Russo Brothers Talk Infinity War Plot Hole & Happy Hogan Cameo

With the home video release of Marvel Studios‘ summer’s blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, the Russo Brothers are revealing more of the film’s secrets. For starters, they clarify a gaping Infinity War plot hole involving Gamora and Thanos, and also reveal a deleted cameo from Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan!

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On a commentary track from the Digital release (via The Wrap), co-director Joe Russo and co-screenwriter Stephen McFeely reveal why Thanos (Josh Brolin) used intermediaries like Loki and Ronan and didn’t just go after the Infinity Stones himself until now.

“The catalyst for the whole movie was when Thanos figured out where the Soul Stone was, because he captured Nebula on his ship and rooted around in her brain and found out that Gamora knew where the Soul Stone was,” revealed McFeely.

“The reason why he has not gone after the stones before is because the minute he does, the forces of the universe are gonna line up against him,” added Joe Russo. “If he doesn’t know where the Soul Stone is then what is the point.”

Of course this brings up another Infinity War plot hole, namely that the Guardians happen upon the Asgardian distress beacon and Thor seemingly by chance. Did Thanos really meticulously align things so Gamora (Zoe Saldana) would wind up on Knowhere? Why didn’t he just take the Guardians’ ship by force like he did with Thor’s? Basically, the whole Thanos/Gamora plot came together because of a series of coincidences, but it’s presented like it was an intricate part of The Mad Titan’s master plan all along. But, given the sheer number of rewrites and deleted scenes, it’s possible there was some small detail to explain all this that didn’t make the draft of the final film. It’s also possible this will all make perfect sense when the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4 comes out next summer.

Meanwhile, the Russos have also discussed a special cameo (via Entertainment Weekly) from none other than Iron Man director Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan that wound up on the cutting room floor.

“There is a deleted scene where Jon Favreau/Happy and I make an appearance in the park,” Joe Russo said. “The movie was really long and we were looking for places to pace it up in the opening and unfortunately that was one of the things we had to cut. But I was willing to cut my own cameo in the movie so it shows how much we really needed to get that park scene moving.”

“Yeah. It was also really hard to cut Jon as he is such a funny performer and we loved working with him,” added Anthony Russo.

Avengers: Infinity War is directed by Emmy Award-winning directors Anthony and Joe Russo from an original screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. Kevin Feige produced the film, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo, Trinh Tran, Jon Favreau, James Gunn and Stan Lee serving as executive producers.