10 Easter Eggs You May’ve Missed In Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is now in cinemas worldwide, meaning fans are at last getting to see how the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is wrapped up. As you might expect, it's pure fan-service and rewards those who've followed the past 22 films over 11 years for their loyalty by making a movie that's really just for people who know their MCU in and out. As such, this is a movie that's full of easter eggs, references and callbacks to everything from past Marvel movies and foreshadowing for future ones to comic book storylines and moments. We'd be here another five years and end up looking like Thor if I was to list them all, but over the following pages you'll find some of the most fun and interesting tips of the hat that the film includes. Naturally, full spoilers for Endgame will be found beyond this point. As such, if you haven't seen it yet, look away now. If you've already witnessed the final chapter of the Infinity Saga though, then go ahead and dive in like you're jumping off a Vormir clifftop. Back To The Future And Company When Professor Hulk is explaining the rules of time travel to the other heroes, many other movies - both classic and not so classic - that utilize the concept are referenced. Ant-Man suggests they don't bet on anything in the past - a nod to the scheming Biff's get-rich-fast tactic in Back to the Future II. Tony Stark then makes the reference clear by admonishing Scott for basing his whole theory off what Peter Parker would no doubt call a "really old movie" if he was there. This isn't the first time that this specific entry in the Back to the Future saga has been referenced in the MCU, either. Black Panther saw Shuri create some hi-tech sneakers for T'Challa that she likened to the ones from that film her father T'Chaka used to love. Surely, Shuri was talking about the self-tying shoes from the 1989 sequel. The other movies name-checked in this scene, mostly by War Machine, are Terminator, Hot Tube Time Machine, Timecop, Star Trek and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Scott also offers Die Hard, then realizes he's got confused as that's not a time travel film. Maybe he's thinking of Looper, also starring Bruce Willis? Creator Cameos We knew going into Endgame that it would feature the late, great Stan Lee's final on-screen cameo. It's fitting, then, that his appearance in the film is preceded by a little bit more fanfare than usual. When the plot moves back to 1970, the scene begins by following a speeding car with a bumper sticker reading "'Nuff said." This is, of course, a nod to one of Lee's catchphrases and, sure enough, the man soon appears as the driver. This time, though, Lee is de-aged to his middle-aged 70s self. The young, rebellious Lee sticks his head out the window as he passes the S.H.I.E.L.D. military base and shouts at the guards to make love not war and other hippy-like sentiments. This isn't the only cameo from a comic book creator, though. Jim Starlin, the writer of the Infinity Gauntlet comic arc as well as the creator of Thanos, appears as one of the attendees of Cap's support group for survivors of the snap. Likewise, the most prominent character in this scene - the man who talks about going on an emotional date - is co-director Joe Russo. Community Cameos Speaking of the Russos, the filmmakers are known for working on hit comedy Community back in the day and they've always been keen to tip their hat to the series in their Marvel films. Jim Rash previously turned up in Civil War, for instance, as an M.I.T. professor who badgers Tony for extra funding. Endgame, meanwhile, features not just one, but two further cameos from stars of the show. First up, you might have spotted Ken Jeong behind some glasses and a beard as the security guard of the parking lot in which Scott Lang finds himself when he emerges from the Quantum Realm in his van. Later on in the movie, Yvette Nicole Brown gets more to do as an employee of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base who shares an elevator with an incognito Cap and Iron Man and ends up ratting them out to the authorities. Familiar Faces At Camp Lehigh Speaking of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in question, this is Camp Lehigh, a location that previously featured in both The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier as the camp where Steve trained in WWII and which he later visited with Black Widow in the present. It's a place with a lot of MCU history, then, which explains why there are so many familiar faces there in its Endgame appearance. Most notably, Tony reunites with his father Howard Stark at the base, with John Slattery reprising his role from Iron Man 2, Ant-Man and Civil War via de-aging tech. We also get our first glimpse of Peggy Carter in the film here. Less noticeable though is James D'Arcy's Edwin Jarvis from Agent Carter, which makes him the first character to move from Marvel TV to the movies. There's also a namedrop of another familiar character, reminding us that they're around at this time, too. When entering the bunker where Tony's pinching the Tesseract, Howard's calling out for "Zola." Dr. Armin Zola was revealed to have ostensibly switched to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side after the war, though TWS revealed that he was still secretly working for HYDRA. The Elevator Scene Do-Over The trip back to the aftermath of The Avengers unexpectedly becomes more of a homage to The Winter Soldier. First of all, it features cameos from Jasper Sitwell, Brock Rumlow and Robert Redford's Alexander Pierce, all of whom were revealed to be secret HYDRA agents in the 2014 movie. The callback to TWS then becomes most explicit as Cap enters an elevator with Sitwell and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team. This is, of course, a redo of the classic fight scene in a Triskellion elevator from Winter Soldier. In a brilliant twist, though, Steve Rogers is able to use his knowledge of their treachery against them here to fool them into giving him the Mind Stone. To convince them he has permission to take the item off their hands, Cap whispers in Sitwell's ears: "Hail HYDRA." The ruse works and Steve exits with a smirk. Comic books readers will immediately realize this as a nod to one of the most controversial Marvel moments of the decade, when Cap was revealed to have been a secret HYDRA agent all along (except that didn't turn out to be the case). It's very mischievous of the Russos to reference the controversy here in such a tongue-in-cheek way. Cap Is Worthy Steve Rogers got a budge out of Mjolnir back in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but in Endgame Cap finally manages to wield the hammer of the God of Thunder properly in the midst of the final battle with Thanos. This is just one of the many moments fans have been waiting to see in the MCU, too, as it's a scenario that's played out a few times in the comics. Another thing we've been waiting to see for the longest time is for Cap to finally announce "Avengers assemble!" And at last he does, as a rallying call to the legion of heroes to attack. He's not actually holding Mjolnir at this point, but the fact that this phrase is uttered in the same battle scene as Cap finally lifting the Asgardian weapon suggests the Russos were inspired by this iconic comic book panel, from Fear Itself: In the comics, this was the moment Steve Rogers returned to claim the mantle of Captain America again. It's fitting that the MCU would invert this moment, then, by making it part of his final stand as the hero. New Asgard, New Queen Early on, we learn just what happened to the leftovers of the Asgardian population: they've settled in a town in Norway which they've christened New Asgard. This is a callback to the time in the comics that Thor led his people to relocate to Earth. Their new environs were a little bit more worthy on that occasion, though, as they lived on a floating city known as Asgardia in Oklahoma. For the Norse legends connection, though, it makes sense that the film would switch it up to Scandinavia. Especially because Odin died in Norway back in Thor: Ragnarok. At the end of Endgame, Thor decides to leave his people behind and do his own thing. He then entrusts the kingdom in the hands of Valkyrie. While he doesn't hand her the mantle of Thor or Stormbreaker, this feels like a nod to the fact that Marvel comics recently had a female Thor in the form of Jane Foster. While Natalie Portman does return in Endgame briefly, it makes sense that the MCU equivalent of a female Thor would be Tessa Thompson's warrior. Asgardians Of The Galaxy From here, Thor then hitches a ride on the Benatar with the Guardians. As he enters the ship to the irritation of Star-Lord, the God of Thunder christens them the "Asgardians of the Galaxy." This might just be the quickest comics-to-movie reference ever. The Asgardians of the Galaxy comic series only launched in September 2018 and, though it doesn't actually feature Thor or the MCU Guardians, the name-drop of the team must be a reference to the book by writer Cullen Bunn. Thor joining the Guardians, even renaming the group, leaves the door open for the Asgardians of the Galaxy to actually become a thing in GotG Vol. 3. The scene also heavily hints at one plot-thread to come in James Gunn's upcoming threequel: Quill will search for Gamora, as we see him do a life-scan for her on the ship's computer. Young Avengers Kevin Feige has previously hinted that Endgame would sow the seeds for the Young Avengers in the MCU - and he wasn't kidding as at least two, possibly three or four, future heroes are present in the movie. The film opens with a flashback to when Clint Barton lost his family to the Decimation. Before they turn to dust, though, his daughter Lyla impresses him with her archery skills. He congratulates her and calls her "Hawkeye." This feels like a big clue that Lyla could become the MCU stand-in for Kate Bishop, the teen who takes over from Barton as the next Hawkeye in the comics. Elsewhere, once Ant-Man emerges from the Quantum Realm to find he's missed five years, he discovers that his daughter Cassie is now a teenager. As he hugs her, he says: "you've gotten so big." This has to be a nod to her superhero identity as Stature in the comics. Also, the introduction of Tony and Pepper's daughter Morgan Stark leaves the door open for her to take on her father's mantle in time. Perhaps as a version of Ironheart - Tony's teen protege - on the page. Lastly, Harley makes a silent cameo at Tony's funeral, his first role in the MCU since Iron Man 3. Now that he's much older, it's not out of the question that he could likewise follow in Stark's footsteps and maybe become Iron Lad in the Young Avengers. Sam Wilson: Captain America Following the funeral scene, Steve is given the task of returning the Infinity Stones to their rightful places in the timeline. He doesn't return as expected, though, and it's revealed that he ultimately decided to go back in time and live out his life the regular way with Peggy Carter. When old man Steve reunites with Sam and Bucky, he hands his shield to the former Falcon and encourages him to be the next Captain America. This is a very similar scenario to the origins of Sam as Cap in the comics. The only difference is that Steve didn't go back in time but had the super-soldier serum in his system neutralized so he aged up to his natural years. The result is the same, though: now that he's too old and frail to be Captain America, he trusts Sam to follow on in his stead. In the comics, Sam was humbled and felt the responsibility of taking on the mantle. Anthony Mackie's character acts much the same way when he's handed the shield. Avengers: Endgame's final scene calls the upcoming Disney Plus series into question, though, as the title Falcon and Winter Soldier rather suggests it'll follow Sam as Falcon rather than Cap. As such, it's likely it's going to be a prequel.