When you’re working on an expensive film for months, one of the ways to keep yourself entertained is to work in little hidden references or in-jokes. Here are eight hidden Easter eggs from Marvel’s superhero films.
1 Dramatic irony. In Daredevil, Bullseye kills a man with a pen. That man was played by Frank Miller, the famed writer and artist on the Daredevil comic book.
2 Captain America’s mighty shield. In Iron Man, when Tony is taking off his armor after having a dogfight with the F-22s, you can see Captain America’s shield on the workbench behind him.
3 Sneaky Bill Bixby cameo. In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner is flipping through channels when he stops for a moment on an episode of the old TV series The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, which, of course, starred Bill Bixby, who later played Banner in the Incredible Hulk TV series.
4 Familiar ringtone. When Tony Stark gets a call on his cell phone in Iron Man, the ring tone is the theme song to the 1966 Iron Man cartoon show.
5 Map of the Marvel Universe. Near the end of Iron Man 2, when Nick Fury talks with Tony Stark at a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house, there is a map in the background where certain locations have been circled. Those locations all match up with notable places in the film versions of the Marvel Universe (like New Mexico, which is where Thor’s hammer shows up).
6 Captain America comic. In Captain America: The First Avenger, after Captain America is introduced and he becomes a media sensation selling war bonds, there is a quick montage of all the products he’s being put onto. One of them is a comic book, and they use the actual cover of Captain America Comics #1!
7 Incredible Hulk and Iron Man timing. During the same meeting described above with Nick Fury and Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, there is a TV in the background showing a news report detailing the events that take place at the end of The Incredible Hulk (an incident at Culver University). So the endings of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk are apparently concurrent with each other!
8 Lots of Marvel names! In Daredevil, seemingly every time a character needed to be named, they would go with a famous Marvel writer. Matt Murdock’s boxer father fought against John Romita (named for early Daredevil artist, John Romita Sr.). Kevin Smith’s character is named Jack Kirby. Early on, Matt Murdock is defending Mr. Quesada (Marvel’s editor in chief at the time was Joe Quesada).