There's never quite been a movie like Avengers: Endgame.
That's probably because there's never been a movie franchise like the Marvel Cinematic
Universe.
With over 20 interconnected movies released over the span of a decade, Endgame had ample
opportunities to make tons of references and callbacks to a sprawling continuity of characters
and plot twists.
And while many significant lines of dialogue were pretty easy to spot like
"I can do this all day."
And
"I am Iron Man"
...there were still plenty of other fantastic callbacks that may have flown over your head.
Here are some of the small details you might've missed in Avengers: Endgame.
Beware: gigantic, world-ending spoilers ahead.
Throughout the film, we got lots of direct references to previous movies, but some are
less obvious than others.
For example, when Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton fly their spaceship to Vormir to retrieve
the Soul Stone, one of them quipped to the other, "we're a long way from Budapest."
That refers back to a mysterious mission the two of them went on in their shared past that
they referred to during the events of the first Avengers film.
"Just like Budapest all over again."
"You and I remember Budapest very differently."
Meanwhile, just before the un-dusted heroes all join Cap to fight Thanos and his army
toward the end of the film, we hear Falcon jump on the radio to tell his partner: "On
your left."
That's a callback to when Cap kept lapping the Falcon when the two first met as competing
joggers at the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier:
"On your left."
"Uh-huh.
On my left.
Got it."
"Don't say it.
Don't say it."
"On your left."
"Come on!"
But the most endearing and heartbreaking callback?
When Happy Hogan chats with Morgan after her dad's funeral and he asks if she's hungry.
She says she wants "cheeseburgers," and Happy smiles, saying, "Your dad liked cheeseburgers,
too."
That's a reference back to a scene early on in the very first MCU movie: when Happy and
Pepper pick up Tony after his rescue from the Ten Rings and he demands two things: that
Pepper call a press conference…and:
"I want an american cheeseburger."
Like father, like daughter.
Unless you spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos about the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
there's a better than decent chance that you have no idea what Avengers: Endgame directors
Joe and Anthony Russo look like.
Well, you actually got a great look at one half of the directing duo you just may not
have realized it at the time.
When the movie jumps five years forward in time, we catch up with Steve Rogers in his
support group in Queens, New York.
In that circle of trust is a man who says he and a date spent the whole evening talking
and crying.
That guy is Joe Russo, the younger half of the directors who also helmed three other
epic MCU entries: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers:
Infinity War.
This also wasn't Joe Russo's first time in front of the camera, either.
He appeared in an episode of Arrested Development, a show for which he and Anthony directed several
episodes, as well as in their film You, Me and Dupree, and all three of their other MCU
films though Joe's part as Bert the paparazzi in Infinity War hit the cutting room floor
before the movie made it to theaters.
"Bert!
I see you Bert!
Bert, you son of a b----.
C'mere, Bert!
C'mere!"
"Man, we gotta get him a girlfriend."
Meanwhile, in addition to directing episodes of Arrested Development, the Russos also got
behind the lens for several episodes of Dan Harmon's beloved sitcom Community.
And that's why two familiar faces from that show Ken Jeong and Yvette
Nicole Brown, who played Senor Ben Chang and Shirley Bennett, respectively appear over
the running time of Endgame.
Jeong shows up early, working the security desk at the storage place containing Ant-Man's
van, while Brown appears about halfway through the movie during the jaunt to the SHIELD base
in the 1970s.
As the camera pans past Hank Pym's workbench at the SHIELD base in the 70s, a distinct
looking helmet sitting amid the rest of his stuff that stood out.
Longtime comic book fans recognized it immediately as the original helmet Pym used in the comic
books to chat with his ant buddies.
Curious about how the helmet works?
Lucky you: back in Tales to Astonish #35, where the helmet first appeared, we got a
handy dandy diagram explaining all of the helmet's inner workings.
While it stands to reason that a real helmet made for talking to ants would need something
a lot more sophisticated than "miniaturized electronic equipment," it was still extremely
cool to see this important piece of Marvel Comics lore show up on the big screen.
Clint Barton's return to the Avengers gave many fans what they'd wanted ever since Infinity
War.
But Endgame also delivered a slyly concealed reference to the comic book pages that only
the most ardent Marvel fans may have noticed.
When Scott Lang is freaking out over doing the time travel test with the last remaining
Pym Particles, Barton quickly volunteers to take his place.
The moment makes a lot of sense for his character, as he's got nothing left to lose by this point,
and he's ready to do whatever it takes to try and satisfy the Avengers' mission to restore
the world.
However, if you've followed Barton's comic book exploits over the years, you'll know
that he has a tendency to reach for the Pym Particles when he wants to change things up.
In Avengers #63, Barton got fed up with not being able to contribute as much as his superpowered
teammates, so he dropped the Hawkeye schtick, drank some Pym Particles, and took the name
Goliath.
Instead of relying on his superior marksmanship and fighting abilities, Barton...well, Barton
got big and smashed stuff.
In a movie as gigantic as Avengers: Endgame, it'd be truly impossible to catalogue every
single character's appearance let alone even recognize a fair number of them in the first
place.
Case in point: only the most dedicated of Marvel fans may have recognized Howard Stark's
butler from Steve and Tony's visit to 1970.
But loyal viewers of the late, lamented Agent Carter TV series from 2015 and 2016 would've
recognized Edwin Jarvis, played by James D'Arcy both on the small screen and in Endgame.
The movie's writing duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were executive producers
on the show, so they probably had a plan to bring the beloved butler back with this giant
MCU swansong for quite a while.
Meanwhile, in a truly blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, none other than Howard the Duck joined
all the heroes during the big battle with Thanos and his army.
Keep your eyes trained at the bottom right of the screen when all the resurrected heroes
step through Doctor Strange's portals in the third act specifically when Hope van Dyne
and the Ravagers appear.
If you pay attention, you'll catch little Howard running onto the battlefield with a
gun in his hands.
Believe it or not, this is the third appearance Howard has made in the MCU.
He first showed up in the post-credits scene for Guardians of the Galaxy, and then appeared
again on the party planet of Contraxia in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, chatting up
a nice lady.
"You know what they say.
You're out of luck until you've gone duck!
Heh heh heh!"
The phrase "Endgame" appeared twice in previous Avengers films.
The first time came when Tony Stark was defending his reasons for building Ultron:
"We're the Avengers.
We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that, up there — that's the Endgame."
Then in Infinity War, Doctor Strange gave Thanos the Time Stone, a move that no one
could believe.
When Stark asked him why, Strange echoed his earlier Ultron explanation:
"We're in the Endgame now."
"Endgame," meanwhile, is a phrase that's commonly used in chess to signify that the game is
winding down because there aren't very many pieces left on the board a pretty accurate
summation when it comes to the status of the Earth's heroes by the time the film starts
up.
However, it might not surprise you to know that way, way back in 1969, the 71st issue
of The Avengers comic book had a story called "Endgame."
The two don't have a ton in common on the surface: the comic book version features characters
like the Black Knight and Kang the Conqueror, two guys who have yet to appear in the MCU
in any form.
But the stories also have more similarities than you might expect.
In the comic book, the Avengers fight their way through time sometimes battling once and
future members to save the planet.
Is it worth rereading some random comic book from the late 1960s to get some better insight
on one of the most successful blockbuster movies of the last ten years?
Probably not...but the similarities do seem at least a little too close for the name to
be a total coincidence.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about Avengers: Endgame are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.