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Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely scripted a reunion between Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and a portly Thor (Chris Hemsworth) that would have taken place during his return to 2013 Asgard.

“Once we figured out the sort of track we wanted Thor to be on, that he was really going to crumble — as any of us would, probably — that the only person who could put him together [would be Frigga],” Markus revealed at San Diego Comic-Con.

“We wrote a scene with him and Jane, but Jane isn’t the person to put him back together. Odin is not the person to put him back together. Really, it only is his mother. And we couldn’t have him run, get the stone, then go talk to his mom — it would take a disproportionately amount of time. Plus, we never know how the Aether turns into a stone, no one’s ever seen it happen, it just happens.”

Instead of showing Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) claim the Reality Stone — then embedded within Jane’s body — the writers opted to have the wily Guardian of the Galaxy perform the sensitive task offscreen.

“It seemed for decorum, that maybe getting it out of Jane Foster was better left offscreen,” McFeely said.

Also dropped was a scene shared between Jane and Rocket, who would have appealed to the astrophysicist’s scientific background and simply asked for her cooperation.

“It was very satisfying, and I thought everybody came off well in it,” Markus said, “but we had a three-some-hour movie, and some things are better left [out].”

Markus and McFeely previously told The Los Angeles Times they didn’t revisit the oft-maligned Dark World in an attempt to correct its reputation, explaining they returned to that point in time because “it’s just where one of the stones was.”

“That second act is going back into the other movies and finding the stones. Other than a brief moment where it would’ve been with Benicio del Toro at his Collector’s Museum, it was in Asgard during the movie. And we’d already seen Benicio del Toro in [Infinity War],” McFeely said.

Instead, the writers opted to give a depressed Thor emotional closure with his mother, the slain Frigga (Rene Russo).

“We knew we wanted each journey that the heroes took to not just be a stone journey, but also to provide some emotional resolution,” Markus said.

“Thor’s turmoil was really [eased] by getting together with his mom. And that was a very poignant moment because she dies later that day, so we could both get the stone and seek the resolution that we needed for him.”

Hemsworth and Portman will next reprise their respective roles under returning Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi in Thor: Love and Thunder, which sees Jane wield the power of the mighty Thor. Marvel Studios releases that picture November 5, 2021.

Avengers: Endgame is available to own on Digital HD July 30 and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray August 13.