Easter eggs have long been a popular aspect of video games. The first Easter eggs were simple, such as 1979's Adventure, which featured a hidden room with the names of the game's development team. Since then, they've become increasingly popular in video games of all types. Fans will tear through their favorite game in order to find whatever morsels have been hidden there by the development team, be it sequel teases or nods to prior installments. Easter eggs have become something of a pop culture phenomenon, spawning hundreds of guides and YouTube videos as gamers navigate their way to their favorite hidden secrets.
There have, naturally, been more superhero video games flooding the shelves in recent years. As movies based on comic books have taken over modern media, video game companies have begun to dive in with their own comic book based games. There have been plenty of hit games, with titles like Spider-Man 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum redefining the genre, while titles like Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters and Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis quickly being relegated to quirky trivia status. Due to their nature as comic book games, Easter eggs are plentiful throughout the games. In-jokes to previous games, previous stories and the extensive lore of the characters have led to these games having some of the best Easter eggs in modern gaming. We've put together a few of our favorite Easter eggs, some of the hardest to find and some of the most interesting to discover.
25 DOCTOR FREEMAN MEETS THE PUNISHER
The Punisher, released in 2005, was a pseudo-sequel to 2004's Tom Jane vehicle, as well as using elements of the popular "Welcome Back, Frank" storyline. There are a number of fun cameos and Easter eggs, including Matt Murdock appearances and more.
But gamers may have let one slip by them in the Stark Industries mission. While going on the tour early in the game, there will be an off-camera incident in the tower. Another scientist will proclaim it must be Dr. Freeman doing something with portals, a nod to the Half-Life series protagonist.
24 AZRAEL CATCHES YOUR BATARANG
Azrael, wearing his then-current costume, turns up in Batman: Arkham City for a series of missions. During these missions, he'll lead you through the city to show you mystical ley lines, a side mission which seems to be a tease for a sequel story that never came.
But Azrael is actually watching you the entire time you're in Arkham City. First watching Wayne in the distance during the opening, and later on various rooftops in the distance. Throw a Batarang at Azrael and watch it in first person view, and he'll even catch it.
23 NOW I'M PLAYING WITH POWER!
The mid-round quotes for Injustice 2 have proven the source of a host of Easter eggs. The Ninja Turtles take sly jabs at each other, Raiden summons the obscure Kidd Thunder, and comic book characters rib their foes. But Scarecrow snuck in a surprising one.
Win a round as Scarecrow and he may declare "Now I'M playing with power!" as his win quote. This is a nod to an infamous gag in the sixth Nightmare on Elm Street film, which starred Scarecrow voice actor Robert Englund as the titular Freddy Krueger.
22 HARLEEN & HARLEY
Batman: Arkham Knight wrapped up the Arkham series with a bang, and also brought a ton of unique DLC. Batgirl, Nightwing, Catwoman, Robin and Red Hood all received playable DLC missions, but notably so did long-time Joker ally and major villain, Harley Quinn.
Harley's mission isn't anything special, but the included Psychosis Mode (Harley's version of Detective Vision) has some fun notes. Most notably, if you remain still long enough in Psychosis Mode, Harley will begin to hallucinate a conversation with Harleen Quinzel, who pleads with Harley to just give up and go home.
21 SPIDER-MAN IS A BOSS
The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) has a curious Easter Egg of sorts. At the conclusion of the game's Chinatown stage, Joe finds himself fighting... Spider-Man? The enemy eventually is implied to be a shapeshifting ninja, turning into Batman as well.
A later release would outright make the character Spider-Man, removing the shapeshifting. However, 2009's Wii Virtual Console re-release would remove this element, recoloring the enemy to be pink. This was due to the license rights expiring for the Spider-Man likeness.
20 WOLVERINE OF WARCRAFT
While X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a flop that nearly killed the movie franchise, one good thing did come out of it. The video game tie-in doesn't look like much, but it's a surprisingly fun God of War clone with a unique tone and plenty of character.
The game also hid a number of secrets, including a nod to Portal's cake, and an interesting World of Warcraft reference. Hidden in the Alkali Lake level, Logan can find not only Frostmourne but a dead quest giver.
19 BRUCE'S HIDDEN WALL
Maybe Batman learned a thing or two during the Arkham Asylum incident. For example, he may have learned from the Warden where to hide something he wants to stay hidden. Interact with the grand piano in Wayne Manor and you'll find a hidden wall littered with clues.
It's easy enough to miss the wall, peppered with clues that you might otherwise miss, some of which were added in with a DLC mission. Eventually, it was revealed the many clues were nods to the then-upcoming Batman: Arkham VR.
18 THE SANCTUM SANCTORUM
Following the insanely well received Spider-Man 2 game was going to be no easy feat, but Ultimate Spider-Man managed to improve it in almost every way, with a great story, graphics pulled right out of the comics and an even bigger, open world New York.
New York hid more than a few secrets, though. One of the more interesting ones was Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, quietly hidden among the houses of New York. It's a fun easter egg, with light emanating from a cracked door, but the good doctor doesn't seem to be in.
17 YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE MAD TO WORK HERE
The Arkham series of games have so many nods to Batman stories that it would be nearly impossible to catalog them all. One that bears mentioning, though, would be a sly reference to a controversial Alan Moore classic, The Killing Joke.
While exploring the Asylum, you'll find a number of offices. One in particular early in the game has a small desk plaque inscribed with, "You don't have to be mad to work here… but it sure helps!" This plaque was notably seen in the opening pages of The Killing Joke as a small piece of story development.
16 BAT-THEME
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham has a huge roster, boasting over 200 characters from the DC Universe at large. The series touches on much of DC's storied history, from mainstays like Batman and Robin to lesser known characters like Condiment King and Killer Moth.
But it is a Batman game first and foremost, and the character select hides a fun Easter Egg. Hover over a charcter's portrait long enough on the character select screen and they'll all sing a personalized rendition of 1966's Batman theme.
15 HIDDEN CONVERSATIONS
The X-Men Legends titles were known for giving you a lot of mutants to play with, which meant many of your missions could go down any way you wanted. But sometimes bringing the right characters can reveal hidden conversations.
Bring Jean Grey to face Archangel, and Jean will plead with Warren to surrender and let the X-Men help him. Even better than that, take Deadpool to the Deadpool fight and the two will have a discussion about where they've seen each other before.
14 NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE
After Neversoft's popular Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man 2 was a revelation. The open world New York made the game a smash, as did its expanded take on the film's story. One such impressive addition was Mysterio, who snuck a few Easter Eggs into his dialogue.
Before leaving, Mysterio shouts, "No chance to survive, make your time," a nod to the meme All Your Base Are Belong To Us. He'll also scream "Klaatu Barada Nikto," a sly wink to Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness. The line was made famous by Bruce Campbell, who Raimi reportedly wanted to play Mysterio on film.
13 SHARK REPELLENT
Batman's got a surprising number of rogues based on water creatures, and it doesn't help that his nemesis The Penguin tends to populate his lairs with various animals. Notably, in Arkham City, he kept a massive shark that Batman had to contend with.
Batman's no stranger to dealing with sharks, though, and the in-game tips pay homage to it. Get eaten by the shark and the game over screen's tip will tell you to use Batman's shark repellent: "a series of furious strikes." This is, of course, a nod to Batman: The Movie's infamous Bat-Shark Repellent spray.
12 LK-4D4
Making a great comic book fighting game takes some effort, and Netherrealm Studios proved up to the task with Injustice 2. Hailed as one of the greatest fighting games in recent years, the title also features a subtle nod to Netherrealm's other major franchise.
That, of course, means Mortal Kombat... and they were very sly about the nod. When Brother Eye is about to attack Cyborg, Catwoman shuts it down with authorization code LK-4D4. This is actually the designation of Cyrax, the Lin Kuei cyber-ninja who has popped up in multiple Mortal Kombat titles.
11 CALENDAR MAN
Batman: Arkham City featured a plethora of Batman's rogues gallery, though you didn't always fight them. Some characters were just cameos. One more memorable one for hardcore fans was obscure Batman villain The Calendar Man.
Calendar Man can be found in a prison cell underneath the courthouse, and he'll have some pithy comments for you. But visit him on a specific holiday once a month, and he'll make reference to the holiday. Dedicated players can even unlock an achievement for visiting him on a specific holiday once a month for a year.
10 EAT THE BALLOON KID
For all the things Spider-Man 2 did right, there were a few things that earned it ire from fans. One on-going side quest, in particular, featured a small child who continually lost a red balloon and then screamed incessantly until Spidey plucked the balloon from the sky.
The developers of Ultimate Spider-Man knew this, though. To pay homage to the quest in a way to satisfy those fans, they included the balloon boy from Spider-Man 2, only this time he was eaten by Venom as part of the game's tutorial mission.
9 HEART OF ICE
The underrated Batman: Arkham Orgins got a smattering of DLC, one of which included the mission "Cold, Cold Heart." The brief mission was really just an adaptation of the classic Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice," which updated Mr. Freeze's origin for the modern era.
The DLC isn't afraid to pay homage to this. Look around Freeze's laboratory and you'll find the snow globe of Nora he keeps on him. As an added bonus, you'll also find schematics for upgrades Batman would receive in canonically later Arkham titles.
8 MJOLNIR
Rico of the Just Cause franchise isn't technically a hero. But with his ability to cause mass destruction on a scale that would give the Hulk pause, he'd arguably be a very popular Avenger (or Master of Evil, for that matter.)
Rico's world does appear to have some heroes in it, though. Explore the difficult-to-reach cliffsides in Just Cause 3 and you'll find a massive crater. In the center of the crater is none other than Mjolnir, Thor's mighty hammer. Rico's not able to lift it though, so he must not be worthy.
7 RA'S RESURRECTION
Ra's al Ghul has long been a Batman nemesis and someone who pushed the Dark Knight to his limits. Ra's would finally make his video game debut in Batman: Arkham City, but eagle-eyed players spotted an earlier cameo by the character.
Make your way to the morgue in Arkham City, and you'll find an open slab with a body's foot hanging out. The toe tag reads Ra's al Ghul, indicating Ghul lost a pretty big fight in the asylum. Naturally, return later in the game, and Ra's will be gone.
6 PHOTO MISSIONS
The Amazing Spider-Man took a lot of cues from the Arkham series. The end result was a genuinely fun game, albeit one with a forgettable story and nothing too terribly groundbreaking. It suffered mainly from being compared to prior games, which featured much more content.
But the game did have a really engaging side mission where Peter had to take photos of key areas. These missions teased villains who weren't in the game, such as Man-Wolf, Vulture, Mr. Negative, and Sandman.