Avengers: Endgame’s MCU references and Easter eggs

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME..L to R: Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), War Machine/James Rhodey (Don Cheadle), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson)..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

How does Avengers: Endgame connect to the larger shared universe? Spoilers for the movie ahead.

Avengers: Endgame is a massive culmination of the first era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that contains dozens of heroes who have been introduced at some point during the previous 21 movies. Therefore, there are references to every one of those films; some are slight while others are significant. In fact, there are too many to point out in terms of character or Infinity Stone appearances, so we will focus on some of the most noteworthy. The movies are listed in release order, starting with Phase One.

Iron Man

At the end of the first Iron Man, after the world is made aware of the armored avenger’s presence, Tony Stark holds a press conference and lets the cat out of the bag by declaring “I am Iron Man,” right before the credits roll. This line reverberates all the way to the end of Endgame – he repeats the four words as he snaps his gauntlet to win the day, sacrificing his life in the process.

At Tony’s funeral, a raft floats onto a lake with his first Iron Man arc reactor on it. It is encased in glass and a circular inscription reads: Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart. Pepper had this enshrined for Tony in Iron Man, at a time when their love for each other was still budding.

In lieu of a post-credits scene, the Endgame directors replay an audio cue from Iron Man; the sound of Iron Man hammering in a cave, building his first suit.

The Incredible Hulk

There really aren’t too many direct links between Endgame and Incredible Hulk. One could be that, at the end of the Hulk solo movie, we first see Iron Man interact with Thunderbolt Ross. Ross and Stark don’t get along too well, yet the two were actually in general agreement during Captain America: Civil War. In Endgame, Ross pays his respects to Stark at his funeral.

Iron Man 2

When Iron Man is stranded in space, he records a message for Pepper lamenting about how he always dreams of her. The line “it’s always you” echoes what he says to Pepper when he gives her control of Stark Industries in Iron Man 2 – “It’s you, it’s always been you.”

Five years later in Endgame, Tony’s daughter, Morgan, wears an Iron Man helmet (or more specifically, Pepper’s Rescue helmet), which is a callback to the little boy wearing a toy Iron Man helmet toward the end of Iron Man 2. Iron Man steps in and protects the kid from a Hammer drone. Tom Holland insists that boy is a young Peter Parker, but that theory was never confirmed within the context of the MCU.

Credit: Marvel Studios for Thor (2011) — Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

Thor

When Thor travels back to 2013 Asgard and summons his beloved hammer, Frigga explains to Rocket that it can take a second to make its way to the God of Thunder. That anticipation of Mjolnir flying into Thor’s grasp has always been apart of Thor’s mythos. The part of the scene that has its closest ties to the first Thor is when he whispers to himself “I’m still worthy.”

A major plotline from Thor is the prince of Asgard proving to his father and himself that he is worthy. Mjolnir may have been destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok, however, the last time he was not worthy to wield the hammer was in Thor. Now that he once again holds the powerful hammer, he is satisfied with the validation of his worthiness.

Also in Endgame, Thor builds his New Asgard in the town of Tonsberg. In Thor’s prelude, Odin defends that town from Laufey. The town is then visited by a different villain in the next MCU movie.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Long before Thor settles the Asgardian refugees in Tonsberg in 2023, Red Skull pillaged the town during World War II in search of the Tesseract in The First Avenger. Red Skull massacres the Norse cohorts and becomes the first of many to possess the Space Stone in the MCU.

In The First Avenger, pre-super soldier Steve Rogers stands up to a bully and exclaims, “I can do this all day.” The line is then most poignantly spoken when he fights Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, and is now used as a comical cue in Endgame, with the 2012 Cap confidently delivering the words to future Cap. The latter dismisses him, since he has no time for his past self’s heroic posturing.

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After 2012 New York, Cap makes one final stop in 1970 New Jersey. He and Iron Man need to take the Space Stone and some Pym Particles from Camp Lehigh. The site is where Steve Rogers trained to be a soldier in The First Avenger. At the end of that film, Howard Stark finds the Space Stone in the ocean and is shown to still have it at the SHIELD bunker in Endgame.

After Thanos is destroyed in Endgame, Steve appoints himself with the responsibility of returning the Infinity Stones back in time. Saying a final farewell to his oldest friend, Bucky, Cap jokes for him not to do anything stupid while he is gone, to which Bucky replies, “How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” This is an inversion of the dialogue from The First Avenger when Cap sees Bucky head off to war without him.

The final shot of Endgame is perhaps the best callback in the movie. In The First Avenger, Steve and Peggy planned to go out dancing on a date. Captain America ends up sacrificing himself to save millions of lives and tells Peggy that he is going to need a rain check on the dance. After leading the Avengers to again save the day in Endgame, Steve goes back in time to be with the love of his life. And he finally gets that dance.

The Avengers

Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Ant-Man’s time-travelling mission places them right in the middle of the battle of New York from The Avengers. Endgame offers a sideline vantage point of a few scenes. Future Tony even watches as past Tony quips about the group standing around posing; a sort of meta-commentary on what has become an iconic group image of the original team staring down the defeated Loki.

Black Widow and Hawkeye’s time expedition takes them to Vormir. As they are flying through space, Clint comments that they are a long way from Budapest. The deadly duo first mentioned their time together in Budapest as they were fighting aliens in The Avengers.

Before harnessing the full power of the stones, Hulk remarks that he was made to be the one to do it since their energy signature is mostly gamma. This nicely connects with why he was recruited as an Avenger in the first place. When Black Widow tracks him down in The Avengers, she explains that since the stolen Tesseract omits a gamma signature, Fury is particularly looking for assistance from the gamma expert Bruce Banner, not the big green monster.