Easter eggs. Love them, hate them, it doesn't matter. They're here to stay. Though easter eggs have certainly existed way before the Marvel Cinematic Universe got off the ground, it feels as if Marvel somehow managed to make better use of them than anyone else that came before or after. Easter eggs in the MCU are all over the place, yet they almost never distract us from the story. Some are even so obscure that it takes years before anyone even figures them out. It appears that easter egg hunting has become a fun activity for fans of the MCU. And it's an excellent excuse to rewatch a certain movie or a scene as many times as one likes... purely for research purposes, of course.
Getting the reference and being in on the joke just feels good. So, with eyes wide open and a magnifying glass, we approach MCU movies ready to dissect every frame. Thus far, the brains behind the MCU haven't disappointed when it comes to cleverly placed objects, nonchalantly namedropped characters, pop culture references, and comic book callbacks. No matter whether you prefer MCU easter eggs, comic book easter eggs, or pop culture references -- the MCU has something for everyone. We're sure that just like us, you too have a list of favorites, though picking them out can certainly be a difficult task. Thus, in honor of Marvel's ten-year-long easter egg tradition, we want to celebrate the 25 best Easter eggs in the MCU (so far).
25 DONALD BLAKE NAMETAG
When the mighty God of Thunder gets exiled to Earth and turned into a mortal by his father Odin, he must adapt to his new life in a foreign world as a mortal. Naturally, if he’s to fit in with the Earthlings, he must shred his regular attire and replace it with something more casual.
Luckily, his new friend Jane Foster offers some of her ex-boyfriend’s clothes. Thor puts on one of the man’s shirts that just happens to have an interesting nametag. The name tag reads “Donald Blake” -- a reference to Thor’s original comic book origin.
24 HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
When Thor finally managed to revert Hulk back to Bruce Banner, Banner had no clothes of his own and thus had to make do with Tony’s fashionable threads he found on the Quinjet. The shirt has the cover art from Duran Duran’s album Rio, which includes the band's hit song “Hungry like the Wolf”.
As it turns out, the shirt was foreshadowing something that happens at the very end of the movie. When Thor and his Revengers arrive on Asgard, the Hulk has a showdown with none other than the Fenris Wolf. Cool.
23 BACK TO THE FUTURE
If you’re a fan of old movies, precisely those from the '80s, you probably caught this awesome little easter egg in Black Panther. Shuri fussing over her brother’s choice of footwear was one of the most hilarious scenes in the movie.
She also shows off the new shoes she’s made for him -- fully automated to fit themselves to the wearer’s feet. According to Shuri, the design was inspired by an old American movie their dad used to watch. The movie in question is, of course, Back to the Future Part II, which features similar futuristic Nikes.
22 INFINITY GAUNTLET
So, back in 2011 when Thor came out, we thought we caught a glimpse of the infamous Infinity Gauntlet in Odin’s vault. Then Thor: Ragnarok had to point out that it’s actually a fake. But, before this knowledge was imparted on us, the appearance of the universe-altering weapon was a huge deal. Of course, that’s assuming that you even caught it.
It’s one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kinds of easter eggs and requires several pause attempts to get it just right. The fake Infinity Gauntlet even had all the fake Infinity Stones. Someone really went through a lot of trouble for this knockoff.
21 MJOLNIR
Marvel loves delivering teasers in their now-notorious post-credits scenes. In the post-credits scene in Iron Man 2, we see Agent Coulson driving up to a crater in New Mexico desert. As he calls in to report the finding, we cut away to a close-up of the crater and the object that had created it.
In the middle of the enormous hole in the ground stands a familiar hammer -- Thor’s Mjolnir. And just as the scene cuts to black we hear thunder, telling us that the God of Thunder is on his way.
20 CAP'S SHIELD
As the first MCU film, Iron Man had a very demanding job. It had to find a way to set the building blocks for the MCU without getting completely lost in universe-building and easter eggs. Fortunately, Iron Man showed admirable subtlety when it comes to easter eggs.
For example, when Pepper Potts catches Tony taking off his Iron Man armor, there’s a barely noticeable half-constructed Captain America shield laying on Tony’s table. Nice little nod, gets the fans hyped, but doesn’t distract from the scene itself.
19 ORIGINAL HUMAN TORCH
This one was fairly easy to spot since the camera pans over the red suit for a few seconds, but not everyone knew just what it was they were looking at. In Captain America: The First Avenger, we see Bucky and Steve attend Stark Expo hosted by Howard Stark. When they enter the venue, we see that one of the exhibits is a figure in a bright red jumpsuit.
This is a reference to the original Human Torch, the very first superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Timely Comics which went on to become Marvel Comics.
18 THE TO-DO LIST
After spending a few decades frozen solid under a block of ice, Steve Rogers found that he had a lot to catch up on. In order to keep up with all the stuff he needs to familiarize himself with, Steve made a list.
In the opening scene of The Winter Soldier, we briefly see the list, but what we see depends on where we’re watching the movie. Some items are specifically tailored towards particular countries. The US/Canada list has Steve Jobs, while the UK has The Beatles, Australia has AC/DC, and so on. Thai Food, Star Wars/Trek, Nirvana, and Troubleman are present in all versions.
17 TALES TO ASTONISH
Not all easter eggs have to come in form of appropriately placed objects, some come in audio form. Like in Ant-Man, for example, when Darren Cross is addressing the rumors of an Ant-Man superhero going on secret missions during the Cold War, he remarks: “Soviet propaganda, tales to astonish”.
Comic book fans will immediately recognize these words as the title of the comics series in which the first Ant-Man made his debut. Hank Pym made his first comic book appearance in Tales to Astonish #27.
16 COLLECTOR'S MUSEUM
When the Guardians visited Taneleer Tivan, aka the Collector, on Knowhere they had the privilege of checking out his grand museum collection. As the Guardians made their way in between the exhibits, we strained our eyes trying to spot all the easter eggs.
The Collector’s lair sure had a lot to offer. One of the glass containers contained a Chitauri (the alien from the first Avengers movie), the other had a Dark Elf from Thor 2, Cosmo the Spacedog and Howard the Duck were also there, as well as many other interesting creatures.
15 RHODEY'S RINGTONE
Remember that scene in the first Iron Man movie when Rhodey and the rest of US Air Force are chasing around an Iron Man-shaped UFO and then Rhodey gets a phone call from the man in the armor? Well, there’s a fun little easter egg hidden there.
The ringtone on Rhodey’s phone is a midi version of the opening song for the 1966 Iron Man animated series. Provided you’ve actually seen the cartoon, this wasn’t too hard to spot. Fun fact, the same technique was used in FOX’s The Gifted, where a character’s ringtone was the opening theme of X-Men: The Animated Series.
14 ADAM WARLOCK
In the third post-credits scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we are back with the High Priestess Ayesha and the Sovereign. It turns out Ayesha had been keeping busy with a fun little side project -- cooking up the perfect Sovereign, the next step in their evolution.
She says her plan is to use this new “weapon” against the Guardians of the Galaxy and we are then shown a golden cocoon as Ayesha nonchalantly adds “I think I shall call him Adam”. At that moment we knew for certain that Adam Warlock is coming to the MCU and soon.
13 BLOCKS AND RIBBONS
Emotional trauma aside, Avengers: Infinity War was a gratifying experience. Despite having a lot on its plate, the film still managed to reward loyal fans for keeping up with all things Marvel with tons of easter eggs.
One of our favorite Infinity War easter eggs is the way Thanos uses the Reality Stone to turn Drax into blocks and Mantis into blocks and ribbons during the battle on Knowhere. This is a very cool reference to the Infinity Gauntlet comic where he did the same to Eros and Nebula.
12 HOWLING COMMANDOS
If Principal Morita from Spider-Man: Homecoming looked familiar, as in if it felt like you’ve seen him in the MCU already, that’s because you have. Well, not the Principal, but the actor Kenneth Choi. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Choi portrayed Jim Morita, one of the Howling Commandos who fought alongside Steve Rogers.
In Homecoming, Choi played Jim Morita’s descendant, aka Peter Parker’s Principal. In the scene where Peter is being chastised by the Principal, you can spot a photo of Jim Morita sitting on the cabinet in the back.
11 ANT-MAN ON HAWKEYE'S ARROW
Fans love seeing scenes being pulled right off the pages of comics and Marvel knows this. Captain America: Civil War had a couple of these as a matter of fact. In the midst of the battle between Team Cap and Team Stark, Hawkeye and Ant-Man devise a team strategy that keen comic book fans swiftly spotted.
Scott shrinks down and climbs on top of one of Hawkeye’s arrows, which the archer then fires straight at Iron Man. The scene was pulled right off the epic cover of Avengers #223.
10 THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
Aside from frequent references to Marvel Comics, the MCU movies love referencing pop culture in general. Various celebrities, actors, singers, politicians, television hosts and so on have cameoed in MCU movies. Tons of movies, songs, books, and video games have been referenced in one way or another.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there’s a fun little nod to Samuel L. Jackson and one of his most famous movies, Pulp Fiction. The Bible passage quoted by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, Ezekiel 25:17, can be seen on Nick Fury’s gravestone.
9 X-JET
In 2008 when Iron Man came out, the X-Men were still pretty much in the hands of FOX. However, that didn’t stop Marvel from including a cool X-Men easter egg in their first MCU movie.
While performing the test run for Mark II of his Iron Man armor, Tony competes for an altitude record against an SR-71. This, of course, is a real aircraft, but it also just coincidentally happens to be the mark of the jet that the X-Men use in the comics and in the movies.
8 CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK
During the fight on Titan in Avengers: Infinity War, we got a number of visual callbacks to iconic comic book moments. Doctor Strange used a number of spells that avid comic book fans were able to recognize. Do the Crimson Bonds of Cyttorak sound familiar?
In the comics, these are red bands of mystical energy stemming from Cyttorak. Doctor Strange commonly uses this spell to bind his targets. In Infinity War, he used it on Thanos, but the Mad Titan couldn’t be subdued that easily.
7 THE STAFF OF THE LIVING TRIBUNAL
During one of Stephen Strange’s training sessions with Karl Mordo, the latter whipped out an interesting weapon. Karl then explained that the relic was imbued with magic too powerful to sustain. The name of the relic: The Staff of the Living Tribunal, a reference to the powerful cosmic entity from the comics called the Living Tribunal.
The Living Tribunal is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe. It wields the Staff of Polar Power and safeguards the Multiverse from an imbalance of mystical forces. It'll be interesting to see how the Staff will return in future MCU movies.
6 THE PUNCH
The first Captain America comic book came out in the midst of World War II. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created a patriotic super soldier who often fought the Axis powers. The cover of Captain America #1, which stands as one of the most iconic comic book covers of all time, showed the Cap punching Adolf Hitler in the face.
In a scene from Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve punches a stage actor dressed as Adolf Hitler during his Star Spangled Man with a Plan performance, thus re-creating the famous cover.