Avengers: Infinity War in the MCU was full of sorrowful moments, but none more so than the one that Elizabeth Olsen and her co-star came up with on the spot.
The scene where Vision dies in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ was not what the script had originally intended, but the actors had to improvise because the planned version was not feasible. By relying on their mutual trust and chemistry, they created one of the most perfect and heartbreaking death scenes in the film. Avengers: Infinity War was arguably the most emotional film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, surpassing even Avengers: Endgame. The 2018 epic by the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe Russo) featured some of the most painful scenes ever, including the deaths of many beloved characters.
Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Infinity War (2018) But the most terrible death scene of all, apart from Loki’s at the very beginning of the film, was that of Vision. What made it even more unforgettable and devastating was that it was his own lover Wanda who had to kill him. However, the scene that was shown on the screen was not what was originally planned, but a result of Paul Bettany’s improvisation with Elizabeth Olsen.
While the other characters’ disappearance after Thanos’ snap shattered many hearts, no other death in Avengers: Infinity War made as many people cry as Vision’s did. In fact, even Loki’s death at the start of the film was less tragic than Paul Bettany’s Marvel character’s death!
But there is something that most people don’t know about Vision’s death: It was not as smooth as it appeared on the screen. This was because the visualisation of the death scene was not possible in reality for various reasons.
Recently, at MegaCon in Orlando, Bettany revealed how he and Olsen improvised the scene. Speaking to Collider, he said:
“It was hilarious. None of us knew who was gonna die until like the day before or something like that,” said Bettany. “They showed us a sort of pre-visualisation of that and everybody was like, well, I guess I gotta take the kids out of private school.”
The main problem was, because of Marvel’s strict secrecy policy, no one knew who was going to die until they were very close to filming the scene. So, because the scene could not be done as written and planned, someone had to make it up.
They did that by doing the same thing that they did in the film: Trust each other completely. As Bettany continued to explain how the scene turned out to be what it was:
“Lizzie was just laughing at it, and we’re so relaxed with each other that… I don’t know how it would’ve worked other than that, because we both really trust each other and, somehow, we got to something that worked. “
Well, for one thing, the scene did more than just “worked”, considering how fans still can’t get over the heart-wrenching tragic scene even now, after more than five years since the film’s release!
