"Man, Star Wars must have blown his mind."
Dan Murrell: In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is it just a coincidence that Mace Windu looks like Nick Fury, or is it like in Last Action Hero where Sylvester Stallone plays all the Arnold Schwarzenegger parts?
Anthony Russo: You’re hurting my brain.
Anthony Russo: You’re hurting my brain.
— Discussion about the Honest Trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The sheer number of actors involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point or another makes it almost impossible to include a pop-culture reference without invoking this trope in relation to someone. Some examples are listed below.
- In The Avengers, Clint is referred to as "Legolas". Hugo Weaving (Red Skull/Elrond), Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue/Smeagol/Gollum), Liv Tyler (Betty Ross/Arwen), Karl Urban (Skurge/Éomer), David Wenham (Harold Meachum/Faramir), and Cate Blanchett (Hela/Galadriel) play major characters in the film trilogy, while Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger/Thorin), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser/Thranduil), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne/Tauriel), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross/Bilbo Baggins), and Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange/Smaug) all play major characters in its prequel trilogy. Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) also voices several assorted creatures.
- Of course, The Lord of the Rings may just be a well known series of books rather than a movie in this universe...
- This is potentially followed up in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when Bucky claims to have read The Hobbit when it was published in 1937—considering that Everett Ross, his jailer, was Bilbo.
- Iron Man 3:
- Happy Hogan's favorite show is Downton Abbey. Charlie Cox, who plays Matt Murdock in Daredevil (2015), played the Duke of Crowborough in the show's first episode.
- Tony at one point meets a kid who resembles Ralphie Parker from A Christmas Story and says that he loved him in the movie. Peter Billingsley himself, who played Ralphie, plays William Ginter Riva, the scientist involved in the Iron Monger project in the first Iron Man and later reappeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
- An episode mentions Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, despite Paul Rudd, who plays the (second) titular Ant-Man, playing Brian Fantana in that movie.
- An episode mentions "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski despite that character being played by Jeff Bridges (Obadiah Stane), the very first Big Bad of the MCU.
- So does Tony in Avengers: Endgame, calling a Formerly Fit Thor "Lebowski". The Dude looks like his traitorous former Stark Industries second-in-command.
- An episode mentions the Harry Potter film series, while in the second season premiere of Jessica Jones, when Trish is arguing her boss at the radio station about her IGH research, she exasperatedly tells him, "You can say IGH, Ian, they're not Voldemort." David Tennant (Kilgrave) played Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) played Dobby in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the latter of which also features Rhys Ifans (Lizard) as Xenophilius Lovegood. David Bradley (the Tessarect's guard in The First Avenger) played Argus Filch. Assuming that the Fantastic Beasts Spin-Off series of the Potter films also exist in the MCU, then you have ones with Claudia Kim (Helen Cho/Nagini), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg/young Albus Dumbledore), Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva/Sersi/Ya Zhou), and Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius/Grindelwald).
- The show establishes that Power Rangers exists in the MCU. However, that franchise also has Nikolai Nikolaeff (Dom Hargan, the Rhino Ranger in Power Rangers Jungle Fury), who played Vladimir Ranskahov in Daredevil . Other Ranger actors, coincidentally also from Disney-era seasons, star in MCU series, namely Eka Darville (Scott Truman, the RPM Red Ranger) as Malcolm Ducasse in Jessica Jones, and Emma Lahana (Kira Ford, the Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger) as Brigid O'Reilly in Cloak and Dagger.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve is seen holding a list of things he need to catch up on. Specifically:
- Star Wars. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury/Mace Windu), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster/Padmé Amidala), Peter Serafinowicz (Garthan Saal/voice of Darth Maul), Ralph Brown (Johann Fennhoff/Ric Olié), and Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger/a Naboo pilot) were in the prequel trilogy. Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight/Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia/Maz Kanata), Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing/Jessika Pava) Benicio del Toro (The Collector/DJ), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost/a First Order soldier in The Force Awakens), Richard E. Grant (Classic Loki/General Pryde), Ken Leung (Karnak/Admiral Statura), Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue/Snoke), and Karl Urban (Skurge/a stormtrooper) were in the sequel trilogy. Forest Whitaker (Zuri/Saw Gerrera), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos/Orson Krennic), and Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius/Galen Erso) were in Rogue One. Donald Glover (Aaron Davis/Lando Calrissian), Paul Bettany (Vision/Dryden Vos), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan/Rio Durant), and Erin Kellyman (Karli Morgenthau/Enfys Nest) were in Solo. Furthermore, Favreau and Clancy Brown (Surtur) starred in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars (as Pre Viszla and Savage Opress, respectively) and The Mandalorian (as Paz Vizla in one episode and Burg, respectively), the latter of which also starred Taika Waititi (Korg/IG-11), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple/Ahsoka Tano) and Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May/Fennec Shand). And in Jessica Jones, Jessica calls Kilgrave "Obi-Wan Kenobi" after he goes "We can go about our business, move along" to two cops. David Tennant (Kilgrave) guest-starred in the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Professor Huyang. Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) lends his voice to a lot of Star Wars characters, most notably the Clone troopers.
- Star Trek. In Star Trek (2009), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) plays Captain Kirk's father George in flashbacks, Faran Tahir (Raza) played George Kirk's commanding officer Richard Robau, and Zoe Saldaña (Gamora/Nyota Uhura), Karl Urban (Skurge/Leonard McCoy), and Alice Eve (Typhoid Mary/Dr. Carol Marcus) play main characters in that film series. Likewise, Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange) and Idris Elba (Heimdall) play Khan and Krall, the Big Bads in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, respectively. In the original timeline films, Miguel Ferrer (Vice President Rodriguez) had a small role in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock as the helmsman of the Excelsior, Kurtwood Smith (Vernon Masters) was the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan), Alfre Woodard (Mariah Stokes/Miriam Sharpe), and Alice Krige (Eir) were all in Star Trek: First Contact (as Lt. Hawk, Lily and the Borg Queen, respectively), F. Murray Abraham (voice of Khonshu) and Gregg Henry (Grandpa Quill) were both in Star Trek: Insurrection as Ru'afo and Gallatin, respectively, and Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock and Venom) and Alan Dale (Councilman Rockwell) were both in Star Trek: Nemesis as Shinzon and Hiren, respectively. On the TV side, William Sadler (President Ellis) and Bill Smitrovich (General Gabriel) both appeared in a couple of episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, while the aforementioned Kurtwood Smith appeared in both Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Finally, Michelle Yeoh (Aleta in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Anson Mount (Black Bolt) both appeared in Star Trek: Discovery, with Mount later headlining Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Patrick Stewart (Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) plays Jean-Luc Picard in numerous installments in the franchise, starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation and including his own series.
- The Rocky film series. Sylvester Stallone (Stakar Ogord/Starhawk) plays the eponymous protagonist of the film series, while Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) play Adonis Creed and Bianca, The Hero and the Love Interest, respectively, of Creed, an official Spin-Off of the film franchise. Adonis' opponent in the sequel, Viktor Drago, is played by Florian Munteanu (Razor Fist), while in the Creed films, Wood Harris (Gale) plays Little Duke. Jonathan Majors (Kang/He Who Remains) and Selenis Leyva (Monica Warren) are in Creed III.
- Sherlock: In the UK release the list is altered to include this series. Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange) and Martin Freeman (Everett Ross) play, respectively, Holmes and Watson; "The Blind Banker" in series 1 featured Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva/Sersi) as Soo Lin Yao, and "The Lying Detective" in series 4 featured Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) as Culverton Smith. For the Sherlock Holmes franchise as a whole, Sherlock Holmes (2009) and its sequel starred Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) as Holmes, Jude Law (Yon-Rogg) as Watson, and Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer) as Irene Adler.
- Guardians of the Galaxy:
- Peter Quill refers to an alien as a “Ninja Turtle”. Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer) appeared as a gang member in the 1990 film, while Chris Evans (Captain America) voiced Casey Jones, Patrick Stewart (Professor X) voiced Max Winters, and Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) voiced the Narrator in the 2007 film, while Tara Strong (Miss Minutes) provided additional voices in that film.
- Moments earlier, Quill likens the Orb to the Ark of the Covenant and The Maltese Falcon when lampshading its role as the film's MacGuffin. While the Ark is a Public Domain Artifact, the fact that he bought up The Maltese Falcon in the same sentence suggests he may be referring to the Ark as depicted in Raiders of the Lost Ark. That film had Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) as Satipo, while the fourth installment of the film series it started features Ray Winstone (General Dreykov/Mac), Cate Blanchett (Hela/Irina Spalko), and Alan Dale (Councilman Rockwell/General Ross).
- Titanic (1997) is mentioned early in Ant-Man. Bill Paxton, who plays The Clairvoyant in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played Brock Lovett there.
- Agents Fitz and Simmons are confirmed to be fans of Doctor Who, despite the fact that the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and their ally, Agent Weaver, looks suspiciously like Cathica (Christine Adams) from "The Long Game". Additionally, Christopher Eccleston (the Ninth Doctor) plays Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) plays Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy, David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) plays Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, Tony Curran (Vincent van Gogh in "Vincent and the Doctor") plays Bor in Thor: The Dark World and Finn Cooley in Daredevil, Gugu Mbatha Raw (Tish Jones) and Richard E. Grant (Dr. Simeon/The Great Intelligence) play Judge Renslayer and Classic Loki, respectively in Loki, Andrew Garfield (Frank in "Daleks in Manhattan" / "Evolution of the Daleks") portrays the Spider-Man from Earth-120703 in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) made a Retroactive Recognition appearance in The First Avenger as part of Steve and Bucky's double date to the World's Fair, and the list goes on...
- An episode of Jessica Jones has the titular hero referring to Grey's Anatomy while impersonating a nurse. That show also guest-starred Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker, Jessica's adoptive sister and best friend) in a couple of 2011 episodes, one 2009 episode of that show guest-starred Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), and LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Mama Mabel Stokes) was a recurring guest star in 2017. Incidentally, the eponymous protagonist of that TV series is played by Ellen Pompeo, who had portrayed Karen Page in the 2003 Daredevil film, which is not part of the MCU.
- Avengers: Infinity War makes a blatant SpongeBob SquarePants Shout-Out. Likewise in the first episode of season 2 of Iron Fist; Colleen can't believe Danny hasn't heard of the show. Clancy Brown, who plays both Colonel Schoonover and Surtur, is Mr. Krabs in the cartoon series. Dee Bradley Baker, who voiced Morris, voiced several secondary characters in the show. Also, Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, was the voice of Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- In Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man refers to the Facehuggers from Alien when he meets Mantis. Similarly in season 2 of Luke Cage, Misty likens herself to Ripley from the Alien movies when strapping up to go into a Yardie lair. The star of the first four films, Sigourney Weaver, appears in The Defenders as Alexandra (Although Alexandra being centuries old might excuse that). Bill Paxton, who plays The Clairvoyant in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., was Hudson in the second film. Christopher Fairbank (The Broker) and DeObia Oparei (Boastful Loki) had minor roles in the third film. Guy Pearce, who plays Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3 and Idris Elba, who plays Heimdall, both appeared in the prequel Prometheus.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Scott is shown reading The Fault in Our Stars. The film adaptation features Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin).
- Captain Marvel:
- Stan Lee makes his customary cameo appearance. He is reading the screenplay of Mallrats on the LA Metro. This means that Stan Lee is playing himself.
- When Carol Danvers arrives on Earth, she crash-lands into a Blockbuster Video store that is serving as a treasure trove for this trope:
- Carol blasts a True Lies cardboard cutout. Bill Paxton played Simon in it, and would go on to play John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
- Carol passes by the VHS of Hook. Young Wendy would look like Pepper Potts growing up, and the film had a Crosscast Role cameo by Glenn Close (Irani Rael) as Gutless.
- There's also the VHS of First Knight. Ralph Ineson played Ralf in it, as well as a Ravager pilot in Guardians of the Galaxy.
- Carol picks up a VHS of The Right Stuff. Scott Glenn (Stick) and Jeff Goldblum (The Grandmaster) played Shepard and one of the NASA recruiters in it.
- Carol passes by the VHS of Last Action Hero, which had (and here's a Celebrity Paradox inside a Celebrity Paradox!) a cardboard cutout-only cameo of Sylvester Stallone (Stakar Ogord).
- When Carol emerges from the video rental store, she passes a poster for Babe, which features the voice of Hugo Weaving (Red Skull) as sheepdog Rex, on the wall.
- When Nick Fury sees Goose being muzzled by the Skrulls, he protests that "it's a cat, not Hannibal Lecter!" Lecter was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins (Odin) and the late Gaspard Ulliel (Anton Mogard), and his three movies also featured Frankie Faison (Henry "Pop" Hunter) as Barney Matthews (as well as a cop in Manhunter, Scott Glenn (Stick) as Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, and Edward Norton (Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk) and Frank Whaley (Rafael Scarfe) as Will Graham and Ralph Mandy in Red Dragon. Later on, Bryan Fuller's adaptation of the books would feature Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius) as Lecter, Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Crawford, and Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger) as Francis Dolarhyde.
- A Street Fighter II arcade cabinet is visible in one flashback. Ryu and friends, of course, have famously crossed over with the Marvel Universe many times. Also, Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May) played Chun-Li in the 1994 film.
- Monica mentions watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Don Cheadle (Rhodey) guest starred in one episode.
- Avengers: Endgame:
- The conversation about time travel movies introduces a number of celebrity paradoxes:
- Scott and Rhodey reference Hot Tub Time Machine, which featured Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes) as Blaine.
- Another time-travel movie referenced by them is Terminator. Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor in Genisys) later joined the MCU in Secret Invasion, while J. K. Simmons (Officer O'Brien in Genisys) appears as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Christian Bale, who portrays John Connor in Terminator Salvation, appears in Thor: Love and Thunder as Gorr the God Butcher.
- Yet another time-travel movie mentioned here is Bill & Ted, which featured William Sadler, who played the President in Iron Man 3, as Death.
- Scott erroneously states that Die Hard is a time-travel movie. Samuel L. Jackson co-starred in the third movie as Zeus Carver, while the aforementioned William Sadler played Colonel Stuart in the second movie. The second movie also featured Vondie Curtis-Hall (Ben Urich) as one of Stuart's men.
- The conversation about time travel movies introduces a number of celebrity paradoxes:
- Daredevil:
- In "World On Fire", Detective Blake sarcastically refers to Wilson Fisk as King freakin' Kong. Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) plays the titular character (as well as the team chef) in the 2005 remake, while Tom Hiddleston (Loki/James Conrad), Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Mason Weaver), Shea Whigham (Roger Dooley/Earl Cole), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey/Lt. Marlow), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury/Lt. Col. Preston Packard) star in the 2017 reboot Kong: Skull Island, with Terry Notary (Cull Obsidian) portraying that movie's Kong.
- Speaking of Kong: Skull Island, it is set in the same universe as Godzilla (2014), which also starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen (Pietro and Wanda Maximoff) as Ford and Elle Brody. Furthermore, its sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) featured Vera Farmiga (Eleanor Bishop in Hawkeye (2021)) as Dr. Emma Russel.
- Luke Cage:
- Tone says his shooting up of Pop's Barbershop was "all so Django Candieland shit for real. Lights, camera, action, baby! Somebody call Quentin!" The eponymous Django was played by Jamie Foxx (Electro). Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) played Stephen in that film and Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch) portrays Billy Crash. The fact that Quentin Tarantino's films exist in the MCU is already a paradox, as Jackson (Jules Winnfield), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky/Ringo), Ving Rhames (Charlie-27/Marsellus Wallace), and Frank Whaley (Rafael Scarfe / Brett) played characters in Pulp Fiction. Whaley's character, Brett, incidentally died at the hands of Jules Winnfield. Speaking of which, Winnfield's iconic "Ezekiel 25:17" speech was embedded on Fury's fake gravestone.
- Jackson, Roth, and Goggins were also in The Hateful Eight as Major Marquis Warren, Oswaldo Mobray and Chris Mannix, alongside Kurt Russell (Ego the Living Planet/The Hangman). Jackson was in Jackie Brown as Ordell Robbie opposite Michael Keaton (Vulture/Ray Nicolette). Roth also appeared in Reservoir Dogs as Mr. Orange. Jackson also narrated Inglourious Basterds, which features Daniel Brühl (Baron Zemo) as Fredrick Zoller.
- When Pop is telling his backstory to Luke, he says, "I thought you was innocent, Shawshank," obviously comparing Luke to Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption. That movie's cast included Bob Gunton (Leland Owlsley) as Warden Samuel Norton, Clancy Brown (Colonel Ray Schoonover and Surtur) as Captain Byron Hadley, and William Sadler (President Matthew Ellis) as Heywood.
- Misty Knight makes a Ghostbusters quip when arriving at the scene of the junkyard shootout. The original Ghostbusters duology featured Sigourney Weaver (Dana Barrett), who appears in The Defenders as Alexandra, while the 2016 remake features Chris Hemsworth (Thor/Kevin Beckman), and Ghostbusters: Afterlife features Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Mr. Grooberson), Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight/Callie), Mc Kenna Grace (Young Carol/Phoebe), Bokeem Woodbine (Herman Schultz/Sheriff Domingo), and J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson/Ivo Shandor). The Sigourney Weaver paradox can be explained away by the fact that Alexandra is several centuries old, born long before Weaver came along.
- Luke makes a reference to Game of Thrones in season 2 when trying to defend himself against some Harlem residents who think Bushmaster beat him a second time. One wonders if he ever has noticed how much Loras Tyrell resembled Danny Rand, or how much Nymeria Sand resembles Colleen Wing. Especially since minutes after this reference is made, Danny himself appears in Pop's Barbershop. Ramsay Snow/Bolton, Ornela, Areo Hotah, Izembaro, Malko, Brynden Tully, and Dagmer also happen to resemble Maximus, Ava Starr, Boastful Loki, Classic Loki, Algrim, Tyr, and a Ravager pilot for some reason. Averted with Eitri the Dwarf King, who looks nothing like Tyrion Lannister. And now Robb Stark and Jon Snow are appearing in Eternals as Ikaris and Dane Whitman, and Daenerys Targaryen is appearing in Secret Invasion.
- Shades says he cries watching This Is Us. Maybe because he's noticed how William is played by Ron Cephas Jones (Bobby Fish)? Also, Randall Pearson happens to look a lot like the late Prince N'Jobu of Wakanda.
- Tone says his shooting up of Pop's Barbershop was "all so Django Candieland shit for real. Lights, camera, action, baby! Somebody call Quentin!" The eponymous Django was played by Jamie Foxx (Electro). Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) played Stephen in that film and Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch) portrays Billy Crash. The fact that Quentin Tarantino's films exist in the MCU is already a paradox, as Jackson (Jules Winnfield), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky/Ringo), Ving Rhames (Charlie-27/Marsellus Wallace), and Frank Whaley (Rafael Scarfe / Brett) played characters in Pulp Fiction. Whaley's character, Brett, incidentally died at the hands of Jules Winnfield. Speaking of which, Winnfield's iconic "Ezekiel 25:17" speech was embedded on Fury's fake gravestone.
- The Punisher: In a flashback in "Kandahar", Billy Russo makes a Full Metal Jacket joke when he asks at the end of Colonel Schoonover's debriefing on Operation: Cerberus, "Sir, does this mean that Ann-Margret's not coming?". That movie starred Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk) as Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence.
- WandaVision:
- In the "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!" one of the movies playing at the theatre is The Incredibles, which features Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) as the voice of Frozone.
- In "The Series Finale," the movie playing at Westview's theatre is Oz the Great and Powerful, which stars Rachel Weisz (Melina Vostokoff) as the Wicked Witch of the East.
- In Black Widow (2021):
- Natasha Romanoff is enough of a James Bond fan to quote along with Moonraker, though not enough to recognize David Harbour (Alexei) and Olga Kurylenko (Antonia Dreykov)'s roles as Gregg Beam and Camille Montes in Quantum of Solace, or that her adopted mother is played by Daniel Craig's wife Rachel Weisz. Furthermore, Benicio del Toro (The Collector) was Dario in Licence to Kill, Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Strucker) was Hannes Oberhauser (well, his photo anyway) in Spectre, Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau) was Nomi in No Time to Die, Dave Bautista (Drax) was Mr. Hinx in Spectre, Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius) was Le Chiffre in Casino Royale and Michelle Yeoh (Aleta Ogord/Jiang Nan) was Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies. While Jeffrey Wright (Uatu the Watcher) plays Felix Leiter in the Craig movies and Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) was the Big Bad Nikolai Diavolo in the video game Everything or Nothing.
- During the opening credits, a clip from DuckTales (1987) is shown. Kilgrave is the voice of Scrooge McDuck in the revival, where Rhodey briefly voiced Donald Duck. MIT Liaison also voiced Gyro Gearloose, Titania voiced Gandra Dee and and W.A.N.D.A. and Morris voiced Bubba Duck and Benjamin Frankloon in said reboot.
- In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
- One of the songs Shang-Chi and Katy sing during their karaoke night is "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", which was written for Armageddon, which featured Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) and Owen Wilson (Mobius M. Mobius).
- Another song they sing is "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. The live action remake features Numan Acar (Dmitri).
- In Shang-Chi's room in the present day, there is a Kung Fu Hustle poster in the background. Yuen Wah, who plays the landlord in said movie, also plays Guang Bo, one of the villagers in Ta Lo.
- Trevor Slattery mentions that he was inspired to become an actor after watching Planet of the Apes (1968). The remake had Tim Roth (Abomination) as the main villain, while the reboot trilogy starred Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) as Caesar, Terry Notary (Cull Obsidian) as Rocket, and Judy Greer (Maggie Lang) as Cornelia.
- What If...?: In "What If...Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?", Tony refers to himself and Killmonger as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which starred Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce) as the Sundance Kid.
- Eternals references both Batman and Superman. The Batman Film Series starred Michael Keaton (Vulture) as the first actor for Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer (Janet van Dyne) as Catwoman, and Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Phillips) as Two-Face, with Christopher Fairbank (The Broker) appearing as one of the muggers Batman beats up in his first scene and Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan) appearing as a Wayne Enterprises employee. The DC Animated Universe featured Michael Rosenbaum (Martinex) as the Flash, Carl Lumbly (Isaiah Bradley) as Martian Manhunter, Tara Strong (Miss Minutes) as the third voice of Batgirl, and Clancy Brown (Surtur) as Lex Luthor, with Rosenbaum also playing Luthor in Smallville. Bruce Campbell (Pizza Poppa Vendor) played Bill Church Jr. on Lois & Clark. Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) voiced Killer Moth in Teen Titans (2003), which also starred the aforementioned Tara Strong as Raven, who also voiced other roles in the show and other DC projects, while Ashley Johnson (Beth in The Avengers) voiced Terra. The Dark Knight Trilogy starred Christian Bale (Gorr the God Butcher) as Batman and Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock and Venom) as Bane and also featured David Dastmalchian (Kurt) as Thomas Schiff, Chin Han (Councilman Yen) as Lau, and Ben Mendelsohn (Talos) as John Daggett. The DC Extended Universe features Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Perry White, Russell Crowe (Zeus) as Jor-El, Callan Mulvey (Jack Rollins) as Anatoli Knyazev, Scoot McNairy (Jackson Norriss) as Wallace Keefe, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Kurse) as Killer Croc, David Harbour (Red Guardian) as Dexter Tolliver, Florence Kasumba (Ayo) as Acantha, J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as Commissioner Gordon, Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) as Vulko, Randall Park (Jimmy Woo) as Stephen Shin, Djimon Hounsou (Korath) as both King Ricou and the Wizard Shazam, Zachary Levi (Fandral) as Shazam, Idris Elba (Heimdall) as Bloodsport, Sylvester Stallone (Stakar Ogord) as King Shark, Michael Rooker (Yondu) as Savant, Sean Gunn (Kraglin) as Weasel and Calendar Man, Taika Waititi (Korg) as the first Ratcatcher, and the aforementioned David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, who also played Dwight Pollard on Gotham. Shea Whigham (Roger Dooley) was Detective Burke in Joker (2019). The Batman (2022) starred Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) as Alfred and Jeffrey Wright (Uatu the Watcher) as Jim Gordon and Barry Keoghan (Druig) played The Joker. Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) voices a lot of DC characters in works like Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, DC Super Hero Girls, and Batman: Arkham Series. Injustice (2021) had Anson Mount (Black Bolt) as Batman. Harley Quinn (2019) had Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) as Mr. Freeze, Jim Rash (MIT Liaison) as Riddler, and Jameela Jamil (Titania) as the goddess Eris. If we take parodies into account, Robot Chicken's DC sketches feature the voices of series creator Seth Green (Howard the Duck) as several DC characters, including Batman and Superman, and Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) as Lex Luthor.
- Hawkeye:
- In "Hide and Seek", Clint and Kate pass a band of street performers dressed up as superheroes, one of them dressed as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games films feature Jeffrey Wright (Uatu) as Beetee Latier, Stanley Tucci (Dr. Abraham Erskine) as Caesar Flickerman, Toby Jones (Dr. Arnim Zola) as Claudius Templesmith, Mahershala Ali (Cottonmouth / Blade) as Boggs, Natalie Dormer (Pvt. Lorraine) as Cressida, and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson) as Pollux.
- In "Ronin", Ivan and Tomas discuss known tracksuit-wearers, including Tony Soprano and the Royal Tenenbaums. The Royal Tenenbaums featured Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) as Margot Tenenbaum and Owen Wilson (Mobius M. Mobius) as Eli Cash. Meanwhile, The Sopranos featured John Ventimiglia (Detective Eddy Costa in Jessica Jones) as Artie Bucco, Paul Schulze (William J. Rawlins in The Punisher) as Father Phil Intintola, Chris Tardio (Detective Christian Blake in Daredevil) as Sean Gismonte, and Annabella Sciorra (Rosalie Carbone in Luke Cage and Daredevil) as Gloria Trillo, among others; while its prequel film The Many Saints of Newark features Vera Farmiga (Eleanor Bishop) as Livia Soprano, Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle / The Punisher) as Johnny Soprano, and Corey Stoll (Darren Cross / Yellowjacket) as Junior Soprano.
- There are references to How the Grinch Stole Christmas! to fit the Christmas setting; in episode 2, Kate asks what made Clint's heart shrink three sizes and "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" plays over the credits after Kingpin is revealed as the show's true antagonist. In the live action film, Anthony Hopkins (Odin) was the narrator. In The Grinch (2018), the green curmudgeon is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange).
- Spider-Man: No Way Home:
- Doctor Strange tells Peter and friends to "Scooby-Doo this shit". Tara Strong (Miss Minutes) voiced numerous characters in various Scooby-Doo projects, including Lena Dupree in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and Trudy in Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare. Linda Cardellini (Laura Barton) played Velma in the theatrical live-action films, with the sequel featuring Seth Green (Howard the Duck) as Patrick Wisely, Tim Blake Nelson (Samuel Sterns) as Dr. Jonathan Jacobo, and Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) as the Pterodactyl Ghost and the Red-Eyed Skeleton. The animated film SCOOB! also has Mc Kenna Grace (Young Carol) as young Daphne, Ariana Greenblatt (Young Gamora) as young Velma, and Ken Jeong (a security guard in Avengers: Endgame) as Dynomutt.
- Happy references Goodfellas, which features Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury).
- Moon Knight (2022)
- When Arthur Harrow brings up the concept of avatar, Steven Grant immediately thinks of both the film, Avatar, and the "anime", Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Avatar featured Sigourney Weaver (Alexandra in The Defenders) as Grace, Zoe Saldaña (Gamora) as Neytiri, and Matt Gerald (White Power Dave and Melvin Potter) as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet.
- The Last Airbender featured Clancy Brown (Colonel Schoonover and Surtur), Dee Bradley Baker (Morris), and Tara Strong (Miss Minutes). While the live action film had Shaun Toub (Ho Yinsen). And then, The Legend of Korra, sequel series to The Last Airbender, featured J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as Tenzin.
- In episode 5, Steven states Dr. Harrow has a "Ned Flanders" look to him. Not only has the show, as a satire of modern American life and one of THE American television programs, made reference to the MCU as a work of fiction, as well as referencing Marvel Comics and its characters in general, it has featured the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Contessa Valentina Alegra de Fontaine) as Gloria, Michelle Pfeiffer (Janet van Dyne) as Mindy Simmons, Joe Russo (man at Steve's group therapy session) as a movie executive, Glenn Close (Nova Prime) as Mona Simpson, Don Cheadle (War Machine) as Brother Faith, Cate Blanchett (Hela) as Elaine Wolff, Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) as Prime Minister/Snape/Quilloughby, David Harbour (Red Guardian) as Fred Kranepool, Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis) as Valerie, Michael Keaton (Vulture) as Jack Crowley, Patton Oswalt (Pip/Koenig brothers) as T-Rex and Bart's guilt, Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) as Darcy, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) as Dr. Zander, Andy Serkis (Klaw) as Cleanie, Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig) As Himself, J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as numerous characters, J.B. Smoove (Mr. Dell) as DJ Kwanzaa, John Slattery (Howard Stark) as Robert Marlow, Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) as Hydrangea, Marisa Tomei (Aunt May) as Sara Sloane, and Stan Lee appearing As Himself, where he makes reference to his characters. And to cap it all off, The Good, the Bart, and the Loki had Tom Hiddleston reprise his role as Loki.
- When Arthur Harrow brings up the concept of avatar, Steven Grant immediately thinks of both the film, Avatar, and the "anime", Avatar: The Last Airbender.
