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.