SPOILER WARNING: This article contains heavy spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame has been out for less than a week, and is breaking all kinds of box office records. Some diehard fans have already seen the movie multiple times, which means more and more Easter eggs have been spotted. We thought that it would be fun to assemble 25 of our favorite Easter eggs from the movie.
In no particular order:
1. In the opening scene, Clint Barton is teaching his daughter how to shoot a bow, and refers to his daughter as “Hawkeye”. Is it possible that his daughter will become the MCU’s version of Kate Bishop? Bonus egg: Hawkeye’s daughter is played by Joe Russo’s daughter Ava. Double bonus egg: Two of the kids that want Hulk’s autograph at the restaurant are also Russo kids Lia and Julian.
2. When Tony and Steve go back to 1970 to retrieve the Tesseract and additional Pym Particles, Rogers borrows an Army uniform to wear as a disguise. The name on the uniform reads “ROSCOE”. In the comics, Roscoe Simons takes the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers abandons his post and becomes Nomad. After proving himself capable in battle, he was able to gather the support of Rogers as the new Cap and was given the shield. Simons was later killed by Red Skull.
3. Thanos refers to The Avengers and Earthlings as “unruly wretches”. In the post credit scene in The Avengers movie from 2012, The Other tells Thanos “They are not the cowering wretches that we thought they were. They are unruly and cannot be ruled.”
4. Black Widow is again wearing her arrow necklace, a tribute to Hawkeye, who was missing at that part of the movie.
5. When Black Widow was on the virtual conference call, there was a pair of pink ballet slippers sitting on the chair. Likely a nod to the scene in Age of Ultron that showed some of the training that she went through in The Red Room.
6. In the scene where Doctor Strange is opening the portals to bring the heroes in to fight Thanos and his army, Howard the Duck appears next to The Wasp. He’s only there for a split second, but if you know where to look you will definitely see him. The Ravagers are also along side him.
7. When Hawkeye and Black Widow are flying The Benatar to Vormir, Hawkeye says “We’re a long way from Budapest”. In The Avengers they had a conversation about Budapest while fighting the Chutari.
8. When Hulk and Rocket go to recruit Thor, there is a bottle of Irn Bru sitting on the window ledge. Irn Bru is the main soft drink in Scotland and is often used for curing a hangover. Something which Thor has likely had his share of, after letting Thanos kill half of the universe.
9. Scott Lang’s van is kept in a storage locker marked 616. The number is a reference to the alternate world, Earth-616, in which the Marvel stories take place.
10. When Thor, Iron Man and Captain America come out of the rubble to battle Thanos, the three use moves that were used when they fought each other in the forest during The Avengers. Cap reflects Iron Man’s blast to hit Thanos, Thor uses his lightning to charge Iron Man’s suit to give it additional power, Cap uses his shield along with Thor’s hammer, etc.
11. When Happy asked Morgan Stark what she wanted, she said “Cheeseburgers”. When her father was rescued from the desert in Iron Man, the first thing that he wanted was an American cheeseburger.
12. While trying to obtain Loki’s scepter from the S.H.I.E.L.D. clean up crew, he whispers “Hail Hydra” to Agent Sitwell. Is this a nod to Cap saying it in the comics? I don’t really think so. But it certainly made us think of that.
13. When Stark returns safely to Earth, and begins arguing with the rest of The Avengers, he tells Rocket “For a minute there I thought you were a Build A Bear” to which Rocket replies “Maybe I am”. Build A Bear used to actually offer a Rocket Raccoon at their stores.
14. When Rocket and Hulk go to recruit Thor, they find him in a town called T0nsberg. That is actually the town that Red Skull visits at the beginning of The First Avenger when he finds The tesseract.
15. When Steve is about to go back and return all of the Infinity Stones, he tells Bucky “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” Bucky replies “How can I? You’re taking all of the stupid with you.” This same exchange was made between the two of them in The First Avenger when Bucky was leaving Steve behind and going off to war.
16. In Endgame Hulk says, “It’s got to be me. It’s like…. I was made for this” about wearing the gauntlet and being the only one who could handle that sort of gamma radiation. In The Avengers, Stark said “I read about your accident. That much gamma exposure…should’ve killed you.” Banner replied “Soooo, what you’re saying is, the Hulk….the other guy, saved my life?……Saved it for, what?” Tony gives that signature grin and replies, “Guess we’ll find out.”
17. Cameo! Jim Starlin, long time Marvel comics legend, creator of Thanos and author of The Infinity Gauntlet was in the therapy session with Steve Rogers, as was Director Joe Russo. Russo talked about a date that he had just gone on, saying that “he started crying during the salad.” Starlin’s character then asks “What about you?” Russo says that he “Cried during the dessert.”
18. When we see Korg sitting on the couch playing Fortnite, he is wearing the same shirt that Director Taika Waititi wore at the Thor: Ragnarok panel at SDCC in 2017. During that scene Kork is playing Fortnite. At the movie’s release there was a tie in to the movie in the Fortnite video game.
19. Black Widow cut her peanut butter sandwich diagonally. If you’ve seen Captain MarvelI, then you likely know where she picked up that habit.
20. Not really and Easter egg per se, but when Hulk meets with The Ancient One in an attempt to gain The Time Stone, she tells him that he is “About five years early” and that “Doctor Strange is currently performing surgery over at the hospital”. This essential means that in the movie Doctor Strange she knew that she was going to meet him and that he would become The Sorcerer Supreme. Puts an interesting twist on that movie.
21. In Civil War when the heroes begin their battle at the airport, Hawkeye and Black Panther go head to head. Hawkeye starts the uncomfortable confrontation by saying “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Clint.” Black Panther replies “I don’t care.” In Endgame Hawkeye is running through the battle field with the Stark made gauntlet and Black Panther says “Clint…give it to me.” Apparently King T’Challa remembered his name.
22. As the heroes begin coming through the portals to help Captain America battle Thanos and his army, Cap hears Falcon say “On your left”. Obviously a reference to the funny opening scene in Winter Soldier.
23. With Thanos about to kill Thor, Captain America picks up Mjolnir and hurls it at Thanos. We don’t know that it was thrown by Cap until we see him catch it. Which begs the question – In Age of Ultron was Cap actually able to fully lift it? Or is he somehow now worthy when he was only “almost worthy” in Age of Ultron. And if that is the case, what has changed to make him now worthy?
24. When Tony Stark unexpectedly runs into his own father in 1970, his dad tells him that his wife (Tony’s mom) is expecting. However, the dates don’t quite line up and Tony seems puzzled. This isn’t explained any further but we can’t help but think that Tony was actually adopted.
25. Finally, just before dusting away Thanos and winning the battle Tony Stark says “I am Iron Man”, bringing the MCU full circle from the first movie eleven years ago. For a man who seemingly runs out of quick witted quips and jabs, it was a fitting ending for Tony Stark to go out saying those words. However, those words originally weren’t even supposed to be in the movie. Bonus egg: Although there are no post-credit scenes, at the very end of all of the credits you hear a series of metal clanks. It was later confirmed to be a farewell to Iron Man, as the sounds remind us of the beginning of this journey 21 movies ago when Stark built the Mk 1 suit in that cave.
26. Ok I lied, you get one extra. At the end of the movie after boarding The Benatar, Thor says “The Asgardians of The Galaxy together again!” That is a phrase that fans came up with after Thor’s time with The Guardians in Infinity War. It was fun to see the Russo brothers toss it in Endgame.