Today “Marvel’s The Avengers” is on TV again, but again a defused version will be shown, as has been the rule for ten years now. The change is absolutely absurd – especially since the film is also available completely uncensored.
In 2012, “Marvel’s The Avengers” started in cinemas worldwide. The Marvel blockbuster came on pay-TV that same year, and in 2014 it ran on RTL for the very first time on free TV. Since then, “The Avengers” has often been shown on television – again and again on RTL, later also on ProSieben and VOX. It’s running there again today: VOX shows “The Avengers” on April 7 at 8:15 p.m., and there will be a repeat on April 8 at 10:15 p.m. As with all previous pay and free TV broadcasts in the past ten years since 2012, these two will also be unnecessarily toned down.
Coulson’s death: Less brutal in Germany
The scene in question takes place after around 84 minutes in “The Avengers”. Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) threatens villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston) with a giant cannon. But the master of deception has outwitted him. Before Coulson, there is only an illusion. The real Loki is behind the agent – stabbing him from behind with his spear.
In the original version, you can see the tip of the lance sticking out of Coulson’s chest at this point:
Marvel Studios
But Disney and Marvel defused that scene in different regions of the world back then. In a revised version (also used in Germany), the lance tip circled in red in our picture is missing without replacement. It makes Coulson’s death a little less brutal.
In the following YouTube video you can watch the entire death scene in the defused version, i.e. without the lance tip:
There was never a comprehensible reason for the defusing. At least it was in Germany not a prerequisite for, for example, a lower age rating. For a long time, however, there was only this defused version in this country.
“The Avengers”: Unchanged on Disney+ and Ultra HD Blu-ray
In the meantime, the original version has also been published in Germany. If you watch the MCU blockbuster on Disney +, you get the original version with a lance tip. If you own or own the 2018 Ultra HD Blu-ray release, you’ll also find the original unmodified version on the Ultra HD Blu-ray itself – but be careful: the defused version can be found on the normal Blu-ray that comes with the game.
Because this is still used: on DVD, on Blu-ray, and with every TV broadcast again and again. That’s how it was in 2021, when “The Avengers” only ran on ProSieben at the beginning of the year and then again on VOX in the summer. And that’s probably how it will be tonight at 8:15 p.m. and the repeat on April 8 at 10:15 p.m.
There is still no reason to defuse the scene. But it’s still the TV version that’s circulating, and nobody seems to have bothered to create a new one.
