entire sequence, nearly an hour long, that was shot of how Thanos took the stone.
"[A]bout a month before the movie came out, I got an email or something from [Infinity War co-director] Joe [Russo] saying, 'The 45 minutes of Thanos that we had at the beginning of Infinity War, we had it cut,'...There was a whole sequence of him getting the first gem and they had to cut that out. They shot it, but they never wanted to spend the money on the effects, and they didn't want the movie to be as long as [Infinity War sequel Avengers: Endgame] was. They didn't realize it was going to be quite the hit it was."
Whether such a sequence would have interfered too much with the pacing of the film, or in fact would have fit in perfectly, remains to be seen. Since it was never finished it likely won't ever be seen in any kind of extended cut, but the fact that was on the docket is fascinating to think about.
The Impact of Thanos on the MCU, and the Shadow Left Behind
Thanos' character is one that left a monumental impact on not just the MCU but the film industry overall. He was a villain that never stepped on any of the usual tropes associated with the archetype, or hit a wall that would have otherwise pigeonholed him into something boring and predictable. He was exceptionally strong and skilled in combat, undermining the Hulk with ease, abundantly confident and intelligent, soft spoken yet frigidly cold towards anyone who stood in his way, even his own children. He was as captivating as he was terrifying to watch on screen. There also was the staggering degree of social commentary that developed around his character, who constantly brought up existential questions and what-ifs that were equally malicious as they were a hard pill to swallow, inevitably being tied some of our real world issues.
Either way, the permanent defeat of his character in Avengers: Endgame (2019) left the pedestal wide open for another villain who could fill his shoes and carry on the MCU with even close to the same amount of gravitas. Scarlet Witch, who was the only one noted to be able to defeat Thanos one-on-one (without interference), definitely proved how much of a threat she could become to humankind both in the limited series WandaVision (2021) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), but her character never cascaded to the extent that would put her in same realm as him. Hela may have had ties to Thanos in the original comics, and was literally the Goddess of Death that couldn't be killed, but the MCU's version of her seemingly died off anyway after the events of Ragnarok.
No other villain has come out from under Thanos' shadow to bring a true new universal threat to the MCU, and with the current disbandment of the Avengers it's difficult to see where things will head, if the same hype that Thanos brought can ever be replicated again."
A 45-Minute Scene of Thanos Seeking the Power Stone Was Cut From Avengers: Infinity War[/QUOTE]
Just make the scene a bit shorter but seeing Xandar get bodied could've been cold and would've put some respect on The Black Orders name 
that would be a dope movie opener....
