15 Avengers: Infinity War Easter eggs you may have missed

Did you notice all the little throwbacks in Marvel’s latest film?

Credit: Marvel Studios 2018

If you haven’t seen the new Avengers movie, then be warned, there are so many spoilers ahead, that reading this article will make the movie virtually unwatchable. What did you expect? After all, the title of this article is ‘Avengers: Infinity War Easter eggs you may have missed’.

Perhaps you were expecting a scene you missed while on a toilet break, where each and every member of the Avengers eats a novelty chocolate egg… if so, we are sorry to disappoint (that would have been a weird script choice).

As most of us people who spend far too much time watching movies know, an Easter egg is a reference, hidden in plain sight, which is a call out to something not within the film’s plot.

Marvel movies are infamous for them, but that’s not where this famous film saying comes from.

Urban Dictionary gives the following origin story for them – way back in 1975, when the world wide web was just something a very ambitious spider aspired to, the Rocky Horror Picture Show cast had an Easter egg hunt. Most of the eggs on the set weren’t found and they can be seen throughout the film in different areas.

Nowadays, movie Easter eggs have very little to do with the actual items and far more to do with unexpected cameos, and the callbacks to previous films and hints at what’s to come in the future.

Thus, without further ado, here are 15 Avengers: Infinity War Easter eggs you may have missed…

#1 Stan Lee Cameo

Stan Lee cameo

If you’re a Marvel fan and you’re not aware that Stan Lee makes a cameo in each and every film and TV series, then you’re not really a Marvel fan. We are not even sure that this qualifies anymore, but nonetheless, we are going to ease into this list of Infinity War Easter eggs with it.

This time around, the creator of the Marvel comic books pops up as the driver of Peter Parker’s school bus. In an entertaining scene which sees Parker escape through the window to go help the Avengers fight Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, Lee reacts to the rest of the teenagers’ boisterousness in typically nonplussed fashion.

The 95-year-old shouts back at his giddy passengers, saying: “What’s the matter? You kids never seen a spaceship before?”

Stan Lee’s cameo was one of the Infinity War Easter Eggs you can always rely on.

#2 An expected arrival

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Infinity War takes plenty from the Marvel comics, but the ones it borrows most frequently from come from Jim Starlin’s Infinity Gauntlet series.

One immediate throwback to that series happens at the beginning of the film, when Hulk crashes into the Sanctum Santorum after a brief battle with Thanos. This is identical to a scene in the comics where the Silver Surfer falls back to earth and lands on a similar staircase.

Both Bruce Banner and the Silver Surfer fall back to earth to warn everyone about the impending doom that’s about to arrive on their doorstep. This throwback had to be deliberate.

#3 “THIS IS MY CHOICE”

Captain America flies the Valkerie
Captain America piloting the Valkyrie

Remember back when Steve Rogers decides he needs to fly the Valkyrie into the arctic in Captain America: The First Avenger and then he realizes that he can’t be with Peggy Carter?

Yes… that was probably a scene you cried through.

Well, one of the Infinity War Easter eggs is a call back to that. When Tony is flying away on a spaceship with Maw, he gets a call from Pepper Pots. It’s a typical scene, where our hero tells his loved one that he needs to sacrifice all for the greater good.

That’s not the interesting bit – the interesting bit is that when his phone gets cut off, the same music plays in both scenes.

It’s called ‘This Is My Choice’ and can be listened to below.

#4 Thor director makes an unexpected cameo

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Thor director, Kenneth Branagh (center). Credit: Hypeable

Stan Lee wasn’t the only one to make a cameo in this movie (we’ll get to even more further down the list). Director of Thor, Kenneth Branagh does too, in what has to be one of the more subtle Infinity War Easter eggs.

He doesn’t physically appear, but in the first moments of the film you can hear a distress signal being sent out.

It says: “This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman…We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault. Engines are dead. Life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. ‘Our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy pick up that signal a little later and it leads them to Thor. The voice from that signal belongs to the British director, Kenneth Branagh.

#5 Kevin Bacon throwback

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Seven degrees of Kevin Bacon

The Marvel universe loves to throw in a good Kevin Bacon reference every now and again. It happened in the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie and it happens here again.

Star-Lord seems to love the movie Footloose so much that Mantis thinks that Bacon is one of the Avengers… thankfully Peter Parker is on hand to curb some of Star-Lord’s enthusiasm for Footloose.

It’s a funny throwback to the first GotG film and definitely one of the funnier moments in Infinity War.

#6 Man with no country

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Since he went a little bit rogue, Captain America has pretty much dropped his star-spangle-banner attire. When he turns up in Infinity War, he doesn’t even have his shield and as for all the flags, they’re gone too.

Of course, he is still referred to as ‘Cap’ by all his friends.

However, asides from that, he has pretty much morphed into the comic book character Nomad. For those of you out of the loop regarding the comics, the storyline Secret Empire basically sees Captain America fall out of love with his country after a massive conspiracy which even involves the fictional president.

Then, he becomes the “man without a country” Nomad. It looks as though that transformation is well on its way to happening in Infinity War.

#7 Avenger Development

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Joe and Anthony Russo have a long history of being associated with excellent TV comedies. The pair have worked on the likes of Community, Arrested Development and Happy Endings.

They won an Emmy for their excellent work on Arrested Development and it was there where they really made a name for themselves.

In a previous Marvel vehicle, Captain America: Civil War, the pair put an Arrested Development Easter Egg into the movie. They did this by showing a Bluth stair car during an airport fight scene.

This time around, they’ve gone and done it again. This time, they have a callback to David Cross’ character on the show, Tobias Funke and his unsuccessful attempts to join the Blue Man Group.

This can be seen as part of the Collector’s collection on Knowhere.

#8 “I’ll do it myself”

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Thanos wasn’t the most chatty of characters in the Marvel cinematic universe prior to Infinity War. In fact, up until this point, he has barely said anything.

One of his standout lines did come during the post-credit scenes of Avengers: Age of Ultron, where he uttered the ominous words of “I’ll do it myself.”

These words were uttered once again this time around, when Bruce Banner struggled to get his Hulk on for a fight against Cull Obsidian. Instead of turning into Hulk, he uses his own wits to shoot his foe into orbit.

Prior to that genius move, he says “I’ll do it myself.”

A callback or an Infinity War Easter Eggs? We’ll file this one under ‘perhaps.’

#9 Reality? What reality?

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The original Infinity Gauntlet story sees several of our heroes combine to tackle Thanos after he has captured the reality stone. During this battle, Thanos warped reality and turned two of the key characters into strange versions of themselves.

To be more exact, in the comic he turns Nebula and Starfox (Thanos’ brother, also known as Eros) bodies into ribbons and bricks. In the movies, he does the exact same thing to Mantis and Drax.

It’s one of the more famous elements from the comic, so it’s cool to see it used in the way it is in the movie.

Definitely one of the Infinity War Easter Eggs that fans of the comics will enjoy.

#10 Bubbling up inside

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Gamora doesn’t have the best of times in Avengers: Infinity War.

In fact, it’s fair to say that she doesn’t have a very good time at all. She gets captured by Thanos, then is (*major spoiler alert and without any shadow of doubt your last warning too*) thrown off a cliff as a sacrifice so he can get the soul stone.

In between that, she tries to prevent Thanos from getting the stone by attempting to stab herself.

As she does this, Thanos turns her weapon into bubbles using the reality stone. It’s all quite abstract and left us wondering ‘why bubbles?’

Some suggestions regarding this think that it is a throwback to the hit 2000 video game, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

This game sees Thanos as a selectable player and when his attacks end, bubbles rise up out of him.

Surely these are too random not to be connected?

#11 A different Black Widow?

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Captain America wasn’t the only one whose image was one of the Infinity War Easter eggs.

Black Widow had a serious look change too. Natasha Romanoff’s infamous red hair is now just a memory – Black Widow was sporting a short blonde bob for this instalment from Marvel.

This could have been a nod to the other Black Widow; the lesser known Yelena Belova, who hair was always styled in a similar fashion to Nat’s in Infinity War.

Belova was part of the Marvel Knights and first appeared in the late 90s.

#12 The Eternals

The Eternals
Credit: Marvel Wikia

The head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, had previously stated that there have been talks about the potential of a movie based on The Eternals.

That being said, none of the characters had ever gotten a mention in the Avengers.

That was, until Infinity War. Prior to the scene where Thanos throws Gamora to her fate. In that scene, Red Skull calls the big purple guy, ‘Thanos, son of A’lars.”

As those of you familiar with The Eternals will know, A’lars is also known as Mentor and is a member of the group.

#13 Thanos, at peace?

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We are not so sure that retirement will suit Thanos.

He does set his sight out early in Infinity War though; he intends to complete his mission to rid the universe of half its population and then chill out.

In the final scene of the movie, he looks pretty happy to just chill and look over the land.

The fact that Thanos is content not to be all-powerful is a minor reference to the Infinity Gauntlet series, where the big purple dude settles down and enjoys life as a farmer.

We don’t know about you guys, but we wouldn’t be overly fond of negotiating crop prices with him.

#14 Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel

If you leave the theater before the end of the credits when you are at a Marvel movie, then your time is clearly far more valuable than mine.

This is a franchise that has made the post-credit scene an infamous staple in the diet of geeks everywhere.

This time around, Samuel L. Jackson pops up with an unexpected cameo as Nick Fury. Here he uses a pager to send out a distress signal to someone, but all you see is a symbol.

This happens just as himself and Cobie Smulders’ character suffer the consequences of Thanos’ actions.

So, who was he trying to get in contact with?

The answer is Captain Marvel, who is set to make their solo movie debut in March 2018,  just a few months before Avengers 4.

Brie Larson stars as Carol Danvers and this is the clearest indication yet that she may have something to do with the conclusion of this series.

#15 Knowledge is power

Dr. Strange

WARNING – don’t read on if you don’t want to read about educated guesses on the plot of Avengers 4.

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Adam Worlock is the one who knows how the Thanos’ attack will play out in the comic books, but Doctor Strange takes on this role in the movie.

In the comics, Worlock knew that there was only one chance for the team to defeat Thanos, so he sat back and waited for the right moment to act, even while the purple glove fetishist erased half the universe.

Dr. Strange is the one that makes this move in the movie, even uttering something akin to “it was the only way” to Tony Stark before he dies.

He would know, he was the one who went into the future and saw the 14 million possible eventualities and the only one where Avengers won.

Conclusion

There you have it folks, 15 Avengers: Infinity War Easter eggs you may have missed. Of course, we are not all-seeing, so if there are any more that we left out, please let us know in the comments.

Meanwhile, we are going to go see the movie again to see if there are any more Infinity War Easter eggs that can give us more clues to the future of the Marvel cinematic universe.

Right now, Avengers 4 seems so far away… we suppose, there is always Ant-man and the Wasp to look forward to…