Avengers Infinity War Easter Eggs [Massive Spoilers]

Ahhhh Avengers: Infinity War. You’re killing me. World’s biggest cliffhanger ever. 10 years of mayhem and chaos in one movie. You’ve left me with more questions than answers. We love Easter Eggs, so we’ve done an Avengers: Infinity War Easter Egg post.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, turn back now because Avengers: Infinity War Easter Eggs are bound to contain spoilers. You’ve been warned.

40 Avengers: Infinity War Easter Eggs

1. Morgan Stark

Tony Stark tells Pepper Potts all about his dream that they had a baby called Morgan ‘named after her eccentric uncle’. In the Marvel comics, Iron Man has a vengeful cousin named Morgan Stark, the cousin of Tony Stark through Tony’s uncle Edward Stark.

2. The Hulk Falling from Space

The Hulk falling from space to Earth and landing at 177a Bleecker Street is oddly familiar of The Infinity Gauntlet comics. In the comics, the Silver Surfer fell from the sky into the Sanctum Sanctorum to warn Doctor Strange that Thanos was coming (not Bruce Banner) and is so similar, right down to the “Thanos is coming” line Banner recites.

3. Cauldron of the Cosmos

Doctor Strange and Iron Man get off to a rocky start in Avengers: Infinity War, and it doesn’t help that Tony holds on to the Cauldron of the Cosmos for balance while stretching his quads.

In the Marvel Comics, the Cauldron of the Cosmos is an artifact that allows Doctor Strange to look through time, space, and alternate realities.

4. Stan Lee Cameo

Every Marvel movie features an obligatory Stan Lee cameo. This time he’s Spider-Man’s school bus driver. I’m beginning to think he has a thing for public transit. We saw Stan Lee riding the bus in Doctor Strange and driving a bus way back in Heroes.

5. Ben and Jerry’s

Tony Stark mentions he has a Ben & Jerry’s flavor named in his honor called Stark Raving Hazelnuts, which is a nod to his crazy pursuit of Thanos and his lack of sometimes thinking clearly.

Wong mentions another Avengers flavor: Hulk-A-Hulk-A-Burning-Love.

 

6. “We have a Hulk”

In Avengers Assemble, Tony Stark uses the line “We have a Hulk” on Loki moments before Bruce Banner owns The God of Mischief. In Avengers: Infinity War, Loki uses the same line on Thanos.

 

7. Raiders of the Lost Ark

When Ebony Maw tries to take the Eye of Agamotto from Doctor Strange, his hand gets burned just like Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

8. Spongebob

Tony tells Ebony Maw “Get lost, Squidward” when he sees him in NYC.

9. Battle of New York

We all know that Loki invaded Earth, Bruce Banner confirms it was Thanos who sent Loki to Earth for that invasion. Stark has always felt a personal need to make Thanos pay for the battle. Thanos believes the battle is a failure of Loki’s and holds that failure over his head as one of the excuses he uses to off him at the start of the film.

10. Vormir

After months of speculation, everyone was wrong about where the Soul Stone was. I never once saw a theory that it was on Vormir or that Red Skull was involved. Gamora once saw a map that revealed the stone’s location and then she destroyed it to keep it out of Thanos’ hands. He found out anyway by torturing Nebula (something he has always done in the comics for fun)

In Thanos’s quest for the Infinity Stones, he and Gamora head to the planet Vormir in search of the Soul Stone. In the comics, Vormir, the sixth planet in the Helgentar system, is part of the Kree Empire and the home of the Vorms (first mentioned in Avengers #123 in 1974), a lizard-like nocturnal race of aliens that include the mutant, energy-absorbing ‘Star-Stalkers’, who have clashed with the Avengers in the comics.

 

11. Red Skull

I did NOT see that coming. At all. I mean, I’m not shocked he was still alive and hiding out all these years, but WHOA. I do love me some Ross Marquand from The Walking Dead. The wormholes in the universe created by the Tesseract have once again blown my mind.

Apparently, when Red Skull vanished at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger after he touches the Tesseract, we now know where he goes: he ends up on Vormir as the guardian of the Soul Stone. He tells us that he’s been trapped on Vormir since WWII and is obligated to tell anyone in search of the Soul Stone the cost of the stone—a soul for a soul—and that they will lose something they love.

Interestingly enough, he is very death-like in this presentation, which falls in line with the role of Death in the Infinity Gauntlet comic.

12. and 13. Gamora Origin Story and the Chitauri

During the flashbacks showing how he “adopted” Gamora, you can spot Chitauri ships from the first Avengers movie. We also get a bit of the origin story of why Gamora is a knives and sword girl vs. a gun girl.

Loki led the Chitauri to their defeat in The Avengers, but Thanos’ hired army make their grand reappearance in the flashback scene.

We see the Chitauri invading Gamora’s home planet deploying their giant ships and the foot soldiers kill half of Gamora’s people. The Chitauri have been replaced by the Outrider army from the Infinity Comicbook arc as we make our way to present day.

14. and 15. Eitri and Nidavellir

Seeing Peter Dinklage as the dwarf king, Eitri, was cool. The Marvel Comics version of Eitri made his first appearance in Thor Annual #11 in 1983, but it was nice to finally see him on the big screen. Thor wants a weapon to replace the hammer and heads to Nidavellir, the dwarf realm, to ask Eitri the dark king to forge him a new weapon. Thanos destroyed Eitri’s hands after he forged the gauntlet for him, but he’s still able to help Thor forge a new weapon, the Stormbreaker, a legendary weapon intended to be wielded by Asgardian kings.

The Stormbreaker, a thunderaxe, is derived from the comics and given to Beta Ray Bill after he defeats Thor in a battle and rightly won Mjolnir. Beta Ray Bill felt guilty and instead kept the Stormbreaker as a reward from Odin, which was forged from the same Uru metal as used in Infinity War.

 

16. Spider-Man

We got to see the new “17A” model Spider-Man suit that Tony Stark gave Peter Parker at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Peter also uses his Spidey-sense on the bus and when he senses the Black Order ship before he sees it coming and talks about being a “friendly neighborhood Spider-man” to Doctor Strange, both of which are nods to the comics and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

17. Die Hard

There are so many references to 80s and 90s movies in this film, which make for great Avengers: Infinity War Easter Eggs. After Tony Stark gives Peter Parker the Iron Spider suit to save his life when he his propelled into outer space off of the Black Order vessel, Stark activates the suite’s parachute to try to send Peter back to earth with a simple “Happy Trails” adieu, borrowed from Bruce Willis’ John McClane Die Hard character.

18. Star Trek

Spider-Man’s line, “I’m being beamed up,” is a nod to Star Trek.

19. Captain America and Hand-to-Hand Combat

Cap taking on Thanos in hand-to-hand combat is bad ass and reminiscent of a scene from the original Infinity Gauntlet comics.

20. Nomad

Cap gave up his shield at the end of Captain America: Civil War, so Steve Rogers is technically no longer Captain America. He doesn’t have the same color palette (instead he’s in muted dark blues and browns, which is his old uniform but scuffed and ripped) and he doesn’t really dress like Cap. He looks and feels as though his new existence underground for the past 3 years is a nod to his time spent as Nomad in the Marvel comics.

The only time he’s actually referred to as “Captain” in the film is by Vision after he helps him up in Wakanda and he says, “We don’t trade lives, Captain.” Rhodey and Vision each call him Cap (I think once each in the movie). Other than that, he’s referred to as simply Steve Rogers reinforcing the fact that he’s turned his back to his old post.

Oh, and in case you didn’t catch it, Tony Stark had Steve Rogers number on his flip phone (such an engineer move). Cap’s phone number appears to be 678-136-7092. For the record, it doesn’t work…

 

21. Grimace

When Star-Lord comes face-to-face with Thanos, he calls the purple alien “Grimace” after goofy purple character from McDonald’s marketing.

 

23. Alien

The Alien nod with Ebony Maw. Spider-Man is always turning to his film fandoms to help his teammates out. I sear all Peter Parker does is watch 80s flicks. As Peter, Tony, and the Cape of Levitation are trying to rescue Doctor Strange from Ebony Maw and his acupuncture gone wrong, Peter asks Tony if he’s ever “seen that really old movie Aliens?” Peter then sucks Ebony Maw out of a breach of the ship’s hull and lets him freeze to death in outer space.

Peter later references Aliens again warning that is any aliens appear and try to lay eggs in his chest he won’t be impressed and proceeds to freak out a little when Mantis appears, worried that she wants to impregnate him with her alien eggs.

25. Nebula

Nebula in her half-disassembled state, in pain, feels very much like a throwback to the comics. In the comics, Thanos used the power of the Gauntlet to burn her and keep her in a state between half dead, half alive.

 

26. Rocket Raccoon’s Desire for Fake Body Parts

In the Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket tricked Star-Lord into buying one of their fellow Kyln inmates’ prosthetic legs as a joke. Later joked about needing Vorker the ravager’s artificial eye.

But then in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Groot snags the eye for him while trying to breaking out of the brig and gives it to Thorin Avengers: Infinity War.

In Infinity War Rocket asks Winter Soldier if he can buy his new arm. When Bucky gives him side eye, Rocket mumbles, “I’ll get that arm.”

 

 

27. Rubberband Man

The song playing during the Guardians’ intro is “Rubberband Man” by The Spinners, and it’s one of the songs on Star-Lord’s Awesome Mixtapes.

28. Defender Arcade

Teen Groot is playing a handheld version of the 1981 arcade game, Defender, an all-time coin-operated classic video game.

It’s probably not an accident that the Russo Brothers chose this game. The object of the game is to destroy alien invaders while protecting the people on Earth from being abducted.

29. The Collector

The Collector appears during an illusion created by Thanos using the Reality Stone. This illusion implies to us that Thanos killed him before the Guardians of the Galaxy can get to him.

In The Thanos Quest comic, Thanos does indeed beat down the Collector’s for a gem, but in the comics, it was for the Soul gem, not Reality gem.

30. Footloose

Spider-man makes a reference to Footloose as a callback to the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie when Star-Lord mentions he is a big Kevin Bacon and Footloose fan and that Bacon was a great hero who saved an entire town through dance.

Thor mentions that the Avengers are “Earth’s mightiest defenders” and Mantis replies, “Just like Kevin Bacon” as a call back to Star-Lord’s insistence that Kevin Bacon is a hero.

Peter Parker says “just like Footloose” when the team is talking about the defeat of Ronan during a dance-off as yet another callback to the 80s hit.

31. Mantis and Drax Incapacitated in Knowhere

On Knowhere, when Thanos discovers that the Guardians of the Galaxy are there to stop him from getting the Reality Stone, he disarms Drax by turning his body into blocks and then similarly he uses the Reality Stone to turn Mantis into ribbons. There a scene in the comic that this is similar to that features his brother Eros and Nebula in a similar fashion. Clearly, this is to show the Reality Stone’s powers.

32. The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorrak

On Titan, as the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are fighting together to try to take down Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand, Doctor Strange conjures one of his spells from the comics—The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak.

The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak incantation sends red colored energy bands out of Doctor Strange’s hands and wind around Thanos, binding him before Mantis subdues his mind. The Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak look very much like they do in the comics (they first appear in Strange Tales #125, October 1964).

 

33. In the Eye

In the same sequence on Titan as the Crimson Bands Of Cyttorak, Spider-Man shoots his web at Thanos’ face, recreating a panel from the comics, just before Thanos slams Spidey in the same manner as in the comics, as well.

 

34. Black and White Vision

Once Thanos removes the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead, Vision turns gray as all the color seeps out of him. In the “West Coast Avengers” there is a story in which Vision was dismantled and when he was rebuilt, he’d lost all his human emotions and took on a vapid white, colorless appearance. Assuming Vision even survives, is this foreshadowing of his future?

35. White Wolf

We Bucky’s return as Steve Rogers et al get Vision to Wakanda to have the Mind Stone removed from his head, and just as Bucky was in the Black Panther post-credits scene, he’s referred to here as the “White Wolf” and is given a brand new Vibranium arm.

In the Marvel comics, White Wolf was an orphan named Hunter whose parents were killed in a plane crash. He was then adopted by T’Chaka, but bullied by other Wakandans for his skin color, but rose to the position of head of the Wakandan secret police before he clashed with T’Challa and was exiled. While this doesn’t fit Bucky’s story arc in the movies, it seems they are paying homage to the name and comic tie-in.

 

36. Arrested Development Cameo

The Russo brothers have snuck in another Arrested Development Easter egg (there’s the stair car one in Civil War, too) into the movie. A super fan spotted an Easter Egg in one of The Collector’s exhibits (Tobias Fünke on his Blue Man Group audition day when he “blue himself”).

Arrested Development easter egg in the leaked Avengers: Infinity War clip. A reference to Tobias Fünke after he auditioned for the Blue Man Group. pic.twitter.com/lyVi3NJ9Oh

— GuruKid (@FunWithGuru) November 26, 2017

 

37. Harry Potter

Any Harry Potter fan can’t help but notice a few parallels.

Vision struggling with pain from the Mind Stone is very Potter-esque with his scar pain and is a warning that something is wrong. And the use of magic to transform spells into butterflies in the Titan Battle? I thought I was at Hogwarts for a moment.

The ending scene when the characters all flutter/dissolve away is very much akin to the Voldemort death scene and then Thanos meeting young Gamora, when he completes his mission, is very much like a remake of the King’s Cross scene at the end of The Deathly Hallows.

38. The Snap

The Snap that Thanos makes with the Infinity Gauntlet wiping out half of the universe is nearly identical from the Infinity Gauntlet comic, as well.

39. Thanos’ Quiet Sunrise

After Thanos wipes out half of the universe, we see him quietly, peacefully watching the sunrise

This is similar to what we see of Thanos in the comics when he retires to live a quiet, peaceful life on a faraway, unnamed planet.

40. Post-Credit Scene

Two words. Captain Marvel.

What other Easter Eggs did you find? Want more Easter Eggs nerdiness? Check out Ashley’s post!