To say that the Infinity Wars is the movie we need but not the one we deserve is definitely an understatement. The movie was everything we wanted it to be and the ending was everything we wished it wouldn’t be. Right from laughing your wits out at the timely jokes in the film, and screaming out in joy at the iconic interactions between your favorite superheroes, to crying your hearts out at the death of your treasured characters , the movie has been nothing but a rollercoaster of emotions swirling through your head. One thing that all the fans agreed upon unanimously after coming out of the movie is that “THE MCU HAS TO BE SUED FOR ALL THE EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA IT HAS INFLICTED UPON IT’S AUDIENCE!”
Despite all the pressures of handling such a star-studded cast Russo brothers not only did an amazing job of maintaining the identity of every character without getting them muddled up in the screenplay but also brought in little snippets from the comics and references from the previous MCU movies making the movie a true celebration for all the comic-book lovers.
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes its baby step into its 10th Anniversary year, we bring to you 10 Infinity Wars References, Easter eggs and callbacks that you need to know from the film for getting that authentic Marvel movie experience.
Brace yourself for some major spoilers if you haven’t seen the movie yet.
We have a Hulk
At the beginning of the story we are introduced to Thanos and Black Order who have taken hostage of all the people in the Asgardian ship, we see a frightened Loki stalling time and waiting for Hulk to come out. Loki saying “We have a hulk”, at the exact moment of handing over the tesseract to Thanos is a callback to the scene from The First Avengers Movie where Iron Man says the exact line to Loki before Hulk goes out complete carnage on Loki.
The scene definitely got the greatest cheers from the audience and above all it is one among the iconic scenes defining the entire journey the MCU has taken over the years and how the tables have turned a 180 degree with the characters in the last ten years.
Perfect Balance of….Deaths
The whole motive or purpose that pushes Thanos to collect the Infinity stones is to bring a balance to the universe by destroying half the population of the world using the combined powers of the stone.
He thinks this to be the main purpose of his existence, in the end he does collect the stones and annihilates half of the population with just a snap of his fingers. No one escapes this, including the avengers, and as we proceed to the end of the story we find there is a perfect numeric balance in the death of avengers too. There are 24 main characters from the original avengers comics in the movie and out of these 24 characters exactly 12 characters die by the end of the movie. The perfectly balanced Infinity Wars poster has left the viewers completely shook and is one of the most carefully planned out Easter egg of the movie.
The Squidward Reference
During the trailer release of the movie itself the Internet didn’t fail to notice the uncanny similarity between Ebony Maw of the Black order and Squidward from SpongeBob square pants. The entire theatre broke out with laughter and cheered Tony when he said “Go away Squidward, Earth is closed for today” upon encountering Ebony Maw for the first time in front of the sanctum. Once again in this scene Iron Man proves that he has still got his witty remarks and reference game going strong.
Doctor Strange’s Parlor Tricks
Back when The Doctor Strange movie hit the theatres, Benedict performed a skit at the Jimmy Kimmel Live show as a magician performing at a kid’s birthday party. Tony brings this up in a not-so subtle manner in the movie and throws it as an insult at Doctor Strange’s face by saying “What is your job exactly, except to make balloon animals?” In the little skit performed Strange is invited to a birthday party held at Kimmel’s house, and is paid to make balloon animals for the kids at 150 dollars per hour, although initially he refuses the job, he gives in to the demand because of high the pay of the job. The kids at the party keep mocking his balloon making skills and finally a pissed off Strange teleports the kids to another dimension.
Guardian plays “The Defenders”
The adolescent Groot we are introduced to in the movie is definitely on the same page as the adolescents of our own race, constantly on social media and completely obsessed with the gaming world and ignoring the outside world. On several occasions teenage Groot is seen playing an arcade game from the eighties and in one particular scene the game is zoomed in and we see the title of the game to be Defenders, on further research the game was found out to be a space adventure game very similar to the games Space Invaders and Asteroids which were popular video games back during the end of 19th century. Some fan theories even suggest the characters of the game might be the main characters from Marvel‘s very own TV show “The Defenders “ starring Jessica Jones, Iron Fist , Luke Cage , Daredevil and The Punisher.
Rocket’s Prosthetics Obsession continues
Throughout both the volumes of the Guardians of the galaxy series we can see Rocket obsessing over any and every prosthetic he comes across. In the first movie he sends Quill to make trade with a guy’s artificial leg just for the sake of it and when the Guardians meet up with Yondu’s Ravagers, Rocket demands that he needs a guy’s mechanical eyeball for proceeding with their plan. So it is safe to assume that he has a collection of eyeballs and from this collection he offered one to the one-eyed Thor aboard “his” spaceship. After landing on Wakanda, Rocket also wagers with Bucky for his prosthetic arm as soon he as lays his eyes upon them. The writers somehow never seem to get tired of pitching this joke in the film.
The Cauldron Of Cosmos
Yet another interesting callback to the comic books is the mention of Cauldron of Cosmos in Strange’s sanctum, with movie moving at incredibly fast pace and with a new character popping every minute, we had to pay close attention to every detail mentioned in the movie to get to know the minute references used in the movie. As we see Tony leaning on and stretching himself out at Strange’s sanctum, slowly processing everything that is being told to him. Strange chides him for leaning at a particular vessel and says that is the Cauldron of Cosmos. In the comic books Strange uses this very same cauldron to move back in time and get a glimpse at the happenings of the past. This also tells us that not every version of Doctor Strange in the comic books had a time stone with him to understand the past.
Gamora and the Soul Stone
At Vormir, as Thanos and Gamora slowly and painstakingly make their way to the resting place of the soul stone, their greeted by the gatekeeper of the place Red Skull (who was last seen in Captain America :The Winter Soldier) . Redskull tells Thanos that in order to obtain the soul stone which holds an important position among the other stones, Thanos must lose the soul of someone he loves dearly. With no other choice, Thanos pushes of his “little one” (Gamora), from the cliff. However at the end of the movie as Thanos snaps his fingers after taking the Mind Stone from Vision, he seems to have entered a holy place of absolute quietness which fans speculate to be the soulworld and here he meets the younger version of Gamora who asks him what was the prize he had to pay for achieving the perfect balance to which he replies “Everything.” Gamora’s death was one of the most depressing death sequence of the movie but however fans do have a theory that Gamora is not actually dead but is trapped in the soul world, as we see a child version of Gamora in the Soul World talking to Thanos. If this theory is true, there is a 100% chance of Gamora being resurrected in the next Avengers movie.
The Spider-suit Upgrade
The list is incomplete without mentioning the new upgrades in Spidey’s suit. Although the Iron spider has made several appearances in comic books, this is the first time The Iron Spider suit has been brought in a movie. All the past Spiderman movie franchises didn’t explore much with the possibilities of Spidey’s suit but with a massive budget allocated for CGI and Iron Man’s bond with Spidey this movie seemed like the right moment for the Iron spider’s introduction. One of the most heartbreaking moments in the movie was Spider Man’s death in Tony’s arm. The reason why Spiderman felt his death before it actually happened was because of the warning he received from his Spidey sense. Russo brothers explained this is why he says he doesn’t feel too good to Tony before disintegrating. Thus giving rise to a heart wrenching death and possibly one of the dankest meme of 2018. What makes us even madder is that in a recent interview with Infinity Wars Team, it was revealed that Tom Holland completely improvised his death scene on Titan. Now why would you inflict this pain upon us Tom?
Arrival of Captain Marvel at the End Credits
At the end credit scene of the movie we see Nick Fury sending an S.O.S signal to Captain Marvel through an old communication device. This scene provided a great deal of information and clue to the fans that already came up with numerous theories to explain how the deaths in the movie could be reversed. Captain Marvel revered equivalent to Superman in the MCU, is believed to have the power to travel through the soul dimension and also control the infinity stones to a certain extent. With all this said why didn’t Nicky Fury call her during other times of Mortal Peril the Earth faced? Does Captain Marvel truly have what it take on Thanos single- handedly? Well we need to wait for the Captain Marvel Origin movie for some solid answers.
