While M. Night Shyamalan’s turn of the millenium sci-fi showstopper, Unbreakable - which was
awesome, as we all know - went unaddressed for over 16 years, in the past three we’ve
been treated to a back to back onslaught of the vaguely mutant, comic book inspired universe
that has found three completely polarised characters fighting it out to find out who
will be the top dog in the next step of human evolution.
In 2000 we had Unbreakable, in 2016 we had Split - and recently, M. Night Shyamalan’s
neapolitan ice cream was topped off with Glass - the final part of his Eastrail 177 trilogy.
And to tie it all together, there’s some pretty juicy easter eggs that point to the
19-year-long saga, so - let’s take a look at them, shall we?
Hello nerds - what’s going on, don’t worry - this is just a fly by night visit - normal
viewing will resume tomorrow and all that - but today, I’ll be your host Jack Finch
- as we take a look at the best of the best Easter Eggs in Glass.
Roll the clip.
From Unbreakable, our boy Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn - the man impervious to physical
harm thanks to his dense bone structure and impenetrable skin.
Also, he’s got one hell of a poncho - and a new superhero nickname, The Overseer.
But this time, the man responsible for creating him, Elijah Price AKA Mr. Glass - is back
to put the final nail in the coffin in his own, showstopping titular title.
Also, James McAvoy plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, AKA The Horde, a multiple personality superhuman
that encompasses 23 split identities - one of which possesses the power to go Beast mode,
et cetera et cetera.
You get the picture.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Friends of Society
In 2016’s Split, it was alluded to that the kindly Dr. Fletcher had a colleague who
was also in the business of figuring out the mental proclivities of mutants - and we were
finally introduced to her in Glass as Dr. Ellie Staple - played by Sarah Paulson - who,
as she put it, specialized in a particular type of delusion of grandeur - individuals
who believe that they are superheroes.
Turns out, Dr. Staple isn’t as nice as she first made out - and she’s actually a member
of an anti-mutant secret society hellbent on making sure that their powers are never
revealed to society.
Sound familiar?
Well - yeah.
That’s because Dr. Staples buddies are pretty reminiscent of an organisation from the 90’s
X-men comics, known as Friends of Humanity - known for its bigotry towards mutants and
its plot to destroy superpowered humans once and for all.
Thankfully, there are no internment camps and mutant death squads like in Days of Future
Past, and the cast of Glass kind of get an easy ride - but the nod to Marvel comics remains
the same.
And you’ll sense a theme here, because M. Night loves himself some Marvel plotlines.
Next up at Number 4 - The Comic Book Dude
And of course - I told you that you’ll be sensing a theme here.
In the frequently visited comic book store, issues of Doctor Strange and Thor are visibly
seen pretty much everywhere - as well as a statue of The New Mutants’ Magik - played
by the awesome Anya Taylor-Joy, which is fittingly her character in the upcoming movie.
But it’s not just Marvel who get all the love - DC are pretty much everywhere too.
Near the end of the movie, Dr. Staple walks through the comic book store and the classic
Adam West Batman Theme is playing in the background.
That same comic book store - in actual fact, features the exact same comic book shop owner
from Unbreakable - 18 years down the line.
In the events of Unbreakable, he complains to Bruce Willis that he’s sick and tired
of people masturbating in the back of his store.
And as it turns out - he still hasn’t managed to curb their enthusiasm, and this time - it
seems that Hello Kitty is the choice material.
Which is worrying.
These dudes are sketchy.
Swinging in at Number 3 - We Know These Mutant’s
And this one is pretty self explanatory, right?
M. Night makes it no secret that his Eastrail 177 trilogy is a recycled, more human version
of the DC and Marvel classics, and this DNA is the fabric weaved in pretty much every
scene in Glass.
Again, in the comic book store - signs point toward a green wearing hero, and a purple
wearing villain - an obvious sign to the colour palettes of The Overseer and Mr. Glass.
Each of them representing a shade of their personalities and their own stand alone films,
David is green - Elijah purple and Kevin, yellow.
It’s not just down to the obvious allusion of superhero costume though.
The most obvious connection between Glass and the Eastrail 177 trilogy to the world
of comic book heroes, is the way in which each mutant has a weakness.
Like Superman with kryptonite - the three mutants are all bound by a fictional fallacy.
David, who nearly drowned as a child - is incapacitated by water due to his heavy bone
density.
On the flipside, Elijah’s disease causes his bones to be brittle and shatter - and
The Horde’s is a personal one - he snaps out of his Beast persona when someone says
his full name - Kevin Wendell Crumb.
Kev probably won’t work.
Kevvo?
Kevlar?
Coming in at Number 2 - Batman & Joker
And we need to talk about this whole connection between the world of comic books and M. Night
Shyamalan’s stab at the brave world of superheroic fandom.
It’s pretty obvious that Samuel L. Jackson’s, Mr. Glass has been reading a little bit too
much DC literature to base his cunning plans for mutant world domination off of.
Also, after the culmination of his master plan - he suits up in the most stylish purple
velvet number that we’ve seen in a while.
But David and Elijah’s connection as hero and villain is actually notable for the fact
that the latter created the former.
With the East-177 bomb, Elijah activated whatever mutant genome was hidden away in David - and
funnily enough, this isn’t the first time that a villain has created the superhero that
he’s destined to fight forever - or, at least - for the duration of this movie.
Yeah.
RIP.
Much like how Jack Napier murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents in the 1989 continuity of Batman,
Mr. Glass is the poetic calamity that binds them all together.
Also, he’s pretty hell bent on pulling the one golden rule in the comic book villain
playbook.
Blow it up.
And finally - at our Number 1 spot - Shyamalan’s Back.
Because - of course, it wouldn’t be an M. Night Shyamalan movie without an easter egg
cameo from the main man himself.
Legit, M. Night has pretty much made a cameo in every movie that he’s ever made.
He can’t help himself - and while you may not think it, he’s actually been doing it
way before the late, great Stan Lee.
In The Sixth Sense he was Dr. Hill, in Signs he was Ray Reddy - and in Unbreakable he was
a shifty looking drug dealer slinging blow in a Football Stadium toilet.
Turns out - that guys name is Jai - and after the events of Unbreakable, where David interrogated
him in the toilet stalls, you’ll all be happy to know that our friendly neighborhood
drug dealer actually managed to turn his life around.
In Split - he’s inspired by David’s lifestyle, and takes up a new career as a security guard.
In Glass, Jai is back - and when The Overseer runs into him, he’s ecstatic to let him
know that he’s turned his life around.
He explains that he used to run with a bad crowd, but gone are the days of peddling his
wares in leaky bathrooms - he’s back on the straight and narrow, keeping his nose
clean, searching through CCTV footage for the greater good - and he’s got our hero
David Dunn to thank for it.
It’s probably the best bit of continuity in the entire trilogy, so yeah - Number 1.
Well - there we have it nerds, our best picks of the Easter Eggs in M. Night Shyamalan’s
Glass.
Let us know your thoughts in the comment box down below.
If you were a fan of this video - make sure to hit that thumbs up button, and ding that
subscribe bell so you can stay up to date with our latest and greatest nerd uploads.
Cheers for sticking around all the way until the end, it’s always a pleasure to see you.
As per usual, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Top 10 Nerd - and
until next time, you take it easy.