Bloodthirsty Marvel lovers delight in gory ‘The Avengers’ moment we never noticed

It’s been a decade since the very first Avengers flick released, and in that time the film has become an all-time favorite for fans of the MCU.

The film has its flaws, as does pretty much anything, but it persists as one of Marvel’s best releases. It marks the first time the MCU brought its various heroes together as a team, and scenes and dialogue from the film continue to be heavily referenced by fans — and even by other corners of the MCU. The film also sports some pretty gory moments, as pointed out by Reddit user ParameciaAntic.

Despite the sky-high rewatch rate for the first Avengers film, many fans have yet to notice the detail flagged in ParameciaAntic’s recent post to Reddit. While everyone else was more focused on Cap’s decade-defining ass or Hawkeye’s impressive shooting skills, the eagle-eyed Redditor instead noticed a bloody background detail—that, through it all, Hulk is on a rampage, snatching Chitauri and “squeezing” their alien heads “til they pop in a spray of purple liquid.”

The grisly detail immediately caught fans’ attention, as did the accompanying image of Hulk bursting an alien head with a single, one-handed squeeze. The post went starkly viral within a day on the platform, racking up more than 8,500 upvotes and a slew of comments from surprised, but delighted, viewers.

The revealed detail quickly prompted a few fresh pitches for Hulk catchphrases, like “Hulk squish,” and spiraled into a conversation about the kind of gore allowed in a Marvel flick. While most blood—the red, humankind, at least—tends to be restricted to an absolute minimum, alien blood of pretty much any variety is absolutely rife in the MCU. Purple Chitauri blood and actual gallons of thick, slimy, green, and purple dragon gore are totally fine, so long as it doesn’t resemble human blood too much.

The post soon spiraled into half Hulk Ruffalo appreciation post, half endless Community jokes. The satisfaction of seeing Hulk “pop” that Chitauri head prompted one foolish user to quote the immortal Magnitude, a character from the 2009 sitcom who coins the catchphrase “pop pop.” His simple catchphrase accompanies Hulk’s murder method well, and users didn’t shy away from absolutely littering the comment section with straightforward references to his signature phrase.

ParameciaAntic’s post just goes to show that, even a decade following their release, Marvel’s films still have plenty of surprises up their sleeves.