'The Avengers' Alternate Opening Video Revealed

"Marvel's The Avengers" didn't always begin with that confusing and ridiculous attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. (Never forget: Nick Fury's somersault out of an exploding helicopter.)

In a just-released clip from the "Avengers" Blu-ray/DVD, fans are offered an alternate opening sequence to the Joss Whedon film, one that presents an entirely different narrative structure than what wound up onscreen. Here, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is being interrogated 48 hours after the events that concluded "The Avengers" and she's quite displeased with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and The Avengers Initiative -- this despite the superheros having saved New York and the world from Loki and his army of Chitauri. The scene -- which recalls the bookends to "Saving Private Ryan," among other films -- sets "The Avengers" up as a story told from Hill's point of view; as any of the millions who saw the summer's biggest hit in theaters can attest, that's far from the case.

Watch the clip above to see what might have been. "Marvel's The Avengers" hits Blu-ray and DVD on Sept. 25.