35 Easter Eggs You Probably did not Notice in Avengers: Infinity War

It is time.
It is now officially one month since Avengers: Infinity War released globally and with the movie grossing over 1.8 billion dollars internationally at the end of one month, surely everyone on this planet and that one guy in Vormir has seen it at least once. 

If you're a fan of the franchise, you would have felt the emotional upheavals that this movie brings while also acknowledging just how well the directors did to bring so many diverse franchises together and give us such a coherent movie. I've always been a big fan of the Russo brothers for years and know them to be always thinking ahead a few steps ahead of the viewers and inserting hidden easter eggs within their scenes, right from their days on television with the show 'Arrested Development'. 

Do you think you noticed all the minor details the directors hid inside this movie that was a culmination of a decade of movie story-telling? I am guessing not. There is only one way to find out. So here's my list of 35 things I bet you missed while watching Avengers: Infinity War. 

It goes without saying that there are major spoilers ahead and you should not be reading this if you haven't watched the movie yet.

01 The Stones in the Gauntlet

This is an easy one to begin with but surprisingly, many I talked to missed it. I guess I just assumed everyone understood this. The Stones in the Gauntlet shine based on which stone/ability is being used. For example, the purple stone lights up when Thanos uses power to set the Asgardian ship on fire, blue when he uses the space stone to move across space and green when time is being manipulated at the end. 

02 Half a ship

What really needs a second viewing to note is the very first visual of the movie. The ship that Thor and the Asgardians were on isn't entirely there! This could be because of the assault by Thanos that precedes what we see OR (as I believe) a suggestion that some characters we love (Korg, Valkyrie) escaped.

03 Voice of Asgardian distress call 

Before you have the first visual on screen, you have the first voice - a distress call from the Asgardian ship. That is not some random voice pleading for the Asgardians. That's Kennath Branagh, the director of the original Thor movie. Wonderful to see the whole franchise family chipping in. 

04 We Have a Hulk

Loki telling Thanos 'We Have a Hulk' is a direct callback to what Iron Man had told Loki before the battle of New York began in the first Avengers movie.

05 The Defenders video game

The game Groot is constantly playing is an old arcade game called Defenders. The aim of the game is to defeat waves of aliens while stopping them from abducting humans. Replace that last bit with 'making humans disappear' and you can see the similarities with the movie plot, I hope!

06 Steve Rogers is not Captain America, but Nomad

In the comics, there comes a time when Steve Rogers is so disillusioned, he gives up the title of Captain America and fights under a new look and title, Nomad. 

While the film never calls him by this name directly, they drop hints by a) changing his earlier blue-white-red suit into a far muted, worn down version of the same that is now almost black and missing the star at the center. Nomad's suit in the comics is honestly hideous so this version is better and yet, the directors were smart enough to incorporate the shiny buckles on the upper half of his chest in a unique way. 

07 The Blue Man in KnoWhere

Look carefully when the Guardians of the Galaxy enter the Collector's lair in KnoWhere and you will spot a moustached bald blue man wearing denim shorts inside a cage. Fans of the iconic television sitcom 'Arrested Development' will readily recognize him as the hilariously silly character of Dr Tobias Funke. 

The Russo brothers are notorious for this, actually. Both earlier movies they directed for Marvel feature cameos from shows they worked on - actor Danni Pudi (Community) was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier while Jim Rash (Community) was there in Captain America: Civil war in addition to the Bluth family's stair car (Arrested Development) sitting in the airport during that iconic battle scene. 

08 Return of the Red Skull

One of the biggest surprise cameos in this movie was definitely the return of the Red Skull, now exiled in Vormir. We last saw him disappear at the end of 'Captain America: The First Avenger' when he tried to hold the Tesseract (the Space Stone, essentially) which sent him to, well, you now know where after all these years.

09 Mantis and Spiderman realizing something is coming

On the planet Titan after 'the snap', only two people seem to have a forewarning that something bad is starting to happen. This is not a random choice. Both Mantis and Spiderman are the only ones among those there who have an extra-sensory ability regarding danger.   

 10 The first and last scene of Spiderman  

In a storyline that saw the young school-going child selflessly risk his life to save a stranger (Dr Strange) just because his father figure told him to, finally become an Avenger and fight with great determination against an alien in another planet, what you may have failed to notice is that the first and last scene of Spiderman/ Peter Parker both involve his Spider sense warning him.

The first is the brilliantly shot moment in the bus where the hair on his hand literally stands up.

via GIPHY

The last is the tragic moment at the end where, unlike the others, his spider sense actually warns him of his impending death resulting in him telling Tony Stark that he is not feeling so good. 

11 Spiderman dying slower 

Unlike the others who disintegrated in one to two seconds, Spiderman takes longer, pleading and crying to his father figure, Tony Stark in a heart-breaking moment before he dies. This wasn't just a deliberate ploy by the directors; of the lot on the planet, the only one with healing abilities which helps delay or survive damage to the body was Spiderman. (Peter Quill had it in Guardians of the Galaxy but if you recall at the end of the second movie, loses it, fighting his father.)

12 Yibambe

Black Panther screams the word - 'Yibambe' to his warriors as they stand there waiting for the battle to begin. This isn't a made up word. This actually is an African word from the Xhosa language that means 'Hold' (as in 'Hold the line') 

13 Iron Man and his left arm

You think you've seen all the movies he's been in and know your Iron Man? Well, have you noticed the injury he has been nursing in his left arm for OVER A DECADE?

It starts in the first Iron Man movie when during his first battle with the suit on, Tony is hit in the left shoulder while flying by an anti-aircraft shell.

In Captain America: Civil War, he talks to Captain America before Bucky gets interrogated and mentions the numbness in his left arm.

Note where the suit shows his injury - left arm, once more

Shortly after, the two sides battle together and we see him get injured in the left arm again.

He wears a sling immediately after that battle and is troubled by that hand till the end of the movie.

Even as he talks to Peter Parker in 'Spiderman: Homecoming', there are at least two moments where Tony Stark is either holding that left hang gingerly or else (in the scene where he is at a wedding in India), you can see his left hand shaking (his right hand is deliberately shown to be perfectly steady) as he talks.

Even as his final scene has him breaking down as his protege Spiderman crumbles in his hands, he is still nursing the same injury that has plagued him for a decade.

Nods to MARVEL Comics books

(14 - 23)

Storm Breaker

In the comics, the axe Storm breaker, is actually gifted by Odin to a fellow hero Beta Ray Bill who had defeated Thor in battle and found worthy of wielding Thor's iconic hammer, Mjolnir.

The Iron Spider Suit

Just like in the comics, Tony Stark designs an advanced Spiderman suit for Peter Parker, one with new features including those appendages that shoot out from the back giving him extra leverage.

Ribbons and Blocks

In the movies, in the planet KnoWhere, Thanos turns Drax into blocks and Mantis into ribbons during the attack. This same scene occurs in the comics with Mantis and Thanos' brother Eros.

Image: ScreenRant

Ebony Maw torturing Doctor Strange too is a moment from the comics, though from a different storyline. There, he succeeds in gaining control of Strange and turning him against the others. Just goes to show how strong Ebony Maw really is.

The Herald

Hulk / Bruce Banner falling through Doctor's Strange's roof at the Sanctum Sanctorum is a near replica from the comic books where the Silver Surfer (remember him from the second Fantastic Four movie?) falls through to warn that Thanos is coming.

The Fate of Nebula

In the movie, Thanos breaks his own daughter Nebula into mechanical bits while torturing her. The comics were not far off, where he burned her and yet kept her alive, suffering.

Vision and Wanda

In the comics, Vision and Wanda are a couple who even get married. Sadly, they were a very tumultuous couple with a sad end result in almost every timeline created over decades of story telling. 

Morgan Stark

Stark discusses having a son with Pepper Potts and naming him Morgan, after his uncle. The comic book version of Morgan Stark would be his cousin, a bad guy who later becomes the villain Ultimo.

Doctor Strange's spells

Those aren't random spells Strange uses while combating Thanos.
The Crimson bands of Cyttorak are the red coloured energy beams that are strong enough to even hold Thanos.

Also seen is the 'Images of Ikonn' spell that shows thousands of Dr Strange's flying across the sky, meant to confuse Thanos.

That last scene

That last scene with Thanos resting peacefully as he watches the sun set like a hero (which he believes he is, remember) is again, an exact replica from a comic book from over two decades ago where Thanos retires to lead a quaint life after all the chaos he caused.

The Snap

We can't not talk about the snap, can we? Well, Thanos snapping his fingers and killing half of humanity is not something new if you know his story - in fact, in the comic book arc, it is the first page of the story!

Pop culture references 

(25 - 29)

Iron Man calling the evil Ebony Maw 'Squidward' is a reference to his resemblance to the cartoon character Squidward Tentacles, from the show Spongebob Squarepants.

Iron Man also wishes Spiderman 'Happy Trails' before activating the parachute in his new suit, expecting to send the latter back to Earth as he himself heads off to space. This is the same farewell given by one of Hollywood's most iconic heroes, John McClane (Bruce Willis in Die Hard) at the end of the movie. 

Peter Parker / Spiderman using a movie idea (Aliens, in this case) to kill Ebony Maw is the second time he has been influenced by old movies, after using an idea from the Star Wars movies to take down Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War.

Sadly, one of Peter Parker's last lines in the movie 'I don't want to go' also actually betrays his love of television shows, as these are the exact last words of the 10th Doctor Who before he 'goes away' (Dr Who regenerates, for those who don't know) 

StarLord calling Thanos 'Grimace' is an obscure reference to a villainous character from an 80's McDonald burger commericals series. This may seem weird to us but makes perfect sense considering Peter has never seen anything from Earth after the 80's!

That incidentally, explains why he believes the 80's Kevin Bacon hit Footloose is 'the greatest movie' ever and why he feels honoured when Iron Man tries to mock him by calling him Flash Gordon, an 1930s comic book hero who was abducted from Earth traveled across space fighting bad guys (exactly like Peter Quill.)

That would be Grimace. And yes, the man in this 30 year old commercial is President Donald Trump. How sadly prophetic for America those last words were!

30 Captain America and Black Panther visual comparison

Did you notice how the directors framed the same scene in two different movies (the first being the post credit scene from Avengers: Civil War, the second a moment from Avengers: Infinity War), showing the passage of time as one lives the life of a king and the other an outcast for two years?

31 That Orange World

The moment after Thanos snapped his fingers, he found himself healed and in a strange orange world where he conversed with a young Gamora. This isn't necessarily in his mind, as you imagined.

This is the Soul World, within the orange Soul Stone. Think of it is a version of Heaven where souls killed using the Stones now live in peace. In the comics, the Soul Stone is unlike the other stones and has something like a mind of its own, hungering for more souls.

32 The song "This is My Choice"

As Tony (stuck in the spaceship hurtling away from Earth) talks to Pepper, she begs him to come back and he tells her he may not be able to make it. In the background, the song 'This is My Choice' plays.
This is the same background tune that played in Captain America: The First Avenger at the end when Steve Rogers talks to his love Peggy in a similar situation for the last time, telling her he may not be able to make it back to meet her before he crashes the plane to save the world.   

33 Link between Thanos and Iron Man 

Did you pick up the similarities between Iron Man and Thanos? In their ending moments together, Thanos tells him how, like Tony Stark, he too is cursed with the power of knowledge. That is a far deeper concept that you think. Both are scared of a future they envision of the world and believe they are the ones 'cursed with the knowledge of what the future will be' and who must assume responsibility to save it (one by destroying half the universe, the other by starting the Avengers and being prepared for alien attacks.)

34 Miss Marvel

Nick Fury's SOS call is received after he disintegrates and the symbol is definitely that of Miss Marvel, an Earth based cosmic superheroine, considered to be one of the strongest beings in the Universe. We will know more about her next year as her movie kicks off 2019 and arrives before Avengers 4. That movie is set in the 1990s and so we will get to see younger versions of Nick Fury, an alive Agent Coulson, the starting phases of the group SHIELD and will even feature Guardians of the Galaxy villain Ronan the Accuser once more.  

35 Dad (revealed by directors) 

You couldn't have known this but the directors confirmed this heartbreaking footnote on Twitter a few weeks after the movie released. According to the written screenplay, the final words Groot cries before he disappears as Rocket Raccoon rushes to him is 'Dad?'
For him, the Guardians were his family but Raccoon was always like a father to him.

(I'm not crying. You're crying.) Imagine what's going through Rocket's heart, having to watch Groot die not once but twice. 

That is it from my side.
How many of these did you know? How many were you surprised by? Do let me know your doubts or thoughts in the comments section.