Mythology Gag / Marvel Cinematic Universe

A wackier part of Thanos's mythology gets pruned.

"With great power comes...a ton of weird crap that you're not ready for!"

— Daisy "Skye" Johnson puts a new twist on a classic line in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe loves to reference its source material and other adaptations of it as much as possible.

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TV series with their own pages

• Agent Carter
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Daredevil
• Jessica Jones
• Luke Cage
• Iron Fist
• The Defenders
• WandaVision
• Loki

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Films

• Avengers: Infinity War
• Avengers: Endgame
• Spider-Man: Far From Home
• Spider-Man: No Way Home

Phase One

• Iron Man:
  • The swingin' Expository Theme Tune from the 1960s Animated Adaptation of Iron Man becomes instrumental background music in the early Vegas-set scenes (and when Tony has his one-night stand with Christine). It also serves as the ringtone when Tony calls Rhodes.
  • The first suit of armor Tony builds looks very similar to Iron Man's original appearance in the Tales of Suspense comics.
  • The terrorist group's name, "The Ten Rings", is a reference to Iron Man's Arch-Enemy the Mandarin, who had magic rings on each finger.
  • During one scene in Tony's workshop you can see Captain America's iconic shield — though given the upcoming Avengers movie, this could actually be foreshadowing, or even a really subtle Chekhov's Gun. It's explained in a (canonicity unknown) bonus comic that Tony reverse-engineered the alloy he used in his upgraded suits from a prototype of Cap's shield.
  • The "bodyguard" excuse at the end of the movie is taken from the story used in the early comics by Tony to explain why Iron Man was always hanging around Stark Industries (and Tony in particular).
  • The two F-22 Raptor that are chasing Iron Man are codenamed Whiplash One and Whiplash Two, in reference to an old member of his Rogues Gallery. Cue the sequel.
  • During the final battle, a Roxxon Corporation building and a movie billboard featuring Fin Fang Foom can be seen in the background.
  • "I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative". Nick Fury did not simply mention The Avengers; "Avengers: The Initiative" was a comic book that began in 2007.
• The Incredible Hulk:
  • The scene in which the Hulk tears a car in half and uses the pieces as impromptu boxing gloves is a direct nod to the "Steel Fists" move in the video game The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. He also uses the Sonic Clap, and the Earthquake Smash, both from the same game.
  • Betty buying Bruce stretchy purple shorts, only for Bruce to refuse to wear them.
  • During the montage of Bruce's travels after his first "Hulk Out" the ending theme of The Incredible Hulk TV series can be heard. Bill Bixby (that version's Banner) even makes a "cameo" from beyond the grave, via a clip from his earlier series The Courtship Of Eddie's Father playing on a television near the beginning. Also, when said Hulk Outs occur, his eyes turn green, just like in the series.
  • During the last scene we see Bruce in, he opens mail addressed to "David B." In the series, "David" was Banner's first name, not "Bruce."
  • Lou Ferrigno, the Hulk to Bixby's Banner, makes a genuine cameo as a security guard. Also, he provides the Hulk's voice.
  • The device Banner exposes himself to in the flashback of his origin is identical to the one used in the TV show. Also, aside from the addition of a few glimpses of his Love Interest, the origin-flashback is a shot-for-shot recreation of the TV series' opening-credits sequence, right down to the clothes Norton wears.
  • When Ross' team is tracking Bruce's correspondence to Mr. Blue, his email runs through a database that briefly flashes the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. The Mr. Green/Mr. Blue email correspondence itself is a reference to the comics written by Bruce Jones around 2003/2004.
  • The strike team isn't sure if the Hulk is green or grey in the dark, a reference to the coloring issue in the original comic that led to the Hulk's current color. Also, there is a scene where Hulk is shouting in the rain, and each time the lightning flashes, his skin looks gray in the light.
  • One of the students who witnesses the fight at the university is named Jack McGee, a reference to the investigative reporter from the TV series.
    • The other student being interviewed is Jim Wilson, the Hulk's former Kid Sidekick and The Falcon's nephew.
    • The university is the Culver University obviously a shout out to the Culver Institute in the live action series that starred Bill Bixby.
    • Similarly, the novelization identifies the student in the computer lab as Amadeus Cho, now better known as Hercules' buddy.
  • Paul Soles played Bruce Banner in The Marvel Super Heroes and Spider-Man in Spider-Man (1967), now he is the pizzeria owner Stan.
  • The Super Soldier Serum used in the movie is shown to have been developed by an organization known as Weapon Plus. Weapon Plus had several programs working on supersoldiers, the most famous being Weapon X.
  • Earlier Banner mistranslates one of the Hulk's catchphrases: "You won't like me when I'm... hungry?"
  • When Banner is begging in the Guatemalan marketplace, a short excerpt from "The Lonely Man", aka the "Banner walking away at the end of an episode" music from the TV series, plays.
  • General Ross makes several references to Banner being on the run for five years — the time between this film and the earlier 2003 Hulk film.
  • During the opening credits, one of the list of people suspected to have contact with Banner is "Richard Jones".
  • We see the creation of the Hulk villain Leader, created when the Applied Phlebotinum goes into the scientist's head. Probable Sequel Hook.
  • Similarly, Betty's boyfriend is obviously a pre-mutated Doc Sampson. According to the novelization, yup, he is.
• Iron Man 2:
  • A very obscure one: the Black Widow's cover identity "Natalie Rushman" refers to "Nancy Rushman," a cover identity the comic-book version of the Widow used in an arc of Marvel Team-Up in the 1970s.
  • Tony's bodyguard, Happy Hogan, is shown training Tony how to box. In the comics, Happy was a boxer before becoming Tony's bodyguard. Given Happy's fight with a security guard (which he wins) later in the film, this origin probably still applies.
  • The broken semi-transparent Captain America shield looks like it comes from the Reb Brown Captain America films. Here's a picture.◊
  • Tony suggests perhaps he could be Secretary of Defense, a position he held in the comics for a little while in the early 2000s.
  • Happy Hogan rescues Tony from Vanko on a racetrack. In Tales of Suspense #45, Happy rescuing Tony from a crashed race car is how the two characters first met.
  • The map of metahuman activity that Nick Fury shows to Tony has markers in Africa and the middle of the Atlantic ocean. The marker in Africa is in reference to the Black Panther, while fans have speculated that the one in the ocean is meant to hint at either Namor or The Inhumans.
  • Tony stores his armor in an attache case, which dates back to the very earliest issues of Iron Man.
  • The film's villain is named Ivan Vanko; he is more or less an amalgamation of the characters the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash. His father's name is Anton Vanko, the name of the original CD in the comics.
  • Anton Vanko defected to the West in 1963, the same year both Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo first appeared.
  • The Stark Expo is held in Flushing, NY, the original location of Stark's factory in the comic books.
  • Olivia Munn's small role is as Chess Roberts, a reporter from the first issue of the third volume of the comics who only appeared once.
  • Stark being forced to attend the Senate Armed Services Committee is lifted straight from the comics; the senator there was named Byrd, not Stern. Likewise, the government trying to get ahold of the Iron Man armor has been a recurring theme in the comics for decades, going away and coming back every so often.
  • Stark's line about the suit being a hi-tech prosthesis was mostly true in the comics originally; in the film though, the arc reactor in his chest is perfectly capable of keeping him alive without any need for the suit at all.
  • Monaco, where the racetrack scene takes place, was the home of Justin Hammer in the comic books.
  • Ivan Vanko's fake ID and name tag at the racetrack is Boris Turgenov, the name of the second Crimson Dynamo.
  • The briefcase armor in the film bears great resemblance to the Silver Centurion armor from the comics in its color scheme.
  • Stark getting drunk in his Iron Man suit and recklessly endangering lives in it is a reference to Demon in a Bottle.
  • Though under different circumstances, Rhodey first donned the Iron Man armor in the comics due to Stark's alcoholism.
  • Howard Stark is said by Nick Fury to have co-founded SHIELD; in the comics, Tony Stark co-founded SHIELD and provided them with all of their tech.
  • In the same scene featuring Bill O'Reilly's cameo, Pepper Potts can be heard talking on the phone to company lawyers, attempting to do something about the acquisition and use of the Mark II armor by the government but ultimately being unable to. This is a reference to Armor Wars. Further, the person she is talking to on the phone is named Bert, who shares his first name with the lawyer Bert Hindel from Armor Wars.
  • Rhodey's armor is called the Variable Threat Response Battlesuit by Justin Hammer in the film; this was the original name for the War Machine armor in the comics as well.
  • Vanko remotely compromising War Machine's armor and taking control of it is similar to when Justin Hammer did this to Iron Man in the Demon in the Bottle story arc.
• Thor:
  • Dr. Donald Blake was Thor's secret identity in his early Marvel comics, and is used here as a fake ID to get him out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Not to mention that was the name on the "Hello my name is..." tag on the first shirt Jane gave him. She says he was her ex-boyfriend.
  • A tourism poster talks about "Journey Into Mystery," the book where Thor first appeared for Marvel.
  • Two other entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Tony Stark is mentioned, as is a certain expert on gamma-radiation. See The Stinger as well.
  • Thor's line about having words with his brother is a reference to a very excellent moment in comic book history when he and the other Avengers pull off a Big Damn Heroes against Ultron. Said line has become something of a Catchphrase for Thor, although it's only used once in the movie.
  • A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent calls Sif, Hogun and Fandral Xena, Jackie Chan and Robin Hood. While already a multiple Shout-Out, in the comics Fandral once claimed to have spent time on Earth during the Middle Ages and married to a woman named Marian - so he may be Robin Hood.
  • The scene where Loki speaks to the imprisoned Thor is extremely similar to a scene in The Ultimates 2.
  • In a Shout-Out to DC Comics and Jack Kirby's later creations, Bifröst is presented not as a simple solid rainbow but as a Boom Tube.
  • "Look at you...The Mighty Thor..."
  • The Frost Giant calling Thor "princess". In Norse Mythology, Thor disguised himself as Freyja to keep her from marrying Thrym king of Jötunheim and to get Mjölnir back.
  • Yes, that is The Infinity Gauntlet you saw in the treasure vault. Other items seen include the Eternal Flame, the Warlock's Eye, the Tablet of Life, and the Orb of Agamotto.
• Captain America: The First Avenger:
  • The decoy Tesseract Schmidt recovers is a glass cube. The Cosmic Cube often takes the form of a transparent glass cube◊ when powered down.
  • Col. Phillips refers to Steve in a telegram as Steven G. Rogers, a reference to a storyline where he had fake memory implants of him being a middle class guy from Maryland named Steven Grant Rogers.
  • Montgomery Falsworth's appearance (at least in the scene depicted in the trailer) owes a lot to Howling Commandos Percy Pinkerton, while his name comes from the World War I-era hero Union Jack, who is basically the British Captain America (sans superhuman powers) and thus wears a Union Jack uniform. While the movie Falsworth isn't a superhero and doesn't wear a uniform, he wears a pair of crossed belts over his battle dress to carry grenades, which — when combined with flaps of his battle dress' breast pocket — resembles the bars◊ on the Union Jack.
  • In the chase scene after Cap initially gains his powers when he picks up a cab door for a shield the name of the cab company is "Lockely Star". This is a reference to Moon Knight and one of his three identities (it's complicated) Jake Lockely.
  • Cap's first costume (for the USO show) is basically his comic book costume. The prop shield for the Captain America USO shows looks a lot like the one the character used in his earliest appearances.
  • Cap's Hitler-punching origins◊ are referenced through the USO stage show he performs in, where we see him knocking out an actor dressed like Hitler in a poorly-choreographed fashion.
  • Steve and Bucky go to the Modern Marvels of Tomorrow exhibition at the Future Expo and a glass capsule holding what appears to be the body of Jim Hammond, the original Wartime Human Torch can be seen. This is also probably an Actor Allusion to Chris Evans who played the Human Torch in Fantastic Four (2005).
  • The display also bears the name of Phineas Horton, the inventor who created both the Human Torch and The Vision in the comics. Additionally, Phineas is step-father of Frankie Raye, one of Johnny Storm's ex-girlfriends, and she also appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer as potential love interest for Johnny, who was portrayed by Chris Evans, who portrays Captain America in this movie.
  • Mr. Stark shows off his latest technology, a shiny red thing that flies, at an expo while being surrounded by dancing girls. Like son, like father. Specifically, he's showing off a Flying Car. Nick Fury and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents frequently used flying cars in the comic books and The Avengers has the Helicarrier, so this may also be a way to foreshadow that.
  • Bucky mostly eschews his comic book tights for more sturdy fatigues, however his jacket follows the design of the top of his comic costume. There's also a point in the movie where he picks up Cap's shield, a reference to the fact that he was Captain America for a while in the comics.
  • At one point, Steve puts his shield on the front of his motorcycle, much like he did in an earlier made for TV movie in the '70s (yes, even before the '90s movie), as well as the comics.
  • During the scene where the soldiers of the 107th escape from the HYDRA base, Dugan can be heard screaming "WA-HOOOOOOOOOOO!" in reference to the battle cry that the comic versions of the Howling Commandos use when going into battle.
  • The first we see of Arnim Zola is his face on a television screen. His comic counterpart has a robot body with his face displayed on a screen in his chest. Also, some of the cameras in his lab mimic the design of the "head" his robot body possessed. It's also featured a bit later on: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene, when Zola runs into his office in the Austrian factory, a few frames show him grabbing the blueprints for a strangely familiar android with a monitor on its chest.
  • There is a scene where children are eagerly buying the original Captain America comic book that depicts Cap famously punching out Hitler. In-universe, the cover is inspired by Cap punching a Hitler impersonator as part of his USO show. This is later referenced when, while rescuing the American prisoners in Schmidt's HYDRA base, they ask if he know what's he's doing, and Cap responds, "I've knocked out Hitler over two hundred times."
  • Stan Lee makes his regular cameo appearance, this time as an American general attending one of Cap's award ceremonies.
  • Red Skull is the result of the same formula used to make Captain America, just like in the '90s movie.
  • The Skull also had the facial disfigurement, although in the comics it was because of an accident involving his "Death Dust" during his fight with Steve Rogers and John Walker. He was also in a body that had been cloned from Rogers, and thus also benefited from the serum.
  • Steve is shown sketching in his downtime, and able to reproduce base locations on a map after a brief glance. In the comics, part of his civilian life was drawing for Captain America comics.
  • The famed "Psyche Hitler" from an earlier film seems to be referenced.
  • Steve is given a single shot in the arm which he thinks is the serum but which is actually just penicillin. In the original comic, the serum was just a single shot to the arm as opposed to the dozen plus injections and Vita-Rays.
  • There are a couple of references to the animated Ultimate Avengers film, specifically, a German officer (Skull in TFA, Kleiser in UA) denting Cap's steel shield with a punch and Cap realizing just how long he's been asleep once he's outside. (That was actually not shown in The Ultimates, just Cap escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D.)
  • Many of the HYDRA weapons make the same sound that Iron Man's hand repulsors do in his films.
  • There's a brief shot of a rocket in the background when Cap fights Red Skull for the first time, referencing his The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes origin story, in which he got frozen while trying to stop a giant rocket that Red Skull had fired at the US.
• The Avengers
  • Georgi Luchkow, the Russian who Black Widow beats up early in the movie, shares his name with a minor Black Widow villain from the early '90s.
  • Romy Rosemont appears as Shawna Lynde, a Thor supporting character during the 1980s.
  • James Eckhouse appears as Senator Boynton, a minor character during the Armor Wars storyline. He is seen near the end, asking on a cable news show about where the Avengers are and who they should be accountable to.
  • The Tesseract facility at the beginning of the film is revealed to be Project Pegasus, a S.H.I.E.L.D. research sites from the comics.
  • "You have reached the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark." Life Model Decoy is the term used for an entire sub-set of robotic "clones" featured in the comics.
  • The Captain America trading cards display artwork by Jack Kirby, save for the one that has a picture of Cap in his stage show outfit.
  • Loki has his mouth sealed shut at the end of the film, echoing his mouth being sewn shut by dwarves in Norse Mythology.
  • During Thor and Loki's conversation on the cliff side, two ravens fly past, evoking Odin's two ravens in Norse Mythology.
  • When The Other threatens Loki with "more than pain" should he fail, one of the Chitauri's giant snakes can be seen moving through the background. In Norse Mythology, Loki is punished for his role in Ragnarök by having a snake drip venom in his eyes for all eternity.
  • During The Oner across NYC, Captain America and Iron Man pull off a fusion move lifted directly from Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
  • This one is half-Mythology Gag, half-Continuity Nod; Banner mentions that at one point, he tried to kill himself with a pistol "and the other guy spat out the bullet." This was going to be the opening scene in The Incredible Hulk film (and actually appeared in the Alternate Universe miniseries "Banner!") but was cut because Louis Leterrier, who directed this Hulk film, thought it would be too dark (and yet that scene showed up in the video game tie-in, as well as the novelization). Years earlier, this also happened in the comics.
  • When giving "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Loki, a dying Coulson mentions, "You're going to lose. It's in your nature."
  • While talking to Loki, Tony refers to the Avengers as "Earth's mightiest heroes", a moniker that has followed the team since day one.
  • Where the last couple Hulk movies referenced the character's iconic purple pants; Avengers reference is subtler by having Banner wear a purple shirt for most of the film.
  • Within the movie continuity, Hulk chasing Black Widow through a narrow corridor can bring to mind a similar scene from Iron Man where Iron Monger chases Pepper.
  • The idea of Tony's Iron Man armor being a flying module that unfolds and wraps around Tony, armoring him up, dates back to the late 90s (after the Heroes Reborn period).
  • "To challenge them is to court death." The primary aspect of Thanos' motivations in the comic books is that he saw the personification of death when he was young... and fell in love with her. Now you know why he's smiling.
  • Banner mentions that he's always angry, can transform into the Hulk at will, and implies that the two personalities are more or less on the same wavelength; the World War Hulk arc is built around this.
  • While Hulk never says "Hulk smash!", or "Puny humans!", his two most famous catch phrases in the comics, both of them are alluded to. Captain America commands Hulk to smash (his exact words being, "and Hulk? Smash."), and Hulk calls Loki a "puny god".
  • From a deleted scene: The security guard asks Bruce "Are you a big guy that gets all little? Or a little guy who sometimes blows up to be all big?"
  • The air-dropped prison intended to kill the Hulk if necessary references the way that Hulk died in the TV show: He fell out of an aircraft as Hulk and landed as Banner.
  • While discussing the Tesseract, Dr. Selvig claims it will unveil a path to a "new universe".
  • At the end of the movie, Nick Fury says that all this was a message to the universe: Humans Are Special, defy the odds, and nobody should try to go to war with them. There was a similar premise at the end of Ultimate Extinction. However, the unwanted consequence of this message, attracting the interest of Thanos, is a twist exclusive of the movie.

Phase Two

• Iron Man 3:
  • The Roxxon Oil company is a long-time institution of the comics universe, most notable for its involvement in the creation of various incarnations of Deathlok.
  • At one point when Happy and Pepper are discussing security procedures at Stark Enterprises, he addresses someone offscreen as "Bambi", the first name of Tony's most famous secretary in the comics, Mrs. Arbogast. A few seconds later, we see a brief glimpse of a woman approximately where "Bambi" would have been, and she looks like a young (early 30s at most) version of Mrs. A.
  • The circular basement complete with a series of armors is nearly identical to Tony's base from Iron Man: The Animated Series.
  • The Mark XXXVIII "Igor" Armor is based off the comic's second Hulkbuster armor.
  • The Mark XXXIII "Silver Centurion" Armor is inspired by the 1980s Silver Centurion Armor.
  • The Mark XV "Sneak" Armor is inspired by the modern comic's Stealth Armor.
  • The black Mark XVI "Nightclub" Armor is inspired by the 1980s Stealth Armor.
  • Pepper briefly dons the Iron Man suit, referencing her stints as the armored superhero "Rescue" in the comics as well as the few times she wore the suit for one reason or another.
  • Killian has a tattoo on his chest of Fin Fang Foom, a dragon that belonged to the alien race that created the Mandarin's rings in the comics.
  • Tony starts the final battle in the Silver Centurion suit, then goes into a red-and-gold number, and when that gets wrecked switches to basic War Machine-ish gray. He's basically re-enacting twenty years of the armor's development over the course of five minutes of fighting.
  • The little nifty flick-out one-shot repulsor used by Tony to attack Savin is based on the Repulsor Gun used by Tony in Ultimate Iron Man: Armour Wars (another Warren Ellis work).
  • The movie's version of the Extremis Enhancile combines elements of the Extremis Enhancile from the "Extremis" Arc, along with elements from "The Five Nightmares" arc.
  • In the comics, the Iron Patriot armor was worn by the villainous Norman Osborn. Now, it's the heroic War Machine's new paint job. In Ultimate comics, Iron Man is also using the code name of Iron Patriot and using a specially designed and painted Iron Patriot suit, to help rally Americans back under one banner after their country went to pot following the destruction of Washington D.C. Its use for Killian's purposes may be a nod to its use by a major villain in the comics.
  • Multiple for Warren Ellis' "Extremis" arc;
    • Dr. Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian are key characters.
    • The POTUS is named Matthew "Ellis".
    • Savin takes a Uni-beam through his chest at contact range.
    • Killian breathes fire. Though that last one is admitted in-universe to be ridiculous, and it's never mentioned again. It was one of the key powers of the original Extremis enhancile along with superhuman speed, which was also removed for the movie.
  • The more gold-inclined armor of the Mark XLII is potentially a reference to the original Iron Man suit from the '60s◊, which was painted exclusively in gold.
  • Happy says that people laughed at him when he told them he was Iron Man's bodyguard. In the comics, the cover story for Iron Man was, for a long while, that he was an employee of Tony Stark, usually his bodyguard. Also, the comics Hogan dies after being put in a coma protecting Tony, much like this Happy was put into a coma and almost killed investigating Savin.
  • Tony couldn't spare one armor from his Iron Legion for Rhodey because none of them were calibrated for Rhodey's brainwaves; in the comics, Rhodey ended up going insane from using Iron Man armor that had specifically been calibrated for Tony.
• Thor: The Dark World:
  • Thor's latest costume is inspired by his 1980s comic book incarnation; the same era that introduced Malekith.
  • Thor hammers a Kronan (or a Stone Man from Saturn as they were dubbed back in the Silver Age, where they served as the first ever villains Thor fought) and reduces him to a giant pile of rocks.
  • Malekith seeks Jane for his own purposes. He used Sif in a similar manner in his first appearance.
  • Odin gives a nod to the actual Norse mythology when he compares Jane being present in Asgard to a goat being present at a banquet table.
  • Malekith getting half his face burnt by Mjolnir makes him look more like the comic book Malekith, whose face was half white and half black.
  • During Selvig's rambling lecture about the Convergence, a circled "616 universe" can be seen in the center of the blackboard. This refers to Marvel's designation for the mainstream comic continuity.
  • Malekith and Kurse had first appeared in comics at The Surtur Saga. There's a point of that story adapted into the film as well: Loki seems to betray the Asgardians for Malekith, but he was actually a mole all the time.
  • Odin suggests that Thor should forget Jane Foster and focus on what's "in front of him", while the two are looking at Sif training for battle. Besides the obvious point (Odin would prefer Thor to be with Sif instead of Jane), this could be a subtle nod to the comics, where Thor's romantic relationship with Jane ended a long time ago, and after that he's had an on-again, off-again relationship with Sif for years. Also, in the actual Norse myths, Sif is Thor's wife.
  • When Thor offers to relinquish Mjölnir, Loki as Odin tells him that it is his "if you are worthy." In Thor's first Marvel appearance, the inscription on the hammer says the one who finds it "if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." This led to reader questions on what happens if someone else who is worthy finds it, and eventually the Beta Ray Bill storyline.
  • Thor mentions Sif's boisterous behavior after "the Battle of Harokin". In the comic, Thor and his friends battled Harokin and Hela in issues 129-31.
  • The second track of the soundtrack is entitled Lokasenna, the name of a poem in which Loki systematically insults the gods at a banquet until Thor shows up.
  • One of Algrim's cellmates looks more like the traditional version of Kurse than the one in the movie.
  • When Thor accidentally knocks off the head of a statue of Bor (Odin's father), Loki quips: "Well done, you just decapitated your grandfather!" In the comics Thor was actually forced to kill Bor, which was all part of a Batman Gambit played by Loki.
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier:
  • The scene where Cap jumps out of a plane without bothering to use a parachute is a reference to a similar scene from the first issue of The Ultimates.
    Rollins: Was he wearing a parachute?
    Rumlow: [smiles] No. No, he wasn't.
  • Like in the first film, Bucky makes use of Cap's shield as a reference to his time as Captain America in the comics.
  • Batroc uses a very acrobatic fighting style in reference to his origins as an acrobat who took up crime. He's also wearing a yellow and purple top, in subdued tones compared to the goofy outfit he wears in the comics.
  • Though he's largely influenced by his Ultimate counterpart, Sam Wilson is a VA counsellor who helps soldiers with PTSD as a nod to his 616 background as a social worker.
  • Natasha's Tiffany & Co. necklace happens to be the arrow one.
  • The freighter Batroc hijacks in the beginning is named the Lemurian Star. This is a reference to Lemuria, the sunken continent that was home to the Deviants, a race of superhumans created by Jack Kirby.
  • Captain America's new costume is the same one Steve Rogers wore in the Heroic Age arc in the comics, after he stepped down from his role as Captain America. Except, in the comics, Steve's outfit didn't have the cowl.
  • Dr. Stephen Strange is named at one point as one of the targets of Project Insight.
  • We see an old S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem, which is identical to the original logo from the comics.
  • Natasha uses camotech to disguise herself. The technology is a favourite of Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird, a fellow spy in the comics, who at one point in Secret Avengers used it to pretend to be Natasha as a prank.
  • After being defeated by Falcon and left for dead, the burns and injuries Rumlow sustains to his face cause him to more closely resemble his comic book counterpart, Crossbones.
  • When Rumlow takes off his vest to fight Falcon, the straps across his chest resemble the crossbones on the costume of his comics equivalent.
  • S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by Nazis in the first arc of The Ultimates as well. Also in that story, Captain America took control of a system to address all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at once, warning them of the infiltration and that the big thing going on served the bad guy's goals.
  • A now obscure 1988 limited-series comic, Nick Fury Vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., had Fury stumbling onto S.H.I.E.L.D. being subverted from within, leading to him being targeted by his own organization, revelations that the subversion existed nearly since S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founding and before Fury became director, and then concluded with most of the organization's infrastructure in ruins and the total disbanding of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Fury. The limited-series was also where the (minor) character, Alexander Pierce, debuted.
  • While not humanoid in form, this incarnation's upgraded version of Arnim Zola retains the traditional monitor "body" and one-eyed "head" from his comic book counterpart with the computer monitor and the camera.
  • "When did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" This moment is possibly a shout out to the 1990 film, where Cap's constant carjacking was an unintentional Running Gag.
  • The Baxter building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four, is seen as one of the targets of the Helicarriers in a blink-and-you'll miss it scene. Doubles as an Actor Allusion, as Chris Evans played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four films. invoked
  • The "Who the hell is Bucky?" line is straight from the comics.
  • Baron von Strucker in The Stinger is experimenting on twins with superpowers. In the comics, Strucker actually subjected his own twins to a treatment which gave them superpowers.
  • Scarlet Witch's debut appearance in the MCU shows her levitating shaped blocks. The X-Men debut comic shows Jean Grey doing the same.
  • The phrase "Operation: Zemo" can be seen in the Cap's Smithsonian exhibit. Baron Zemo is one of Cap's deadliest longtime foes in the comics.
  • Ed Brubaker having a cameo as one of the scientists working on Winter Soldier works as a meta-textual instance: In the real world, he created the Winter Soldier in his writing. In the film, he plays a character who creates the Winter Soldier physically.
  • Cap's list of the things he missed includes the Moon Landing. Towards the beginning of the Winter Soldier comic arc, Cap regrets that he was not around in the 1960s to go into the space program because his body was made for those risks. In House of M continuity, Cap was the first man on the moon.
  • During the final fight between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, the latter shoots him in the same spot from The Death of Captain America.
  • Nick Fury's blind eye playing an important part calls back to the David Hasselhoff portrayal of Nick Fury, where his eyepatch concealed a bunch of emergency tools, including plastic explosive. Which is also amusing, since both of them involve cracking open a door!
  • The Winter Soldier unsuccessfully assassinates Nick Fury in an almost identical way to how he assassinated the Red Skull in the original Winter Soldier story.
  • Nick Fury mentioning he has a wife, who he claims kicked him out of the house. Ultimate Nick Fury did indeed have a wife, Monica Chang (the second Black Widow), and she did kick him out.
  • The patch of STRIKE and the Insight crew is colored in green and yellow, the same colors HYDRA uses in the comic books.
  • Arnim Zola existing as a sentient computer intelligence is similar to the computer & brains-hybrid leader of the Kree aliens from the comics, including being visualized as a green-colored face on computer screens.
  • During Civil War, Cap refused to enforce the SHRA, and a room full of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tried to arrest him. This resulted in Cap beating up a room full of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, then jumping out of a window and hijacking a passing fighter jet from the outside. In this movie, he just beats up an elevator full. And doesn't bother with the jet.
• Guardians of the Galaxy:
  • During the line up scene, the data stream for each character lists numerous incidents that happened to them in the comics that Guardians is based on.
    • Rocket Raccoon being from Halfworld in the Keystone Quadrant, and Lylla being listed as one of his associates. He's also an expert in escaping from custody; in the comics, he was created specifically to be a guard at a maximum security insane asylum and stop escapes.
    • Gamora being the last of her kind.
    • Peter having an affair with an intergalactic duchess that her parents were none too happy about.
    • Groot's homeworld being listed as "X".
  • Peter's red-skinned one-night-stand is Bereet, an alien ex-lover of The Incredible Hulk from the comics.
  • "Morag", the name of a Kree historical person from the comics, is the name of a planet in the film.
  • The named members of the Nova Corps include Rhomann Dey, the Nova Prime who recruits Richard Rider as the first Human Nova, and Gaarthan Saul, who would go on to become the villainous Supernova in the comics.
  • Rhomann Dey's rank in the Nova Corps is Denerrian, one of the actual (and lesser known) ranks in the Corps in the comics.
  • In the comics, Yondu was a founding member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy from the 1970s, which was a precursor to the 2000s incarnation led by Peter Quill. In the movie, Yondu is not affiliated with the Guardians, but his role as Quill's mentor and adopted father parallels the classic series' relationship with the modern series.
  • Rocket and Cosmo growling at each other in reference to their interactions in the comics.
  • The Other tells Ronan that Thanos has sources within Kyln who revealed that Gamora planned to betray him and take The Orb for herself. This is a reference to Moloka Dar, the bald and mean prisoner of Kyln who tries to kill Gamora and whose knife is taken by Drax. In the comics, Moloka was a former prisoner of Kyln who helps Thanos by giving him information.
  • The Celestial Eson the Searcher appears in one of the Collector's holograms wielding an Infinity Stone.
  • Adam Warlock's regenerative cocoon also appears in the Collector's shop. Those who paid careful attention in the Howard the Duck scene will notice that the cocoon has hatched.
  • While her name isn't mentioned in the film itself, Nova Prime is Irani Rael, a member of the Nova Corps who was recruited after the Annihilation Wave struck Xandar.
  • The comics feature the Kree as consisting of two racial colors, the "blue-skinned" and the "pink-skinned", with the pinks always depicted as being identical in appearance to white-skinned Earth people (and so easily able to infiltrate Earth). The film features several pink colored humans, but here they all look nothing like any skin tone that exists on Earth.
• Avengers: Age of Ultron:
  • Once the World War II veteran played by Stan Lee gets drunk on Asgardian booze, his Non Sequitur, *Thud* is Lee's Catchphrase "Excelsior".
  • Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver working for Ultron references both the fact that they were introduced as members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and that Ultron was first introduced as the leader of the Masters of Evil.
  • Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver don't wear costumes (until Wanda gets one at the end), but the street clothes they wear in the third act have color schemes referencing their suits from the comics.
  • The Mind Stone is yellow unlike its counterpart, which is blue, because the Space Stone (the Tesseract) is blue in the MCU. Despite this, the protective housing for it on Loki's scepter is blue, causing it to resemble the Mind Gem from the comics.
  • Hawkeye's new clothing has elements of both his classic comic outfit and the costume of his Ronin identity.
  • Iron Man's new suits begin to use design elements from Tony's 2010 "Bleeding Edge" comic book armor. The Mark 43 adds the Bleeding Edge's color scheme to the Iron Man 3 suit, while the Mark 45 uses the Bleeding Edge's color scheme and more organic, curved design.
  • The Hulkbuster being a Meta Mecha references its origin as a power-up for the Modular Armor in Iron Man #304. Additionally, the Hulkbuster design in the film is extremely close to the sumo-inspired original design, complete with the round, flat head and large yellow "pads" on the forearms. The only things missing are the giant yellow "hubcap" shoulderpads.
  • Steve is able to budge Mjölnir, unlike the other non-Asgardians in the room; in the comics, Steve is fully worthy of Mjölnir.
  • Natasha refuses to find out if she is worthy of Mjölnir. In a "What-If" storyline, "What If? Age of Ultron", she is and becomes the Goddess of Thunder.
  • Sam shows up at the party wearing a red shirt as a nod to his red costume from the comics. His costume at the end also incorporates more red as a nod to his comic look.
  • Clint calling Thor's immovable hammer "a trick... a circus sideshow" doubles as a reference to comic book Hawkeye learning archery from traveling circus performers.
  • Tony's "This is the end of the path I started us on" line doubles as a reference to the Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning with Iron Man. At one point, this was intended to be Downey's last appearance in the MCU, hence his talk of retiring in the final scene, though he ultimately comes back for Phase Three.
  • Ultron introduces himself to the Maximoff twins while wearing a crimson shroud draped over his head and shoulders. In the comics, he was initially introduced as a villain called the Crimson Cowl, and dressed in similar attire. The cape also comes to mind of Magneto, the father of the twins.
  • Klaue gets one of his hands severed by Ultron. In the comics, his right hand was blown off and replaced with a sonic weapon that later became one of his visual trademark. Ultron chops off his left hand, however..
  • It is mentioned that Klaue has been branded with the Wakandan word for "thief". In the comics, Wakanda is the home nation of the Black Panther, Klaue's Arch-Nemesis.
  • When Tony is looking through his old A.I. chips, one of them is seen marked "JOCASTA."
  • Captain America has an electromagnetic gauntlet that allows him to control the shield. He briefly used a device like that in the '60s' Avengers comics, and it was later used by the Danielle Cage version of Captain America in Ultron Forever.
  • The film ends with Captain America preparing to lead a new team of Avengers after several of the founding members either resign or disappear. This is a nod to Avengers #16, which saw the formation of "Cap's Kooky Quartet" after most of the original team left.
  • Likewise, Hulk angrily leaves the team at the end of this movie, which is the second Avengers film. This is a nod to both The Avengers #2, where Hulk similarly quit the team and left for parts unknown, and to The Incredible Hulk (1977), where every episode would end with David Banner leaving for parts unknown.
  • Ultron establishing his base in a castle in a fictional east-European country, and sitting on the throne in one scene, conjures up images of Doctor Doom, but is also an allusion to one of the most popular Avengers stories, Ultron Unlimited. In it, Ultron invades a fictional East-European country using an army of his drones.
  • The name of the band playing in Steve's fantasy are called the Roy Thomas Players. Roy Thomas created Vision, Ultron, and a lot of classic Avengers concepts.
  • During the fight against the Iron Legion after the party, one droid gets its legs blown off and hovers into the air using its hand repulsors. Iron Man himself did a similar thing in Marvel Zombies for transportation after he lost the lower half of his body.
  • During the party, Thor mentions Brunnhilde. Brunnhilde in the comics is better known as Valkyrie, a member of the Defenders and the Lady Liberators.
  • In the fight with the Ultron robots after the party, Hawkeye is the one who throws Steve's shield to him. In the comics, Hawkeye is one of the few people who can throw Cap's shield properly, and was even briefly a possible candidate to be the new Captain America after Steve died.
  • When the Maximoffs first meet Ultron, Ultron says that Wanda "needed something more than a man" in regards to her letting Tony take Loki's scepter, which indirectly caused Ultron's creation. In the comic books, her two most prominent relationships were with beings "more than men": the synthezoid Vision and Wonder Man, who for a time was a being of ionic energy form and from whom Vision's brain patterns were taken.
  • Similarly Bruce has done the math and notes he can't have children. In the comics many of his love interests are superhuman, particularly those who have born him children.
  • A motorcycle driven with Captain America's shield held on the front is reminiscent of his 1979 TV movie.
  • During one speech, Ultron notes that Invaders create Avengers. The Invaders were the first (by in-universe chronology) team that Captain America was a part of, and he joined the Avengers afterwards.
  • One of Ultron's few Achilles Heels for a long time in the comics was the Scarlet Witch's magic. While Ultron could be damaged by a lot of sheer fire power, Wanda's power effortlessly yanks out Ultron Prime's core like he was just tin.
  • Black Widow's calming phrase is "Hey, Big Guy. Sun's getting real low." Would the Hulk get grey if he was still the Hulk when the sun went down?
  • As Clint recovers from his injury thanks to Helen Cho's bioengineered synthetic cells, he jokingly says how he'll be immortal and made of plastic. The Vision, who is created by Cho in film, is made of plastoid flesh and synthetic blood in the comics.
  • Fury's line "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" is uttered by Ultimate Captain America to a cussing soldier during a different climactic battle.
  • Just before the finale battle, Natasha calls Tony "shellhead", a common nickname of Iron Man in the comics.
  • If you look closely at Klaue's dossier, it mentions that his great-grandfather was killed by a past Black Panther during a failed invasion of Wakanda. This occurred in a Flashback during the "Who Is the Black Panther?" storyline from the comics.
  • A darker one, but in a deleted scene, Tony insults the Maximoff twins by referencing Flowers in the Attic. In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Wanda and Pietro were indeed in an incestuous relationship like in that book.
  • On the merchandise side, the movie-appearance Ultron figure is NOT part of the Marvel Legends wave for Age of Ultron, but the following wave that ties in with Ant-Man, referencing Ultron's true origins. What the Age of Ultron wave does come with is Thanos, foreshadowing The Stinger.
  • Black Widow being a friend of Hawkeye's family, which is the total opposite of her Ultimate Marvel portrayal, where she assassinated them.
  • At one point, Pietro remarks that he is older than Wanda by 12 minutes. In the comics, she is the older of the two ^note This is also the case with the actors, as Elizabeth Olsen is two years older than Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
• Ant-Man:
  • Hope van Dyne sports a short bob hairstyle, much like the one her mother Janet wore in the comics.
  • The Yellowjacket suit looks similar to the G.I. Ant-Man armor from the short-lived Irredeemable Ant-Man series.
  • Lang suggests changing the "Ant-Man" name. Pym is prone to changing his superhero name a lot.
  • Ant-Man deals with a couple of mooks in a similar manner to the 2012 Edgar Wright test footage.
  • Scott mentions that Hank should try calling the Avengers for help. Well, he was one of the founding members of the team in the comics...
  • Scott lives at the Milgrom Hotel, named for Marvel artist Al Milgrom.
  • Hank's past exploits are jokingly called "Tales to Astonish" after the comic where Ant-Man first debuted.
  • In the ending, the journalist Luis' cousin went on a date with mentions "We got a guy who jumps. We got a guy who swings. We got a guy who crawls up the walls. You gotta be more specific!"
  • The "Quantum Realm". In the comics, as far back as Fantastic Four #16 in 1963 it was established that if one shrinks down enough, one can enter a realm variously known as Sub-Atomica or the Microverse, with myriad adventures set there.
  • Hank says he saw too much of himself in Darren Cross, who later adopts the Yellowjacket identity. Yellowjacket is one of Hank's many superhero identities in the comics.
  • Janet's Wasp costume resembles a female version of the Ant-Man suit, which could be a reference to her original red outfit from the comics.
  • Hank claims Janet "was born to it" when describing their superhero career together. In the Ultimate Marvel line of comics, Janet was a mutant and her powers greatly helped Hank expand on the Pym Particle's capabilities.
  • The new Wasp costume from the end looks very similar to the one from Uncanny Avengers, while the mask and lenses recall the Wasp's helmet from The Avengers: United They Stand.
  • Ant-thony is initially called "Ant 247," a nod to Marvel Premier #47, the issue that introduced Scott Lang, and Tales to Astonish #27, the issue that introduced Hank Pym.
  • Janet's Heroic Sacrifice is one to Captain America and Bucky from the comics, oddly enough. Two heroes on a bomb, with one hero dying while it goes down (although for Bucky it blew up as it was meant to kill the pair), and the survivor being haunted with guilt over the loss of a partner.
  • The shrinking pistol that Darren Cross uses to kill Frank is very similar to the one wielded by Yellowjacket in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • Scott's method of escaping the Quantum Realm (attaching an enlarging disk to the suit's belt and activating it to make himself bigger) resembles the mechanism that Pym uses to become Giant-Man in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • During Scott's fight with Falcon, Scott's opponent is able to easily spot him right away, thanks to his specialized goggles; in the comics, the character has a mask granting him telescopic, night, and infrared vision.
  • Hank is a retired superhero who is mostly around as an inventor and Mission Control. He also has a shrunken tank in his pocket, which he can use in a pinch as a weapon by growing it out. This status reflects a similar status while in the West Coast Avengers. He was retired during this period, acted as The Smart Guy, and often contained items and weapons in his pocket which were infused with Pym particles, allowing him to grow and shrink them depending on what he needed. He even had a tank.
  • Among the other Shrunken things, in Hank's House, is a small Scarlet Chair which looks like it comes from a Doll House. In Tales to Astonish #27, Hank first tests his Size Changing Potion on a Scarlet Chair.
  • While working at Baskin-Robbins, Scott uses the name "Jack", which could either be a reference to Jack Kirby or a visual reference to the Marvel hero Jack of Hearts (as the "Jack" nametag is placed roughly over Scott's heart), who, in the comics, accidentally killed Scott Lang.
  • Merchandising example, but the action figure line for the movie that was released by Hasbro featured Ultron as a Build-A-Figure, even though Ultron doesn't appear in the film. In the comics, Hank Pym is the one who built Ultron.
  • Scott isn't the first hero in the MCU to be taken down by a Taser.

Phase Three

• Captain America: Civil War:
  • The speech Sharon gives at Peggy's funeral has lines from Cap's (originally Mark Twain's) famous "No, you move," speech in the comics.
    Sharon Carter: Compromise where you can. And where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right, even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, "No. You move."
  • The film has Captain America and Black Panther meeting during a plot involving Sharon Carter and a character named Zemo, just like the original Tales of Suspense arc that kicked off Cap's Silver Age solo series.
  • Tony Stark's latest armor is a full version of the "Bleeding Edge" suit from the 2010 Invincible Iron Man comics, after his Age of Ultron suits began to evolve towards that comic design.
  • Hawkeye's new costume recalls his House of M look, as well as his short-lived Heroic Age costume.
  • Scarlet Witch's new costume recalls her X-Men: Evolution look, particularly the red trench coat.
  • Spider-Man is 15 years old, just like he was when he was introduced in the comics for the very first time. The costume itself is heavily inspired by Ditko's early Spider-Man art, although the simplified mask design and smaller chest insignia come directly from John Romita's version◊. As well, the spider insignia resembles that of the version used by Todd McFarlane.
  • Spider-Man mentions that if people with great power do nothing when they could have done something, then what happens next is on them. This alludes to his Uncle Ben dying after he failed to use his powers to stop a criminal in the comics.
  • In his first scene, Peter Parker is seen wearing a shirt with a pizza on it, a nod to how his original movie counterpart worked as a pizza delivery boy at the beginning of Spider-Man 2. There's even a slice of the pizza missing, referencing the scene where a random bystander is able to get his hands on a single slice before Spidey steals it back.
  • The promo art showing Black Panther fighting Captain America is an Homage Shot to Mike Zeck's iconic Captain America Annual #8 cover, but with the Panther subbing in for Wolverine.
  • Hawkeye fires off an arrow with Ant-Man atop it, much like the iconic scene◊ from Avengers #223.
  • The drone Falcon uses in the film is named Redwing; in the comics, Redwing is a flesh-and-blood falcon Sam Wilson has a telepathic bond with. In the movie, Sam asks Black Widow to thank Redwing as if it were real, much to her chagrin.
  • Tony using his armor to directly analyze Captain America's fight patterns, and counter/pre-empt his moves actually comes from a specific◊ series of panels◊ in the original comic series. The difference is that unlike the film adaptation, the comic-book version of Tony uses this technique to basically ambush Captain America, essentially not acting out of desperation.
  • The shot of Cap and Iron Man fighting, with Steve ramming his shield into Tony's repulsor rays, is lifted straight from the comics cover◊.
  • Tony mentions that he always pictured F.R.I.D.A.Y. as a redhead. In the comics, she's got a hologram and, sure enough, she's a sexy redhead.
  • Once again, Spider-Man can't keep his mask on.
  • Tony gives Peter a new, more techy Spider-Man outfit, although it's not the Iron Spider armor.
  • The plot point about Zemo killing a psychiatrist and stealing his identity comes from Ed Brubaker's Captain America run, though in that case it was Doctor Faustus who killed and replaced the doctor.
  • Zemo's goal of dismantling the heroes from infighting even at his own personal and physical loss (including false-flag bombings and luring the heroes to a location from their past) comes from Brubaker's Captain America: No Escape arc where Zemo exposes Bucky's identity as the Winter Soldier to the public, while Bucky is serving as Captain America.
  • Rhodey ending up crippled is a nod to Greg Pak's War Machine run.
  • Steve's arguments about the UN sending the Avengers someplace they feel they shouldn't go or preventing them from going where they need to go is taken from the Avengers/X-Men storyline "Bloodties" where the UN orders the Avengers to stay out of the Genoshan conflict. Clint is the one who points out why the Avengers shouldn't answer to the UN using the arguments that Steve uses here.
  • The other Winter Soldiers being treated with a super soldier serum that makes them more powerful than Steve or Bucky but mentally unbalanced is a shout out to '50s' Cap who was brought back during Brubaker's run. The other Winter Soldiers come from Ed Brubaker's solo Winter Soldier series, set after his Captain America run. However, those Winter Soldiers in the comics are not Bucky's superiors in combat skills, and like the comic book Bucky, lack the Super Soldier Serum.
  • Bucky gets his Soviet-era arm blasted off by a Uni-Beam from Tony after reuniting with Steve. In the Red Menace arc in comics, he got it blasted off by one of the Red Skull's giant robots in his first reunion with Steve after getting his memory back. He got a replacement (with a different star and no cable on the arm) from Nick Fury.
  • Also from the Brubaker's Captain America run, Bucky having a trigger phrase is used. However, in the comics it just knocked him out. In the film it allows him to be mind-controlled.
  • Before going into Siberia, Bucky grabs a light machine gun from Black Widow's storage locker on the quinjet. Earlier she says "You could at least recognize me." In the comics, Bucky was Black Widow's main trainer and her secret lover. Once he got his memories back they picked up their relationship, leading to the solo Spy Couple Winter Soldier comic.
  • The final fight between Captain America and Iron Man with Iron Man on the ground and Cap beating the shit out of him before raising his shield to finish him mirrors their final fight in the Civil War series. Additionally, Cap giving up his shield and ending up allied with Black Panther were lifted from the post-Armor Wars relationship between Rogers and Stark.
  • Spider-Man having a projectable Spider-signal comes from the original Stan Lee run.
  • Vasily Karpov is introduced as the Winter Soldier's handler at the end of the Cold War. In the comics Karpov is the Soviet commander who rescues an injured Bucky and turns him into the Winter Soldier at the start of the Cold War.
  • Spider-Man's awkward reference to "that really old movie" The Empire Strikes Back and clumsy attempts at describing the Battle of Hoth could be a nod to how the Spider-Man of the comics◊ never liked Star Wars anyways.
  • Like in the original comic, a grieving woman blames Tony and Tony alone for the death of her son in a superhero-related disaster.
  • Captain America once again steals a car.
  • At one point a female bodyguard of T'Challa threatens Black Widow to move out of the way and T'Challa remarks that a fight between them would be interesting to see. During Civil War T'Challa had two female bodyguards of his fight Black Widow to get her off his tail.
  • During Tony's visit to the Raft, Hawkeye mockingly calls him a futurist, a term Tony has often used to describe himself in other continuities. In the Civil War comics, a major reason for Tony Stark supporting the registration act was his attempts to predict future developments indicating that if the act was not followed, something much worse would result from it.
  • At the end of the film, Tony angrily shouts to Steve that the shield doesn't belong to him, to which he responds by dropping it and walking away. In The Stinger, Steve is shown breaking into the Raft in civilian clothes, showing that he has possibly given up the persona of Captain America completely. This is reminiscent of a prominent comics storyline in the '80s where the U.S. government pointed out that they technically own the shield and the image of Captain America, and therefore demanded that Steve Rogers should either directly work for the government or retire as Captain America. He chose the latter.
  • A deleted scene shows Steve, Bucky, and Sam handling the shield.
• Doctor Strange:
  • Strange's predecessor as the master of the New York Sanctum Sanctorum is named Daniel Drumm. In the comics, he is the brother of Jericho Drumm, alias Brother Voodoo, who also held the title of Sorcerer Supreme for some time.
  • During Kaecilius's assault on Sanctum Sanctorum, Strange almost has his hand on a battle axe, a possible nod toward the weapon the character brandishes in the All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch.
  • Upon arriving at Kamar-Taj, Strange immediately assumes the old Asian man he sees as the Ancient One, before Tilda Swinton reveals herself. This is a nudge toward the character's traditional depiction, which change to a white actress has sparked controversy since the day it was first announced.
  • Strange turns up the collar of The Cloak of Levitation, hearkening back to its comic design, where the collar sometimes is higher than his head.
  • Christine Palmer operating on a wounded Strange while being accompanied by his astral projection is reminiscent to a scene in the Doctor Strange: The Oath miniseries, albeit with a different Night Nurse. Bonus points for their similar freak-out reaction and that the wound is in the exact same place.
  • The scene where Strange trains his hands post-accident by writing his name over and over is lifted almost directly from J. Michael Straczynski's Strange limited series.
  • Pangborn leading Strange to Kamar-Taj comes from Doctor Strange: The Oath, where Pangborn being turned away by Strange is the last thing the Doctor does before his accident.
  • The weapon Wong uses at the climax of the film looks similar to the Wand of Watoomb, a classic Doctor Strange artifact, albeit a bit larger than usual. Given that Mordo mentions the wand earlier, it very well could be the genuine article.
  • In a cameo, Tina Minoru is seen wielding The Staff of One. This also foreshadows the upcoming Runaways series.
  • Mordo uses the "Staff of the Living Tribunal". The Living Tribunal is essentially one of the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe.
  • In the first stinger, Strange is wearing yellow leather gloves, a traditional part of his costume.
  • At the climax of their battle in the New York sanctum, Strange throws Kaecilius into a mechanical suit that binds and gags him, with the metal gag being removable. This is a nod to Strange's origin story, where Mordo temporarily made him unable to move and made him hallucinate a metal gag around his mouth. According to the Art Book, the suit is the MCU version of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
  • The Dark Dimension is very much similar to Steve Dikto's original◊ drawings◊ of it.
  • Dormammu's head prominently features lines dividing his face, similar to his classic form◊.
  • Mordo hands Dr. Strange a slip of paper with the word "Shamballa", saying it's their wi-fi password. Also a reference to the graphic novel Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa.
  • Taking things into actual myths, Dr. Strange recreates the bottomless drinking horn of Utgarda-Loki for Thor with a mug of beer. In the Prose Edda, Thor was challenged by the giant to empty the horn in one draught. After Thor fails to do so, Utgarda-Loki tells him that the horn was actually connected to the ocean and Thor had managed to lower the sea level with his drinking.
  • Before Kaecilius and the zealots are fully consumed by the Dark Dimension, their appearance becomes gray and stone-like with a single glowing eye, much like Dormammu's regular minions of the Mindless Ones.
  • One for just the MCU: Several prior Marvel movies (Avengers, Thor, Thor 2) have involved the heroes fighting the villains, trying to close some portal while there is massive damage. The director said that in this movie they went the other way. The climax is the heroes trying to reverse time, to fix the damage and keep the portal from opening in the first place. They do fight with The Dragon and his minions, but it turns out that the fighting is basically pointless, and Strange has to go through the portal and save the day by... talking to the Big Bad, instead of fighting him.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:
  • Yondu's new head-fin is actually an old prototype he'd been keeping for emergencies — it conveniently resembles Yondu's original mohawk in the comics.
  • Multiple movie posters◊ featuring Nathan Fillion as Simon Williams were planned at one point. He even portrays Tony Stark in a parody of the poster for Steve Jobs. The "Arkon" Conan the Barbarian (1982) parody is a reference to a Marvel Planetary Romance character ... who comic book Williams did indeed play in a series of movies.
  • Ego's planet near the end has the giant face of Ego on it like his comic-book counterpart, albeit it doesn't talk or emote.
  • The scene where Peter transforms into Pac-Man is a discreet homage to the battle between Ego and Alter-Ego as seen here.
  • Howard's appearance has changed slightly since his last appearance, becoming slimmer and looking more like his comic version. And with a beak shaped like the one in his infamous movie.
  • Krugarr is first seen demonstrating the same kind of magic seen in Kamar Taj. In the comics Krugarr inherits the title of Sorceror Supreme at some point.
  • Speaking of, Yondu mentions that he and the other Ravager captains were a lot like Rocket and the Guardians in their younger days, that's because comic fans know them as the original Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • The blue uniforms worn by Starhawk and his fellow elder Ravagers are a nod to the uniforms worn by the Guardians during the famed DnA run on the title. The same run which, probably not coincidentally, was the basis for the movies.
  • Nebula (very briefly) takes control of Yondu's cell of the Ravagers. This is much more in keeping with her comics characterization than the "Thanos' adopted daughter assassin" role she has in the films.
  • When Peter first taps into Ego's power, his eyes turn into stars, and when asked what he sees, he says "Eternity". His look is similar to the actual Marvel Comics cosmic character, the omnipotent and all-encompassing Eternity, which the film may be hinting at for a sequel.
  • Taserface was the very first super-villain faced by the Jim Valentino incarnation of the original Guardians, way back in Guardians of the Galaxy #1 back in 1990. There he was a member of an alien race that had appropriated Stark technology for its own use. (He didn't fare much better than his cinematic counterpart did.)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming:
  • The white fur collar on the Vulture's bomber jacket is a visual callback to the white ruff on the Vulture's costume from the comics. Meanwhile, the Vulture suit having taloned feet for gripping objects comes from The Spectacular Spider-Man.
  • The movie introduces both the Vulture and the Tinkerer into the MCU, both of whom were introduced in the same issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (though in different stories) back in 1963.
  • The shot of Iron Man and Spider-Man flying/swinging through the city together is a near-perfect recreation of the cover to Marvel Team-Up Volume 1, Issue 9.
  • "The Avengers" all wear masks similar to their Silver Age appearances. The sequence where Spider-Man confronts them is taken from◊ Ultimate Spider-Man. In addition, Spider-Man redirecting the punch "Thor" throws to the face of "The Hulk" harks back to The Avengers.
  • Peter's first costume is basically Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider outfit with the colors reversed, right down to the hoodie with the sleeves cut off. Likewise, the advanced Spider-Man suit that Tony Stark unveils at the ends of the movie is almost identical to the one that Ben Reilly wore when he temporarily became Spider-Man. With its more metallic look, it also brings to mind the Mark IV Spider-Armor Peter wears post Secret Wars (2015) as Spider-Man. Many of the Stark Tech functions of his "normal" suit call over to that costume, as well.
  • Spidey holding the ship together with his webbings is a homage to the train scene from Spider-Man 2. Speaking of which, Spidey is also seen sitting on a similar-looking train in the beginning of the film.
  • The paint job on Iron Man's new armor is an homage to his suit from The Ultimates.
  • Ned asks Peter if he can summon an army of spiders. In an issue of the Marvel Adventures comic, Peter got a horrified bank robber to surrender by lying that he had this same power.
    Peter: I'm summoning the spiders.
    Robber: What are you —
    Peter: I'm Spider-Man, and you’re making me mad. I’m summoning the spiders. They will come to my call. Hundreds of them. Thousands. And all of them at my command.
    [Beat]
    Peter: Because I’m Spider-Man!
    Robber: I give, dude! I give!
  • When Peter enthusiastically expresses his interest in joining the Avengers, Tony tells him that he should just stick to being a "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man".
  • Aunt May's car has the license plate "AMF 1562", referring to Amazing Fantasy #15, published in 1962, the first ever Spider-Man comic.
  • Much like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron, while neither Shocker wears a costume, they do both have civilian outfits with quilted yellow sleeves as a nod to Shocker's comic duds.
  • Vulture doing a weapons deal on the Staten Island Ferry could be one to how in his earliest appearances, the Vulture's hideout was an abandoned farm silo on Staten Island.
  • Midtown High's mascot is a tiger, a nod to Mary Jane Watson's Affectionate Nickname for Peter in the comics. In the background of the first decathlon scene, several posters are taped to the wall, one of which reads "Go Get 'Em, Tigers!" Later, the student who wears the tiger mascot suit races by just before Zendaya's character Michelle is nicknamed "MJ", establishing her as Mary Jane's MCU counterpart.
  • Midtown High is in the same building where Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man went to college Spider-Man 2.
  • When Spider-Man talks with Aaron Davis, he briefly mentions that he's worried about the safety of his nephew, who is heavily implied to be a young Miles Morales (which is outright confirmed in a deleted scene). Davis is even listed as "The Prowler" when Karen is showing his arrest record to Peter. The name Brian Pichelli is also mentioned in the same file, referencing the character's creators.
  • Aaron Davis' car has the license plate "UCS - M01", as in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1, the character's debut comic.
  • Also,Davis perks up when Brice mentions tech that can allow users to scale walls. In the comics, the Prowler's trademark gadgets are a pair of gauntlets that allow him to climb walls.
  • Spider-Man pushing himself up and lifting the wreckage of Toomes' warehouse off of his back calls to mind The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee & Ditko) #33, the final chapter of the ''ComicBook/IfThisBeMyDestiny'' arc, complete with water running down his face. He also does it in extremely similar fashion in Amazing #365, after part of Penn Station collapses on him.
  • In the same scene, the mask half-floating in a puddle with his face reflected in it in reminiscent of the half-mask traditionally used in the comics to indicate his spider-sense going off, or just thinking as Spider-Man, while he's Peter Parker.
  • In the comics Betty Brant works in the Daily Bugle as J. Jonah Jameson's secretary and later as a reporter. Her counterpart in the movie is the anchor in the school's news show.
  • The weapons buyer on the boat, Mac Gargan, has a tattoo of a scorpion, a nod to the fact that in the comics, Scorpion is his alter ego. This may turn out to be Foreshadowing.
  • Phineas Mason using alien technology to create his inventions might be a reference to how, in his first appearance, he was apparently an alien.
  • At one point, Liz and her friends make guesses about what Spider-Man looks like under the mask. One of them suggests he hides his face because it's burned, much like the very similarly-costumed Deadpool. The theory also calls to mind the disfigured Spider-Man clone Kaine.
  • Spidey's comedic run through the suburbs, and his inability to web-sling as usual, is a reference to Peter David's "The Commuter Commuteth" from Amazing Spider-Man #267, as seen here. One of the cars in this scene has "ASM267" on its license plate.
  • Shocker is almost successful on defeating Spider-Man, and only fails because of Ned's timely assistance. This is very common in Spider-Man and Shocker's comic books' battles, with the villain having a very good winning record against his enemy, and, more than once, Spider-Man had only survived thanks to unexpected circumstances (usually a third party's intervention) that delay or distract Shocker.
  • When pestering Peter with questions about Spider-Man, literally all the powers Ned mentions are features of other Spider-Men and women of various continuities. One of Ultimate Spider-Man's clones lays eggs, Jessica Drew, Miguel O'Hara and Miles Morales all have Venom Blasts (Miles and Jessica can fire theirs while Miguel requires direct contact); Earth-616 Peter Parker (temporarily, post-The Other), Otto Octavius, and Kaine can control armies of spiders; and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man shoots webs naturally (and Tom Holland's Spider-Man was initially going to as well, making this a Development Gag). When he asks Peter how far he can shoot his web and Peter answers he doesn't know, Ned says he should stand on the edge of a building and fire his webs into the distance. Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker did just that in Spider-Man. And although Spider-Man has never been able to summon an army of spiders, he did fake out a hostage-taker◊ into thinking he could in Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #57.
  • The end of the movie features Liz and her mother moving to Oregon after her father's arrest. In the comics, Peter and MJ briefly moved to Portland, Oregon while Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man in New York.
  • Despite the color difference, the suit Tony offers to Peter near the end of the movie brings to mind the Iron Spider armor introduced in the Civil War storyline. The scene that follows, where Tony is about to introduce Peter to journalists, is also reminiscent to another scene from the same story (albeit with a significantly different outcome). It's also very reminiscent of New Avengers #15, which had Iron Man and Captain America unveil Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and The Sentry as the newest members of the team in front at a huge press conference.
  • One of the items being moved from Avengers Tower is Megingjörð, Thor's enchanted belt from the comics. This is actually the first time it's been explicitly referenced in the MCU.
  • Though it's Tony proposing to Pepper, it's Happy who's first seen with the ring. In the comics, Happy and Pepper are married. He also says he's been carrying the ring since 2008.
  • The film itself opens with an orchestral rendition of the classic 1960s' Spider-Man theme song, which plays over the Marvel Studios logo.
  • Peter naming his suit A.I. "Karen" may be based on Karen O'Malley, his partner and occasional Mission Control from the futuristic world of the short-lived Spider-Man Unlimited series.
  • Jackson Brice being one of the people to use the Shocker identity is a nod to The Spectacular Spider-Man, where he was the Shocker instead of Herman Schultz.
  • Taser webbing first showed up in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012).
  • After saving Liz and the other students, Karen suggests that the upside-down Spider-Man should kiss her, a wink towards the famous scene in the original Spider-Man movie where he does just that with Mary Jane.
  • The final battle ends with Peter sitting atop a roller coaster with an American flag just visible in the corner, which was a Recurring Element (and much more blatant) in the Spider-Man Trilogy.
  • Having the Vulture turn out to be the father of Peter's girlfriend and subsequently figuring out Peter and Spider-Man are the same person due to spotting the thread in one of Peter's lies calls to mind Norman Osborn, the father of Peter's best friend Harry, learning Spidey's identity in the 2002 Spider-Man film.
  • This also isn't the first continuity where Liz turned out to be the daughter of a supervillain. In the Ultimate Universe, it's eventually revealed that her father is the X-Men's enemy The Blob.
  • The scene where Toomes distracts Peter with a talk of how the rich and powerful don't care about them before trying to hit him In the Back with his detached wingsuit is also an homage to the final confrontation between Norman and Peter in the 2002 film, with the Vulture-wings subbing for the Goblin Glider. Peter likewise dodges it with a backflip, but Toomes is a bit more savvy than the Goblin in how to deal with Spidey.
  • Taking the homages to the 2002 film one step further, sharp-eared listeners will be able to catch the high-pitched whine of the Goblin's glider mixed in with the Vulture's engine roar. Props to the sound guys on that one.
  • On his way to Homecoming, Flash mentions to his date that he knew "that branzino was not fresh." Branzino was served to Peter by Gwen Stacy's family on their first date in The Amazing Spider-Man.
  • The way he saved Liz from falling down the elevator shaft is similar to how Spider-Man tried (and failed) to save Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
  • The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" plays during both the crime-fighting montage and the ending credits. The choice of band can't be accidental, given they covered the old cartoon's theme song.
  • Interestingly, the first post-credits scene (where the main villain is visited in prison by a mysterious other guy who demands knowledge about Spider-Man's secret identity, and rebuffs him) is very similar to The Stinger of The Amazing Spider-Man.
  • Toomes' company is called "Bestman Salvage". The Vulture's origin in the comics was that he and his partner, Gregory Bestman, started an electronics firm together until Greg betrayed Toomes and took over the company for himself.
• Thor: Ragnarok:
  • Doctor Strange wears gloves in-line with the costume the character had in The Silver Age of Comic Books.
  • After reaching Sakaar, Thor wears a helmet based on the helm his comic's counterpart often sports.
  • The Grandmaster refers to the Hulk with the title "The Incredible", a reference to his original and still ongoing comic series The Incredible Hulk. Interestingly, the MCU films never used "Incredible" to refer to Hulk till that point. ^note Though a character in the Netflix series Iron Fist called him the "incredible green guy".
  • The Grandmaster's gladiatorial games are called the Contest of Champions.
  • Loki's new headpiece is taken from his Loki: Agent of Asgard design.
  • Skurge dual wielding M16s is taken from his last stand at Gjallerbru in The Mighty Thor issue 362.
  • Some of the architectural patterns seen on Sakaar are taken directly from the artwork of Jack Kirby.
  • Thor's largely unadorned armor is based on his design from Jason Aaron's modern Thor comics. Thor being stripped of his hammer and forced to rely on other weapons also comes from Aaron's run.
  • When they first see each other in this movie, Thor refers to Hulk as a friend and is relieved to see him. In Planet Hulk, when Hulk sees the Silver Surfer in the arena, Surfer also refers to Hulk as a friend (something Hulk himself was about to say).
  • Loki's play in Asgard references the time he turned Thor into a frog, found in Thor issues 364-366.
  • At the end Thor has only one eye and is King of Asgard, just like Future Thor in, again, Jason Aaron's run.
  • A recursive one to a gag in the first Thor movie (above): When Hela enters Asgard's vault for the first time in millennia, she casually tips the Infinity Gauntlet off its pedestal and declares it fake. This closes a potential Plot Hole, as the filmmakers only decided after the first Thor that Thanos should personally oversee the Gauntlet's creation in the run-up to Infinity War.
  • In yet another reference to Jason Aaron's run, Hela mockingly asks a pinned-down Thor what he was the god of during their final showdown, to which he responds by blasting her with lightning, a move that Young!Thor pulled on Gorr the God Butcher in their first battle.
  • Hela escapes from her ages-long imprisonment by Odin, leads an army of undead warriors, and plays a major role in bringing about the titular Ragnarok, all of which was done by Loki in Norse Mythology.
• Black Panther:
  • When Zuri asks if anyone of royal blood would like to challenge T'Challa, Shuri raises her hand. But it's just to make a complaint about the ceremony taking too long. In other versions, Shuri has indeed attempted the challenge for the throne.
  • T'Challa fights an armored rhino at one point. He famously fought a rhino in the opening of the Peter B. Gillis/Denys Cowan Black Panther mini-series in The '80s.
  • Also, T'Chaka's speech about "the conquered and the conquerors" is of note; in the comics, two repeated facets of Wakandan history are that they have never been conquered by an outside force, nor have they ever conquered any of their neighbors.
  • M'Baku does not wear his Man-Ape costume, but his outfit was designed to incorporate visual nods to his comic outfit.
  • The new Black Panther suit is composed of Vibranium Nanomachines that allow it to instantly form around T'Challa's body at a moment's notice, which was taken from Ta-Nehisi Coates' run in the comics.
  • T'Challa and Killmonger in a duel atop Warrior Falls, which is where they had their first encounter way back in Don McGregor's seminal "Panther's Rage" storyline during The '70s. It even ends with Killmonger throwing the defeated Panther off the falls, as happened in the comics.
  • Killmonger getting his own Black Panther suit is a nod to Christopher Priest's Black Panther run, where Killmonger temporarily became the new Black Panther after defeating T'Challa in tribal combat. The gold necklace on the suit even makes it look like T'Challa's costume from Priest's run.
  • Killmonger's suit having leopard spots on it is a nod to Preyy, his pet leopard from the comics.
  • The Wakanda Design Group, led by Shuri, is located in Mount Bashenga; named after a previous king of Wakanda and the first bearer of the Black Panther title in the comics.
  • In one of the areas where Wakandan glyphs move on translucent walls, one wall is blue and has "4" written on it. This is a homage to the Marvel superhero group the Fantastic Four, in whose comics the Black Panther and Ulysses Klaw made their debut appearances.
  • There are three Black Panther suits in Shuri's lab. In the comics, she's the official third bearer of the title. Further, during T'Challa's coronation, she trolled the ceremony by making it look like she will challenge her brother for the throne and title, a callback to the beginning of Reginald Hudlin's run, where she planned to challenge T'Challa for the Black Panther mantle.
  • At one point, T'Challa tells Klaue "Every breath you take is mercy from me," which is a line taken verbatim from his fight with Namor during Jonathan Hickman's New Avengers.
  • In the post-credit scene, the children of Wakanda are shown to have given Bucky Barnes the nickname "White Wolf," which was the moniker used by T'Challa's adopted older brother Hunter in Christopher Priest's run.
• Ant-Man and the Wasp:
  • Hope's Wasp costume has bits of red on it along with the yellow/gold and black, unlike the contemporary Janet Van Dyne Wasp costume it was patterned after, as a reference to Janet's original red Silver Age Wasp costume and Hope's Red Queen costume in her initial 2000s Alternate Universe comic's appearances.
  • Ghost's costume is based on the character's modern design from Thunderbolts, but still incorporates the hood that was part of the original outfit back in The '80s.
  • Cassie states she wishes she could fight bad guys like her father, alluding to her comic counterpart's future role as Stature and Stinger.
  • The project Bill Foster worked on with Hank Pym was called "Project Goliath", in reference to Foster's comic book superhero identity.
  • Scott has started a security consultant firm alongside his fellow Reformed Criminals from the previous film. Scott's 2015 run saw him do the same thing with some D-list supercriminals, called "Ant-Man Security Solutions".
  • The metal suit that Hank wears when meeting Janet in the Quantum Realm resembles his comic counterpart's Goliath costume right down to the "Y"-shaped symbol on the chest.
  • Agent Jimmy Woo actually has a long history in the comics — the original character dates all the way back to The Yellow Claw in 1957, a short-lived series (only four issues) featuring a Fu Manchu Expy as the titular villain and, much more unusual for the time, a Chinese-American lead in FBI Agent Jimmy Woo... who would later return as a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and eventual team leader in the not-quite-as-short-lived Agents of Atlas.
• Captain Marvel:
  • The scene where Carol changes her uniform's colors features several nods to various Captain Marvel costumes (and their wearers) over the years, as well as DC's Shazam! — who originally went by Captain Marvel himself.
  • The alias that Mar-Vell uses on Earth is "Dr. W. Lawson" (Wendy instead of Walter). The version from the Ultimate Marvel comics also worked on a faster-than-light engine, betraying the Kree to save their intended alien victims by allowing them to have interstellar travel as well (in that case, it was the human race).
  • In the Comics, Monica Rambeau is another superhero (and occasional Avenger) who has also used the name "Captain Marvel"^note And given her young age in this film, puts her at the right age to show up in future movies. Her mother Maria's pilot call sign is shown to be "Photon", a name Monica used after setting aside the Marvel name.
  • The Lawson that the Supreme Intelligence uses as an avatar to show itself to Carol is a white-haired Mar-Vell, while the real one that had turned against the Kree and wanted to protect others was blonde. In the comics, the honorable but relentless Kree soldier Mar-Vell had silvery white hair; when he achieved Cosmic Awareness and enlightenment that transformed him into a protector and universal hero, his hair turned gold.
  • Jim Starlin's run of Captain Marvel introduced the Cosmic Cube as the instrument of Thanos' ascent to godhood. This film reconnects the Captain Marvel mythos with this iconic item.
  • Carol's nickname for Monica, Lieutenant Trouble, was originally for Katherine Renner, one of Carol's biggest fangirls in the comics.
  • In the second stinger, Goose hacks up the Tesseract like a hairball. In the comics, an Inhuman named Barf is able to vomit up anything he visualizes, including a piece of the Cosmic Cube.
  • Soh-Larr is a Kree spy investigating the Skrulls. In the comics, he was the father of the first Kree-Skrull hybrid, Dorrek Supreme.
  • Yon-Rogg tells Carol that he's training her because he wants her to be the best she can be. The final trade of Carol's 2005 series was titled Best You Can Be (as a Bookend to the first one, Best of the Best).
  • Before Carol leaves for space, Monica talks about wishing she could visit her, even travelling halfway if necessary. In the comics, given Monica's powers, travelling into space is a cinch for her. Fury also tells her it's unlikely unless "you learn to glow like your auntie." Monica Rambeau's superpower is to literally turn herself into light.
  • In Talos' ship, some of the Skrull technicians are noticeably shorter, with bigger eyes and less human-like features than the regular Skrulls, resembling the Skrulls' look in their very first appearance in the comics◊.
  • Secret Invasion also featured an Alien Autopsy of a Skrull, as a proof of an alien infiltration (in that comic, it meant that they could now infiltrate with higher ease than before, in the film it's the proof of their existence). And, also like in the comic, one of the people overseeing the autopsy is also a Skrull in disguise.
  • Carol is shown playing Street Fighter II in a flashback. It's not Carol's first time interacting with Ryu and co.
  • When Fury's hesitant to handle the Tesseract, Carol sarcastically asks if he wants an oven mitt, referencing Loot Crate's infamous Infinity Gauntlet oven mitt.
  • The metallic tentacles utilized by the Kree to interface with the Supreme Intelligence are likely an allusion to the Combat Tentacles utilized by the true form of the Supreme Intelligence in the original comics.
  • When Carol and Fury meet at Pancho's and she questions him about his past, he says he ended his military career as "a full-bird colonel". This is word for word how Carol describes herself in the graphic novel Avengers: Endless Wartime.
  • A major plot point involves The Reveal that Carol lost her memories of her real past on Earth, and had Fake Memories implanted in her mind by the Kree. This was likely inspired by the famous storyline in X-Men where Carol lost her memories and powers after they were absorbed by Rogue, who was a supervillain at the time.
  • Carol dropping from outer space through the atmosphere to Earth is referencing the first issue of 2012 Captain Marvel run.

Phase Four

• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
  • In the comics, Bucky is Cap's sidekick. In the movieverse, Bucky wasn't Steve Rogers' sidekick, but in the series he can be viewed as Sam's.
  • The first name on Bucky's list is "A. Rostov." Col. Andre Rostov was a KGB officer in the comics and the villain known as the Red Barbarian.
  • Batroc is seen wearing a purple jacket and yellow undershirt, evoking the colors of his comic book costume.
  • The first issue of Captain America #1 where Cap punches Hitler can be seen on display at the Smithsonian.
  • Sam views the Flag-Smashers' Munich hideout using Redwing's camera, essentially seeing things through his point of view; one of his comic counterpart's main powers is his ability to Body Surf into birds and view events through their perspective.
  • The kid assumes that Sam's superhero name is "Black Falcon" because he's black and the Falcon. Sam corrects him, saying that he's just Falcon, and notes that the kid isn't called "Black Kid," alluding to Falcon being the first black comic-book hero to not have "Black" in his title.
  • Sam's undercover identity when infiltrating madripoor is a super-obscure villain from the comics named Conrad Mack, a.k.a. Smiling Tiger, who notably becomes a member of the Thunderbolts.
  • Sam complains about his outfit making him look like a pimp, a dig at the oft-derided period of time in the comics when his backstory was temporarily retconned to that of a violent gangster named "Snap" Wilson who wore such outfits and only thought he was a kind social worker.
  • The island of Madripoor is an iconic location from the comics, most notably associated with the X-Men and Wolverine.
  • Before they walk into the Brass Monkey, there is a shot of the Princess Bar, one of Wolverine's hangouts in his identity as Patch, and even visited by Captain America in the 1940s.
  • Nagel's lab is in the container with the number 4261. In the comics, Earth-4261 is an Earth where the Avengers died saving the world from an alien invasion, and a new group called the Squadron Supreme steps in to deal with threats.
  • When Sam ponders that with all the suffering caused around Captain America's shield, maybe it would be better to destroy it, Bucky counters that he'd rather take it for himself before letting that happen. In the main comic continuity, Bucky stole the shield after Steve's death to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.
  • In the comics, Walker's parents are held prisoner by the militant Watchdogs. When his attempt to rescue them ends in their deaths, Walker goes on a rampage murdering the group. In this show, Walker's attempt to rescue a captured Lemar ends with his death, and Walker is driven to a murderous rage.
  • Walker's execution of Nico, raising the shield over his head with both hands and bringing the edge down, mirrors Steve's execution of Baron Blood◊, the first time in modern comics that Captain America was depicted killing someone (rather than it being implied).
  • The fifth episode is named after the comic series that introduced Isaiah Bradley, Truth: Red, White & Black.
  • When Joaquín asks Sam what to do with the damaged Falcon wings, Sam tells him to keep them, referencing Joaquin taking up the "Falcon" mantle in the comics after Sam became the new Captain America.
  • The smoke bombs that the Flag-Smashers use to clear out the GRC lobby are orange with green lights emanating from them, resembling the pumpkin bombs used by the Green Goblin.
  • John Walker's last line in the episode after being designated U.S. Agent ("I'm back!") is a direct reference to the cover of Captain America #354◊, where Walker made his first appearance as U.S. Agent after giving back the Captain America mantle to Steve Rogers.
  • Sam's debut as the new Captain America by foiling an attack on a United Nations-like organization resembles the debut of the 1950's Cap in Young Men #24 when he and "Bucky" foiled a Dirty Communist attack on the UN.
• Black Widow
  • When talking to Alexei, the former Red Guardian, Yelena dismissively calls him Crimson Dynamo, a separate Russian villain from the comics that is also one of the inspirations for Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2.
  • While in prison, Alexei arm-wrestles a big guy nicknamed "Ursa". Ursa Major is a Russian mutant with the power to transform into a humanoid brown bear, and also part of the Winter Guard (the same super-team that Red Guardian is part of).
  • Natasha wears her fan-favorite white jumpsuit. She also finally wears her "classic" comics black jumpsuit with gold trim.
  • The holographic masks when mounted for storage in Melina's armory look like they are made of blue-white metal, which evokes her Iron Maiden costume in the comics.
  • The North Institute is namechecked as the SHIELD/HYDRA cover organization that Alexei stole the mind-control tech from. In the comics, it was a hit-squad for a corporation that had acquired Red Room technology.

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