This Deleted Captain America Scene Cut A Big Tease, A Huge Cameo & A Key Story

When Earth's Mightiest Heroes finally joined forces, one of the biggest challenges for "The Avengers" was making sure everyone got a decent amount of screen time. One person that unfortunately didn't get enough was a waitress played by Ashley Johnson. The original Ellie from the "Last of Us" video game (who went on to play Ellie's mother on the HBO show) was shoehorned in at the end of the Marvel movie during the Battle of New York. It made for a jarring appearance given that the fairly notable star is in and out before giving a passing glance to Chris Evans' Captain America. However, there was originally a lengthier, sweeter moment between the two that was cut, which also included a much better Stan Lee cameo than the one we ended up with. 

Early in the film, before the team is assembled, Rogers heads out into New York for a sit down and sketches out the scenery, where he meets Johnson's waitress. She assumes he's there to see Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr., now returning as Doctor Doom) heading in and out of Avengers Tower, when really he's just there for some alone time. It's a bit of charming chit-chat on her part that goes straight over the Captain's head, until none other than the late great Stan Lee suggests getting her number and hinting at a possible romance. Unfortunately, none of this made it to the final edit, and even the man responsible was against the decision in the end.

It's clear that within the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, director Joss Whedon's stint with the Avengers was an important one that had to land just right, but even he regretted the sacrifices that had to be made to get the end product on screen. In regards to trimming Ashley Johnson's sweet moments with Steve, Whedon admitted to Vulture, "I hated cutting the Captain America stuff with the waitress." Up until then, Whedon had collaborated with Johnson on other projects, including his iteration of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," but it wasn't the first time she'd been cut out of one of the director's works.

"At least I was able to call Ashley Johnson and tell her that all her stuff was still in 'Much Ado About Nothing,' since she had been cut out of 'Dollhouse,' she had been cut out of 'The Avengers,'" he recalled. Looking at the bigger picture, removing Johnson also thinned out Cap's plotline as a man out of time struggling to stay present. "You know, those bits seemed very personal to me," Whedon added.

Thankfully, there were five more films to help flesh Steve out before sending him back to his own time. It's just a shame that while he saw a girl about a dance in the past, there was one in the future waiting with a Wi-Fi password as well.