Writer-director James Gunn has described his easter egg obsession as "insane".
And for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Gunn has said that he worked extra hard to sneak
even more weird and wonderful easter eggs into the movie than he did in the first one.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here and, if you've seen Guardians Vol. 2 now,
you'll know there are plenty of easter eggs, MCU references and in-jokes that even casual
viewers will have noticed.
But, in this video I want to take a look at 10 of the coolest easter eggs that you might
have missed or which only hard-core fans will have spotted.
If you want to let me know about any others you saw or particularly enjoyed, just leave
a comment below and make sure you're also subscribed to be entered into my awesome Guardians
of the Galaxy giveaway.
Of course, spoilers lie ahead for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so if you haven't seen
the movie yet, you can tap in the top-right of the screen for my spoiler-free review and
come back here after you've seen the movie.
During one of the jump gate scenes when Yondu, Rocket and Groot are travelling to Ego's planet,
you no doubt spotted Stan Lee's brilliant cameo with a group of Watchers, but, there's
a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during an earlier sequence when Yondu's ship streaked
past a rocky planet where two aliens seem to be duking it out.
You'll need to watch the scene very carefully to spot that the aliens are a pair of Kronans.
We last saw a Kronan as part of the Marauders who attacked Vanaheim in Thor: The Dark World.
Thor defeated the Kronan easily with his hammer in that movie, but we're definitely seeing
more Kronans soon in the MCU as Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi revealed that he'll
be playing the part of Korg in the third Thor movie.
In the comics, the Kronan stone man Korg was enslaved together with the Hulk on the planet
Sakaar.
By the way, there's another cool Thor: Ragnarok tease in the movie which I'll reveal later.
Vol. 2 delves deeper into Nebula and Gamora's backstory and the abuse they suffered at the
hands of their adoptive father Thanos.
In the scene after Nebula and Gamora fight, Nebula gives and horrific explanation of how
Thanos punished her every time she lost when he set her and Gamora against each other,
for example, he pulled her eye from her head, her brain from her skull, and her arm from
her body.
As well as being a devastating part of Nebula's backstory in the movie, this is actually also
an easter egg to a moment in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline in the comics where Thanos
tortures Nebula after he discovers that she pretended to be his granddaughter.
As punishment, Thanos wreaks havoc on Nebula's body before presenting her to Mistress Death,
who he wishes to impress.
Sylvester Stallone makes a small but important appearance in Vol. 2, setting himself up in
a mid-credits scene as the leader of a new team of Ravagers who we'll probably see in
the next Guardians movie.
The team he's forming is a nod to the original Guardians of the Galaxy team in the comics,
and I've got an in-depth video on Stakar's new team which I'll link to in the video description.
But what you might have missed earlier in the movie was a neat easter egg to Stakar's
comic book origins.
During the scene on the planet Contraxia, when Stakar is arguing with Yondu about exiling
him from the Ravager clan for breaking their code by trafficking children, he tells Yondu
that "the colours of Ogord will not flash over your grave."
Ogord is Stakar's surname which he was given in the comics after he was adopted as a baby
by a Reaver leader called Ogord [who also raised Stakar with another adopted child,
his sister Aleta].
Stakar's words, of course, also foreshadow Yondu's sad but heroic death at the end of
the movie, after which the Ravagers return to honour their fallen comrade, releasing
the colours of Ogord during Yondu's funeral.
In the scene where Ego is teaching Peter Quill about his Celestial powers, Ego taps Peter
in the middle of his forehead, which reminded me of the Ancient One, Doctor Strange and
the idea of the Third Eye in the MCU's last film.
But the point I want to focus on here is that we see Peter's eyes fill with black.
Then little lights and what look like planets and stars appear in his eyes as well.
As this happens, Peter whispers the words "I can see it … eternity."
This scene is a nod to the comic book character Eternity whose body has a kind of galaxy-style
silhouette and who also has black eyes with a star in the middle.
Interestingly, in the comics, Eternity appears in multiple stories with Doctor Strange, as
well as the Infinity War, Infinity Gauntlet, and Infinity Watch storylines.
Talking of eyes, there's a great call-back to a joke from the first Guardians movie in
the scene where Yondu and Rocket are locked up after the Ravager mutiny.
Yondu asks baby Groot to get his prototype fin from the Captain's quarters, but Groot
brings back a variety of weird items including Yondu's underpants, a squealing Orloni creature,
and a mechanical eye.
In the first film, as the Guardians prepared to face off against Ronan, Rocket pretended
he needed one of the Ravager's mechanical eyes to complete the plan.
Star-Lord realised Rocket was goofing around and refused him, but in this scene in Vol.
2, Rocket finally got his wish and found it hilarious that the Ravager was going to be
missing his eye when he woke up.
By the way, when Yondu eventually got his new fin, it was a nice nod to the much taller
Mohawk fin that Yondu's character has in the comics.
Star-Lord's new T-shirt design for Vol. 2 is written in an alien language that first
appeared on a keyboard display during the Kyln prison sequence in the first Guardians
movie.
The letters spell out "Gears Shift", which according to Chris Pratt, is the brand name
of a space candy.
And just below the main logo on the T-shirt are some really small words that translate
as "A TENEYCK GALAXY INVENTION".
Karen TenEyck is actually the designer who worked on these costume graphics for Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and her previous credits include Captain America: The First Avenger.
The original song "Guardians Inferno" that plays at the end of the movie is credited
to "The Sneepers featuring David Hasselhoff".
Hasselhoff, of course, was referenced multiple times in the movie and appeared briefly when
Ego took on his appearance.
However, the name "Sneepers" is actually an easter egg to an aggressive race of aliens
who invaded numerous planets and first appeared in #49 of the comic Tales of Suspense in 1964.
In that comic, Uatu the Watcher used them as a cautionary tale and warned that the alien
race were watching Earth and waiting for mankind to destroy itself with nuclear weapons.
By the way, the owner of the Iron Lotus, the bar that Yondu and the Ravagers visit on Contraxia,
is a Sneeper.
The creature trying to steal the Sovereign's Batteries is called an Abilisk, a beast that's
new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Vol. 2.
But the look of the Abilisk seems to take inspiration from the creatures in the comics
called The Many-Angled Ones.
The Many-Angled Ones are linked with the Cancerverse, and like the Abilisk, they often manifest
themselves as sharp-toothed monstrosities with masses of tentacles.
Given the appearance of the creature in this movie, it'll be interesting to see if the
Cancerverse will inspire new creatures and storylines for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
3.
You'll have to pay really close attention, but there's a brief cameo by actor Gregg Henry
who played Grandpa Quill in the first Guardians movie.
In a scene on Earth, he's driving a car with his friend, and gets pushed along by the huge
blue blob that multiplies after Ego activates his seedlings to take over the galaxy.
By the way, also cameo'ing earlier in the scene are James Gunn's parents, who are the
older couple who ask what the blob is as they film it on their phones.
The end credits also have a little cameo by Grandpa Quill who appears in a little bubble
as the credits roll.
There's also a small cameo by Jeff Goldblum dancing in another bubble during the credits,
a tease to his appearance as Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok.
Plus there are cameos by characters who appeared in the credits of the first Guardians of the
Galaxy movie like Cosmo the Spacedog and Howard the Duck, who also appears briefly in this
movie during the scene on Contraxia.
Also, watch the credits even more carefully and you'll notice that some of the cast and
crew names are replaced for a few seconds with the words "I AM GROOT".
Now, were there any other cool easter eggs you spotted in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
2?
And which were your favourite moments in the movie?
Be sure to comment and subscribe for a chance to win one of these Guardians of the Galaxy
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Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!