The Marvel Cinematic Universe, now over 20 films and shows deep, has reached a point where it could reference past occurrences and make the callbacks, Easter eggs or even relevant plot points. A great example of this was how She-Hulk: Attorney At Law introduced its main heroine as the polar opposite of the tragic life of Bruce Banner. However, multiple jokes have been called back to that even the most die-hard fans may not have noticed. A great example of this was in Captain Marvel when her cat, Goose, hid the Tesseract in a way only joked about in The Avengers.
The Tesseract was a powerful and deadly cosmic artifact that could transport anyone to any desired location. It was a huge McGuffin that dated back to the '40s when Steve Rogers became Captain America. Eventually, it was revealed to house the Space Stone and was the second Infinity Stone Thanos collected on his conquest to erase half of all life. But before that moment, the cube became a focus in the '90s when Carol Danvers broke free of the Kree's hold.
In the film, Carol, Maria Rambeau, Nick Fury and Goose were trapped on an alien vessel as they tried to aid Skrull refugees from Kree soldiers. However, they also got tasked with securing the Tesseract, which Carol and her allies tried to hide. Ultimately, when trying to find a place to hide it, her Flerken cat, Goose, unleashed a menagerie of tentacles from its mouth and swallowed the cube like food. The scene was unexpected at the moment but actually nodded to a joke uttered by Banner.
The Avengers was a busy film, to say the least. But among the many moving parts and characters, there was still time for interactions that helped create relationships between them. For example, when Bruce was offered a position with S.H.I.E.L.D. to study the cube by Black Widow, his first question was if Fury wanted him to swallow it. The joke was that the Hulk was massive and likely could, but, thanks to Captain Marvel, the bit has an even funnier layer.
Fury wasn't a man who joked much after Carol left for space. But that never meant he was without humor. It's likely that Fury listened in on Natasha's conversation with Bruce and heard the comment, implying that Fury would've remembered the event or even thought of it for a brief moment before the mission began. Fury and Goose had a brief but close relationship in the film, and the cat was also the reason he lost his eye, calling back to Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he revealed he lost it because he trusted someone.
The joke in The Avengers seemed like a passing comment, but with Captain Marvel, it's shown that there's history with these characters even in the most unlikely places. Now, the odds of any passing comment could tie to another event, a memory or a funny joke. But more than that, it has shown the interconnectivity of these films and just how detailed the MCU is.