SPOILERS AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - 22 Easter Eggs And References You Need To See
Avengers: Infinity War is the biggest Marvel movie ever, so it probably won't surprise you to learn that it's full of amazing Easter Eggs and references. Here, you'll find your in-depth guide to them...
Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters and it just had a record-breaking weekend which saw it score the biggest opening weekend of all-time in North America. It's likely to hit $1 billion in a matter of days and it appears as if the sky is now the limit for Marvel's latest movie. It's easy to see why that is but the epic ensemble also features plenty of content which is there just for us comic book fans.
We're talking about the type of thing most regular moviegoers would miss and I think it's fair to say that even a lot of diehard fans probably ended up missing some of these Easter Eggs and references!
From nods to the comic books to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe and a variety of video games, movies, and TV shows, Avengers: Infinity War is crammed full of these and we have your must-see, in-depth breakdown right here. Regardless of whether or not you've seen the movie, this is well worth checking out to see what you should expect so click on either of the buttons below for the full list.
The Power Of The Reality Stone
In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book, Thanos takes great delight using the Stones to mess with Earth's Mightiest Heroes turning Wolverine's metal skeleton to rubber and conjuring an airtight box around Cyclops' head. In Avengers: Infinity War, he turns Mantis to ribbons and Drax to blocks when they clash on Knowhere, a fate he originally inflicted on Nebula and Starfox in the source material.
This was an awesome nod to a mostly forgotten about comic book moment and no doubt left many fans on the edge of their seats when it looked like the two heroes may have been killed by Thanos.
Red Skull Recast
Unless you've never seen Captain America: The First Avenger, there's not a chance you didn't recognise the Red Skull on Vormir! However, were you aware that it wasn't Hugo Weaving beneath all those prosthetics? Instead, it was Ross Marquand, an actor known for both his celebrity impressions and playing Aaron in The Walking Dead. He did a great job imitating Weaving, that's for sure.
The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorrak
Doctor Strange pulls out a lot of very cool tricks in Avengers: Infinity War but did you recognise one of his most formidable powers from the comic books? While attempting to slow Thanos down, Strange splits himself up and wraps red bands of energy around the Mad Titan (he's able to quickly shrug that off unfortunately for the heroes). These are, of course, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorrak!
They're not named in the movie but that's probably because Cyttorrak is where The Juggernaut gets his powers from and that's a character who is currently part of Fox's X-Men Universe...for now.
Defender
Groot stays glued to a computer screen for the vast majority of Avengers: Infinity War but what exactly is the sentient tree playing? Well, if you were around in the early 80s, you'll no doubt recognise it as one of the hit games of the time: Defender. It was a tricky title to complete but massively popular and it revolved around having to shoot down alien ships before they could abduct those on the surface.
Aliens
In a throwback to Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker references another "really old movie" in the form of Aliens. There are a couple of nods to that here as the wall-crawler suggests they blow a hole in the side of Ebony Maw's ship in order to send him hurtling out into space and then talks about having something implanted in his stomach which could burst out and attack his fellow heroes!
Of all the movies Avengers: Infinity War could have referenced, Aliens definitely feels like a top choice.
Morgan Stark
The first time we see Tony Stark, he's with Pepper Potts talking about both their upcoming wedding and a dream he had about them having a child together. His comic book counterpart never had a son (at least not in the regular continuity) but he may want to rethink that suggestion about naming the child after Pepper's "crazy" uncle Morgan because Iron Man does have a vengeful cousin: Morgan!
Is this a glimpse of what's to come? Probably not, especially as there's still no word on Iron Man 4. It is, however, a nice nod to the source material for fans who keep an eye out for the small details.
The Cauldron of the Cosmos
Talking of Tony, he receives a telling off from Doctor Strange (or his cloak, at least) shortly after their first meeting when he chooses to lean on an item the Sorcerer Supreme describes as the Cauldron of the Cosmos. Why is it so important? Well, in the comics, it's something the hero uses to peer through time, space, and alternate realities, so you can see why he doesn't want Tony using it to rest on!
Stan Lee's Cameo
Despite those distressing reports about Stan Lee's personal life and his failing health, he filmed a number of Marvel movie cameos quite some time ago (it's thought that James Gunn shot them all in one go during Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's production) and can be seen in full spirits here!
As you may already be aware, the comic book creator shows up as the driver of the school bus Peter Parker swings his way out of after his Spider-Sense alerts him to the spaceship hovering above the Big Apple. "The Man" chastises the kids for paying too much attention to yet another alien invasion.
Kevin Bacon And The Dance Off
A lot of fans found fault with Star-Lord distracting Ronan the Accuser with a dance-off in Guardians of the Galaxy but that's referenced here when Drax mentions to Iron Man that Star-Lord helped save the universe by dancing his way to victory! We also get to see Mantis ask Thor if Kevin Bacon is a member of The Avengers, while Spider-Man makes it clear to Quill that Footloose really isn't that great!
Thwip!
Seeing Spider-Man take the fight to Thanos is pretty damn cool and the fact that culminates with the Mad Titan slamming him to the ground and calling him an "insect" is a very, very nice touch. However, did you realise that the moment the wall-crawler shoots a web at Thanos' face was taken straight from the pages of Infinity Gauntlet? The villain putting Spidey down was also included in that tale.
Arrested Development
Before entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Joe and Anthony Russo directed a number of Arrested Development episodes. Well, look carefully at what remains of The Collector's collection and you may be able to spot Tobias Fünke in his Blue Man Group get up to the left of Gamora. He's hard to make out but is definitely there. As for why The Collector would want him, that we really don't know!
Stormbreaker
Thor's new hammer is similar in appearance to the one used by his Ultimate comics counterpart but it takes its name from the one used by Beta Ray Bill. In the comics, Odin had Eitri forge that for the alien hero when he proved himself worthy of wielding Mjolnir but the God of Thunder's version has a few extra perks, including the ability to tap into the Bifrost, so he can travel through the universe.
Bubbles
This is a very obscure reference but one which does appear to have links to Thanos' video game history. At various points in Avengers: Infinity War, the Mad Titan uses his newfound powers to turn weapons into bubbles but in hit 2000 video game Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, fans have never quite forgotten the fact that the Mad Titan's attacks would always end with bubbles on screen!
A reason for that has never been revealed but it was clearly a detail the Russos appreciated and decided to have fun with here. Then again, it could be a total coincidence. It's hard to say for sure.
The New Mephisto
Mephisto doesn't make an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War but he still has a presence of sorts because Ebony Maw very much takes his place in this movie. That's evident when the villainous member of The Black Order repeats one of the devil's lines from the comics almost verbatim when he says, "My humble personage bows before your grandeur." The two characters obviously have very different goals but this was a nice way to reference the source material and the Infinity Gauntlet comic.
Thanos Finds Peace
The final shot of the movie features Thanos sitting down and watching the sunset as he smiles to himself about wiping out trillions of lives in a now "thankful" universe. This retirement for the Mad Titan matches what happened at the end of Infinity Gauntlet when the villain retreated to a farming planet for a peaceful life after being defeated by the might of The Avengers and Adam Warlock.
It goes without saying that we should probably forget about Thanos getting a similar end in Avengers 4 because the villain definitely needs to end up paying for what he's done to the MCU.
"We Have A Hulk"
Loki was reluctantly reunited with The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok but the shoe is on the other foot for the God of Mischief in Avengers: Infinity War. After being told by Tony Stark in The Avengers that "We have a Hulk," it's Loki's turn to tell Thanos that in this movie when he drops the now familiar line and the Jade Giant takes the fight to the Mad Titan. Alas, that doesn't end very well for either of them.
Vormir
I'm not sure about you guys but when Gamora revealed to Thanos that the Soul Stone was hidden on Vormir, I sort of shrugged at the name. That's because it's not one which instantly rang any bells but Marvel didn't just make it up because it does actually have its roots in the source material.
There, Vormir is part of the Kree Empire and the home of the Vorms, a monstrous race of dragon/lizard-like creatures who Thor has crossed paths with on more than one occasion. They're nowhere to be seen here, though, as the planet appears to be abandoned aside from the Red Skull.
Thanos Tortures Nebula
In order to get Gamora to reveal the location of the Soul Stone, Thanos tortures her sister Nebula in front of her very eyes. It turns out that she really did try to kill the Mad Titan after her promise at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but the villain managed to capture her instead.
While he didn't tear out her cybernetic enhancements in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book, Thanos did similarly torture her by trapping Nebula between life and death as a zombie-like creature.
Captain Marvel
The movie ends with Nick Fury and Maria Hill responding to what's happened in Wakanda before they quickly realise that something is seriously wrong as people start vanishing before their very eyes.
It's not long until Maria joins them and when the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director realises that he too is about to turn to dust, he grabs a pager and sends a distress signal...to Captain Marvel! Yes, that was her logo which pops up on the screen and while we don't know where she's been all this time and how she hasn't aged, it looks like she'll definitely be joining the fight when Avengers 4 rolls around.
Behold The Black And White Vision
After Thanos tears the Mind Stone from The Vision's forehead, the Avenger is left a greyed out shell who is very clearly dead. However, you may recall that there's a West Coast Avengers storyline which saw the hero get dismantled by some bad guys before he was restored minus his human emotions, a change which resulted in him taking on a white, colourless appearance as he does here.
The question is, is this a precursor for what's to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Possibly...
Happy Birthday, Marvel!
This is easy to miss on a first viewing but the Marvel Studios logo (which is the first thing we see in the movie) has been altered so that it reads "Marvel Stud10s." That's obviously a reference to the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now ten years old following the release of Iron Man in 2008 and the voice we hear playing over the logo is widely thought to be THOR director Kenneth Branagh!
Hulk Crash!
The Hulk's unexpected arrival in Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum is a great way to make Earth's Mightiest Heroes aware of the threat Thanos poses to them but did this scene seem at all familiar?
It should because in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book, it's the Silver Surfer who comes hurtling through the roof as he looks to warn the Sorcerer Supreme that the Mad Titan is on his way to Earth. It's clear that Bruce Banner's arrival was inspired by the source material as the two scenes are nearly identical.