While most people go to the movies looking for a good story with some cool action, real
fans know that there’s more going on than meets the eye.
When a blockbuster movie is successful, it usually means that the people who made it
are even bigger geeks than the people watching it.
That’s why they sometimes stuff their movies to the gills with hidden details that most
viewers won’t even notice.
But for attentive fans, these details make all the difference.
Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Amazing Hidden Details In Popular Movies You Probably Missed.
The Human Torch in Captain America: The First Avenger
Before we knew him as Captain America, Chris Evans played Johnny Storm, also known as the
Human Torch, in 2005’s Fantastic Four.
But did you know that the Human Torch also makes a cameo in Captain America: The First
Avenger?
Don’t believe us?
Take a look at the 1943 World Expo scene.
As the camera pans across the exhibition, it passes a man inside of a glass cylinder
wearing a red suit.
While this costumed figure ain’t Johnny Storm, it does look an awful lot like the
original Human Torch, an android created by Dr. Phineas T. Horton in the 1939 version
of the comic book.
Will this version of the character ever see some action the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Only time will tell...
Red Apple Cigarettes in Kill Bill Volume 1 When The Bride touches down in Tokyo to seek
vengeance against O-Ren Ishii, director Quentin Tarantino includes a little Easter egg for
fans of his movie.
The Bride walks past a large advertisement for Red Apple cigarettes, which is a fictional
brand that’s appeared in several Tarantino films, including Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till
Dawn and Four Rooms.
Tarantino himself has claimed that all of his films take place in the same universe
and this is only one clue.
You need another one?
The plot to Kill Bill bares a striking resemblance to the plot of Fox Force Five, the TV pilot
that Uma Thurman’s character describes in Pulp Fiction.
Perhaps the series got a title change before it finally aired?
Smallville Actors in Man of Steel For some people, Superman is Tom Welling,
who played a young Clark Kent on The CW’s Smallville for ten seasons.
Zack Snyder was evidently a fan of the series.
Alessandro Juliani, Chad Krowchuk, Mackenzie Gray, Tahmoh Penikett, Ian Tracey, and David
Paetkau were all actors who appeared in Smallville and later played small roles in Snyder’s
Man of Steel.
But the most obvious connection between the two iterations of Superman is Amy Adams.
We all know she plays Lois Lane in the DC Extended Universe, but before she was famous,
she appeared in a first season episode of Smallville.
Adams played an overweight high school student who accidentally drinks a kryptonite-tainted
veggie shake that makes her crave human fat.
It wasn’t exactly the most dignified role.
Millennium Falcon in Star Trek: First Contact Some fans will tell you that you’re either
a fan of Star Trek or a fan of Star Wars, and never the twain shall meet.
Except that’s not true.
In fact, the special effects in Star Trek: First Contact were created by Industrial Light
& Magic, a company founded by George Lucas to work on the Star Wars movies.
One special effects guy, John Knoll, worked on both First Contact and the Star Wars special
editions, so he decided to slip a little Easter egg into the battle of the Federation versus
the Borg cube.
If you look closely, you can see Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon flying in the background
of the battle.
It’s pretty small, so you’ll have to zoom in, but it’s proof that Star Wars and Star
Trek can co-exist, even in the same movie.
R2D2 in Star Trek (2009) In fact, that’s not the only time the two
franchises have got close to each other.
Before JJ Abrams directed last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he also rebooted
the Star Trek franchise in 2009.
Being a fan of both series, however, Abrams gave Star Wars droid R2D2 a little cameo in
the Trek movie.
When the Enterprise first encounters Nero’s Romulan mining ship above Vulcan, it arrives
in the middle of a battle, surrounded by a bunch of clunky debris.
One piece of debris is actually R2D2.
While it looks like just another piece of space garbage to the untrained eye, one can
pause and zoom in to find our favorite little droid friend floating past the Enterprise.
He also makes a cameo in Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, where he gets blown out of
the Enterprise mid-warp.
R2D2 and C-3PO in Raiders of the Lost Ark Man, this little guy gets around.
You wouldn’t believe it, but R2D2 makes a cameo in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of
the Lost Ark, this time with his erudite companion C-3PO.
When Indiana Jones descends into the Well of the Souls to collect the Ark of the Covenant,
you can see hieroglyphs of the two droids on one of the pillars.
The connection here is that Star Wars creator George Lucas produced Raiders of the Lost
Ark, and, of course, Harrison Ford stars in both franchises.
In another Indiana Jones/Star Wars Easter egg, you can see Indy escape from Shanghai’s
“Club Obi-Wan” at the beginning of Temple of Doom.
I wonder who that’s a reference to?
Hidden References in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring wasn’t the first adaptation
of JRR Tolkien’s epic novels.
In 1978, Ralph Bakshi made an animated version of the epic story.
The movie may have flopped when it came out, but it developed a cult following over the
decades, and even inspired some shots in the better-known Peter Jackson films.
When the hobbit Odo Proudfoot puts his feet up at the beginning of The Fellowship of the
Ring, the shot is an homage to a similar image that appears in Bakshi’s film.
Similarly, when Frodo Baggins and his friends hides underneath a tree root as hooded wraiths
pass by above them, the shot is clearly inspired by Bakshi’s film as well.
Baby Harleys and Jokers in Suicide Squad One of the more striking images in David Ayers
Suicide Squad is the shot of The Joker lying on the floor, surrounded by all of his weapons.
Apparently, the shot was inspired by the opening scene of the Pink Floyd musical The Wall,
and the film’s marketing really relied on it.
But when the camera spins up from The Clown Prince of Crime, you can also see little onesies
and twosies laid out on the floor.
What could these be?
Given that Harley Quinn’s dream-life in the film involved children, perhaps this is
a clue to the future of the Joker family?
Maybe this family of crime really is planning to settle down?
The Satellite Dish in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Fans already know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is jam-packed with Easter eggs, like
big-name cameos and little hints and references to the previous Star Wars films.
Director JJ Abrams is obviously a huge fan of the franchise, and he really made sure
to leave his mark on The Force Awakens.
When Rey and Finn fly the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy off the planet Jakku, you
can notice a small design change on the ship.
The satellite dish, which was large and round in the original trilogy, has been replaced
with a smaller rectangle dish.
Why is this?
Well, when Lando Calrissian makes a run at the second death star in Return of the Jedi,
the old dish gets shorn off by a collision.
JJ Abrams was just paying attention to Star Wars canon.
Community Cameo in Captain America: Civil War
As with any movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days, Captain America: Civil
War is loaded with tiny details for the fans, from references to the comics to inside jokes
among the actors.
But one detail has carried through from the last film in the Captain America franchise:
the inclusion of a cameo from an alum of the NBC sitcom Community.
In The Winter Soldier, Danny Pudi (better known as Abed) appeared as a technician for
SHIELD.
DC Pierson, who plays a student journalist in the sitcom, also appeared as an Apple Store
technician.
In Civil War, the Dean himself, Jim Rash, appears as an MIT professor begging Tony Stark
for research money, basically playing the same character.
The Russo Brothers, who directed the last two Captain America films, also directed several
episodes of the fan-favorite sitcom, so it makes sense that they would want to bring
back some of their old friends.
So what do you think of our list?
Did we miss any mind-blowing hidden details?
Join the discussion in the comments below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more
videos like this one.