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), Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue), Liv Tyler (Betty Ross), Karl Urban (Skurge), David Wenham (Harold Meachum), and Cate Blanchett (Hela) play major characters in the film trilogy, while Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger), Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross), and Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange) all play major characters in its prequel trilogy with Freeman being The Hero.
- Of course, The Lord of the Rings may just be a well known series of books rather than a movie in this universe...
- Iron Man 3:
- Happy Hogan's favorite show is Downton Abbey. Charlie Cox, who plays Matt Murdock aka the titular Daredevil (2015), plays the series' Starter Villain.
- Tony at one point meets a kid who resembles Ralphie from A Christmas Story that he loved him in the movie. Peter Billingsley himself, who played Ralphie, was actually the scientist involved in the Iron Monger project in the first movie Iron Man and the character would return in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where he's named "William Ginter Riva".
- 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 Iron Man 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. David Tennant (Kilgrave) was in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Toby Jones (Zola) played Dobby in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. David Bradley, who portrayed Argus Filch, made a brief appearance as a peasant in The First Avenger. In addition, Kenneth Branagh (the director of Thor) played Gilderoy Lockhart n Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Assuming that the Fantastic Beasts Spin-Off series of the Potter films do exist in the MCU, then Claudia Kim (Helen Cho), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), and Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva) were also involved, having starred in those films.
- The show establishes that Power Rangers exists in the MCU. However, Vladimir Ranskahov, a member of the Ranskahov crime syndicate, is played by Nikolai Nikolaeff, who played the Rhino Ranger in Power Rangers Jungle Fury. Other Ranger actors, coincidentally also from Disney-era seasons, star in MCU series, namely
- Malcolm Ducasse, played by Eka Darville, Scott Truman the RPM Red Ranger;
- Brigid O'Reilly, played by Emma Lahana, Kira Ford, the Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger.
- 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) and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) were in the prequel trilogy. Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), Benicio del Toro (The Collector), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost) and Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) were in the sequel trilogy, with Serkis playing the Disc-One Final Boss. Forest Whitaker (Zuri), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos), and Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius) were in Rogue One with the Whitaker playing The Obi-Wan. Donald Glover (Prowler) and Paul Bettany (Vision) were in Solo.
- Star Trek. In Star Trek (2009), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) plays the father of the series' main protagonist in flashbacks, Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Karl Urban (Skurge), and Alice Eve (Typhoid Mary) play main characters in that film series. Likewise, Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange) and Idris Elba (Heimdall) play 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, while Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan) and Alice Krige (Eir) were both in Star Trek: First Contact.
- The Rocky film series. Sylvester Stallone (Starak) plays the eponymous protagonist of the film series, while Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) play The Hero and the Love Interest, respectively, of Creed, an official Spin-Off of the film franchise.
- 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.
- In Winter Soldier, Steve has a copy of All the President's Men on his bookshelf. The film adaptation of the book stars Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce) as Bob Woodward. At one point Pierce even stares out of his office window at the Watergate complex. Pierce also has a bottle of Newman's Own spaghetti sauce in his fridge, which is a nice tribute to Paul Newman, who Redford costarred alongside in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.
- In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter calls one of the guards at the Kyln "ninja turtle". The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were originally created as an Affectionate Parody of many elements in Daredevil, which of course was later adapted into the Daredevil (2015) tv show.
- Speaking of Ant-Man, Titanic (1997) and its male lead Leonardo DiCaprio were mentioned early in that film. Bill Paxton, who plays The Clairvoyant in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played a key character there, while Paul Rudd and DiCaprio were in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet together, which also featured Vondie-Curtis Hall (Ben Urich in Daredevil (2015)).
- 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 the character played by Christine Adams in "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 (2015), Tony Curran (Vincent van Gogh in "Vincent and the Doctor") plays an Irish mob boss in season 2 of Daredevil and the list goes on...
- 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.
- An episode of Jessica Jones (2015) has the titular hero referring to Grey's Anatomy. 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) is set to be 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.
- In Captain America: Civil War, Iron Man calls Spider-Man "Underoos". The actual Underoos brand was kick-started by the Spider-Man franchise (along with other major superhero franchises, including several Marvel and even DC characters), making the brand's origin within the Marvel Cinematic Universe surprisingly nebulous.
- In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Peter talks quite a bit about how he idolized David Hasselhoff growing up, and the man himself even puts in a brief appearance. He played Nick Fury in a failed pilot which was released as a standalone TV movie in 1997 (though conveniently, Peter himself would have no idea about that as he hasn't been on Earth since The '80s).
- The Final Battle of The Defenders (2017) is set to "Protect Ya Neck" by the Wu-Tang Clan, which must have been chosen at least partly because Spider-Man is mentioned in the lyrics. The song is non-diegetic, but one wonders if it exists in the MCU, given its version of Peter wasn't even born when the song was written.
- In Black Panther, during the scene where T’Challa, Nakia, and Okoye enter the casino in Seoul, the song “Pray For Me” by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar is heard diegetically. However, this song was created specifically for the soundtrack of the film itself.
- Avengers: Infinity War makes a blatant SpongeBob SquarePants Shout-Out. Clancy Brown, who plays both Ray Schoonover and Surtur, is a main cast member of the cartoon series. Also, Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, is the voice of Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- In 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. However, in the world of the MCU, Marvel Comics itself wouldn't have existed. Therefore, Stan Lee wouldn't have been famous for creating Marvel characters, and wouldn't have made a cameo in Mallrats. This would also change all the comic book references in Mallrats.
- The Blockbuster Video store Carol Danvers crashes into is a treasure trove for this trope:
- Carol blasts a True Lies cardboard cutout. Bill Paxton played 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 in it.
- Carol passes by the VHS of Last Action Hero, which had 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.
- Nick Fury mentions Hannibal Lecter. Means Anthony Hopkins exists in the same world as Odin, who's played by him. Which also, in turn, means Mads Mikkelsen exists in the same world as Kaecilius.
- The Blockbuster Video store Carol Danvers crashes into is a treasure trove for this trope:
- Avengers: Endgame: Korg is introduced playing a game of Fortnite, which Thanos made an appearance in during a limited-time event.
- The Defenders (2017):
- Daredevil (2015):
- 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), Brie Larson (Carol Danvers), Shea Whigham (Roger Dooley), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) star in the 2017 reboot Kong: Skull Island.
- 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. Furthermore, in the whole of the MCU continuity, Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) appeared in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as Mace Windu and Padme Amidala.
- Grey's Anatomy exists as a TV series in the MCU, as Jessica's reference to Seattle Grace Hospital in another episode is recognized as coming from television. That show also guest-starred Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker) in a couple of 2011 episodes, while one 2009 episode of that show guest-starred Eldon Henson (Foggy Nelson).
- Luke Cage (2016):** Method Man cameos As Himself. Method Man played Cheese in The Wire, and many of that show's alumni have guest-starred in the MCU Netflix shows and some of the films, including Frankie Faison (Ervin Burrell / Henry "Pops" Hunter), Sonja Sohn (Kima Greggs / Captain Betty Audrey), and Michael Kostroff (Maurice Levy / Dr. Noah Burstein) in Luke Cage; Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon / Det. Oscar Clemmons) in Jessica Jones; Domenick Lombardozzi (Herc / Bill Fisk) and Peter Gerety (Judge Phelan / Silke) in Daredevil; Ramon Rodriguez (Renaldo / Bakuto) from Iron Fist; Idris Elba (Stringer Bell / Heimdall) in the Thor films; Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale / Gale) in Ant-Man; Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar Little / Bystander) in The Incredible Hulk; Delaney Williams (Jay Landsman / O'Connor) in The Punisher; and Michael B. Jordan (Wallace / Killmonger) in Black Panther. Plus, Clark Johnson, a regular director and Gus Haynes in The Wire season 5, has directed several episodes of Luke Cage.
- Tone likens his shooting up of Pops' barbershop to the Candieland massacre in Django Unchained. Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) played The Dragon in that film. The fact that Quentin Tarantino's films exist in the MCU is already a paradox, as Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky), Ving Rhames (Charlie-27), and Frank Whaley (Rafael Scarfe) played characters in Pulp Fiction. Whaley's character, Brett, incidentally died at the hands of Samuel L. Jackson's character from that film, Jules Winfield. Speaking of which, Winfield's iconic "Ezekiel 25:17" speech is embedded on Fury's fake gravestone.
- Jackson and Roth were also in The Hateful 8 alongside Kurt Russell (Ego the Living Planet) and Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch). Jackson was in Jackie Brown opposite Michael Keaton (Vulture).
- When Pop is telling his backstory to Luke, he says, "I thought you was innocent, Shawshank," obviously comparing Luke to Andy from The Shawshank Redemption. That movie's cast included Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown (who appeared in Daredevil as Leland Owlsley and the Blacksmith, respectively) and William Sadler (who appeared in the MCU films as President Matthew Ellis).
- Misty Knight makes a Ghostbusters quip when arriving at the scene of the junkyard shootout. The original Ghostbusters duology featured Sigourney Weaver, who appears in The Defenders (2017) as Alexandra, while the 2016 remake features Chris Hemsworth (Thor). In season 2, she likens herself to Ripley from the Alien movies when strapping up to go into a Yardie lair. The Sigourney Weaver paradox can be explained away by the fact that Alexandra is several centuries old, born long before Weaver came along.
- Al Pacino's name is on the list of celebrities who get free haircuts at Pop's Barbershop. He played Shylock in the 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, which also featured Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) as Lorenzo.
- The Godfather Part II is referenced during a conversation Luke and Squabbles have about movies in prison. That movie starred Robert De Niro as Young Vito Corleone, and De Niro co-starred with Charlie Cox in Stardust. Furthermore, that movie also featured the bar that Luke owned in Jessica Jones season 1.
- 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 and Ornela also happen to resemble Maximus and Ava Starr for some reason. Averted with Eiti the Dwarf King, who looks nothing like Tyrion Lannister.
- Shades says he cries watching This Is Us. Maybe because he's noticed how one of the characters is played by Ron Cephas Jones (Bobby Fish)? Also, one of the show's main characters happen to look a lot like Prince N'Jobu.
- Daredevil (2015):
