What Could Have Been / Ralph Breaks the Internet

Concept Art for a scrapped character that was meant to be Ralph's love interest but was later replaced by Shank.

• Originally they were considering the concept of the cloud by portraying the internet as a giant cloud city, This idea was scrapped because the effects artist found it too difficult to pull off, so they made it a metropolitan city instead.
• According to an interview with directors Rich Moore and Phil Jonston, the Massive Multiplayer Crossover sequence taking place in the Oh My Disney website originated as a tribute to Disney Infinity, wherein Ralph and Vanellope visited the now-defunct website for the game and found the Infinity cast still there. The crossover idea went from there and eventually ballooned into the Oh My Disney sequence in the finalized product.
• A scene featuring The Golden Girls (which was in fact a Disney show, just under their Touchstone Television arm) was supposed to be included in the Oh My Disney segment, but it was cut because the filmmakers weren't sure younger audiences would be familiar with the series.
• The film was originally going to be released under the title of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, but Disney eventually realized that the title was too long for most people and officially shortened it by July 2018. The same goes for many foreign dubs as well.
• There was meant to be a gag during the Disney segments where Kylo Ren appeared as a spoiled Manchild (a popular Fanon interpretation of the character). When Lucasfilm reps were presented with the scene, however, they weren't a fan of Kylo Ren's depiction, so the gag was scrapped.
• There were some lines and gags that were shown at the D23 Expo for the Disney Princess scene that didn't end up in the final film, presumably to avoid making the film too long. For instance, Snow White admitting she was nearsighted, Jasmine confessing she was allergic to cats, and the Princesses mistaking 3PO for BB-8. Interestingly, the official dolls of Vanellope with the Princesses in their comfy clothes has an inhaler accessory for Jasmine and glasses for Snow White, implying that these are canon.
  • Also, as storyboards have shown, Yesss was originally going to accompany Vanellope during her visit to Oh My Disney! Yesss even ended up with Vanellope in the Princess room in this version as she introduced Vanellope to the Disney Princesses.
• Shank went through a lot of different looks and names before she ended up the way she was in the final product. At one point, she was going to be a full-figured character named "Big Val", and be not only Ralph's Slaughter Race counterpart, but also his potential love interest. At other points, she would have had a snake, or a bunch of other menacing animals, be more directly inspired by Danny Trejo, or be named "Frieda".
• Felix and Calhoun were never supposed to be Demoted to Extra; they had many planned scenes throughout the movie (some of which have storyboards and other details included in the art book) where the audience would see how they were faring with the Sugar Rush racers. Unfortunately, their entire storyline and character arc had to be cut due to the movie's runtime constraints, resulting in the couple only appearing at the very beginning and ending/epilogue. The credits hint at their intended major role, as they are listed at the beginning alongside their fellow main characters (as opposed to farther down with minor characters who only appeared in one or two scenes).
  • Much earlier in development, Felix and Calhoun would have had a very different storyline, including a flashback to Calhoun's early childhood (featuring her mother, who got eaten by Cy-Bugs), Calhoun becoming pregnant, and her and Felix having twins, with Q*Bert as the nanny.
• When asked on Twitter about a Funko Pop! figure of Vanellope holding a sword, Rich Moore stated that was originally part of Vanellope's musical number where she pulls a sword out of a toxic waste barrel à la Sword in the Stone, but it unfortunately got cut.
• John Madden was supposed to go and kick Ralph and Vanellope off of the football field of his game. This was cut.
• An early version had Vanellope becoming an internet celebrity instead of Ralph, with the fame going to her head. Ralph would have been mistaken for a virus and sent to prison; KnowsMore would have gotten a larger role as a fellow inmate.
• The Disney Princesses reportedly call C-3PO "R2-D2" and "BB-8" in early pre-screenings.
• Originally, instead of first entering the Wi-Fi unit when going to the internet, Ralph and Vanellope would have scouted it out earlier alongside Felix, Calhoun, Mary, Sonic, and Q-Bert. Q-Bert would have accidentally be sent into the internet very briefly and come back flabbergasted, leading to the arcade crew being against any more exploration.
• The filmmakers decided against using Mario in the first film because they felt a simple cameo wouldn't be enough for such an important character, and publicly said they intended to give him a more prominent role in the sequel. By the time Ralph Breaks the Internet actually entered production, however, the Mario film rights had gone over to Universal, who would produce The Super Mario Bros. Movie with Illumination and Nintendo, thus preventing this from being realized.
• The main antagonist of the movie was originally going to be antivirus software with a fascist personality named B.E.V. who wanted to delete Ralph and Vanellope due to deeming them as viruses. As seen here and here.
• Stan Lee's cameo was originally going to be part of a longer Marvel sequence during the Oh My Disney portion of the film, called "Marvelize Yourself". This scene involved the internet avatars being able to walk through a metal detector and turn into a Marvel character. And Stan Lee's avatar would have gone through it.