Mythology Gag / Avengers Assemble

Mythology Gag in Avengers Assemble.

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• Tony's narration in the debut trailer borrows heavily from his speech to Loki in the movie, including the lines "Let's do a head count," "The Avengers; that's what we call ourselves," and "We have a Hulk."
• Falcon mentions that he's always wanted to meet Captain America, and that he considers him a personal hero. In the comics, Cap and the Falcon were partners for a number of years, and are even close friends.
• Red Skull quips that Iron Man "has a heart".
• In the second episode Falcon asks Hulk "Feeling angry?", and he replies "I'm always angry!", a line from the first Avengers film.
• When Falcon goes to pick up his suit, he calls it "Project: Redwing:". Redwing is the name of his pet falcon in the comics.
• Black Widow taunts Hawkeye by accusing him of running away from S.H.I.E.L.D. to join the Avengers. This is how Hawkeye joined the team in Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
• Dr Doom being approached to join The Cabal, where he actually did in the comics.
• An unfinished suit similar to the Hulkbuster armor from the comics can be seen hanging in Tony's workshop.
• Similarly the torso of what looks like the Mark VII armor from The Avengers can also be seen hanging.
• Thor is seen wrestling a Bilgesnipe, the creature he was describing to Coulson in the film.
• The armored Captain America suit Tony designed for Steve in "Super-Adaptoid" is based off an actual suit Cap briefly wore in the comics during the 90's.
• Hawkeye frequently hassles the Falcon over his New Meat status. In the comics, the two dislike each other due to Hawkeye briefly being kicked off the team so that Falcon could have his spot in the line-up.
• Statues of Hyperion's fellow Squadron Supreme members can be seen in Episode 7.
• After the incident with Hyperion, Thor smashes a mug in celebration like he did in the movie.
• The Flash Back at the start of "Molecule Kid" contains a massive Art Shift where the characters are shown with their costumes and character models from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
• In the same episode, J. Jonah Jameson appears on a giant TV screen that gets smashed. The end of the episode also mentions a "S.H.I.E.L.D. high school recruitment program" that Nick Fury is in charge of.
• In "Depth Charge", Captain America displays some knowledge of Atlanteans after Falcon questions their existence. This may be a nod to his time with The Invaders during World War 2, where he served alongside Namor.
• "Avengers: Impossible" ends with fake closing credits, followed by a riff on the 2nd Stinger for The Avengers, only with the Avengers being teleported off-screen as the Impossible Man asks, "What is schwarma, anyway?"
• In "Doomstroyer", Loki appears after the teleportation in the same pose he did in the film. Also,
  Hulk: Do I look like a Defender to you?!
• Black Widow's bio-hazard suit from "Hulked Out Heroes" looks like Hazmat's outfit from Avengers Academy.
• The Alternate Timeline in "Planet Doom" contains a number of Whole Costume References:
  • The Falcon sports his Ultimate design (which incidentally, is also the basis for his film look). He calls himself Snap, which was the nickname of his drug dealer false-memory personality in the comics.
  • Hawkeye wears his Darker and Edgier costume from The Ultimates 3. Also, he calls himself Bullseye, which is the name of Daredevil's archnemesis and Hawkeye's impersonator in the Dark Avengers.
  • Black Widow wears the costume and mask of longtime Iron Man foe (and occasional love interest) Madame Masque.
  • Spider-Man's design is based off his Noir incarnation.
  • The concept of The Defenders becoming the world's premier superhero team in a reality without the Avengers may be a Whole-Plot Reference to Age of Ultron.
• In "In Deep", Hawkeye puts on Captain America's costume. In the comics, he was considered as a replacement for the thought-to-be-deceased Cap (Post-Civil War), and briefly wore the costume.
• A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment can be seen in "Adapt to Change"; when Beetle catches a falling Screaming Mimi, she gives him a smitten look; this refers to their ongoing on-again off-again romance in the comics.
• "Bring on the Bad Guys" is named after a reprint book Stan Lee put out in the 70's, which featured the origins of Marvel's most popular supervillains.
• In the episode "Mojo World", Mojo's human disguise is his design from Ultimate X-Men.
  • And Hulk gets outfitted with gladiatorial gear, resembling the Green Scar introduced in Planet Hulk.
• Though the character himself does not appear, the title of the episode "Guardians and Space Knights" is a Shout-Out to ROM Spaceknight.
• The feud between Hawkeye and Ant-Man may be a nod to Chuck Austen's poorly-received Avengers run, where Hawkeye slept with The Wasp and ruined his friendship with the Hank Pym version of Ant-Man.
• The Iron Legion makes a Big Damn Heroes at the season finale. Although lesser in number than in Iron Man 3, some of the armors resemble the movie-exclusives: the Mark 42 and Igor. And there's War Machine and the Iron Patriot in the lineup, too.
• The episode "Thanos Rising" is named after a recent comic book mini-series chronicling the origin of the character.
• The Winter Soldier's facial gear has a function that removes the mouthpiece, causing the mask to resemble the Domino Mask he wears in the comics.
  • Cap takes a jetpack out of Hawkeye's hands, causing Hawkeye to say "Aww, jetpack." Hawkeye often goes "Aww, (noun)" in the recent Matt Fraction run of his comic book (And, of course, he's wearing the Fraction outfit with the purple arrow on the front). It also leaves him looking much like he does in Ultimate Spider-Man (before he was changed in that show to look more like his Assemble self.)
  • The Winter Soldier's origin (wherein he was "killed" and rebuilt into an assassin by the Red Skull) is taken from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It is possible this is yet another indication that some of the writers consider Assemble to be a Broad Strokes sequel.
• Falcon's underwater gear from "Beneath the Surface" resembles that of Stingray, an obscure aquatic Avenger from the comics.
• In "Nighthawk", Thor mistakes the titular villain for Dormammu, a foe of Doctor Strange.
• The episode "The Age of Tony Stark" is an extended nod to the "Teen Tony" era of the comics, where Iron Man was temporarily killed off and replaced with a younger version of himself from back in the timestream. It also recalls Iron Man: Armored Adventures, where Tony was also a kid.
  • The Iron Kid armor worn by the child version of Tony is the original MK III armor Iron Man wore in the Silver Age, complete with the classic horned face plate. The rocket-skates he uses were also used by Iron Man back in the 70's.
• At one point Tony suggests taking Cap's shield back to the lab in order to upgrade it, an idea Cap is not enthused by. In the 90's comics (as well as the Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon), Tony built Steve an advanced photon shield after the original one was lost.
• A squad of robots from the future mistake the Hulk for a creature known as "The Maestro". This is a nod to "Future Imperfect", an AU story starring an evil, future version of the Hulk called the Maestro. Then again, it may have been foreshadowing as the Maestro did later show up in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H..
• "Dark Avengers" is named after the comic series of the same name, and features another round of costume references:
  • Iron Man's black and gold outfit is the suit he wore in the Marvel NOW! relaunch.
  • Hawkeye sports a red arrow on his chest like his first outfit from The Ultimates. Additionally, he's an outlaw thief like he originally was in the Silver Age comics before reforming.
  • Hulk's gray skin and status as a mob enforcer are taken from his "Joe Fixit" persona from the Peter David run. His hair style in the episode is a reference to his Doc Green persona.
  • Captain America sports a black suit and goes by the name "The Captain," which is taken from a period in the 80's where he briefly ditched the Captain America identity.
• Thor in Natasha's body summoning Mjolnir in "Head to Head" is a reference to the reality where Thor had died and Black Widow became the new Thor.
• While under the influence of the Infinite Stones, Black Widow resembles the Dark Phoenix.
• In "Thanos Triumphant", Thanos uses the Infinity Gauntlet to construct an altar for himself in space, just like he did in the original The Infinity Gauntlet crossover.
  • He opens up the episode with a twisted version of the opening narration used in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • After being aged by the Time Stone, Thor resembles his bearded King Thor incarnation.
  • Arsenal's new body resembles Iron Man's black Marvel NOW! costume, as well as Mainframe, the sentient Iron Man armor from the Marvel Comics 2 line.
  • Ultron returns by inhabiting the body of an android Avenger, just like he did in Age of Ultron. Though in that case the victim was The Vision rather than Arsenal.
• "Avengers Disassembled" is named after a prominent storyline from the comics.
  • One of the Iron Man suits Ultron hijacks is the same one Tony wore in Season 2 of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • The episode ends with a rift in the team resulting in Cap leading a new group consisting of four Avengers. This is just like in the comics during the "Cap's Kooky Quartet" period.
• The conflict between Captain America and Iron Man takes elements from the Civil War storyline, though their roles in the series are reversed (with Cap being in favor of oversight and control and Tony being in favor of freedom).
  • This is itself a second Mythology Gag, as this was the stance their respective counterparts took when discussing registration in the Ultimate Universe.
  • The outfit Cap wears after joining SHIELD resembles the one he wore in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
• After being transformed by Zarda in "Midgard Crisis", Hulk resembles his "Hulk Squared" manifestation during the "Agent of T.I.M.E." arc where the modern day Hulk was sent back in time and replaced Bruce Banner for a second dose of the gamma bomb.
• In "Avengers' Last Stand", Ant-Man calls Falcon "Captain Falcon", and Sam responds by saying "Captain, not quite." In the comics, Sam eventually becomes the new Captain America after Steve loses his powers.
• The Humongous Mecha Tony pilots in the Season 2 finale was designed to resemble his armor from The Ultimates.
  • The finale uses the phrase "Avengers World" several times (which is also the title of the episode). These were Arc Words in The Avengers (Jonathan Hickman), which introduced the Black Order.
  • The ending, which sees Steve and Tony looking at a computer readout of potential new recruits for the team, also mirrors the start of Hickman's run.
• The Avengers Assemble Infinite Comic set between Season 2 and Season 3 features the return of the Dark Avengers. After seeing The Captain, Tony asks Steve if he ever thought about wearing a black suit, another reference to the fact that Steve did indeed wear a black costume for a period in the 80's.
• In "Widow's Run," after Falcon teleports the Guardians of the Galaxy back to their ship, Hawkeye says "please tell me you sent them to Dimension Z." In the comics, Dimension Z was an alternate realm, conquered by Arnim Zola, where Captain America was once trapped.
• The A.I.M. Adaptoids have green armor, making them look much closer to the original Super-Adaptoid from the comics.
• Bruce Banner looks more like his MCU self in season three.
• Ultron's latest body created from the A.I.M. Super-Adaptoids is a simplified version of his appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron, down to the articulated mouth, glowing red innards, and turbine-esque cheeks.
• Ultron's robotic Avengers are called The Ultimates.
• The Iron Man helmet that Ultron uses to complete his makeshift body is from Tony's time with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics.
• After Ultron hijacks all of the Iron Man suits in the Hall of Armor, Tony uses his suitcase armor from the comics.
• A truck from "Brubaker's Bakery" can be seen in Steve's old Brooklyn neighborhood.
• In "Under Siege", Zemo says that "Baron Zemo and The Masters of Evil" has a nice ring to it. In the comics, the original Baron Zemo was the one responsible for forming the Masters of Evil in the first place.
• Zemo tricks the Avengers by causing them to think the Masters of Evil are hiding in South America. In the comics, the original Zemo's hideout was in South America, and that's also where he died.
• The third episode has the team fighting the Space Phantoms. A Space Phantom was the lead villain of the second issue of the original Avengers comic book.
• The episode "One Little Thing" has Pym particles scattered across the tower, altering the size of things they strike. Hulk gets shrunk (a reference to the classic Hulk story "The Brute Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom") and Hawkeye gets grown (a reference to his time in the comics using Pym particles as Goliath).
• At the end of "Inhumans Among Us," Ultron is seen wearing a red cloak. This is a nod to his earliest appearances in the comics, where he posed as a villain called the Crimson Cowl.
• One of the items in the box of keepsakes from "The Kids Are Alright" is Hawkeye's classic purple mask from the comics.
  • It is also taller and pointier than the comic version, like how Hawkeye's mask was stylized in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
• A reporter in "The Conqueror" mentions corporate innovators named Ezekiel Stane and Sasha Hammer, two villains from Matt Fraction's Iron Man run. Aldrich Killian and the "Ten Rings Corporation" are also mentioned.
• "Into the Future"
  • Kang's security drones are Kang's head from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • One of the rebels is a teenage archer with dark hair and a purple outfit, likely meant as a visual homage to Kate Bishop. Characters resembling Toni Ho, Eric Masterson and Joaquin Torres are also among the Rebels.
  • The future Thor has a metal arm, acting as a nod to the post-Original Sin Thor run, where he was given an uru prosthesis after Malekith severed one of his arms.
• Another nod to Jason Aaron's run can be found in "A Friend in Need." One of the items in Odin's treasure vault is Jarnbjorn, the axe Thor wielded in his youth (and then again after becoming unworthy of of Mjolnir). Dragonfang, Valkyrie's sword, is also seen.
• In "Captain Marvel," the title character encourages Falcon by saying she knows a good pilot when she sees one. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Falcon, like Captain Marvel, is a former member of the U.S. Air Force. He was also a Navy pilot in the Heroes Reborn continuity.
• "Panther's Rage"
  • Sokovia, a country in Avengers: Age of Ultron, is mentioned.
  • When Crossbones asks Captain America why won't he die, Cap responds with "I actually did once. I didn't care for it."
  • The title is taken from a seminal Black Panther storyline by Don McGregor that introduced (among many other things) Erik Killmonger.
  • The lower portion of Black Panther's mask can retract, revealing his mouth and chin. He briefly had a mask like this in the comics during the '60s, and a similar mask was part of one of Jack Kirby's prototype designs.
  • Captain America says that King T'Chaka willingly offered up the vibranium to make his shield after Cap and Howard Stark helped save Wakanda from a HYDRA invasion during World War 2. This is more or less the same plot as Black Panther #30, where T'Chaka gave Cap the vibranium after he and the Howling Commandos helped defend Wakanda from Nazis.
  • The suit of Powered Armor Klaue dons is based on his living sound form from the comics.
• "Ant-Man Makes It Big" has another round of costume references and obscure name-drops, courtesy of the trailer for the fake Avengers movie Ant-Man is consulting on.
  • The Human-Ant's costume is based on Ant-Man's look from the short-lived The Avengers: United They Stand cartoon from the '90s. Additionally, the Human-Ant is referred to as the team's leader, which Ant-Man was on that show (due to Cap, Iron Man, and Thor all being tied up in unmade media projects- movies for all three, and a cartoon for Cap- the latter was in the middle of pre-production when it got canned due to Marvel's bankruptcy).
  • Likewise, Eyehawk's outfit is basically Hawkeye's ridiculous costume from the same show.
  • Dark Spider's outfit is Black Widow's pre-Onslaught look from the '90s, complete with shorter hair and a brown leather bomber jacket that sports the team's logo on the back.
  • The Stinger for the trailer being a shot of a Spider-Man Expy is a nod to the trailer for Captain America: Civil War, which ended with a shot of Spider-Man.
  • The Captain America Expy is called Colonel America, Cap's name in both the Marvel Zombies universe and the alternate timeline seen in Age of Ultron.
  • The heroes are known as the Revengers. In the comics, the Revengers are a Legion of Doom-style group who opposed the Avengers.
  • The actor playing Viking King wears a faithful version of Thor's original costume.
  • Outside the movie, there's a biker gang called the Phantom Riders who have a logo showing a flaming skull in a cowboy hat. In the comics, Phantom Rider was the name given to western hero Ghost Rider to distinguish him from the later flaming-skulled bikers of that name.
• In "The House of Zemo", Heinrich Zemo brings his great-grandson to the present from the year 2099. This references the Marvel 2099 series.
• After the Red Hulk is further mutated by an additional does of gamma in "Building the Ultimate Weapon," he more closely resembles his comic appearance, complete with the flames and the bare torso.
• "World War Hulk":
  • The episode shares its name with the famous famous Crisis Crossover.
  • The movie theater in New Mexico is playing a movie called "Where Monsters Dwell," a reference to the old Silver Age comic of the same name.
  • After receiving another dose of gamma radiation, the Hulk transforms into a new, larger form that resembles his original Silver Age design by Jack Kirby. Even the haircut is the same.
  • Later, after the Hulk absorbs the excess radiation from Red Hulk, he transforms into the Kluh from AXIS.
• From the four-part Civil War adaptation:
  • The government's team of replacement heroes are known as the Mighty Avengers, the same name given to the team of Pro-Registration Avengers that was formed in the comics after Civil War.
  • Captain Marvel's leadership of the Mighty Avengers in opposition to Iron Man and Cap, is a nod to Civil War II, which has her leading the "Change the Future" faction in said war against Iron Man's "Protect the Future" faction.
  • When Captain Marvel first meets Ms. Marvel, she tells her that she likes her name. In the comics, Carol Danvers was the very first Ms. Marvel before she changed her name to Captain Marvel.
  • Black Panther argues in favor of the Registration Act by saying the left unchecked, one of the new Inhumans might destroy a town. The original Civil War in the comics began because a town full of civilians was destroyed during a fight between Nitro and the New Warriors.
  • Ms. Marvel sucker-punches the Hulk after pretending to agree to talk things out, which only causes him to spit out a dislodged tooth and continue attacking her. The same thing happened during the Hulk vs. Hulkbuster fight in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when the Hulkbuster used an elevator as an improvised bludgeon.
  • Ant-Man shrinks down and leaps inside of Falcon's suit in order to sabotage his wings, just like when they fought in live-action.
  • In another Age of Ultron nod, Vision demonstrates the ability to lift Mjolnir.
  • The fight between the two teams of Avengers ends when the Vision accidentally injures Captain America. The same thing happened in the movie adaptation, but to War Machine instead of Cap. It's also a nod to Cap's death in the original comic.
  • Howard Stark's abandoned lab contains his flying car prototype from Captain America: The First Avenger.
  • Falcon briefly gets to wield Captain America's shield.
  • Iron Man had to lift Black Widow up into the sky. He lets go, leading to her ask what he was up to. Suddenly she gets enveloped in an Iron Man armor! Widow's Ultimate Comics counterpart had a similar armor.
• According to one of the shorts, Captain Marvel's plane is named "Kelly Sue."
• In the flashback short showing Ms. Marvel's origin, she briefly considers "Hero up!" as a potential Catchphrase.
• When Hope gets Vision's call in "Avengers No More: Part 2," she says "It's about dang time," a Bowdlerized version of her quote from the Ant-Man mid-credits scene. Later on, she says the members of the new group seem like "All-New, All-Different Avengers". This leads to another homage, this time to dialogue between the original Wasp and Ant-Man from Avengers #1:
  Hope: We're not the regular team. We're like... all-new, all-different, or...
  Scott: "Or" nothing! That's it. All-new, all-different Avengers.
  • This also refers to the All-New, All-Different Marvel rebrand following the Secret Wars (2015) event.
• Hope being able to hold her own against Yelena Belova in "Prison Break" is a reference to their shared Red Room training in the comics.
• The answer to one of the math equations Ms. Marvel is working on in "Show Your Work" is 616, the numerical designation of the mainstream Marvel Universe in the comics.
• The enchanted mace Black Panther uses against Ares in "The Incredible Herc" is the same one Hercules uses in the comics. He even tosses it to Hercules after Ares is subdued, seemingly implying Herc will begin using it as his personal weapon.
• The Black Panther costume worn by King T'Chaka in "Sneakers" is the Panther's original design from the Silver Age Fantastic Four books by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, right down to the half-cape.
• When Whitney Frost is first seen in "Why I Hate Halloween," she's shown wearing a golden mask as part of uniform. In the comics, she's a supervillain called Madame Masque who is known for her trademark golden mask.
• Near the end of "Dimension Z" A Zola controled Cap says "Hail Hydra" coldly, which is a reference of the Hydra Supreme Cap's most infamous line in the comic. The name of Dimension Z comes from the comics story "Castaway in Dimension Z", which was also about Zola trapping Cap in another dimension.
• "New Year's Resolution" begins with Howard Stark carrying a "package" and being pursued by HYDRA like he does in Captain America: Civil War.
• The MacGuffin in "The Eye of Agamotto Part 1" is the Tailsman of Kaluu. In the comics, Kaluu was a enemy and ally of Doctor Strange.
• In the Season 4 finale, Jane is given an enchanted mace and the codename "Thunderstrike." These are both references to Erick Masterson, a character who briefly became the new Thor during The '90s, before gaining a mace and becoming the hero Thunderstrike, as well as Jane's role as the new Thor in Thor (2014).
• Also in that episode, we get Cap saying he could do this all day. and a scene where Thor declares "For Asgard!", Jane declares "For Midgard!" and Loki mockingly joins in with "For myself!" before fighting them. This is a reference to a famous Walt Simonson panel, except with Odin making the first pledge, Thor the second, and Loki sincerely joining them in the name of his own self-interest.
• Thor's appearance when he doesn't have Mjolnir is based on the Unworthy Thor storyline. He even gets a version of the axe Jarnbjorn.
• In the Season 5 episode "Yemandi", Thor is turned into a frog, but by Morgan la Fey rather than Loki.