UK has a pretty strict law pertaining to what can be in a DVD for it to get a certain rating. They seriously have an 18 year rating on any horror movie.
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Above is a screenshot from the U.K. home video release of the Avengers. You may note a small difference, in that Agent Coulson no longer has a chunk of Loki's staff protruding from his chest, although it's clearly still going into his back.
What does this mean for our beloved Agent of SHIELD? Absolutely nothing. I don't know why this scene was edited for the U.K. release, but the fact it wasn't edited for other countries means it has absolutely no ramifications as to whether Coulson survived or not, as much as I wish they did. As plenty people have pointed out before, Marvel and Joss Whedon have plenty of reasonable ways to bring Coulson back in they want to; if they felt this scene needed to be altered for some kind of character reason, they would have changed it in all home video releases, not just the U.K.'s. If you see anyone implying this has any kind of relevance other than 1) the U.K. had a censorship issue or 2) someone made a booboo remastering that scene, pay them no attention whatsoever. And this comes from someone who would happily kill any 20 of you to bring Agent Coulson back for the SHIELD show.
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62 comments
Rob, first of all a spoiler warning would have been appreciated. You could have put these pics after the jump. I have not seen the Avengers yet and can now assume that Coulson is killed.To anyone saying that I deserve being spoiled because I should have seen it by now, I was in chemo while it came out and I refuse to watch a bootlegged shitty copy!
Ignore what I just said. This is clearly some studio douchebag trying to cushion the delicate sensibilities of our children. I heartily object to this, as I often use gratuitous movie violence to teach my children valuable life lessons.
If you look closely, these do not appear to be exactly matching frames...the small yellow box of writing around Coulson's middle has more showing in the bottom frame, which suggests that he is in mid-stab. My guess is that the spear just hasn't made it all the way through the rib cage yet.
I'll volunteer to be wounded in exchange for Coulson on SHIELD. I'll only go as far as dead if you can promise I'll be resurrected so I can watch the show.
Back. And to the left. Back. And to the left. Back. And to the left. Back. And to the left. Back. And to the left. And finally. Back. And to the left.
sometime they rate dvd releases in the uk more stricter because kids are going to watch it time and time again. Plus all the fear of gangs and knifes / stabbing weapons.
I'm from the UK, and what I don't understand is that when I saw it in the cinema, I remember very well the fact that the blade came out of his chest (I remember this so distinctly since there was a horrified child and an angry mother sat a few seats away from me) so why edit it now? Isn't that just closing the stable door after the horse has bolted?
Can we get Steven Moffat in for a collab? If he ever teams up with Joss the universe will probably end due to rapture.
Do you not have it yet? Oh. I guess I'll just re-watch my copy again. Not just to rub it in, though. I don't really need an excuse.
Is this going to be the Avengers' version of the "Han Shot First!" debacle? Because I hope to Evil Flying Jesus it's not! I mean, look, if the aim of all this is just to bring back Coulson, it's just not worth it. I said it before, and I'll say it again: resurrection via asspull will only cheapen what the man's death means, and it will open up a whole can of worms that made comic books so very goddamn annoying to follow. That is, the whole "nobody stays dead" bullshit.
Damn it Rob, can't you see your obsession is tearing us apart. Gouging a large hole in us. Ripping out our hearts.............Ummmmm......Am I convincing you or giving you ideas?
Aww. I can't let a lady go ahead of me to the Bricken-gallows. Rob, I'll take Amy Jean's place. On the condition she be spared.
What about a spoiler alert before pics. god damn it I aint seen it and didn't know coulson dies. lol
The American release did not have the blade either. I thought that odd in the theatre.
I saw the Avengers (for the 4th time) on a Delta flight in early August, and that version was missing the tip of the spear, too. Also, there were no swears (even absurdly innocuous words like "hell" were gone), and the camera cut away when Fury shot the first jet carrying a missile. So... yeah. It's just the wuss version; doesn't mean anything about Coulson.
I assume the UK just has a problem with Loki penetrating Coulson from behind with his big, pointy.... stick.
Will these 20 Tributes be sacrificed like a Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster or something more like the Hunger Games?
Nah, that sounds like too much work. I kind of picture Rob like Doc Holliday (as portrayed by Val Kilmer). Which means probably something like this... but involving the rest of us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5A0H6PkqE
I'm still jealous of the fact that Hong Kong got it back at the beginning of the month, and it shares a Blu-ray region with the US. That's just...*mean*, ya know?
It means we're getting a UK only agent Coulson TV series. That'll teach you, you Yankee traitors!
No, I'm pretty sure he'd just put all of our names into a hat and pick off 20 of us.
The question is, ok, let's say they edited out the protruding blade. What does that mean? That it was only a fleshwound?
The BBFC (British board of film classification) is investigating, as they rated the bluray release WITH the sharp pointy sticky out bit (it's specifically mentioned in the ratings details on their website), and technically if it's been sold without it, it's not the version that was rated...l So not so much UK censor ship as cluster fuck
