Avengers: Endgame’s MCU references and Easter eggs

“Marvel’s Iron Man 3”

L to R: Harley (Ty Simpkins) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)

Ph: Zade Rosenthal

© 2012 MVLFFLLC. TM & © 2012 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

Iron Man 3

Pepper Potts excitingly bursts into the Endgame battle in her Rescue armor. Many will recall that this is not her first time “suiting up”. In Iron Man 3’s final fight against Killian, Pepper is infused with Extremis powers and saves Tony from Killian’s wrath. She even slips her arm into Iron Man armor to blast the villain into oblivion.

At the end of Endgame, among the collection of superheroes who attend Tony’s funeral is an unassuming young man. That is Harley, who helped Tony hide out and get back on his feet in Iron Man 3, when he found himself in Tennessee without a properly functioning suit.

Thor: The Dark World

The entire Thor/Rocket time-travelling Endgame sequence takes place during the events of the Thor sequel, at the time when Jane was infected with the Aether and Malekith’s Dark Elves were about to launch an assault on Asgard. Thor’s mother, Frigga, is killed in that Dark World incident, which makes Thor particularly sentimental when he sees her again in Endgame.

During the 2012 New York time mission, Loki shapeshifts into Captain America to make fun of his boy scout-like qualities. That moment is used as a plot point; when 2012 Cap faces future Cap, he really thinks that he is fighting the escaped Loki. The first time audiences had the pleasure of watching Loki joke about Cap by copying his likeness was in Thor: The Dark World. The Endgame scene is a nod to that MCU moment.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America is tasked with collecting the Mind Stone in 2012 New York, which means he has to persuade secret Hydra agent’s to turn it over to him. Hydra’s ownership of the stone is not shown in Avengers, yet is revealed in Winter Soldier’s mid-credit scene. In Endgame, that part of the MCU plot is fleshed out. Even more thrilling is when Endgame mirrors the famous elevator scene in Winter Soldier. This time Cap tricks the Hydra henchmen instead of taking them all on.

To claim the Space Stone, Captain America goes back to Camp Lehigh in the 1970’s and points Iron Man in the direction of an underground bunker. Even though he was trained on the grounds in First Avenger, he knows where the covert SHIELD base is because he and Black Widow tracked Hydra’s Project Insight to the location during Winter Soldier. They learned Arnim Zola was the mastermind behind the plan; Zola is working at the base when Steve and Tony travel to 1970 (Howard Stark is looking for him).

Later, when Captain America is fighting Thanos, he hears Falcon’s voice on his communication device – he is alive and gives Cap the first indication that help is on the way. Sam announces to Cap that he is “on your left”. Those are the first words spoken in Winter Soldier, when Cap is breezily jogging past Sam in Washington D.C.

Guardians of the Galaxy

In Endgame, War Machine and Nebula follow Peter Quill on Morag, basically getting a front row seat to Star-Lord’s introduction from the first Guardians of the Galaxy. In Guardians, fans laugh and dance along with Quill as he is rocking out to “Come and Get Your Love”, but in Endgame, he is watched from an outside perspective of two more stern individuals, who amusingly think Quill looks like an idiot.

When Star-Lord sees Gamora during the Endgame battle, he touches her face, not realizing she is a past version of Gamora. She counters his gentle caress with a few knees to the groin. When they first meet in Guardians of the Galaxy, she similarly gives him a swift kick to that general region.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron..Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle)..Ph: Film Frame..©Marvel 2015

After Tony returns from space, he argues with Cap about losing to Thanos. The entire conversation is revisited from Age of Ultron. Stark reminds the team of the time when he wanted to protect the world with a suit of armor because “that up there… that’s the endgame”. Tony even repeats that Cap proclaimed all those years ago that if they lose, they would lose together, which is what ended up happening against Thanos.

One of the biggest crowd-pleasing moments in Endgame is when Captain America stops Thanos from killing Thor by wielding Mjolnir. When Thor sees Cap with the hammer, he proclaims “I knew it”. The Avengers party game in Age of Ultron consisted of everyone trying to lift the hammer. No one could move it in the slightest save for a small nudge from Steve, which generally went unnoticed except for an incredulous Thor.

When Cap starts to lose his fight against Thanos, he is knocked to the ground with his shield broken in half. This imagery matches the visuals from Iron Man’s prophetic vision in Age of Ultron when under Scarlet Witch’s spell.

Ant-Man

Iron Man and Captain American travel to a SHIELD base in 1970 to retrieve an earlier version of the Tesseract, as well as more Pym particles. Working at the base is Howard Stark, Hank Pym, and Peggy Carter. The only other time that we have seen that trio together at SHIELD was in the Ant-Man opening, which flashes back to the late 1980s during a quarrel about the organization’s handling of Pym’s work.

Ant-Man breaks out of the Quantum Realm after Endgame’s five-year jump and seeks out the Avengers at their headquarters. This is not his first visit to the compound. In Ant-Man, he stole a signal decoy that Hank invented while he worked for SHIELD, before the facility was converted into the Avenger’s headquarters.