"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 Incredible Hulk, Sesame Street is shown on Bruce's TV. Among the actors who've guest starred on the show are Annette Bening (Wendy Lawson/Mar-Vell), Benjamin Bratt (Jonathan Pangborn), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Glenn Close (Nova Prime), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Peter Dinklage (Eitri), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster), Jamie Foxx (Electro), Donald Glover (Aaron Davis), Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster), Seth Green (Howard the Duck), Jake Gyllenhaal (Mysterio), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Terrence Howard (the first Rhodey), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ken Jeong (storage guard), John Krasinski (Mr. Fantastic), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), Zachary Levi (Fandral), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine), Melissa McCarthy (actress playing Hela), Lupita Nyong O (Nakia), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Zoe Saldaña (Gamora), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Charlize Theron (Clea), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Patrick Warburton (Rick Stoner), and Forest Whitaker (Zuri).
- In The Avengers, Clint is referred to as "Legolas". Later on in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Bucky claims to have read The Hobbit when it was published in 1937. 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), Brad Dourif (Thomas Nash/Grima Wormtongue), and Cate Blanchett (Hela/Galadriel) play major characters in the film trilogy, while Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger/Thorin Oakenshield), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser/Thranduil), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne/Tauriel), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross/Bilbo Baggins), and Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange/Smaug/Sauron) all play major characters in its prequel trilogy. Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) also voices several assorted creatures.
- Iron Man 3:
- Happy Hogan's favorite show is Downton Abbey. Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) played the Duke of Crowborough in the show's first episode, while Richard E. Grant (Classic Loki) portrayed Simon Bricker.
- Happy also derisively refers to the Avengers as "the Super Friends". As mentioned below, Marvel and DC Comics have a pretty extensive history together.
- 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.
- Tony obtains a Dora the Explorer watch from Harley. The live-action adaptation of that show featured Michael Peña (Luis) as Cole Marquez and Benicio del Toro (The Collector) as Swiper.
- During the skirmish in Tennessee, Tony snarkily refers to Savin as "Westworld." The show based on that movie stars Jeffrey Wright (Uatu) as Bernard Lowe and Arnold Weber, Luke Hemsworth (Asgardian actor playing Thor) as Ashley Stubbs, Anthony Hopkins (Odin) as Robert Ford, Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) as Charlotte Hale and Dolores Abernathy, Ben Barnes (Billy Russo) as Logan Delos, and Pom Klementieff (Mantis) as Martel.
- 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. Additionally, Kathryn Hahn (Agatha Harkness) portrayed Helen, while the sequel had Harrison Ford (the second Thaddeus Ross) as Mack Tannen and John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey) as Stonewall Jackson's ghost.
- 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 former of which also features Kenneth Branagh (Asgardian distress caller) as Gilderoy Lockhart and 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 one episode, Lost in Space is mentioned. William Hurt (Thaddeus Ross) played John Robinson in the film adaptation.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve is seen holding a list of things he needs to catch up on. Specifically:
- Star Wars. Harrison Ford (the second Thaddeus Ross/Han Solo) was in in the original trilogy and The Force Awakens, while also having a significant cameo in The Rise of Skywalker. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury/Mace Windu), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster/Padmé Amidala), Peter Serafinowicz (Garthan Saal/voice of Darth Maul), Matthew Wood (Quantumnaut voice/General Grievous and the battle droids), 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), Michaela Coel (Aneka/Resistance monitor), Danny Sapani (M'Kathu/Medical Frigate Captain), Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock and Venom/FN-296), and Karl Urban (Skurge/a stormtrooper in The Rise of Skywalker) 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. Alden Ehrenreich (TBA character in Ironheart/Han Solo), Donald Glover (Aaron Davis/Lando Calrissian), Paul Bettany (Vision/Dryden Vos), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan/Rio Durant), Emilia Clarke (G'iah/Qi'ra), and Erin Kellyman (Karli Morgenthau/Enfys Nest) were in Solo. Furthermore, Favreau and Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) starred in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars (as Pre Viszla and Savage Opress, respectively) and The Mandalorian (as Paz Vizla and Burg, respectively), the latter of which also starred Taika Waititi (Korg/Ninny of the Nonny/IG-11), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple/Ahsoka Tano), Eugene Cordero (Casey/Stoke), Titus Welliver (Felix Blake/Imperial captain), Simon Kassianides (Sunil Bakshi/Axe Woves), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May/Fennec Shand), Adam Pally (Gary/Bike Trooper), Thomas M. Sullivan (Nathaniel Malick/Imperial co-pilot), and Katy O'Brian (Kimball/Jentorra/Elia Kane). David Pasquesi (Mok Shaiz's Majordomo/Mr. Immortal) was in The Book of Boba Fett. Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo/Haja Estree) was in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig/Luthen Rael), the aforementioned Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue/Kino Loy), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Micro/Arvel Skeen), and Christopher Fairbank (The Broker/Ulaf) are in Andor. Ray Stevenson (Volstagg/Baylan Skoll) is in Ahsoka. Jude Law (Yon-Rogg) is in Skeleton Crew. Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth) and Margarita Levieva (TBA character in Daredevil: Born Again) are in The Acolyte. 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 numerous Star Wars characters, most notably the clone troopers. The aforementioned Ray Stevenson (Volstagg/Gar Saxon) was in Star Wars Rebels. The English dub of Star Wars: Visions features Simu Liu (Shang-Chi/Lah Zhima) and David Harbour (Red Guardian/Tajin Crosser). Kiff Vandenheuvel (Obadiah Stane variant/Skavak) was in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The aforementioned Clancy Brown was Montross in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.
- 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 (Doctor 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, Kirk Thatcher (Punk Rock Guy in Spider-Man: Homecoming/Joshua Jovan) was the "Punk on Bus" in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which he would reprise in Star Trek: Picard (plus his role in Homecoming was an explicit Actor Allusion to his role in The Voyage Home), 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 as Luther Sloan and Michael Webb, while the aforementioned Kurtwood Smith appeared in both Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager as Thrax and Annorax. Peter Mensah (General Greller/Qovas) and Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) portrayed Daniel Greaves and Zobral in Star Trek: Enterprise. Eugene Cordero (Casey), Fred Tatasciore (Drax and Corvus Glaive variants), and Randall Park (Jimmy Woo) voiced Sam Rutherford, Lt. Shaxs, and the Apergosian High Leader in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) and Jameela Jamil (Titania) voiced Murf and Ensign Asencia in Star Trek: Prodigy. Finally, Michelle Yeoh (Aleta and Ying Nan) and Anson Mount (Black Bolt) both appeared in Star Trek: Discovery as Philippa Georgiou and Christopher Pike, with Mount later headlining Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Patrick Stewart (Professor X) 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 Taylor, 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 the Conqueror and his variants) plays Adonis' opponent Damian Anderson in Creed III, which also features Selenis Leyva (Monica Warren) as Laura Chavez.
- Sherlock: In the UK release, the list is altered to include this series. Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor 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, while Holmes & Watson had John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey) as Watson, and Elementary featured Rhys Ifans (Lizard) as Mycroft Holmes and Natalie Dormer (Private Lorraine) as Irene Adler/Jamie Moriarty.
- 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. Chris Evans (Captain America) voiced Casey Jones, Patrick Stewart (Professor X) voiced Max Winters, Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) voiced the Narrator, and Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) voiced General Gato in the 2007 film, while Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) and Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) provided additional voices in that film, with Baker and Tatasciore also voicing several characters in the 2012 series, which also featured Hoon Lee (Lei Kung) as Splinter, Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) as Chris Bradford, David Tennant (Kilgrave) as Fugitoid, J.B. Smoove (Mr. Dell) as Bebop, Lucy Lawless (Isabelle Hartley) as Hiidrala, and Ashley Johnson (Beth the Waitress) as Renet. Also, Brittany Ishibashi (Tina Minoru) plays Karai in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will feature Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) as Mondo Gecko and Hannibal Buress (Coach Wilson) as Genghis Frog. The original comic book is also a case of Parody Displacement of Daredevil.
- 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 Harrison Ford (the second Thaddeus Ross) as Indiana Jones himself, a role he would reprise in all installments, and Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) as Satipo, while the second installment of the film series it started features Ke Huy Quan (unnamed TVA employee in Loki Season 2/Short Round) and the fourth installment features Ray Winstone (General Dreykov/Mac), Cate Blanchett (Hela/Irina Spalko), and Alan Dale (Councilman Rockwell/General Ross). The fifth film features Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius/Jürgen Voller), Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Strucker/Colonel Weber) and Toby Jones (Arnim Zola/Basil Shaw). Jeffrey Wright (Uatu) played Sidney Bechet on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
- Ant-Man:
- Titanic (1997) is mentioned in reference to Scott's plan to break into Hank's vault. Bill Paxton, who plays The Clairvoyant in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played Brock Lovett there.
- Cassie's train set includes none other than Thomas the Tank Engine himself, who Scott later weaponizes against Yellowjacket in their climatic showdown. Colm Feore (Laufey) voiced Toby the Tram Engine in Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- Captain America: Civil War: Tony exasperatedly calls Bucky "Manchurian Candidate" upon finding him and Steve in Siberia. The 2004 film starred Anthony Mackie (Falcon) as Robert Baker III, Vera Farmiga (Eleanor Bishop) as Jocelyn Jordan, Jeffrey Wright (Uatu) as Al Melvin, and Miguel Ferrer (Vice President Rodriguez) as Colonel Garret.
- 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/Meta-Crisis Doctor/the Fourteenth 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, Gemma Chan (Mia Bennett in "The Waters of Mars") plays Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel and Sersi in Eternals, Danny Sapani (Colonel Manton in "A Good Man Goes to War") plays M'Kathu in both Black Panther movies, Brett Goldstein (Astos in "The Tsuranga Conundrum") plays Hercules in Thor: Love and Thunder, 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, while David Bradley, who other darrined as the First Doctor, appeared in the same film as the Tesseract’s guard, 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), Constance Zimmer (Rosalind Price) was a recurring guest star in the eighth season, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Mama Mabel Stokes) was a recurring guest star in 2017.
- Avengers: Infinity War:
- Tony makes a blatant SpongeBob SquarePants Shout-Out by calling Ebony Maw "Squidward." 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. The show's guests stars include Gregg Turkington (Dale) as the camera operator in Truth or Square, Aubrey Plaza (TBA character in Agatha: Coven of Chaos) as Nocturna, J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as Maestro Mackerel, Patton Oswalt (Pip/Koenig brothers) as Jim, and Bobby Cannavale (Jim Paxton) as Tony. Also, Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, was the voice of Princess Mindy in The Sponge Bob Square Pants Movie while Awkwafina (Katy Chen) voices Otto in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.
- Spider-Man refers to the Facehuggers from Alien when he meets Mantis and bases his plan to save Strange on Aliens. 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 Reid (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 Aliens. Ralph Brown (Johann Fennhoff) was Francis Aaron in Alien³, which also had Christopher Fairbank (The Broker/Thomas Murphy) and DeObia Oparei (Boastful Loki/Arthur Walkingstick) in minor roles. Alien vs. Predator had Tommy Flanagan (Tullk) as Mark Verheiden. Guy Pearce (Aldrich Killian/Peter Weyland), Charlize Theron (Clea/Meredith Vickers), Benedict Wong (Wong/Ravel), Idris Elba (Heimdall/Janek), and Logan Marshall-Green (Jackson Brice/Charlie Holloway) all appeared in the prequel Prometheus.
- Alien Vs. Predator also connects the Predator franchise. Predator had Shane Black (the disembodied voice in Agent Carter) as Rick Hawkins, Predator 2 had the aforementioned Bill Paxton as Jerry Lambert, Predators had Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Noland and Mahershala Ali (Cottonmouth/Blade) as Mombosa, The Predator had Olivia Munn (Chess Roberts) as Casey Brackett and Sterling K. Brown (N'Jobu) as Will Traeger, and Prey (2022) had Dane DiLiegro (Octopus Drug Dealer) as the Feral Predator.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Scott is shown reading The Fault in Our Stars. The film adaptation features Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) as Peter Van Houten.
- Captain Marvel:
- Stan Lee's cameo has him rehearsing his cameo on Mallrats on the LA Metro.
- When Carol Danvers arrives on Earth, she crash-lands into a Blockbuster Video store that serves as a veritable 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.. Additionally, the show based on said movie features Ginger Gonzaga (Nikki Ramos) as Helen Tasker.
- 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). It also featured F. Murray Abraham (voice of Khonshu).
- 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 Kree, 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, while Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan) played M. Bison in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and David Kaye (Arishem the Judge) voiced Akuma in the animated series.
- Monica mentions watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Don Cheadle (Rhodey) guest starred in one episode as Ice Tray.
- Goose’s name is a reference to Top Gun. The sequel featured Jennifer Connelly (Karen) as Penny Benjamin and Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres) as Fanboy.
- Avengers: Endgame:
- The conversation about time travel movies introduces a number of celebrity paradoxes:
- Tony asks if Scott's plan was based on Back to the Future. Josh Keaton, who voiced the Steve Rogers variants in What If…? (2021), voiced Jules Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series.
- Scott and Rhodey reference Hot Tub Time Machine, which featured Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes) as Blaine and Lyndsy Fonseca (Angie Martinelli) as Jenny.
- Another time-travel movie referenced by them is Terminator. Similarly, in the fourth episode of Ms. Marvel, Kareem says "Come with me if you want to live." Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys) later joined the MCU as G'iah 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. Bill Paxton (John Garrett) plays one of the punks in The Terminator, while Gabriel Luna (Robbie Reyes) plays the REV-9 Terminator in Terminator: Dark Fate.
- 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 (Nick Fury) 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.
- Scott throws Quantum Leap into the mix. Said show's sequel series had Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) as Carly Farmer.
- Rhodey brings up A Wrinkle in Time as a notable time travel story. The 2003 film starred Alfre Woodard (Miriam Sharpe/Mariah Stokes) as Mrs. Whatsit, while the 2018 movie had Michael Peña (Luis) as Red and Gugu Mbatha Raw (Ravonna Renslayer) as Kate Murry.
- Thor yells at a Fortnite player on Korg's behalf for giving the latter grief during their game. In addition to Fortnite including Marvel characters such as Thor himself and Iron Man as Guest Fighters, Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) voiced the Paradigm.
- Tony makes a reference to Ratchet & Clank by addressing Rocket as the former half of the titular duo. David Kaye (Arishem) has voiced Clank since the first game, Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) voiced Talwyn Apogee in the Future trilogy, and the animated movie starred Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple) as Elaris and Sylvester Stallone (Stakar Ogord) as Victor von Ion.
- The conversation about time travel movies introduces a number of celebrity paradoxes:
- In Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Elementals combining is compared to Voltron. Voltron: Legendary Defender had Josh Keaton (Steve Rogers variants) as Shiro, Steven Yeun (TBA character in Thunderbolts) as Keith, Tony Curran (Bor/Finn Cooley) as Throk, and Mick Wingert (Tony Stark variants) as Thace.
- 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), Eugene Cordero (Casey/Joe Reles), 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's 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) as Dr. Emma Russell, Bradley Whitford (Colonel Flynn) as Rick Stanton, and Anthony Ramos (The Hood) as Anthony Martinez. Godzilla vs. Kong starred Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) as Bernie Hayes and Rebecca Hall (Maya Hansen) as Dr. Ilene Andrews, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will star Fala Chen (Ying Li) and Rachel House (Topaz). On the television side of things, Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and his father Kurt (Ego the Living Planet) are both set to feature in Godzilla and the Titans.
- 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 starred Bill Murray (Peter Venkman), who appears in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as Krylar, and Sigourney Weaver (Dana Barrett), who appears in The Defenders as Alexandra Reid, while the 2016 remake features Chris Hemsworth (Thor/Kevin Beckman), Melissa McCarthy (the Asgardian actress playing Hela/Abby Yates), and the aforementioned Bill Murray (Krylar/Martin Heiss). Ghostbusters: Afterlife features Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Mr. Grooberson), Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight/Callie Spengler), Mc Kenna Grace (Young Carol/Phoebe), Bokeem Woodbine (Herman Schultz/Sheriff Domingo), and J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson/Ivo Shandor), while Bob Gunton (Leland Owlsley) doubled for the late Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler. 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. Tyrion Lannister, Robb Stark, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Ramsay Snow/Bolton, Ornela, Areo Hotah, Izembaro, Malko, Brynden Tully, and Dagmer also happen to resemble Eitri the Dwarf King, Ikaris, Dane Whitman, G'iah, Maximus, Ava Starr, Boastful Loki, Classic Loki, Algrim, Tyr, and a Ravager pilot for some reason. In the prequel series House of the Dragon, Otto Hightower happens to resemble Curt Connors.
- 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, while Toby Damon resembles Taserface, Linda looks a great deal like Sharon Davis/"Mrs. Hart", and Eduardo resembles both Mr. Cardozo and a cafe owner.
- 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.
- Runaways: Miley Cyrus is mentioned in one episode. Cyrus voiced Mainframe in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
- 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 (Red Guardian) and Olga Kurylenko (Antonia Dreykov)'s roles as Gregg Beam and Camille Montes in Quantum of Solace. Furthermore, Benicio del Toro (The Collector) was Dario in Licence to Kill, Simon Kassianides (Sunil Bakshi) was Yusef Kabira in Quantum of Solace, 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, Michelle Yeoh (Aleta Ogord/Ying Nan) was Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, 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, Miss Minutes/Mainframe voiced Briar, Titania voiced Gandra Dee and W.A.N.D.A., Everett Ross voiced Poe de Spell, L.A. Bartender voiced Christoph the Spice Baron, Surtur/Colonel Schoonover voiced Frankenstein, 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 (1998), which featured Liv Tyler (Betty Ross) as Grace Stamper and Owen Wilson (Mobius M. Mobius) as Oscar Choice.
- Another song they sing is "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. The live action remake features Numan Acar (Dmitri) as Hakim.
- 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 General Thade, while the reboot trilogy starred Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) as Caesar, Terry Notary (Cull Obsidian) as Rocket, and Judy Greer (Maggie Lang/War Pig) as Cornelia.
- Katy describes Shang-Chi as using a "crazy Kamehameha fireball" while fighting the Dweller-in-Darkness. James Marsters (Victor Stein) played King Piccolo in Dragonball Evolution and voiced Zamasu in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super.
- 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:
- The movie references both Batman and Superman, revealing DC Comics exists in this world. This opens up an absurd number of paradoxes. For the sake of easy reading:
- For starters, DC has crossed over with Marvel on numerous occasions.
- 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 Nic, 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 Christopher McDonald (TBA character in Secret Invasion) as Jor-El and Superman in Batman Beyond, Michael Rosenbaum (Martinex) as the Flash, Carl Lumbly (Isaiah Bradley) as Martian Manhunter, Morena Baccarin (Vanessa Carlysle) as Black Canary, Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) as the third voice of Batgirl (a role she would reprise in other works such as DC Super Hero Girls and Batman: The Killing Joke), Powers Boothe (Gideon Malick) as Gorilla Grodd, Ben Browder (Sovereign Admiral) as Bat Lash, and Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) as Lex Luthor.
- Rosenbaum also portrayed Luthor in Smallville, which also had Dave Bautista (Drax) as Aldar, James Marsters (Victor Stein) as Brainiac, Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse) as Lindsay Harrison, and Elena Satine (Lorelei) as Mera.
- 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, (such as Mercy Graves in Superman: Brainiac Attacks, Marlene Mahoney and Tim Drake in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Brainiac in Justice League: Gods and Monsters, and Vicki Vale in The Batman vs. Dracula, to name a few) while Ashley Johnson (Beth in The Avengers) voiced Terra. Tara and Ashley would reprise these roles in Teen Titans Go!, which also had David Kaye (Arishem) as multiple minor characters. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies had Stan Lee (the Watcher Informant) appear As Himself and even jokingly acknowledge his love of cameos that MCU works until his death were known for.
- Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) voiced a minor character in The Batman.
- 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/Veb) as Thomas Schiff, Chin Han (Councilman Yen) as Lau, and Ben Mendelsohn (Talos) as John Daggett.
- The animated adaptation of DC: The New Frontier freatured Kyle MacLachlan (Calvin Zabo) as Superman and Lucy Lawless (Izzy Hartley) as Wonder Woman.
- Young Justice (2010) featured Miguel Ferrer (Vice President Rodriguez) as the voice of Vandal Savage in the first two seasons while having the aforementioned David Kaye as his voice for the other two.
- Green Lantern (2011) features Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Angela Bassett (Ramonda) as Amanda Waller, Taika Waititi (Korg/Ninny of the Nonny) as Thomas Kalmaku, and the aforementioned Clancy Brown as the voice of Parallax.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold had the aforementioned Morena Baccarin as Cheetah.
- The Arrowverse featured Josh Segarra (Augustus "Pug" Pugliese) as Adrian Chase on both Earth-1 and Earth-2, Dichen Lachman (Jiaying) as Veronica Sinclair/Roulette, Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan) as Damien Darhk, Katy O'Brian (Kimball/Jentorra) as Major Sara Grey, the aforementioned Ben Browder as Ted Gaynor, Bridget Regan (Dottie Underwood) as Poison Ivy, the aforementioned Morena Baccarin as Gideon for The Flash (2014) only, William Sadler (President Ellis) as Simon Stagg, Derek Mears (Kree Captain) as Dwarfstar, Michael James Shaw (Corvus Glaive) as Papa Midnite, and the aforementioned Tara Strong being the voice (not physical actress) of a cameo from Harley Quinn. In general, Strong is one of Harley's go-to voice actors.
- Titans (2018) had Titus Welliver (Felix Blake) as Lex Luthor.
- The DC Extended Universe features Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Perry White, Russell Crowe (Zeus) as Jor-El, Ayelet Zurer (Vanessa Marianna) as Lara Lor-Van, Richard Schiff (Secretary of State) as Emil Hamilton, 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, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man) as Black Manta, Randall Park (Jimmy Woo) as Stephen Shin, Djimon Hounsou (Korath) as both King Ricou and the Wizard Shazam, Zachary Levi (Fandral) as Shazam, Matt Willig (Lash) as Happy, 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, the aforementioned Taika Waititi as the first Ratcatcher, Nathan Fillion (Monstrous Inmate/Karja) as TDK, Daniela Melchior (Ura) as the second Ratcatcher, Chukwudi Iwuji (High Evolutionary) as Clemson Murn, Pom Klementieff (Mantis) as a dancer, Flula Borg (L.A. Bartender) as Javelin, Steve Agee (Gef) as John Economos, Pete Davidson (Phlektik) as Blackguard, Jennifer Holland (Administrator Kwol) as Emilia Harcourt, and the aforementioned David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man. Eagly also made a cameo as one of the animals in the High Evolutionary's captivity, as confirmed by Gunn here
. - Gotham had David Dastmalchian as Dwight Pollard, Colm Feore (Laufey) as the Dollmaker, and the aforementioned Morena Baccarin as Dr. Leslie Thompkins. The possible prequel Pennyworth had Emma Corrin (TBA character in Deadpool 3) as Esme Winikus.
- The DC Animated Movie Universe has Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger) as Cyborg, C. Thomas Howell (Carson Wolf) as Reverse-Flash/Professor Zoom, the aforementioned Morena Baccarin as Talia al Ghul, Jason O'Mara (Jeffrey Mace) as Batman, Jon Bernthal (Punisher) as Trigon in Justice League vs. Teen Titans only, Patrick Fabian (Gaius Ponarian) as Cyborg Superman, and Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) as Destiny.
- Justice League Action had Hannibal Buress (Coach Wilson) as Mr. Terrific.
- The LEGO Batman Movie had Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple) as Batgirl and Seth Green (Howard the Duck) as King Kong.
- The Lego Batman Movie also takes place in the greater Lego Movie franchise. The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part had Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) as Emmet and Rex Dangervest and Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) as Wonder Woman, while The LEGO Ninjago Movie had Michael Peña (Luis) as Kai, Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo) as Jay, Randall Park (Jimmy Woo) as Chen, and Olivia Munn (Chess Roberts) as Misako. The spinoff Unikitty! had the aforementioned Tara Strong voice the title character.
- The Lego Batman Movie also included Agent Smith. That franchise had Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth) as Trinity, Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Morpheus, Hugo Weaving (Red Skull) as Agent Smith himself, Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing) as Bugs, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man) as Morpheus II.
- For another example from The Lego Batman Movie, among the villains the Joker releases from the Phantom Zone are the raptors of Jurassic Park fame. The original trilogy of films starred Sam Neill (actor playing Odin) as Alan Grant, Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster) as Ian Malcolm, Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) as Ray Arnold, and Richard Schiff (U.S. Secretary of State) as Eddie Carr. The Jurassic World trilogy, in addition to having Neill and Goldblum reprise their respective roles, had Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) as Owen Grady, Vincent D'Onofrio (Kingpin) as Vic Hoskins, Ty Simpkins (Harley Keener) as Gray Mitchell, Judy Greer (Maggie Lang/War Pig) as Karen Mitchell, Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) as Mr. Eversoll, and Dichen Lachman (Jiaying) as Soyona Santos. Television-wise, Jenna Ortega (Vice President's daughter), Jameela Jamil (Titania), and Bradley Whitford (Colonel Flynn) voiced Brooklynn, Roxie, and Mitch in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
- Shea Whigham (Roger Dooley) and Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) were Detective Burke and Carl in Joker (2019).
- Swamp Thing (2019) had the aforementioned Derek Mears as the title character.
- 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, with the spin-off miniseries The Penguin set to feature the aforementioned Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni.
- Batman Unburied has Winston Duke (M'Baku) as Batman.
- Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) voices a lot of DC characters in works like Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, DC Super Hero Girls, Batman: Arkham Series, and Sebastian the Rat in the aforementioned DCEU. Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) also voiced many DC characters in various games and animation.
- Injustice (2021) had Anson Mount (Black Bolt) as Batman and Derek Phillips (Agent O'Brien) as Aquaman and Nightwing.
- Harley Quinn (2019) had Lake Bell (Black Widow variants/Dr. Graham) as Poison Ivy, the aforementioned Alfred Molina as Mr. Freeze, Jim Rash (MIT Liaison) as Riddler, J.B. Smoove (Mr. Dell) as Frank, Jameela Jamil (Titania) as the goddess Eris, James Gunn (Automated voice in "Groot's Pursuit"/Lambshank) As Himself, and Brett Goldstein (Hercules) also As Himself. And the teaser for the debut of that show had a Take That! against Deadpool.
- Superman: Man of Tomorrow had Brett Dalton (Grant Ward/Hive) as Parasite.
- In DC League of Super-Pets, John Krasinski (Mister Fantastic) voices Superman and the aforementioned Jameela Jamil voiced Wonder Woman, while the aforementioned Alfred Molina voiced Jor-El.
- Batwheels had Ethan Hawke (Arthur Harrow) as Batman.
- The aforementioned James Gunn's planned rebooted DC shared movie universe's first chapter "Gods and Monsters" features the aforementioned David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Maria Bakalova (Cosmo the Space Dog) as Princess Ilana Rostovic, the aforementioned Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot, and Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow) as Rick Flagg Sr.
- There was an official crossover with RWBY, which had the aforementioned Derek Mears as Corsac Albain.
- Kingo compares Sprite to Tinkerbell in regards to her feelings for Ikaris. For Peter Pan as a whole, Peter Pan & Wendy features Ever Anderson (Young Natasha) as Wendy Darling and Jude Law (Yon-Rogg) as Captain Hook. There’s also Hook, which was previously referenced in Captain Marvel.
- The movie references both Batman and Superman, revealing DC Comics exists in this world. This opens up an absurd number of paradoxes. For the sake of easy reading:
- 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. Additionally, Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk) narrates the audiobook versions of the original books, and the film adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Peter Dinklage (Eitri) as Casca Highbottom.
- 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, Owen Wilson (Mobius M. Mobius) as Eli Cash, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Micro) as Fredrick the Bellboy, and Bill Murray (Krylar) as Raleigh St. Clair. Meanwhile, The Sopranos featured John Ventimiglia (Detective Eddy Costa) as Artie Bucco, Paul Schulze (William J. Rawlins) as Father Phil Intintola, Chris Tardio (Detective Christian Blake) as Sean Gismonte, Ben Kingsley (Trevor Slattery) As Himself, Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger) as a Rideland boy, and Annabella Sciorra (Rosalie Carbone) 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, Michael Gandolfini (TBA character in Daredevil: Born Again) as Tony Soprano, and Corey Stoll (Darren Cross / Yellowjacket / M.O.D.O.K.) 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. Anthony Hopkins (Odin) narrates the live action film, while Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) voices the Grinch in the Illumination film. The 2018 film also had Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) provide additional voices.
- In the fifth episode's opening flashback, Ana remarks that with Dreykov gone, Yelena and Natasha can live the Sex and the City-style lives they dreamed of in New York once the remaining Widows have been cured. Sex and the City starred Kyle MacLachlan (Calvin Zabo) as Trey MacDougal, Blair Underwood (Andrew Garner) as Robert Leeds, Bobby Cannavale (Jim Paxton) as Adam Ball, Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) as Jake, Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis) as Jenny Brier, Anson Mount (Black Bolt) as Gregory, Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) as Harris Bragen, and John Slattery (Howard Stark) as Bill Kelley, while Alice Eve (Typhoid Mary) was Erin and Miley Cyrus (Mainframe) was herself in the second film.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home:
- Doctor Strange tells Peter and friends to "Scooby-Doo this shit". Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) 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/Lylla) 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, as well as voicing other characters in various series. Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) voiced Hebediah Grim and the Evil Entity in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, which also had Jim Rash (MIT Liasion) as J.R. Kipple. The animated film SCOOB! also has Mc Kenna Grace (Young Carol) as young Daphne, Ariana Greenblatt (Young Gamora) as young Velma, Ken Jeong (a security guard in Avengers: Endgame) as Dynomutt, and Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) as Cerberus, the latter of whom also had roles in various other shows and movies. Ming-Na Wen (Agent Melinda May) was Carroll and the aforementioned Jim Rash (MIT Liasion) was Mayor Dave in Velma.
- Happy references Goodfellas, which features Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) as Stacks Edwards.
- Moon Knight (2022)
- When Arthur Harrow brings up the concept of an avatar, Steven Grant immediately thinks of both the film, Avatar, and the "anime", Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Avatar featured Sigourney Weaver (Alexandra Reid in The Defenders) as Grace Augustine and her Na'vi daughter Kiri, Zoe Saldaña (Gamora) as Neytiri, Peter Mensah (General Greller and Qovas) as Akwey, and Matt Gerald (White Power Dave and Melvin Potter) as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet. Sequels Avatar 3 and 4 will feature Michelle Yeoh (Aleta Ogord and Ying Nan) as Dr. Karina Mogue.
- The Last Airbender featured Clancy Brown (Colonel Schoonover and Surtur) as Long Feng, Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) as various characters and creatures, and Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) as Actress Azula, while the live action film had Shaun Toub (Ho Yinsen) as Iroh. And then The Legend of Korra, the sequel series to The Last Airbender, featured J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as Tenzin, Brown as Yakone, Baker as Tarrlok, Steven Yeun (TBA character in Thunderbolts) as Wan, Aaron Himelstein (Cameron Klein) as Desna, and Aubrey Plaza (TBA character in Agatha: Coven of Chaos) as Eska.
- 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 Allegra 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 (specifically for a film series that’s very clearly a parody of the MCU), 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 (Ulysses Klaue) as Cleanie, Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig) As Himself, J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) as numerous characters, including one who is very clearly based on his portrayal of Jameson in the Spider-Man Trilogy, 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, Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) as Jack Lassen, Patrick Stewart (Professor X) as Number One, Angela Bassett (Ramonda) as Michelle Obama, Edward James Olmos (Robert Gonzales) as Pit Master, Awkwafina (Katy Chen) as Carmen and Dr. Chang, Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo) as Theo, Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) as Sheila Redfield, Aubrey Plaza (TBA character in Agatha: Coven of Chaos) as Amber Duffman, Simu Liu (Shang-Chi) as Hubert Wong, 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 an avatar, Steven Grant immediately thinks of both the film, Avatar, and the "anime", Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Ms Marvel:
- Mr. Wilson quotes "Reflection" from Mulan in his advice to Kamala. In the original animated film, Ming-Na Wen (Agent Melinda May) voices the title character, while Miguel Ferrer (Vice President Rodriguez) voices Shan Yu. The live-action remake saw Wen make a Remake Cameo, but also had Tzi Ma (Agent Quan) as Hua Zhou and Hoon Lee (Lei Kung) as the Village Magistrate.
- In the second episode, both Kamran and Kamala talk about Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan movies. Farhan Akhtar, who plays Waleed in episode 4 in the series directed Don: The Chase Begins Again and Don 2, both starring SRK as the lead and has also starred in movies like Luck by Chance with him.
- Also in the second episode, Kamran jokingly asks Kamala if Bowser taught her to drive, while the fourth episode has a Donkey Kong reference. Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) voiced Hop Koopa in both The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, while in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) voices Mario.
- In the third episode, the song the aunties dance to in Aamir and Tyesha’s wedding reception is Yeh Mera Dil from the 1978 Bollywood movie, Don. The aforementioned Farhan Akhtar, directed the remake of that movie, Don: The Chase Begins Again and its sequel Don 2.
- The sixth episode sees Nakia invite Kamala and Bruno to shawarma by referencing Mean Girls, which starred Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer) as Regina George.
- In Thor: Love and Thunder, when Jane is explaining the concept of Einstein-Rosen bridges to a fan of her book, she asks him if he's seen either Event Horizon or Interstellar, since both of those movies feature a simplified demonstration of the concept. Event Horizon starred Sam Neill, who appears in this film and in Thor: Ragnarok as the Asgardian actor who portrays Odin; Laurence Fishburne, who played Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp; and Kathleen Quinlan, who appeared in Runaways (2017). Interstellar, meanwhile, featured Matt Damon, who is the Asgardian actor portraying Loki in this film and in Thor: Ragnarok, and Josh Stewart, who portrayed John Pilgrim in the second season of The Punisher (2017).
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law:
- When discussing triggers for the She-Hulk persona, Jen references Inside Out. Kyle MacLachlan (Calvin Zabo) voiced Riley's dad Bill Andersen in that movie.
- In episode 2, footage from Ally McBeal is played at the bar - Robert Downey Jr., aka Tony Stark, was in that show as Larry Paul.
- Episode 5, Titania derogatorily calls Jen, "Shrek". Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) voices the Dronkeys and voices a few characters from the video games. John Krasinski (Mister Fantastic) voiced Lancelot in Shrek the Third and Lake Bell (Black Widow variants/Dr. Graham) voiced a witch in Shrek Forever After. For Puss in Boots' spin-off movies, Salma Hayek (Ajak) voices Kitty Softpaws, Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova) voices Goldilocks, Ray Winstone (General Dreykov) voices Papa Bear, and Olivia Colman (Sonya Falsworth) voices Mama Bear. Brian D Arcy James (Derek Bishop) played Shrek in the original Broadway run of Shrek: The Musical.
- In Episode 7, Jen is seen watching The Great Muppet Caper. For The Muppets as a whole, F. Murray Abraham (voice of Khonshu) portrayed Noah in Muppets from Space, The Muppets (2011) starred Donald Glover (Aaron Davis) as the junior CDE executive and John Krasinski (Mister Fantastic) As Himself, Tom Hiddleston (Loki) was The Great Escapo and Salma Hayek (Ajak) made a cameo as herself in Muppets Most Wanted, Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) guest starred As Himself in The Muppets (2015), and Linda Cardellini (Laura Barton/Lylla) and Aubrey Plaza (TBA character in Agatha: Coven of Chaos) appeared as themselves in Muppets Now.
- In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri compares her and Shuri's situation as Namor's captives to Princess Leia from Star Wars, Marion Ravenwood from Indiana Jones, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. In addition to Star Wars and Indiana Jones already being referenced, the live action Beauty and the Beast featured Gugu Mbatha Raw (Ravonna Renslayer) as Plumette and Stanley Tucci (Abraham Erskine) as Cadenza.
- In The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, when Mantis and Drax are looking for Kevin Bacon in L.A., they find a plaza of people dressing up as the Avengers and pop culture icons like Captain Jack Sparrow and Cy-Kill. A family also mistakes Drax for Kratos:
- For Pirates of the Caribbean, Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig) was Bootstrap Bill, Zoe Saldaña (Gamora) was Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Christopher Fairbank (the Broker) was Ezekiel and DeObia Oparei (Boastful Loki) was Gunner in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and David Wenham (Harold Meachum) was Scarfield in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
- For GoBots, after its acquisition by Hasbro, it has been Canon Welded to former competing toyline Transformers and even crossed over a few times. David Kaye (Arishem the Judge) voiced Megatron in Beast Wars and the Unicron Trilogy, Hardshell in Transformers: Prime and Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated, which also had Tara Strong (Miss Minutes/Mainframe) playing several female characters. Both Kaye and Dee Bradley Baker (Morris) voiced several characters in Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015), which also featured Constance Zimmer (Rosalind Price) as the voice of Strongarm and Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) as the voice of Saberhorn. Prime had Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover), Josh Keaton (Steve Rogers variants), and Peter Mensah (General Greller/Qovas) as the voices of Silas, Jack Darby, and Predaking. Anna Akana (Sam's contact in Ant-Man) voiced Victorion in The Transformers: Combiner Wars. Brown was also Quintus Prime in Transformers Earthspark. In the Transformers Film Series, Hugo Weaving (Red Skull) voiced Megatron in the first three films, Anthony Hopkins (Odin) was Sir Edmund Burton, Stanley Tucci (Abraham Erskine) was Joshua Joyce and Merlin, Glenn Morshower (General Jacobs) was Colonel Sharpe and General Morshower, Ken Jeong (Security Guard in Endgame) was Jerry Wang, Gemma Chan (Sersi/Minn-Erva) was Quintessa, and Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker) was Maggie Madsen. For the reboot Bumblebee, Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop) was Charlie Watson and Angela Bassett (Ramonda) voiced Shatter. In Bumblebee's sequel, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Anthony Ramos (The Hood) was Noah Diaz, Michelle Yeoh (Ying Nan/Aleta Ogord) voiced Airazor, Mj Rodriguez (Sister Boy) voiced Nightbird, Pete Davidson (Phlektik) voiced Mirage, and Peter Dinklage (Eitri) voiced Scourge. Transformers One will feature Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) as Elita, and Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) as Alpha Trion.
- For God of War, Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) and Gideon Emery (Anatoly Ranskahov) voiced Hades and Poseidon in God of War III. Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) voiced several characters throughout the Greek Era. Richard Schiff (U.S. Secretary of State), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward/Hive), and Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) voiced Odin, Freyr, and Faye, respectively, in God of War Ragnarök.
- Mantis also mentions Bacon's role in Friday the 13th (1980). Peter Mensah (General Greller/Qovas) was Sergeant Brodsky in Jason X. Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne) had a cameo in Freddy vs. Jason. The In Name Only Friday The 13th: The Series had Colm Feore (Laufey) as Anton Pascola and Alex Dent. In the 2009 remake, Julianna Guill (Tony's assistant in Civil War) was Bree and Derek Mears (Kree Captain) was Jason Voorhees.
- And, via Freddy Vs. Jason, we can add A Nightmare on Elm Street to the list. Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster) was Max in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and the aforementioned Clancy Brown was Alan Smith in A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).
- And also, Freddy Vs. Jason got a sequel crossover in the form of Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, which adds Evil Dead to the mix.note That franchise had Bruce Campbell (Pizza Poppa) as Ash Williams himself, Lucy Lawless (Izzy Hartley) as Ruby Knowby, the aforementioned Fred Tatasciore as Henrietta Knowby (in Evil Dead: The Game), and Hemky Madera (Mr. Delmar) as Brujo.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3:
- Star-Lord insults the High Evolutionary by likening his appearance to RoboCop and calling him a "Skeletor-wannabe".
- For RoboCop, the first film starred Kurtwood Smith (Vernon Masters) as Clarence Boddicker and Miguel Ferrer (Vice President Rodriguez) as Bob Morton, the third film had Bradley Whitford (Colonel Flynn) as Jeffrey Fleck, and the remake featured Michael Keaton (Vulture) as Raymond Sellars and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) as Pat Novak.
- For Masters of the Universe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) had David Kaye (Arishem) as Cringer and Fred Tatasciore (Variants of Drax and Corvus Glaive) as multiple characters.
- Among the items Gamora finds while going through Star-Lord's belongings is a Panthro action figure. Clancy Brown (Surtur/Colonel Schoonover) voiced Grune in Thundercats 2011.
- On Star-Lord's backpack is a pin featuring the ghosts from Pac-Man, plus Quill himself created a construct of Pac-Man in the previous film. Martin Sherman (Brandt's Aide) voiced Pac-Man himself and Clyde in Pac-Man World 3.
- Star-Lord insults the High Evolutionary by likening his appearance to RoboCop and calling him a "Skeletor-wannabe".
