Hawkeye's premiere opened with a flashback to the events of 2012's The Avengers, revealing that the young Kate Bishop's life was unknowingly saved by Clint Barton while he battled the Chitauri.
During a recent interview with before & afters, ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Vincent Papaix revealed, "Marvel was saying, 'Can we include Iron Man? Can we have people from Avengers?' We managed to actually hide one Avenger that nobody has found yet. I won’t tell you where it is in there, but there is one Avenger somewhere in episode one."
Well, The Direct decided to do some digging, and managed to find a tiny Hulk leaping through the sky before getting blasted by the alien invaders. Papaix was asked for confirmation and responded, "It is indeed Hulk jumping from building to building and getting a blast from a Chitauri weapon."
As Easter Eggs go, this is one of the coolest we've come across. Marvel Studios isn't loading up its Disney+ TV shows with cameos for the sake of it, but a moment like this only serves to drive home the fact that these small screen stories are tied to the movies, and every bit as important.
That wasn't the case with Marvel Television's shows because even though they'd reference what was happening elsewhere, Marvel Studios rarely collaborated with the now-defunct production house. This is why the likes of Daredevil and Jessica Jones appeared to be stuck in that post-Battle of New York period rather than referencing the Sokovia Accords and other key events.
Check out that blink-and-you'd-miss-it shot of The Hulk in Hawkeye below: