While it probably won’t stop critics from complaining about Alice Eve’s underwear scene in Star Trek Into Darkness, director J.J. Abrams tried to cool the controversy by showing off a deleted shot on Conan last night. The scene shows the villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, taking a shower.

In the interview before he showed the scene, Abrams said that he could understand the complaints, but he thought it was only fair since they showed Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) in his underwear at the beginning of the film. Plus, the Kirk character has always been a womanizer, so the idea is that of course he would take a quick look at the beautiful actress while she was changing.

After the scene, Conan O’Brien remarked that Cumberbatch was clearly not enjoying the shower. “It’s a shower of evil,” Abrams told him.

While the shot of Eve in her underwear had been widely seen before the movie came out last weekend since it was in the trailer, once people saw the movie, critics bashed it as unnecessary. Even writer Damon Lindelof agreed on Twitter that it was “gratuitous.”

Here’s Conan’s interview with Abrams:

Abrams also chatted about Star Wars: Episode VII, which is his next project. He promised O’Brien that there would be a Conan easter egg in the film.

image: YouTube