That's absolute rubbish. This is the only digital censoring, so whoever is spreading those rumours is an idiot. However, while it may not look like much above that's just a single frame. It's obviously more noticeable in the film, especially if you saw it theatrically.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the UK BD is missing the Joss Whedon commentary track.

jangomac wrote: Email address for Disney UK for those of you who want to complain -

dcpukpress@disney.co.uk

I've sent them an email and suggested the least they can do is a disc replacement programme. It'll be interesting to see if I get a response.

Me too, I've asked them the same thing.  Hopefully one of us will get a response!

With various different version kicking about for different territories, it's hardly surprising this sort of thing happens. If the spear tip is the only difference, it's easy to see why it might not have been picked up on earlier. The fact that Disney claimed it was the the same as the theatrical version when it was a simple matter of checking the BBFC website to confirm otherwise, kind of suggest they (the spokesperson at least) were unaware of the gaff. To make that sort of false statement knowingly, in the full knowledge that you'd likely be challenged on it, would be a bit of a bluff too far. May have to chalk this one up to human error.

Pain in the hole though. Don't think I'll be returning mine though (unless they put in motion a fixed disc pronto) as the alteration doesn't really bother me. I'll just hope they maybe release a fixed version with commentary and more extras further down the line. Plus, in returning the UKBD that I bought, I'd potentially have to give up the disc 2 Marvel documentary as they might not offer Avengers up again with that exclusive disc.

You could argue that the spear tip hasn't been censored or removed. As a CGI element, it was never physically there in the first place. What we have here is a version of the film that omits a CGI effect.

Also, given the design of the spear, it probably wouldn't have protruded that far out anyway. Not defending the tweaking of this film (or any other for that matter) just not sure that the lack of sight of a spear tip wrecks the film as a whole.

Agreed, that the UKBD is extras 'lite'. The Sainsbury's exclusive disc with the Marvel documentary makes up for some of the shortfall but leaving the commentary off is disappointing.

The same "censored" version was released in Germany and some other countries. This got some attention in Germany two weeks ago and Disney released a statement that this was the version shown theatrically in "numerous contries worldwide, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland". Since the German steelbook seems to be the only way to get the Target bonus disc, I made my peace with it. If this had been changed for the MPAA rating, it wouldn't even get mentioned in the audio commentary, I bet.

BTW, here's Disney's statement on German DVD news site AreaDVD, courtesy of Google Translate: http://tinyurl.com/avengers-disassembled

Oh boy, I should have read that first. Here's my translation:

"After there has been some commotion on the net about a slightly changed short scene in 'Marvel's The Avengers' Disney themselves addressed the topic and released a statement, first via Facebook and later on amazon.de:

'The DVD and Blu-ray of Marvel's The Avengers that is being released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland contains the same version of the film that was shown in theatres. During the production of the movie two version were created which differ in a single visual sequence. It concerns a scene in which a person is stabbed to death. One version shows the lance fully penetrating the body, the other version omits this detail. This has no effect on the length of the film. In numerous contries worldwide, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the movie was shown theatrically without this close-up. Otherwise, both versions are completely identical. No changes have been made for the DVD an Blu-ray release of the film.'"