‘Avengers: Infinity War’ creators explain why you didn’t see Thanos decimate Xandar

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige once said fans would see why Thanos was the baddest villain in the MCU within the first five minutes of Avengers: Infinity War. For many, this spelled doom for Xandar. The speculation got even more intense when trailers showed the Power Stone, which was put on Xandar for safekeeping in Guardians of the Galaxy, as the first Infinity Stone in the Mad Titan’s Gauntlet.

Infinity War opens, however, with Thanos attacking the Asgardian refugee vessel and he already has the Power Stone in hand. All we hear about Xandar comes from Thor telling the Guardians that Thanos had “decimated” the planet a week before the events of the film. Thanos’ off-screen attack on the Xandarians is the only Infinity Stone acquisition that we do not see at all (we don’t actually see him take the Reality Stone on Knowhere, but we at least see him there in the immediate aftermath.

In the commentary track for Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely explain why that sequence was eliminated as the script was being developed.