10 Easter Eggs You Probably Missed In Captain America: Civil War

As you would expect from a film that features a dozen superheroes, all with their own long histories over various media, and is based on a huge, sprawling comic book epic, Captain America: Civil War is brimming with easter eggs, references and in-jokes. However, with all attention-grabbing superhero clashes and exciting character introductions going on, it's easy to miss some of the smaller details when watching the movie. If you kept your eyes peeled, though, Civil War contained a lot of nods that would please Marvelites everywhere. From callbacks to the crème de la crème of the comics world - Jack Kirby, Mark Millar and J. Michael Straczynski to name but a few – as well as references to other movies in the MCU, there sure was a lot for the hardcore fans to feast on in the film. Here, we've whittled it all down to the ten most significant easter eggs to be found in the movie. If you haven’t seen Civil War yet, be warned, there will be spoilers within. If you've already caught the film though, go ahead and knock yourself out. 10) The Winter Soldier's Homecoming Seeing as Civil War introduces Spidey into the MCU, we expected there to be some foreshadowing of his upcoming solo movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming. An unexpected, and hidden nod, however, is the name dropping of the actual title. One of the codewords that trigger Bucky’s Winter Soldier mode is ‘homecoming,’ while others include ‘one,’ ‘nine,’ ‘seventeen’ and ‘freight car.’ These are presumably references to Captain America being born in 1917 and Bucky dying after falling out of a freight train. Also, the HYDRA agent who brainwashes Bucky in the flashback scene - and who is later tortured by Zemo - is Vasily Karpov. He’s a character lifted straight from Ed Brubaker’s celebrated comics run, which has been a huge influence on the Captain America movies as a whole. Finally, at one point, Steve and Bucky reminisce about the good ol’ wartime days and mention that Barnes used to date a girl called Dot. This couldn’t be Agent Carter’s femme fatale Dottie Underwood, could it? 9) Black Widow And Bucky’s History When Bucky goes all Winter Soldier again he attacks Natasha, to which she quips, “you could have at least recognized me.” Fans will take this as a reference to their meeting in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, it's probably a nod to a bigger shared history between the characters in the comics. In the comic book Civil War storyline, it's revealed that Natasha and Bucky actually had a relationship back when they were both working for the Russians. Bucky was also one of Romanoff’s mentors at the Red Room. While the movie doesn’t make the same revelation, it is alluded to in that one line. Once again, Bucky also holds Cap’s Shield at one point, just as he did in the previous Captain America films. Is this yet another hint that he will become the next Captain America? Also, for an extra easter egg that you probably missed....Bucky’s prison is labelled D23, a reference to the official Disney fan club. 8) The Rise And Fall Of Giant Man Just as fans suspected he would, Scott Lang indeed becomes Giant Man for the first time in Civil War, which is a long-running abilities of his in the source materials. Another nod to the comics comes in the form of Ant-Man riding on one of Hawkeye’s arrows. In case you don't know, the fan favourite image first adorned the cover of Avengers #223: Speaking of Giant Man, we don’t need to tell you that Spidey’s method of taking him down is inspired by “that really old movie” The Empire Strikes Back, but what you might not know is that Civil War also contained another long-running Star Wars in-joke. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that every Marvel movie since Phase Two features a character losing an arm, in reference to the Star Wars trope. Here, it's Bucky, whose metal limb is blown off by Iron Man. 7) The Raft In Captain America: Civil War, Team Cap are locked in a huge underwater prison called the Raft. For those who don't know, this is based on a location in the comics: a supervillain-holding facility situated in NYC’s East River (though not underwater). The Raft takes the place of Prison 42 in the comics’ Civil War arc. The change was presumably necessitated by that facility being situated in the Negative Zone, a location that Fox have the rights to as it is tied in with the Fantastic Four. Another important difference with the Civil War comic is the fate of Crossbones. In the movie, the villain dies during a fight with Captain America. In the comics, he is the one to kill Steve Rogers, something many fans were expecting to happen in the film. The Crossbones incident is also the catalyst for the Accords in the movie, while the comics’ equivalent was a failed mission by superhero group the New Warriors which ended in the destruction of a school. 6) Civil War Comparisons While the film does differ in a lot of ways from the source material, there are also a lot of similarities to the Civil War comics. Many of the standout images from the fight scenes are lifted from the page; particularly those involving Cap’s shield. For instance, Iron Man blasting Cap’s shield, Black Panther scratching it (Wolverine did the same thing in the comic) and Spidey’s webbing and stealing the shield. Furthermore, Miriam Sharpe, the grieving mother who visits Tony Stark, is a character borrowed from the book. In the original saga, her son was one of those killed in the New Warriors incident, as opposed to the destruction of Sokovia. Speaking of Tony Stark, at one point he flirts with his AI FRIDAY, saying he imagines she would be a “hot redhead” if she were real. This refers to the fact that Tony invented a hologram version of her in the comics. Three guesses as to what she looked like… 5) Sharon’s Speech Civil War sees Steve attend the funeral of wartime sweetheart Peggy Carter, where he learns that Sharon is in fact Peggy’s great-niece. This is something lifted from the comics, as Sharon was initially Peggy’s younger sister but was eventually retconned as her niece as time went on. Sharon gives a speech at the funeral which inspires Steve, having apparently been told it by her aunt. This speech is actually borrowed wholesale from the comics, where it is Captain America who said it to Spider-Man. It's pretty much Cap’s greatest speech ever, so some fans might be miffed it is given to someone else here. Also, did anyone notice Jim Rash as an MIT faculty member who pesters Tony Stark? He's basically playing the same character he does in Community, which is an in-joke as the Russos worked on that show in its early seasons. And, speaking of cameos, Stan Lee plays a delivery man in the film – similar to his part in 2005’s Fantastic Four. 4) The Spider Signal Speaking of Spidey, Civil War is packed with nods to the character. Apart from the allusions to familiar parts of Spidey lore like the ‘With Great Responsibility’ speech and Uncle Ben’s death, a couple more obscure ones are snuck in, too. The fact that Spidey’s suit is designed by Tony Stark is inspired by how Tony invents a new high-tech costume for Peter in the Civil War comic; a gold and yellow look known as the ‘Iron Spider’ outfit. Also, in a post-credits scene, Peter discovers that Stark has also made him a spider symbol which projects from his web shooters. This is something new to the films, but a favourite gadget of Parker’s in the comics – something he often uses to disorientate or incapacitate criminals. Lastly, during the airport fight scene, Spidey lifts up a boarding gate with great effort. This will remind fans of a very similar visual from 1966’s iconic The Amazing Spider-Man #33. 3) Scarlet Witch's Powers During Civil War, Scarlet Witch is basically grounded as the government thinks she is too powerful and volatile. They could be right if the character is anything like the comics version: Wanda’s powers have overwhelmed her and turned her evil numerous times, in the likes of such stories as House of M and Avengers Disassembled. Another thing that fans will notice is that Wanda and Vision grow closer in the movie, which is presumably foreshadowing a future romantic relationship between the pair. This would follow the comics, where they got married and even had little witchy/android babies. Vision also mentions how he doesn’t know what the stone in his head really is. Fans will know that this is the Mind Stone, one of the Infinity Stones, which the android will presumably find for himself in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. 2) Baron Zemo And The Masters Of Evil Daniel Bruhl’s main villain Zemo is incredibly different from the comics character, though references to the original are flitted throughout. Firstly, his evil plot apparently involves the hunt for a bunch of frozen super soldiers, which is very reminiscent of his Masters of Evil group from the comics. Meanwhile, the big Team Cap v Team Iron Man fight scene takes place at the Leipzig-Halle airport. In the comics, Zemo hailed from Leipzig, rather than Sokovia - as in the film. The Russo brothers have said that their main influence in this portrayal of Zemo was actually Kevin Spacey’s John Doe in Seven. Given that, Zemo’s big secret being something that would make his enemy angry was presumably intended as a callback to what's in Doe’s box in that movie. 1) Captain America No More The end of the film hints that Steve Rogers might be about to retire from being Captain America, as he discards his famous shield while rescuing his friends from the Raft. This is a multi-layered easter egg. Firstly, it is a way of mirroring the demise of Captain America in the original Civil War comic without killing Rogers off. It's also a reference to the several times throughout the character’s history where he's given up his patriotic alter ego. In those times, he has gone by the titles The Captain or Nomad, instead. Cap and his team now operating as fugitives also reflects the fallout of the comic, which saw Tony lead the officially-sanctioned Mighty Avengers while the likes of Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Wolverine formed the breakaway group, calling themselves the New Avengers. We'll probably have to wait until Avengers: Infinity War to see how long our heroes stay separated for in the movies, but we can't imagine it will be for long.